Joel Tomanelli

The Urban Nature of Mycenae

The particular achievements of the Mycenaean civilization throughout the pinnacle of their power and influence culminate in the erection of immense palatial compounds, most notably Mycenae, from which the name of the entire civilization is derived. Despite their physical impressiveness, some scholars do not consider them to be true urban centers, i.e. cities, li e the Minoan palaces of !nossos, "haistos, and Mallia which came before, but rather #glorified citadels$. %or the purpose of this e&position, ' will, with the help of (ruce Trigger, define a city as a #unit of settlement which performs specialized functions in relationship to a broader hinterland$ whose role maintains a position at the height of the respective social, economic, and cultural stratifications )Trigger *++,+-.. /lthough the 0inear ( tablets found at other palaces such as "ylos and !nossos do not indicate in particular that the wana&es of the aforementioned settlements were under the 1urisdiction of the wana& of Mycenae, this can suggest at most that Mycenae was not the capital of a large, centralized empire but does not preclude Mycenae from having all of the attributes of a city )Mylonos 234.. ' will show that Mycenae indeed was a city by the Tomanelli,Trigger definition, though its power was by nature far different from that of the earlier Minoan urban administrative centers, and that it e&hibits far greater and more comple& social, economic, and political stratification than does the early (ronze /ge town of 0erna.

5uantitatively spea ing, Mycenae surpasses the town of 0erna in every respect6 its massive walls, elaborate 0ion gate, Megaron, propylon, tholos tombs, and the list goes on. 7ome of the walls of Mycenae, most notably of which flan ing the e&travagant 0ion gate and "ostern 8ate, as well as the Tholos tombs were constructed using ashlar masonry, that is to say carefully wor ed stones, in direct contrast with any of the walls found at 0erna. The massive tombs dotting the landscape surrounding Mycenae are clearly not to be found in any way, shape or form at 0erna. The delineation of the obvious might ta e the length of an entire boo and would still be a fairly futile e&ercise. The simple fact is that Mycenae is orders of magnitude larger and more architecturally grandiose than 0erna, and the more interesting and meaningful distinctions, which ma e Mycenae a true urban center, are 9ualitative in nature. :ithin the socio,political sphere, there is most stri ing archaeological evidence of a great degree of stratification. Undoubtedly the most obvious archaeological substantiation of a ruling elite e&ists in the fabulously wealthy grave circles that scattering the milieu of Mycenae. 'n grave circles / and ( was found a treasure trove of such magnitude as was never seen before anywhere around the /egean up to this time. The sheer amount of wealth buried with the rulers in these shaft graves is a clear indication of their position at the very acme of the political ladder. 't is also a profound e&pression of the wealth available to Mycenae at the time. That is to say, if they could afford to bury such a plethora of valuables in the ground, how much greater was their available, above,ground store of wealth; "erhaps even more significant is the military nature of, or, at least, military ideology behind, many of the items found. 'n 1ust one grave from grave circle /, containing the bodies of three men and two women, twenty,

seven or more swords, <4 sword pommels, five daggers, si& dagger pommels, si&teen nives, five #razors, a large silver figure,of,eight shield, gold foil cutouts of double a&es, thirty,eight arrowheads, ninety,two boars= tus s, two whetstones, an a&, and many fragments of bronze blades )>ermeule ?-.. The implications of these items, whether utile or ceremonial in nature, clearly define the age,old role of ings and powerful leaders as guardians against foreign invasion. /ll of the tholos tombs had been plundered in their entirety, but it is by no means a stretch to infer from their e&traordinary construction that they held a vast amount of wealth, perhaps even greater than that of grave circles / and (. "ausanias referred to one of the greatest of the Tholos tombs as the #Treasury of /treus@$ that is not to say it was actually the treasury of the legendary figure, or that he even e&isted, but it is no doubt a testament to its once,held contents )Mylonas <4?.. The findings of the shaft graves indicate another important or even vital aspect of the Mycenaean economy, though perhaps more so for e&plaining other contentious aspects of the Mycenaean civilization such as the nature of its collapse. /mong the riches of the tombs, e&cavators have found items made from or scraps of Aretan faience and alabaster, gold, (altic amber, ostrich eggs from Nubia via Arete via Bgypt, lapis lazuli from Mesopotamia, raw ivory from 7yria, and silver from /natolia )>ermeule ?-,-C.. Moreover, as time goes on a distinct blending of cultural aesthetics can be observed in the artwor found in the Mycenaean graves.

't is intrinsically held within my earlier statement that the shaft graves of Mycenae held more wealth than any other tomb in the region of the /egean 7ea up to that period by far that the e&cavations of 0erna yielded no comparable discoveries, whatsoever. 'n fact, the archaeology of the town of 0erna, and, more specifically, the Douse of Tiles implies a much less stratified political, and conse9uently, socio, economical, structure.