Late Helladic fortification walls on the Greek mainland are found surrounding citadels, not the entire city or site. The citadels seem to have housed central administration and housing for an elite class of citizens. They were built on hills, presumably as another layer of fortification. I will examine the sites of Gla, Midea, Tiryns, and Mycenae to look for similarities and differences in the design and architecture of their fortifications, as well as, arguments about the purpose of the fortifications at these sites. I will also explore how some sites were hindered or helped defensively and economically by their location and their use of fortifications.
Mycenaean sites employed Cyclopean masonry as the means of building their fortification walls. Cyclopean masonry was used at all of the fortified Mycenaean sites and it is built by using large flat-surfaced blocks with smaller stones fitted in the cracks (Dickinson, 1994). The walls would have two faces and the space would then be filled with rubble. It is believed the fortification walls were not truly meant to fortify a citadel, but were a means of displaying the city’s wealth (Loader, 1995). According to Loader (1995) Cyclopean masonry was a distinct style of Greece. The use of corbelled vaults was also common. The Mycenaeans did not know the principle of the true arch so they stacked blocks on top of one another and pushed the ends of both sides in to create a sort of vault before creating a smooth interior surface. This method requires heavy weight on the backs of the blocks used to make the vault to avoid a collapse.
Gla, or Goulas, is a site situated on what was once and island in Lake Kopais. There is evidence the lake was drained during the Late Helladic period (Lawrence...
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... Mycenae also changed over time. Each site ultimately displays similarities between the Mycenaean culture as well as differences based on region or the city’s distance from a major trade route making them interesting to study.
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From http://www.jstor.org/stable/506635
As the name suggests the Bronze Age is a period of human culture, in which civilizations heavily used copper and bronze for various aspects of life and trading. The beginning of the Bronze Age is estimated to date before 3000 BCE in parts of Med. Europe, Middle East and China. Knossos and Mycenae are both archeological sites, and date back to the Bronze Age. Knossos was the capital of the ancient Minoan civilization; located on the island of Crete. Mycenae was a massive fortified palace, located between two hills on the plain of the Peloponnese, Greece.
Schliemann’s archaeological breakthrough was instigated 6.5 km from the Aegean Sea in Turkey. In 1865, German-American adventurer Schliemann arrived at what was assumed to be Troys location. After reading the Iliad and inspecting the “Tell of Hissarlik” he was convinced he had found Troy. Schliemann believed that the Iliad was so true that it must be based on history, and his discovery of one of the many promising tells in the area motivated him to begin his dig. He discovered that this Tell had nine major levels and large walls, like Homer described. He claimed that the second (Troy II) was Homers ‘Citadel of Priam’. However if Schliemann and Homers Troy were the same, literature did not confirm.
Renfrew, Colin. The Emergence of Civilisation: The Cyclades and the Aegean in the Third Millennium B.C. London: Metheun 1972.
The Trojan War and its characters are detailed in the writings of Homer, Vergil, Dante and many others. It is a fantastical tale of a decade-long siege of a powerful city by a massive pan-hellenic force. However, even though it has proved to be such a rich source of inspiration for writers, poets and artists throughout history, it is debated whether it actually took place. Heinrich Schliemann famously said “I have gazed on the face of Agamemnon.” on discovering tombs with the bodies of Mycenaean chieftains in Turkey. The German businessman-turned-archaeologist claimed to have discovered the city of Troy at the hill now called Hisarlik – about three miles from the Dardanelles. However, his claims are still disputed today. Before tackling the question of whether the Trojan War actually occurred, we must ask in what form. What exactly do we mean by “the Trojan War”? There is no definitive version of the events in the war, as our knowledge of it comes from a myriad different sources. Then we should consider Schliemann’s discoveries, and the other archaeological evidence for the Trojan War. Finally, after we have defined “Trojan War” in context of archaeology and historical fact, we must then draw conclusions about the extent to which archaeology proves its historical authenticity.
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Hunt, Lynn and Thomas R. Martin, Barbara H. Rosenwein and Bonnie G. Smith. “ The Greek golden age,” in the making of the west volume 1 to 1750 2012, edited by Denise B. Wydra, 75-108. Boston: Beford/St. Martin’s, 2012.
Boadicea. (2000). In J. Knight & S. A. McConnell (Eds.), Ancient Civilizations Reference Library (Vol. 3, pp. 38-44). Detroit: UXL. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CCX2587200044&v=2.1&u=viva_cnu&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w&asid=7ad023bb28ade3d758386da650f35cf9
The significance of monumental architecture lies not only in the function it is built to serve but also in the cultural values it represents. Monumental architecture is aesthetic as well as functional, and in its aesthetic aspects it is a form of cultural expression. In Bronze Age Mediterranean civilizations, the development of monumental architecture was influenced primarily by the political structure of the state. Perhaps the most disparate forms of monumental architecture in this region were developed in Pharaonic Egypt and Minoan Crete, reflecting the differences in their political systems. The socio-political structure of these two cultures can be sharply contrasted through an examination of a predominant type of monumental architecture found in each region.
Relying on the assumption that the channels could not have been accessed at a date later than the construction of the Fountain House, and that debris could not have made its way into the channels or surrounding areas after construction, Paga seems to be able to provide rather compelling evidence to support her dating of the Fountain House at circa 480-450 BCE. Most convincingly, she notes a saltcellar and a black-gloss Vicup or kylix base (Figure 15, Pg. 372 and Figure 12, Pg. 370 respectively). Saltcellars “are generally associated with the first quarter of the 5th century and rarely appear before 500,” (Paga, 374) and Vicups are “a particular type of cup that was manufactured for a brief time, perhaps for only a single generation, and almost all of its examples date to the second quarter of the 5th century,” (Paga, 374). However, Paga never distinguishes why the black-gloss base is “more likely,” (Paga, 374) from a Vicup than a less esoteric kylix, leaving reason to doubt the evidence she extrapolates from the shard originating as a part of a Vicup. Furthermore, and more significantly, the assumption Paga makes with regards to debris access to the areas the ceramics were found seems unfounded. While she is more than comfortable with the assumption, she does not identify why “such a hypothesis—that the later sherds [sic] represent an intrusion...seems highly unlikely,” (Paga, 376), she only identifies that—to her—it does. In contrast to this, Paga's supporting of her ideas with evidence from the pipelines themselves is more potentially more
While the army reached Thermopylae intact, the fleet suffered at the hand of two storms, with Herodotus attributing them to God attempting to equalize the opposing forces . The disparity between the size of the Persian and the size of the Greek forces was huge – thus, the Greeks’ strategy relied on geography . Holding the narrows at Thermopylae and the concurrent straits of Artemisium meant that Xerxes’ numerical superiority was reduced. It was here, on land and sea, that Greece showcased the superiority of it...
A diversity of skilled laborers was employed to build a framework required to raise stones required to make ceramic tiles for rooftops. Specialists were utilized to measure the fittings to fortify the block of stones to form the essential paraphernalia for modeled scenes. Athenian sculptors discretely etch sculptures for the roof and columns of the temple’s structures. Columns are made of limestone and marble as a foundation to support the ceilings. For example, the Parthenon, made in 447 B.C. to 432 B.C. in Greece, representation of a municipal designed by architects that took interest in each part of the development. The Greek establishments have been fundamental to the general architectural exquisite components regularly that utilizes of reconstructing a whole building. Despite the fact that the Ancient Greeks constructed numerous buildings, the temple best represents the points and techniques for the designs that the Greeks signify. The temple ordinarily fused on at least one or more sections of columns encompassing each of the four sides. The perpendicular formation of the temple adjusted to a request to alter the course of structures bound together by the standards of symmetry and
With the prolonged period of drought, social upheavals, and migrations that caused the destruction of settled societies and established governments, regions couldn’t support the large amounts of people and in turn they had to leave in search for fertile land to live in (Pollard 122). Therefore, this impacted empire building as there was less people to help work on these buildings. If there was any people that stayed, or slaves that were still able to work on these empire buildings, it most likely took them a long time to finish them. But since there was not much food or resources, it was most likely impossible for empire building to continue. Most regions had to secure food supplies, others plead for help, and like the Mycenaean culture in
"Unhandled Exception." Ancient Greece - History, Mythology, Art, War, Culture, Society, and Architecture. 2008. Web. 27 Feb. 2011. .
The end of the Geometric period resulted in the beginning of the Orientalizing Period, dated between 700-600 BC. Within this time frame, Greek introduced a new innovation, the Peripteral Temple. For many years prior, a row of colonnade was used on the interior primarily to hold up the roof of the building. In contrast, columns are seen being used on the outside, creating a visual wall around the building exposing parts of the interior. With in the temple existed the megaron style, carried forward from Bronze Age homes. It was also in eastern influenced period, the first real stone temples, and terra cotta roof tiles came to exist to hold the weight on these new stone temples. The population grew drastically, introducing new techniques and styles, which blended to form designs with balance and symmetry. It was during this period, two major Greek designs were developed, the Ionic and Doric order. (Pedley, 2012: pg. 180) The Doric order, being the first and most simple, consisted of baseless columns placed closely together as the Greeks did not know how much weight the shortened columns could hold. Reason behind this was the lack of length in the columns were believed to hold less weight and therefore forced into being placed closer together. This closely set arrangement created a very bold statement in the Doric temple. The Capital, which sat on top of the concaved shaped shaft, was left plain but when grouped alongside others, suggested a bold harmony. In contrast, the Ionic order was less bulky and more delicate than the Doric order. The top of the capital is decorated with two scrolls, also known as volutes, which could have resembled a shell or animal horns. Above the capital, held room for a surrounding frieze depictin...
The Greek architecture exhibits the detailed recording of buildings and their components through the three main periods. Although the style and method have changed, the emphasis on the general context remains the same.