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Civilization · c. 1600 – 1100 BCE
Mycenaean Greece
The heroic Bronze Age world of Homer's Iliad.
Capital: Mycenae, Pylos, Tiryns · Western Europe
Overview
Mycenaean warlords ruled fortified palace citadels across mainland Greece and the Aegean, keeping Linear B accounts and preserving memories that Homer would later mythologize.
Timeline
- c. 1600 BCEShaft graves at Mycenae
- c. 1450 BCEMycenaeans occupy Crete
- c. 1250 BCETraditional date of the Trojan War
- c. 1100 BCEBronze Age Collapse
Rulers
Legendary Agamemnon
—
King of Mycenae
Wars & conflicts
- Trojan War (legendary)
- Bronze Age Collapse warfare
Architecture
Cyclopean walls, tholos tombs (Treasury of Atreus), megaron halls.
Religion
Early Olympian pantheon: Zeus, Poseidon, Hera, Athena attested in Linear B.
Economy
Palace redistribution economies; olive oil, wine, textiles.
Technology
Linear B (early Greek), bronze weapons, chariot warfare.
Art
Gold funeral masks, inlaid daggers, frescoed palaces.
Influence
Foundation of Greek myth, language and religion.
Decline
Collapse c. 1200 – 1100 BCE amid drought, migration and system failure.
Key sites
- Mycenae
- Tiryns
- Pylos
- Thebes