An Introduction to the Aegean Bronze Age
An Introduction to the Aegean Bronze Age
This course introduces participants to the Bronze Age on Crete (the Minoans), mainland Greece (the Mycenaeans) and Troy, from the end of the Neolithic period (c.3000 BC) through various stages of palatial and warrior societies, to the sudden collapse of the Mycenaean civilisation in c.1100 BC.
Serious study of the Aegean Bronze Age began over 120 years ago, and excavation of the sites turned archaeologists like Schliemann, Evans and Marinatos into household names. Stunning architecture, sculpture, frescoes, weaponry, ceramics, and jewellery were revealed. As a result of the excavation processes, the mythical (or otherwise) status of Agamemnon, Odysseus, the Minotaur, the Trojan War and Atlantis were all called into question.
The Minoans and Mycenaeans themselves left us with the intriguing Greek Bronze Age sites of Knossos, Mycenae ‘Rich in Gold’, Pylos and Akrotiri, to name just a few.
We will look at these and other sites in the Aegean, combining myth, history, and archaeology in our quest to discover the people of the Minoan and Mycenaean worlds.
