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Mycenaean Civilization

The Mycenaean civilization flourished in the Late Bronze Age (c. 1700-1100 BCE), peaking from the 15th to the 13th century BCE. The Mycenaeans extended their influence throughout the Peloponnese in Greece and across the Aegean from Crete to the Cycladic islands. They are named after their chief city of Mycenae in the Argolid of the northeast Peloponnese.

The Mycenaeans were influenced by the earlier Minoan civilization (2000-1450 BCE) which had spread from its origins at Knossos, Crete to include the wider Aegean. Architecture, art and religious practices were assimilated and adapted to better express the perhaps more militaristic and austere Mycenaean culture. The Mycenaeans came to dominate most of mainland Greece and several islands, extending trade relations to other Bronze Age cultures in such places as Cyprus, the Levant, and Egypt. The culture made a lasting impression on later Greeks in the Archaic and Classical periods, most tangibly in their myths of Bronze Age heroes like Achilles and Odysseus and their exploits in the Trojan War.

Major Mycenaean Centres

The Mycenaeans were indigenous Greeks who were likely stimulated by their contact with Minoan Crete and other Mediterranean cultures to develop a more sophisticated sociopolitical culture of their own. Major Mycenaean centres included Mycenae (traditional home of Agamemnon), Tiryns (perhaps the oldest centre), Pylos (traditional home of Nestor), Thebes, Midea, Gla, Orchomenos, Argos, Sparta, Nichoria, and probably Athens. In time, the Mycenaeans would even establish themselves on Crete and especially at Knossos, thus superseding the Minoans as the dominant culture in the southern Aegean by the second half of the 15th century BCE.

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Mycenaean Civilization

The Mycenaean Civilization flourished in the Late Bronze Age (c. 1700-1100 BCE), peaking from the 15th to the 13th century BCE. The Mycenaeans extended their influence throughout the Peloponnese in Greece and across the Aegean from Crete to the Cycladic islands. They are named after their chief city of Mycenae in the Argolid of the northeast Peloponnese.

Major Mycenaean Centres

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Aegean

The Aegean Sea lies between the coast of Greece and Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). It contains over 2,000 islands which were settled by the ancient Greeks; the largest among them being Crete (Kriti) and the best known and most often photographed Santorini (Thera or Thira). Both of these islands have strong associations with ancient history and Greek mythology in that Crete features significantly in the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur while the destruction of Santorini by a volcano eruption has long been considered a probable source for Plato's description of Atlantis in his dialogues of Critias and Timaeus.

Name Origin

In ancient times there were various explanations for the name 'Aegean'. It was said to have been named after the Greek town of Aegae, or after Aegea, a queen of the Amazons who died in the sea, or Aigaion, the "sea goat", another name of Briareus, one of the archaic Hecatonchires, or, especially among the Athenians, Aegeus, the father of Theseus, who drowned himself in the sea when he thought his son had died on his famous expedition to Crete to defeat the Minotaur. A possible etymology is a derivation from the Greek word αἶγες – aiges = "waves" (Hesychius of Alexandria; metaphorical use of αἴξ (aix) "goat"), hence "wavy sea", cf. also αἰγιαλός (aigialos) "coast".

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Trade in Ancient Greece

Trade was a fundamental aspect of the ancient Greek world and following territorial expansion, an increase in population movements, and innovations in transport, goods could be bought, sold, and exchanged in one part of the Mediterranean which had their origin in a completely different and far distant region. Food, raw materials, and manufactured goods were not only made available to Greeks for the first time but the export of such classics as wine, olives, and pottery helped to spread Greek culture to the wider world.

From Local to International Trade

In Greece and the wider Aegean, local, regional, and international trade exchange existed from Minoan and Mycenaean times in the Bronze Age. The presence, in particular, of pottery and precious goods such as gold, copper, and ivory, found far from their place of production, attests to the exchange network which existed between Egypt, Asia Minor, the Greek mainland, and islands such as Crete, Cyprus, and the Cyclades. Trade lessened and perhaps almost disappeared when these civilizations declined, and during the so-called Dark Ages from the 11th to 8th centuries BCE international trade in the Mediterranean was principally carried out by the Phoenicians.

The earliest written sources of Homer and Hesiod attest to the existence of trade (emporia) and merchants (emporoi) from the 8th century BCE, although they often present the activity as unsuitable for the ruling and landed aristocracy. Nevertheless, international trade grew from 750 BCE, and contacts spread across the Mediterranean driven by social and political factors such as population movements, colonisation (especially in Magna Graecia), inter-state alliances, the spread of coinage, the gradual standardisation of measurements, warfare, and safer seas following the determination to eradicate piracy.

From 600 BCE trade was greatly facilitated by the construction of specialised merchant ships and the diolkos haulway across the isthmus of Corinth. Special permanent trading places (emporia), where merchants of different nationalities met to trade, sprang up, for example, at Al Mina on the Orontes river (modern Turkey), Ischia-Pithekoussai (off the coast of modern Naples), Naucratis in Egypt, and Gravisca in Etruria. From the 5th century BCE, Athens' port of Piraeus became the most important trading centre in the Mediterranean and gained a reputation as the place to find any type of goods on the market.

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Wine in the Ancient Mediterranean

Wine was the most popular manufactured drink in the ancient Mediterranean. With a rich mythology, everyday consumption, and important role in rituals wine would spread via the colonization process to regions all around the Mediterranean coastal areas and beyond. The Greeks institutionalised wine-drinking in their famous symposia drinking parties, and the Romans turned viticulture into a hugely successful business, so much so, that many of the ancient wine-producing territories still enjoy some of the highest reputations in the modern wine industry.

Wine was drunk on social occasions such as the Greek symposium, or drinking party, where elite male citizens would discuss politics and philosophy and be entertained by musicians and courtesans (hetairai). Special drinking vessels developed such as the shallow stemmed kylix which could easily be lifted from the floor by a drinker reclining on a couch. Large pottery vessels known as kraters were made so that wine could be easily mixed with water. The Roman equivalent to the symposium was the convivium where respectable women were added to the guest list and food had a greater emphasis.

Besides being a tasty drink and social lubricant wine had other functions such as in the pouring of libations to the gods in religious ceremonies. Wine, often healthier than unreliable sources of water, was also sometimes prescribed as a medicine by ancient doctors. This remedy was to be taken in moderation, though, as the ancients early identified the dangers of excessive drinking including insomnia, memory loss, a distended stomach, character changes, and early death. Wine was a gift from the gods but not to be over-indulged in or one would end up meeting them earlier than one hoped.

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The shades of Aegean summer. View to Antiparos from Petaloudes. #aegaean #thalassa #elladitsa #endlessblue #endlessLight #sun #fos #vacation #diakopares #islandlife #livelife #love (at Butterflies Valley) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bz-nm3yonICRg7-ZpIxHoOJ3AwO-U8ak3Zqees0/?igshid=lizwc7icewy4

#aegaean #thalassa #elladitsa #endlessblue #endlesslight #sun #fos #vacation #diakopares #islandlife #livelife #love

Goulas of Nimborio

Goulas m. [pl. Goulades]: Medieval isolated fortified tower in the Cycladic islands.

The Goulas of Nimborio [b] stands at the north of the entrance of Emporio village in Santorini, on the foot of Profitis Ilias mountain. It is a monumental medieval four story fortress, now deserted for more than a century and in the verge of total collapse! The Goulas of Nimborio is a unique specimen of its kind, dissimilar to other towers on the island, but analogous to massive fortified constructions erected during the era of Venetocracy [1, 2] in Patmos island and the Peloponnese. The tower was build somewhere between the 14th and 15th centuries CE, or even earlier, preceding possibly the Casteli, the other fortified, but communal settlement of Emporio. Although the original landlords are unknown, during its early days the Goulas of Nimborio belonged to the Darzenda, one of the oldest Venetian families [a], branches of which survive even up to day. More recently (17th to 19th centuries CE) the tower was administered and used by the monks of the Monastery of Patmos, which owned extensive land plots and vineyards on the island of Santorini since 1608 CE. Goulas was finally abandoned close to 1880, and ever since it has been decaying to ruins, victim to the persistent Theran seismic and volcanic activity, and eviscerated by locals, exploited as a source of constructing materials (stones), or as makeshift barns and stables.

Throughout its centuries-long history Goulas has gradually reached its final forms following multiple additions and construction phases. Up to date at least four discrete construction periods have been identified, whereas originally the tower had three levels and was considerably smaller. The first two were undertaken during the Duchy of the Archipelago era, reflecting the style and architecture of Naxos towers [1, 2]. The 3rd construction stage was carried through around 1701, as mentioned on a marble inscription embedded in the western wall of the tower, long after the fall of the Duchy to the Ottoman Empire in 1579. This stage coincides with the Patmos Monastery administration period, a fact indicated also by the style of the additions and works conducted. Within this period Goulas acquired one more level and its two distinctive angled supportive outer walls, similar to the fortified walls of St. John’s Monastery on Patmos island. The 4th stage took place a few years later, during which the fortifications of Goulas were finalised by the addition of one more characteristic angled bracing wall on the northern side of the tower. Despite the already known facts for the Goulas of Nimborio, there are still many uncertainties regarding its exact uses, lords and inhabitants throughout its history.

Post scriptum:

Goulades [c] should not be confused with the Castelia, which were communal fortified citadels constructed during the medieval times, and after the establishment of the Duchy of Naxos, and the fall of Constantinople in 1204, during the 4th Crusade. In this era the Cycladic islands, Santorini as well, were vulnerable to piracy and exposed to recurring attacks from numerous invaders. The construction of such fortified settlements and towers aimed at the protection of the populace and the landlords from the above attacks.

[a] Nikos Chr. Aliprantis, 2004, “Genealogical History of Santorini”, “Thiraika Nea” Publishing, Athens, pp 246.

[b] Demetre Filippidis, 1986 “The Dargenta tower on Santorini”, in: Selected Specimens of Greek Domestic Architecture during the Ottoman Period.,History of Architecture Research Centre, NTUA, Athens, pp 260.

[c] Dora Monioudi-Gavala, 2001, “The Development of Settlements from the Middle Ages int Recent Times”, in: Santorini, Thira, Thirasia, Aspronisi, Ifestia, ed. Ioannis. Mich. Danezis, ADAM /Pergamos Publishing Houses, Athens, pp 595.