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114-578: Though the worship of Dionysus is sometimes presumed to have arrived in Mycenaean Greece from Asia Minor (where the Hittites called themselves "Nesi"), the various locations assigned to Nysa may simply be conventions to show that a romantically remote and mythical land was envisaged. The name Nysa may even be an invention to explain the god's name. Even Homer mentions the mountain Nyseion as

228-577: A basis for coinages: anthropology , photography , telephony , isomer , biomechanics , cinematography , etc. Together with Latin words , they form the foundation of international scientific and technical vocabulary ; for example, all words ending in -logy ('discourse'). There are many English words of Greek origin . Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European language family. The ancient language most closely related to it may be ancient Macedonian , which, by most accounts,

342-537: A certain Tawagalawa , a possible Hittite rendering of the Greek name Eteocles , as brother of the king of Ahhiyawa. In c. 1250 BC, the first wave of destruction apparently occurred in various centres of mainland Greece for reasons that cannot be identified by archaeologists. In Boeotia , Thebes was burned to the ground, around that year or slightly later. Nearby Orchomenos was not destroyed at this time but

456-558: A fairly stable set of consonantal contrasts . The main phonological changes occurred during the Hellenistic and Roman period (see Koine Greek phonology for details): In all its stages, the morphology of Greek shows an extensive set of productive derivational affixes , a limited but productive system of compounding and a rich inflectional system. Although its morphological categories have been fairly stable over time, morphological changes are present throughout, particularly in

570-508: A faster, more convenient cursive writing style with the use of ink and quill . The Greek alphabet consists of 24 letters, each with an uppercase ( majuscule ) and lowercase ( minuscule ) form. The letter sigma has an additional lowercase form (ς) used in the final position of a word: In addition to the letters, the Greek alphabet features a number of diacritical signs : three different accent marks ( acute , grave , and circumflex ), originally denoting different shapes of pitch accent on

684-540: A foreign language. It is also often stated that the historical changes have been relatively slight compared with some other languages. According to one estimation, " Homeric Greek is probably closer to Demotic than 12-century Middle English is to modern spoken English ". Greek is spoken today by at least 13 million people, principally in Greece and Cyprus along with a sizable Greek-speaking minority in Albania near

798-734: A fresco at Akrotiri , on Thera island, which possibly displays many warriors in boar's tusk helmets , a feature typical of Mycenaean warfare. In the early 15th century BC, commerce intensified with Mycenaean pottery reaching the western coast of Asia Minor , including Miletus and Troy , Cyprus , Lebanon , Palestine and Egypt . Early Mycenaean civilization from the Shaft Grave period generally showcases heavy influence from Minoan Crete in regards to e.g. art, infrastructure and symbols, while also maintaining some Helladic elements as well as some innovations, and some West Asian influences. A difference between Mycenaean and Minoan civilizations

912-445: A person, Enkhelyawon , at Pylos, who appears titleless in the written record but whom modern scholars regard as probably a king. A number of local officials positioned by the wanax appear to be in charge of the districts, such as ko-re-te ( koreter , '"governor"), po-ro-ko-re-te ( prokoreter , "deputy") and the da-mo-ko-ro ( damokoros , "one who takes care of a damos"), the latter probably being appointed to take charge of

1026-566: A political reconstruction of Bronze Age Greece. Excavations at Miletus, southwest Asia Minor , indicate the existence of a Mycenaean settlement there already from c.  1450 BC , replacing the previous Minoan installations. This site became a sizable and prosperous Mycenaean center until the 12th century BC. Apart from the archaeological evidence, this is also attested in Hittite records, which indicate that Miletos (Milawata in Hittite)

1140-538: A recordless transitional period leading to Archaic Greece where significant shifts occurred from palace-centralized to decentralized forms of socio-economic organization (including the extensive use of iron ). Various theories have been proposed for the end of this civilization, among them the Dorian invasion or activities connected to the " Sea Peoples ". Additional theories such as natural disasters and climatic changes have also been suggested. The Mycenaean period became

1254-523: A straight entry passage lined with stone. Starting in the 15th century BC, the Mycenaeans began to spread their influence throughout the Aegean and Western Anatolia. By c.  1450 BC , the palace of Knossos was ruled by a Mycenaean elite who formed a hybrid Minoan-Mycenaean culture. Mycenaeans also colonized several other Aegean islands, reaching as far as Rhodes . Thus the Mycenaeans became

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1368-541: A trade embargo imposed on Assyria. In general, in the second half of 13th century BC, trade was in decline in the Eastern Mediterranean, most probably due to the unstable political environment there. None of the defence measures appear to have prevented the final destruction and collapse of the Mycenaean states. A second destruction struck Mycenae in c. 1190 BC or shortly thereafter. This event marked

1482-516: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article relating to a myth or legend from the ancient Middle East is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Mycenaean Greece Mycenaean Greece (or the Mycenaean civilization ) was the last phase of the Bronze Age in ancient Greece , spanning the period from approximately 1750 to 1050 BC. It represents

1596-804: Is also found in Bulgaria near the Greek-Bulgarian border. Greek is also spoken worldwide by the sizable Greek diaspora which has notable communities in the United States , Australia , Canada , South Africa , Chile , Brazil , Argentina , Russia , Ukraine , the United Kingdom , and throughout the European Union , especially in Germany . Historically, significant Greek-speaking communities and regions were found throughout

1710-773: Is an Indo-European language, constituting an independent Hellenic branch within the Indo-European language family. It is native to Greece , Cyprus , Italy (in Calabria and Salento ), southern Albania , and other regions of the Balkans , Caucasus , the Black Sea coast, Asia Minor , and the Eastern Mediterranean . It has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning at least 3,400 years of written records. Its writing system

1824-423: Is an Indo-European language, but also includes a number of borrowings from the languages of the populations that inhabited Greece before the arrival of Proto-Greeks, some documented in Mycenaean texts ; they include a large number of Greek toponyms . The form and meaning of many words have changed. Loanwords (words of foreign origin) have entered the language, mainly from Latin, Venetian , and Turkish . During

1938-453: Is complexity and monumentality; Mycenaean craftmanship and architecture are more simplified versions of Minoan ones, but are more monumental in size. Later phases of the Mycenaean civilization showcase more sophistication, eventually coming to surpass Minoan Crete after a few centuries. At the end of the Shaft Grave era, a new and more imposing type of elite burial emerged, the tholos : large circular burial chambers with high vaulted roofs and

2052-547: Is further divided into LHI and LHII, both of which coincide with the middle phase of Mycenaean Greece ( c.  1700 /1675–1420 BC), and LHIII ( c.  1420 –1050 BC), the period of expansion, and decline of the Mycenaean civilization. The transition period from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age in Greece is known as Sub-Mycenaean ( c.  1050 –1000 BC). Based on recent research, Alex Knodell (2021) considers

2166-622: Is generally accepted as a Hittite term for Mycenaean Greece ( Achaeans in Homeric Greek), but a precise geographical definition of the term cannot be drawn from the texts. During this time, the kings of Ahhiyawa were evidently capable of dealing with their Hittite counterparts both on a diplomatic and military level. Moreover, Ahhiyawa achieved considerable political influence in parts of Western Anatolia, typically by encouraging anti-Hittite uprisings and collaborating with local vassal rulers. In c.  1400 BC , Hittite records mention

2280-524: Is no satisfactory explanation for the collapse of the Mycenaean palace systems. The two most common theories are population movement and internal conflict. The first attributes the destruction of Mycenaean sites to invaders. The hypothesis of a Dorian invasion , known as such in Ancient Greek tradition , that led to the end of Mycenaean Greece, is supported by sporadic archaeological evidence such as new types of burials, in particular cist graves, and

2394-489: Is not able to solve the issue and that the majority of Hellenists believed Mycenaeans spoke a non-Indo-European Minoan language before Linear B was deciphered in 1952. Notwithstanding the above academic disputes, the mainstream consensus among modern Mycenologists is that Mycenaean civilization began around 1750 BC, earlier than the Shaft Graves, originating and evolving from the local socio-cultural landscape of

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2508-519: Is protected and promoted officially as a regional and minority language in Armenia, Hungary , Romania, and Ukraine. It is recognized as a minority language and protected in Turkey by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne . The phonology , morphology , syntax , and vocabulary of the language show both conservative and innovative tendencies across the entire attestation of the language from the ancient to

2622-526: Is spoken by at least 13.5 million people today in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Albania, Turkey , and the many other countries of the Greek diaspora . Greek roots have been widely used for centuries and continue to be widely used to coin new words in other languages; Greek and Latin are the predominant sources of international scientific vocabulary . Greek has been spoken in the Balkan peninsula since around

2736-763: Is still used internationally for the writing of Ancient Greek . In Greek, the question mark is written as the English semicolon, while the functions of the colon and semicolon are performed by a raised point (•), known as the ano teleia ( άνω τελεία ). In Greek the comma also functions as a silent letter in a handful of Greek words, principally distinguishing ό,τι ( ó,ti , 'whatever') from ότι ( óti , 'that'). Ancient Greek texts often used scriptio continua ('continuous writing'), which means that ancient authors and scribes would write word after word with no spaces or punctuation between words to differentiate or mark boundaries. Boustrophedon , or bi-directional text,

2850-650: Is the Greek alphabet , which has been used for approximately 2,800 years; previously, Greek was recorded in writing systems such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary . The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin , Cyrillic , Coptic , Gothic , and many other writing systems. The Greek language holds a very important place in the history of the Western world. Beginning with

2964-615: The Early and Middle Bronze Age in mainland Greece with influences from Minoan Crete . Towards the end of the Middle Bronze Age ( c.  1700 /1675 BC), a significant increase in the population and the number of settlements occurred. A number of centers of power emerged in southern mainland Greece dominated by a warrior elite society; while the typical dwellings of that era were an early type of megaron buildings, some more complex structures are classified as forerunners of

3078-495: The Eastern Mediterranean , in what are today Southern Italy , Turkey , Cyprus , Syria , Lebanon , Israel , Palestine , Egypt , and Libya ; in the area of the Black Sea , in what are today Turkey, Bulgaria , Romania , Ukraine , Russia , Georgia , Armenia , and Azerbaijan ; and, to a lesser extent, in the Western Mediterranean in and around colonies such as Massalia , Monoikos , and Mainake . It

3192-516: The Indo-Iranian languages (see Graeco-Aryan ), but little definitive evidence has been found. In addition, Albanian has also been considered somewhat related to Greek and Armenian, and it has been proposed that they all form a higher-order subgroup along with other extinct languages of the ancient Balkans; this higher-order subgroup is usually termed Palaeo-Balkan , and Greek has a central position in it. Linear B , attested as early as

3306-536: The Levant and Italy . The Mycenaean Greeks introduced several innovations in the fields of engineering, architecture and military infrastructure , while trade over vast areas of the Mediterranean was essential for the Mycenaean economy. Their syllabic script , Linear B , offers the first written records of the Greek language , and their religion already included several deities that can also be found in

3420-525: The Levantine coast. Nevertheless, other regions on the edge of the Mycenaean world prospered, such as the Ionian islands , the northwestern Peloponnese, parts of Attica and a number of Aegean islands. The acropolis of Athens , oddly, appears to have avoided destruction. Athens and the eastern coast of Attica were still occupied in the 12th century BC, and were not destroyed or abandoned; this points to

3534-537: The Olympic pantheon . Mycenaean Greece was dominated by a warrior elite society and consisted of a network of palace -centered states that developed rigid hierarchical, political, social, and economic systems . At the head of this society was the king, known as a wanax . Mycenaean Greece perished with the collapse of Bronze Age culture in the eastern Mediterranean, to be followed by the Greek Dark Ages ,

Nysa (mythology) - Misplaced Pages Continue

3648-453: The Pylos archive, which is the best preserved one in the Mycenaean world, is generally taken as a representative one. The state was ruled by a king, the wanax (ϝάναξ), whose role was religious and perhaps also military and judicial. The wanax oversaw virtually all aspects of palatial life, from religious feasting and offerings to the distribution of goods, craftsmen and troops. Under him

3762-651: The entheogen wine . According to Sir William Jones , "Meros is said by the Greeks to have been a mountain in India, on which their Dionysos was born, and that Meru , though it generally means the north pole in Indian geography, is also a mountain near the city of Naishada or Nysa, called by the Greek geographers Dionysopolis, and universally celebrated in the Sanskrit poems." This article relating to Greek mythology

3876-489: The ethnonym Danaoi ( Greek : Δαναοί ), the name of the mythical dynasty that ruled in the region of Argos, also used as an ethnonym for the Greek people by Homer. In the official records of another Bronze Age empire, that of the Hittites in Anatolia , various references from c.  1400 BC to 1220 BC mention a country named Ahhiyawa . Recent scholarship, based on textual evidence, new interpretations of

3990-492: The nominal and verbal systems. The major change in the nominal morphology since the classical stage was the disuse of the dative case (its functions being largely taken over by the genitive ). The verbal system has lost the infinitive , the synthetically -formed future, and perfect tenses and the optative mood . Many have been replaced by periphrastic ( analytical ) forms. Pronouns show distinctions in person (1st, 2nd, and 3rd), number (singular, dual , and plural in

4104-731: The 13th century BC have been found in Ireland and in Wessex and Cornwall in England . Anthropologists have found traces of opium in Mycenaean ceramic vases. The drug trade in Mycenaean Greece is traced as early as 1650–1350 BC, with opium poppies being traded in the eastern Mediterranean . Greek language Greek ( Modern Greek : Ελληνικά , romanized :  Elliniká , [eliniˈka] ; Ancient Greek : Ἑλληνική , romanized :  Hellēnikḗ )

4218-470: The 3rd millennium BC, or possibly earlier. The earliest written evidence is a Linear B clay tablet found in Messenia that dates to between 1450 and 1350 BC, making Greek the world's oldest recorded living language . Among the Indo-European languages, its date of earliest written attestation is matched only by the now-extinct Anatolian languages . The Greek language is conventionally divided into

4332-652: The Ahhiyawans. These Ekwesh were mentioned as a group of the Sea People . Scholars have proposed different theories on the origins of the Mycenaeans. According to one theory, Mycenaean civilization reflected the exogenous imposition of archaic Indo-Europeans from the Eurasian steppe onto the pre-Mycenaean local population. An issue with this theory, however, is the very tenuous material and cultural relationship between Aegean and northern steppe populations during

4446-509: The Bronze Age. Another theory proposes that Mycenaean culture in Greece dates back to circa 3000 BC with Indo-European migrants entering a mainly-depopulated area; other hypotheses argue for a date as early as the seventh millennium BC (with the spread of agriculture ) and as late as 1600 BC (with the spread of chariot technology ). In a 2017 genetic study conducted by Lazaridis et al., "the Minoans and Mycenaeans were genetically similar, [but]

4560-486: The Greek alphabet since approximately the 9th century BC. It was created by modifying the Phoenician alphabet , with the innovation of adopting certain letters to represent the vowels. The variant of the alphabet in use today is essentially the late Ionic variant, introduced for writing classical Attic in 403 BC. In classical Greek, as in classical Latin, only upper-case letters existed. The lower-case Greek letters were developed much later by medieval scribes to permit

4674-425: The Greek language are often emphasized. Although Greek has undergone morphological and phonological changes comparable to those seen in other languages, never since classical antiquity has its cultural, literary, and orthographic tradition been interrupted to the extent that one can speak of a new language emerging. Greek speakers today still tend to regard literary works of ancient Greek as part of their own rather than

Nysa (mythology) - Misplaced Pages Continue

4788-495: The Greek language was the Cypriot syllabary (also a descendant of Linear A via the intermediate Cypro-Minoan syllabary ), which is closely related to Linear B but uses somewhat different syllabic conventions to represent phoneme sequences. The Cypriot syllabary is attested in Cyprus from the 11th century BC until its gradual abandonment in the late Classical period, in favor of the standard Greek alphabet. Greek has been written in

4902-629: The Greek verb have likewise remained largely the same over the course of the language's history but with significant changes in the number of distinctions within each category and their morphological expression. Greek verbs have synthetic inflectional forms for: Many aspects of the syntax of Greek have remained constant: verbs agree with their subject only, the use of the surviving cases is largely intact (nominative for subjects and predicates, accusative for objects of most verbs and many prepositions, genitive for possessors), articles precede nouns, adpositions are largely prepositional, relative clauses follow

5016-685: The Greek-Albanian border. A significant percentage of Albania's population has knowledge of the Greek language due in part to the Albanian wave of immigration to Greece in the 1980s and '90s and the Greek community in the country. Prior to the Greco-Turkish War and the resulting population exchange in 1923 a very large population of Greek-speakers also existed in Turkey , though very few remain today. A small Greek-speaking community

5130-618: The Hittite inscriptions, and recent surveys of archaeological evidence about Mycenaean–Anatolian contacts during this period, concludes that the term Ahhiyawa must have been used in reference to the Mycenaean world (land of the Achaeans), or at least to a part of it. This term may have also had broader connotations in some texts, possibly referring to all regions settled by Mycenaeans or regions under direct Mycenaean political control. Another similar ethnonym, Ekwesh , in twelfth century BC Egyptian inscriptions has been commonly identified with

5244-569: The Middle East, based on the considerable greater quantities of Mycenaean goods found there. On the other hand, trade with the Hittite lands in central Anatolia appears to have been limited. Trade with Troy is also well attested, while Mycenaean trade routes expanded further to the Bosphorus and the shores of the Black Sea . Mycenaean swords have been found as far away as Georgia in

5358-495: The Mycenaean acropolis. It appears that after this first wave of destruction a short-lived revival of Mycenaean culture followed. Mycenaean Greece continues to be mentioned in international affairs, particularly in Hittite records. In c.  1220 BC , the king of Ahhiyawa is again reported to have been involved in an anti-Hittite uprising in western Anatolia. Another contemporary Hittite account reports that Ahhiyawan ships should avoid Assyrian -controlled harbors, as part of

5472-404: The Mycenaean palatial states were newcomers or populations that already resided in Mycenaean Greece. Recent archaeological findings tend to favor the latter scenario. Additional theories, concerning natural factors , such as climate change, droughts, or earthquakes have also been proposed. Another theory considers the decline of the Mycenaean civilization as a manifestation of a common pattern for

5586-478: The Mycenaeans differed from Minoans in deriving additional ancestry from an ultimate source related to the hunter–gatherers of eastern Europe and Siberia, introduced via a proximal source related to the inhabitants of either the Eurasian steppe or Armenia." However, Lazaridis et al. admit that their research "does not settle th[e] debate" on Mycenaean origins. Historian Bernard Sergent notes that archaeology alone

5700-592: The Near East, Apulia in Italy and Spain . From that time period ( c.  1400 BC ), the palace of Knossos has yielded the earliest records of the Greek Linear B script, based on the previous Linear A of the Minoans. The use of the new script spread in mainland Greece and offers valuable insight into the administrative network of the palatial centers. However, the unearthed records are too fragmentary for

5814-593: The acropolis of Mycenae, in particular the Grave Circles A and B , signified the elevation of a native Greek-speaking royal dynasty whose economic power depended on long-distance sea trade. During this period, the Mycenaean centers witnessed increased contact with the outside world, especially with the Cyclades and the Minoan centers on the island of Crete . Mycenaean presence appears to be also depicted in

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5928-689: The activity of the Sea Peoples in the Eastern Mediterranean. They caused widespread destruction in Anatolia and the Levant and were finally defeated by Pharaoh Ramesses III in c. 1175 BC. One of the ethnic groups that comprised these people were the Eqwesh , a name that appears to be linked with the Ahhiyawa of the Hittite inscriptions. Alternative scenarios propose that the fall of Mycenaean Greece

6042-404: The acute during the late 20th century, and it has only been retained in typography . After the writing reform of 1982, most diacritics are no longer used. Since then, Greek has been written mostly in the simplified monotonic orthography (or monotonic system), which employs only the acute accent and the diaeresis. The traditional system, now called the polytonic orthography (or polytonic system),

6156-402: The ancient language; singular and plural alone in later stages), and gender (masculine, feminine, and neuter), and decline for case (from six cases in the earliest forms attested to four in the modern language). Nouns, articles, and adjectives show all the distinctions except for a person. Both attributive and predicative adjectives agree with the noun. The inflectional categories of

6270-614: The beginning of Mycenaean occupation in Peloponnese in Middle Helladic III ( c.  1750 –1675 BC), and divides the whole Mycenaean time into three cultural periods: Early Mycenaean ( c.  1750 –1400 BC), Palatial Bronze Age ( c.  1400 –1200 BC), and Postpalatial Bronze Age ( c.  1200 –1050 BC). The decipherment of the Mycenaean Linear B script, a writing system adapted for

6384-547: The besiegers, and these names appear to have passed down from the time they were in use to the time when Homer applied them as collective terms in his Iliad . There is an isolated reference to a-ka-wi-ja-de in the Linear B records in Knossos , Crete dated to c.  1400 BC , which presumably refers to a Mycenaean (Achaean) state on the Greek mainland. Egyptian records mention a T(D)-n-j or Danaya ( Tanaju ) land for

6498-416: The coast of southern Anatolia, displays the established trade routes that supplied the Mycenaeans with all the raw materials and items that the economy of Mycenaean Greece needed, such as copper and tin for the production of bronze products. A chief export of the Mycenaeans was olive oil , which was a multi-purpose product. Cyprus appears to be the principal intermediary station between Mycenaean Greece and

6612-489: The commune. A council of elders was chaired, the ke-ro-si-ja (cf. γερουσία, gerousía ). The basileus , who in later Greek society was the name of the king, refers to communal officials. In general, Mycenaean society appears to have been divided into two groups of free men: the king's entourage, who conducted administrative duties at the palace, and the people, da-mo . These last were watched over by royal agents and were obliged to perform duties for and pay taxes to

6726-517: The decipherment marked the advent of an Indo-European language in the Aegean region in contrast to unrelated prior languages spoken in adjoining areas. Various collective terms for the inhabitants of Mycenaean Greece were used by Homer in his 8th-century BC epic the Iliad in reference to the Trojan War . Homer interchangeably used the ethnonyms Achaeans , Danaans , and Argives to refer to

6840-691: The decline of many ancient civilizations: the Minoan, the Harappan and the Western Roman Empire; the reason for the decline is migration due to overpopulation. The period following the end of Mycenaean Greece, c. 1100–800 BC, is generally termed the " Greek Dark Ages ". Mycenaean palatial states, or centrally organized palace-operating polities, are recorded in ancient Greek literature and mythology (e.g., Iliad , Catalogue of Ships ) and confirmed by discoveries made by modern archaeologists such as Heinrich Schliemann . Each Mycenaean kingdom

6954-664: The dominant center was probably located in Thebes or in Mycenae, with the latter state being the most probable center of power. The Neolithic agrarian village (6000 BC) constituted the foundation of Bronze Age political culture in Greece. The vast majority of the preserved Linear B records deal with administrative issues and give the impression that Mycenaean palatial administration was highly systematized, featuring thoroughly consistent language, terminology, tax calculations, and distribution logistics. Considering this sense of uniformity,

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7068-419: The dominant power of the region, marking the beginning of the Mycenaean 'Koine' era (from Greek : Κοινή , common), a highly uniform culture that spread in mainland Greece and the Aegean. From the early 14th century BC, Mycenaean trade began to take advantage of the new commercial opportunities in the Mediterranean after the Minoan collapse. The trade routes were expanded further, reaching Cyprus , Amman in

7182-405: The drainage system of the Kopais basin in Boeotia, the building of a large dam outside Tiryns, and the drainage of the swamp in the Nemea valley. Also noticeable is the construction of harbors, such as the harbor of Pylos, that were capable of accommodating large Bronze Age era vessels like the one found at Uluburun . The Mycenaean economy also featured large-scale manufacturing as testified by

7296-404: The early 19th century that was used for literary and official purposes in the newly formed Greek state. In 1976, Dimotiki was declared the official language of Greece, after having incorporated features of Katharevousa and thus giving birth to Standard Modern Greek , used today for all official purposes and in education . The historical unity and continuing identity between the various stages of

7410-609: The eastern Black Sea coast. Commercial interaction was also intense with the Italian peninsula and the western Mediterranean. Mycenaean products, especially pottery, were exported to southern Italy , Sicily and the Aeolian Islands . Mycenaean products also penetrated further into Sardinia , as well as southern Spain . Sporadic objects of Mycenaean manufacture were found in various distant locations, like in Central Europe, such as in Bavaria , Germany , where an amber object inscribed with Linear B symbols has been unearthed. Mycenaean bronze double axes and other objects dating from

7524-409: The end of Mycenae as a major power. The site was then reoccupied, but on a smaller scale. A recent study suggests that neither of the palaces at Tiryns or Midea were destroyed by an earthquake, and further studies have shown that upwards of fifty arrowheads were found scattered in the destruction debris at Midea perhaps indicating that the destruction was caused by an assault. The palace of Pylos , in

7638-448: The epics of Homer , ancient Greek literature includes many works of lasting importance in the European canon . Greek is also the language in which many of the foundational texts in science and philosophy were originally composed. The New Testament of the Christian Bible was also originally written in Greek. Together with the Latin texts and traditions of the Roman world , the Greek texts and Greek societies of antiquity constitute

7752-423: The existence of new decentralized coastal and maritime networks there. It is attested by the cemetery of Perati that lasted a century and showed imports from Cyclades , Dodecanese , Crete, Cyprus, Egypt and Syria, as well as by the Late Helladic IIIC ( c.  1210 –1040 BC) cemetery of Drivlia at Porto Rafti ; located 2 km west of Perati. This indicates that Attica participated in long-distance trade, and

7866-435: The extent of workshop complexes that have been discovered, the largest known to date being the recent ceramic and hydraulic installations found in Euonymeia , next to Athens, that produced tableware, textiles, sails, and ropes for export and shipbuilding . The most famous project of the Mycenaean era was the network of roads in the Peloponnese . This appears to have facilitated the speedy deployment of troops—for example,

7980-406: The first advanced and distinctively Greek civilization in mainland Greece with its palatial states, urban organization, works of art, and writing system. The Mycenaeans were mainland Greek peoples who were likely stimulated by their contact with insular Minoan Crete and other Mediterranean cultures to develop a more sophisticated sociopolitical culture of their own. The most prominent site

8094-454: The first time c.  1437 BC , during the reign of Pharaoh Thutmoses III (r. 1479–1425 BC). This land is geographically defined in an inscription from the reign of Amenhotep III (r. c.  1390 –1352 BC), where a number of Danaya cities are mentioned, which cover the largest part of southern mainland Greece. Among them, cities such as Mycenae, Nauplion, and Thebes have been identified with certainty. Danaya has been equated with

8208-452: The following periods: In the modern era, the Greek language entered a state of diglossia : the coexistence of vernacular and archaizing written forms of the language. What came to be known as the Greek language question was a polarization between two competing varieties of Modern Greek: Dimotiki , the vernacular form of Modern Greek proper, and Katharevousa , meaning 'purified', a compromise between Dimotiki and Ancient Greek developed in

8322-407: The fortifications in various sites. In some cases, arrangements were also made for the creation of subterranean passages which led to underground cisterns. Tiryns, Midea and Athens expanded their defences with new cyclopean-style walls. The extension program in Mycenae almost doubled the fortified area of the citadel. To this phase of extension belongs the impressive Lion Gate , the main entrance into

8436-502: The head of this society was the king, known as wanax (Linear B: wa-na-ka) in Mycenaean Greek . All powers were vested in him, as the main landlord and spiritual and military leader. At the same time he was an entrepreneur and trader and was aided by a network of high officials. The presence of Ahhiyawa in western Anatolia is mentioned in various Hittite accounts from c.  1400 to c.  1220 BC . Ahhiyawa

8550-474: The historical setting of much ancient Greek literature and mythology , including the Trojan Epic Cycle . The Bronze Age in mainland Greece is generally termed as the " Helladic period " by modern archaeologists, after Hellas , the Greek name for Greece . This period is divided into three subperiods: The Early Helladic (EH) period ( c.  3200 –2000 BC) was a time of prosperity with

8664-439: The infinitive entirely (employing a raft of new periphrastic constructions instead) and uses participles more restrictively. The loss of the dative led to a rise of prepositional indirect objects (and the use of the genitive to directly mark these as well). Ancient Greek tended to be verb-final, but neutral word order in the modern language is VSO or SVO. Modern Greek inherits most of its vocabulary from Ancient Greek, which in turn

8778-414: The late 15th century BC, was the first script used to write Greek. It is basically a syllabary , which was finally deciphered by Michael Ventris and John Chadwick in the 1950s (its precursor, Linear A , has not been deciphered and most likely encodes a non-Greek language). The language of the Linear B texts, Mycenaean Greek , is the earliest known form of Greek. Another similar system used to write

8892-573: The later palaces. In a number of sites, defensive walls were also erected. Meanwhile, new types of burials and more imposing ones have been unearthed, which display a great variety of luxurious objects. Among the various burial types, the shaft grave became the most common form of elite burial, a feature that gave the name to the early period of Mycenaean Greece. Among the Mycenaean elite, deceased men were usually laid to rest in gold masks and funerary armor, and women in gold crowns and clothes gleaming with gold ornaments. The royal shaft graves next to

9006-457: The latter being the northernmost Mycenaean center. Knossos in Crete also became a Mycenaean center, where the former Minoan complex underwent a number of adjustments, including the addition of a throne room . These centers were based on a rigid network of bureaucracy where administrative competencies were classified into various sections and offices according to specialization of work and trades. At

9120-588: The membership of Greece and Cyprus in the European Union, Greek is one of the organization's 24 official languages . Greek is recognized as a minority language in Albania, and used co-officially in some of its municipalities, in the districts of Gjirokastër and Sarandë . It is also an official minority language in the regions of Apulia and Calabria in Italy. In the framework of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages , Greek

9234-468: The military activities of an Ahhiyawan warlord, Attarsiya , possibly related to the mythic character of Atreus . Attarsiya attacked Hittite vassals in western Anatolia including Madduwatta . Later, in c. 1315 BC, an anti-Hittite rebellion headed by Arzawa , a Hittite vassal state, received support from Ahhiyawa. Meanwhile, Ahhiyawa appears to be in control of a number of islands in the Aegean, an impression also supported by archaeological evidence. During

9348-441: The modern period. The division into conventional periods is, as with all such periodizations, relatively arbitrary, especially because, in all periods, Ancient Greek has enjoyed high prestige, and the literate borrowed heavily from it. Across its history, the syllabic structure of Greek has varied little: Greek shows a mixed syllable structure, permitting complex syllabic onsets but very restricted codas. It has only oral vowels and

9462-399: The noun they modify and relative pronouns are clause-initial. However, the morphological changes also have their counterparts in the syntax, and there are also significant differences between the syntax of the ancient and that of the modern form of the language . Ancient Greek made great use of participial constructions and of constructions involving the infinitive, and the modern variety lacks

9576-474: The objects of study of the discipline of Classics . During antiquity , Greek was by far the most widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world . It eventually became the official language of the Byzantine Empire and developed into Medieval Greek . In its modern form , Greek is the official language of Greece and Cyprus and one of the 24 official languages of the European Union . It

9690-706: The older periods of Greek, loanwords into Greek acquired Greek inflections, thus leaving only a foreign root word. Modern borrowings (from the 20th century on), especially from French and English, are typically not inflected; other modern borrowings are derived from Albanian , South Slavic ( Macedonian / Bulgarian ) and Eastern Romance languages ( Aromanian and Megleno-Romanian ). Greek words have been widely borrowed into other languages, including English. Example words include: mathematics , physics , astronomy , democracy , philosophy , athletics , theatre, rhetoric , baptism , evangelist , etc. Moreover, Greek words and word elements continue to be productive as

9804-450: The palace, but the production of ceramics was only indirectly monitored. Regional transactions between the palaces are also recorded on a few occasions. The palatial centers organized their workforce and resources for the construction of large scale projects in the fields of agriculture and industry. The magnitude of some projects indicates that this was the result of combined efforts from multiple palatial centers. Most notable of them are

9918-464: The palace. Among those who could be found in the palace were well-to-do high officials, who probably lived in the vast residences found in proximity to Mycenaean palaces, but also others, tied by their work to the palace and not necessarily better off than the members of the da-mo , such as craftsmen, farmers, and perhaps merchants. Occupying a lower rung of the social ladder were the slaves, do-e-ro , ( cf. δοῦλος , doúlos ). These are recorded in

10032-564: The place where Dionysus grew up under the protection of the nymphs. Hesychius of Alexandria (5th century Byzantine lexicon) gives a list of the following locations proposed by ancient authors as the site of Mount Nysa: Arabia , Ethiopia , Egypt , Babylon , Erythraian Sea (the Red Sea ), Thrace , Thessaly , Cilicia , India , Libya , Lydia , Macedonia , Naxos , around Pangaios (mythical island south of Arabia), Syria . On his return from Nysa to join his fellow Olympians, Dionysus brought

10146-507: The rations given to the dependent personnel. The Mycenaean palaces maintained extensive control of the nondomestic areas of production through careful control and acquisition and distribution in the palace industries, and the tallying of produced goods. For instance, the Knossos tablets record c. 80,000–100,000 sheep grazing in central Crete , and the quantity of the expected wool from these sheep and their offspring, as well as how this wool

10260-446: The reconstruction of the political landscape in Mycenaean Greece and they do not support nor deny the existence of a larger Mycenaean state. On the other hand, contemporary Hittite and Egyptian records suggest the presence of a single state under a "Great King". Alternatively, based on archaeological data, some sort of confederation among a number of palatial states appears to be possible. If some kind of united political entity existed,

10374-436: The region of Wilusa , and later invaded the island of Lesbos , which then passed into Ahhiyawan control. Scholars have speculated that the mythic tradition of the Trojan War could have a historical basis in the political turmoil of this era. As a result of this instability, the Hittite king initiated correspondence in order to convince his Ahhiyawan counterpart to restore peace in the region. The Hittite record mentions

10488-420: The reign of the Hittite king Hattusili III (c. 1267–1237 BC), the king of Ahhiyawa is recognized as a "Great King" and of equal status with the other contemporary great Bronze Age rulers: the kings of Egypt , Babylonia and Assyria . At that time, another anti-Hittite movement, led by Piyama-Radu , broke out and was supported by the king of Ahhiyawa. Piyama-Radu caused major unrest which may have extended to

10602-786: The remnants of a Mycenaean road, along with what appears to have been a Mycenaean defensive wall on the Isthmus of Corinth . The Mycenaean era saw the zenith of infrastructure engineering in Greece, and this appears not to have been limited to the Argive plain. Trade over vast areas of the Mediterranean was essential for the economy of Mycenaean Greece. The Mycenaean palaces imported raw materials, such as metals, ivory and glass, and exported processed commodities and objects made from these materials, in addition to local products: oil, perfume, wine, wool and pottery. International trade of that time

10716-469: The southwestern Peloponnese, was destroyed in c. 1180 BC. The Linear B archives found there, preserved by the heat of the fire that destroyed the palace, mention hasty defence preparations due to an imminent attack without giving any detail about the attacking force. As a result of this turmoil, specific regions in mainland Greece witnessed a dramatic population decrease, especially Boeotia, Argolis and Messenia . Mycenaean refugees migrated to Cyprus and

10830-471: The state of nearby Orchomenos. Moreover, the palace of Mycenae appeared to have ruled over a territory two to three times the size of the other palatial states in Bronze Age Greece. Its territory would have also included adjacent centers, including Tiryns and Nauplion , which could plausibly be ruled by a member of Mycenae's ruling dynasty. The unearthed Linear B texts are too fragmentary for

10944-437: The stressed vowel; the so-called breathing marks ( rough and smooth breathing ), originally used to signal presence or absence of word-initial /h/; and the diaeresis , used to mark the full syllabic value of a vowel that would otherwise be read as part of a diphthong. These marks were introduced during the course of the Hellenistic period. Actual usage of the grave in handwriting saw a rapid decline in favor of uniform usage of

11058-475: The texts as working either for the palace or for specific deities. The Mycenaean economy, given its pre-monetary nature, was a palace economy , focusing on the redistribution of goods, commodities and labor by a central administration. The preserved Linear B records in Pylos and Knossos indicate that the palaces were closely monitoring a variety of industries and commodities, the organization of land management and

11172-517: The use of a new dialect of Greek, the Doric one. It appears that the Dorians moved southward gradually over a number of years and devastated the territory, until they managed to establish themselves in the Mycenaean centers. A new type of ceramic also appeared, called "Barbarian Ware" because it was attributed to invaders from the north. On the other hand, the collapse of Mycenaean Greece coincides with

11286-559: The use of metals and a growth in technology, economy and social organization. The Middle Helladic (MH) period ( c.  2000 –1700/1675 BC ) faced a slower pace of development, as well as the evolution of megaron -type dwellings and cist grave burials. The last phase of Middle Helladic, the Middle Helladic III ( c.  1750 –1675 BC), along with the Late Helladic (LH) period ( c.  1700 /1675–1050 BC) roughly coincide with Mycenaean Greece. The Late Helladic period

11400-497: The use of the ( Indo-European ) Greek language of the Late Bronze Age , demonstrated the continuity of Greek speech from the second millennium BC into the eighth century BC when a new Phoenician-derived alphabetic script emerged. Moreover, it revealed that the bearers of Mycenaean culture were ethnically connected with the populations that resided in the Greek peninsula after the end of this cultural period. Lastly,

11514-740: Was Mycenae , after which the culture of this era is named. Other centers of power that emerged included Pylos , Tiryns , and Midea in the Peloponnese , Orchomenos , Thebes , and Athens in Central Greece , and Iolcos in Thessaly . Mycenaean settlements also appeared in Epirus , Macedonia , on islands in the Aegean Sea , on the south-west coast of Asia Minor , and on Cyprus , while Mycenaean-influenced settlements appeared in

11628-574: Was a distinct dialect of Greek itself. Aside from the Macedonian question, current consensus regards Phrygian as the closest relative of Greek, since they share a number of phonological, morphological and lexical isoglosses , with some being exclusive between them. Scholars have proposed a Graeco-Phrygian subgroup out of which Greek and Phrygian originated. Among living languages, some Indo-Europeanists suggest that Greek may be most closely related to Armenian (see Graeco-Armenian ) or

11742-411: Was a result of internal disturbances which led to internecine warfare among the Mycenaean states or civil unrest in a number of states, as a result of the strict hierarchical social system and the ideology of the wanax. In general, due to the obscure archaeological picture in 12th–11th century BC Greece, there is a continuing controversy among scholars over whether the impoverished societies that succeeded

11856-522: Was abandoned, while the Boeotian fortifications of Gla displays evidence for a targeted destruction as only the four gates and the monumental building, called the Melathron, were burned before the site was abandoned. In the Peloponnese, a number of buildings surrounding the citadel of Mycenae were attacked and burned. These incidents appear to have prompted the massive strengthening and expansion of

11970-465: Was allocated. The archives of Pylos display a specialized workforce, where each worker belonged to a precise category and was assigned to a specific task in the stages of production, notably in textiles. Nevertheless, palatial control over resources appears to have been highly selective in spatial terms and in terms of how different industries were managed. Thus, sectors like the production of perfumed oil and bronze materials were directly monitored from

12084-548: Was also incorporated in a mainland-looking network. The site of Mycenae experienced a gradual loss of political and economic status, while Tiryns , also in the Argolid region, expanded its settlement and became the largest local center during the post-palatial period, in Late Helladic IIIC, c. 1200–1050 BC. The reasons for the end of the Mycenaean culture have been hotly debated among scholars. At present, there

12198-568: Was also used as the official language of government and religion in the Christian Nubian kingdoms , for most of their history. Greek, in its modern form, is the official language of Greece, where it is spoken by almost the entire population. It is also the official language of Cyprus (nominally alongside Turkish ) and the British Overseas Territory of Akrotiri and Dhekelia (alongside English ). Because of

12312-557: Was also used in Ancient Greek. Greek has occasionally been written in the Latin script , especially in areas under Venetian rule or by Greek Catholics . The term Frankolevantinika / Φραγκολεβαντίνικα applies when the Latin script is used to write Greek in the cultural ambit of Catholicism (because Frankos / Φράγκος is an older Greek term for West-European dating to when most of (Roman Catholic Christian) West Europe

12426-418: Was governed from the palace, which exercised control over most, if not all, industries within its realm. The palatial territory was divided into several sub-regions, each headed by its provincial center. Each province was further divided in smaller districts, the damoi . A number of palaces and fortifications appear to be part of a wider kingdom. For instance, Gla , located in the region of Boeotia, belonged to

12540-482: Was not only conducted by palatial emissaries but also by independent merchants. Based on archaeological findings in the Middle East, in particular physical artifacts, textual references, inscriptions and wall paintings, it appears that Mycenaean Greeks achieved strong commercial and cultural interaction with most of the Bronze Age people living in this region: Canaanites , Kassites , Mitanni , Assyrians , and Egyptians . The 14th century BC Uluburun shipwreck , off

12654-421: Was the lāwāgetas ("the leader of the people"), whose role appears mainly religious. His activities possibly overlap with the wanax and is usually seen as the second-in-command. Both wanax and lāwāgetas were at the head of a military aristocracy known as the eqeta ("companions" or "followers"). The land possessed by the wanax is usually the témenos (te-me-no). There is also at least one instance of

12768-859: Was the most important base for Mycenaean activity in Asia Minor. Mycenaean presence also reached the adjacent sites of Iasus and Ephesus . Meanwhile, imposing palaces were built in the main Mycenaean centers of the mainland. The earliest palace structures were megaron-type buildings, such as the Menelaion in Sparta , Lakonia . Palaces proper are datable from c.  1400 BC , when Cyclopean fortifications were erected at Mycenae and nearby Tiryns . Additional palaces were built in Midea and Pylos in Peloponnese , Athens , Eleusis , Thebes and Orchomenos in Central Greece and Iolcos , in Thessaly ,

12882-580: Was under the control of the Frankish Empire ). Frankochiotika / Φραγκοχιώτικα (meaning 'Catholic Chiot') alludes to the significant presence of Catholic missionaries based on the island of Chios . Additionally, the term Greeklish is often used when the Greek language is written in a Latin script in online communications. The Latin script is nowadays used by the Greek-speaking communities of Southern Italy . The Yevanic dialect

12996-621: Was written by Romaniote and Constantinopolitan Karaite Jews using the Hebrew Alphabet . In a tradition, that in modern time, has come to be known as Greek Aljamiado , some Greek Muslims from Crete wrote their Cretan Greek in the Arabic alphabet . The same happened among Epirote Muslims in Ioannina . This also happened among Arabic-speaking Byzantine rite Christians in the Levant ( Lebanon , Palestine, and Syria ). This usage

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