ARCH 0412
From Gilgamesh to Hektor:
Heroes of the Bronze Age
February 26, 2016:
The Bronze Age Context of the Trojan War
Troy, Trojan War and Mycenaeans Timeline
Dates
Key Events
Key Monuments
17th century BCE
Grave Circle B in Mycenae
16th century BCE
Grave Circle A in Mycenae
15th century BCE
14th – 13th century BCE
Key Objects/ Texts
The so-called Mask of
Agamemnon and the Cup
of Nestor
Tudhaliya II’s Aegean
sword
Textually spotted conflicts
between Hittite and
Mycenaean populations
Ahhiyawa texts, especially
Tawagalawa Letter,
Alaksandu Treaty
Key Sites for all of this time period: Troy VI, Mycenae, Miletus, Hattusa
The Achaians
Late Bronze Age
Administrative System
• Palace
• Wanax (King)
• Lawagetas (“Leader of
the people”)
Seals
Hieroglyphic Minoan seal from the peak
sanctuary at Vrysinas, Crete
Seal and sealing of CMS I, 12
Found in Shaft Grave III, Grave Circle A
A nodule with seal impression
(Chania Museum 1023)
Seal and sealing of CMS I, 16
Found in Shaft Grave III, Grave Circle A
Architecture
Architecture
Tiryns
Mycenae
Burials – Shaft Graves (17th-16th centuries
BCE)
Grave Circle A
16th century BCE
Shaft Graves and the Iliad
And beside it a beautifully
wrought cup which the old man
brought with him
From home. It was set with
golden nails, the eared handles
upon it
Were four, and on either side
there were fashioned two doves
Of gold, feeding, and there were
double bases beneath it.
Another man with great effort
could lift it full from the table,
But Nestor, aged as he was, lifted
it without strain.
(Iliad, 11.631-636)
“Nestor’s Cup”
Mycenae
Grave Circle A, Shaft Grave IV
16th century BCE
Warfare & Weapons
Fresco fragment from Thera
16th century BCE
Faux boar-tusk helmet and
armor found in a tomb in
Dendra
Dagger from Grave Circle A
Warfare & Weapons
Type A
Type B
Type C
Type D
Naue II
Troy & the Trojan War
Troy =
Hisarlık (NW Turkey)
Coastline in the second millennium BCE
Schliemann and Troy
‘Big Digs’ and lack of stratigraphy…
Sophia Schliemann modelling
with jewelry (!)
The so-called ‘Priam’s Treasure’, that actually
dates to Troy II (ca. 2500-2300 BCE)
Homer’s Troy = Troy VI
The Ahhiyawa Question
• Late Bronze Age treaties
• Diplomatic
correspondence between
kings of the eastern
Mediterranean: “The
Amarna Letters”
• The region called
“Ahhiyawa” or “Arzawa”
Hittite Objects in the Aegean
Seal from Ialysos (13-12th cent BCE)
Seal from Mirabello
(13-12th cent BCE)
Seal from Mycenae
(13-12th cent BCE)
Nezero figurine
(15th c?)
Stag rhyton from
Mycenae (Old Hittite)
Aegean Objects in Hatti
Tudhaliya’s sword, found in Boğazköy, ca. 1420 BCE
Architecture: Hattusa
Direct and Indirect Interactions?
Hüseyindede Vase mid-16th cent BCE
Bull jumping fresco from Knossos (Crete), 17th-16th
century BCE
The Ahhiyawa Question
The Alaksandu Treaty (early 13th century BCE)
Between Muwatalli II and Alaksandu
“Formerly, when my forefather Labarna had conquered all the
lands of Arzawa and the land of Wilusa, thereafter the land of
Arzawa began war, and the land of Wilusa deflected from Hatti –
but because the matter is long past, I do not know from which
king. (…) And as I, My Majesty, protected you, Alaksandu, in good
will because of the word of your father, and came to your aid,
and killed your enemy for you, later in the future my sons and
my grandsons will certainly protect your descendant for you. ”
The Tawagalawa Letter (mid-13th century BCE)
CTH 76 The treaty between
Muwatalli II of Hatti and
Alaksandu of Wilusa
Fragment Bo 402
Hittite king (very likely Hattusili III) asking a king of Ahhiyawa
to get in touch with Piyamaradu, who is causing trouble around
the Hittite borders, and tell him:
“The king of Hatti and I – in that matter of Wilusa over which we
were at enmity, he has converted me in that matter, and we have
made peace; … a war would not be right for us.”
Trojan War: Myth
• The numbers of ships and soldiers mentioned in the Iliad
• Ten-year siege is impossible in that time period
• No archaeological evidence that Troy VI was definitely destroyed by
human agency, it can also be an earthquake
• Non-Late Bronze Age details in the Iliad (and especially in the Hollywood
re-imaginations of the Trojan war!)
Trojan War: Reality
• Some archaeological
inspirations of the epic, such
as the walls of Troy
• Long-standing conflicts
between Anatolian/Hittite
and Mycenaean/Aegean
populations
• Interactions between Aegean
and Anatolia, awareness of
each other’s cultures
• Architectural similarities
between Anatolia and the
Aegean, especially in terms of
defensive structures
Troy, Trojan War and Mycenaeans Timeline
Dates
Key Events
Key Monuments
17th century BCE
Grave Circle B in Mycenae
16th century BCE
Grave Circle A in Mycenae
15th century BCE
14th – 13th century BCE
Key Objects/ Texts
The so-called Mask of
Agamemnon and the Cup
of Nestor
Tudhaliya II’s Aegean
sword
Textually spotted conflicts
between Hittite and
Mycenaean populations
Ahhiyawa texts, especially
Tawagalawa Letter,
Alaksandu Treaty
Key Sites for all of this time period: Troy VI, Mycenae, Miletus, Hattusa
Team Trivia!!
• Divide into groups of 3, and find a name for your
group
• There will be 6 questions, some multiple-choice,
some you will need to write the answer in.
• Answer the questions on the papers provided,
and remember to write your group name on it.
Question 1
Name three themes we talked about in relation
with the Iliad.
Question 2
Which of the following is NOT an ally city/king of
Mycenae (and its king Agamemnon)?
a)
b)
c)
d)
Sparta (and its king Menelaos)
Dardania (and its king Aineias)
Rhodes (and its king Tlepolemos)
Argos (and its king Diomedes)
Question 3: Double Dare!
Who are the leaders of Lycians in the Iliad?
a)
b)
c)
d)
Sarpedon and Paris
Glaukos and Aeneas
Sarpedon and Glaukos
Aeneas and Antilochos
(you lose all your points if you answer wrong, and
double them if you answer right.)
Question 4
Which level of Troy is Homer’s Ilion?
a)
b)
c)
d)
Troy I
Troy III
Troy V
Troy VI
Question 5
What are the burial grounds in Mycenae that
yielded important artifacts such as the so-called
“Cup of Nestor” called? And what kind of tombs do
they contain?
Question 6: Double Dare!
Provide what we think the Hittite name of Troy is
AND
Name of one of the kings/rulers associated with it.
(you lose all your points if you answer wrong, and
double them if you answer right.)