The Nature of the Mycenaean Wanax: Non-Indo-European Origins and Priestly Functions

The wanax is the central figure of authority in Mycenaean society. This much is clear from studies of the references to wanax in the Linear B tablets, interpretation of the history of the use of the term wanax in Homer and later Greek, and reconstruction of the development of the institution of kingship from the end of the Bronze Age through the Archaic to Hellenistic period. Scholars want to know the same things about the Mycenaean wanax that we do about power figures -- "big men", chieftains, shamans, kings -- in any society: how and when did the wanax originate? How were the institution and authority of the wanax legitimized and maintained? What cultural needs did the wanax satisfy and what powers and responsibilities did he have in different spheres of daily life: religious, political, economic, military, and social? What led to the disappearance of the institution of the wanax in post-palatial Greek culture? Each of these questions is major and multi-faceted. Here Palaima discusses them and problems connected with them in two parts. In the first part he rejects the Indo-European model of a warrior-king in favor of a priest-king more along the lines of Hittite models. In the second part he pursues several speculative arguments related to the paraphernalia of Mycenaean kingship.Classic

Economic Interplay Among Households And States

This Forum has made progress on both its stated research themes: control of craft production and the newer topic of markets. My comments take up the issues of household economy, state control, and markets. First, I discuss developments at the second-order center of Nichoria, which show both independent activity and the effect of incorporation into the state of Pylos. Excavation of another such settlement at Iklaina promises to support and expand on the findings from Nichoria. State control is another subject for discussion; the evidence suggests some differences between prestige goods and ordinary pottery, concerning both production and consumption. Finally, I argue that the existence of markets is well supported by both archaeological and textual data.Classic

Some Similarities in Mycenaean Palace Pla

This study takes the more complete plans of the Mycenaean palaces at Pylos and Tiryns and attempts a reconstruction of the early palace at Mycenae

Documentation and Evaluation of the Conditions of the 9th Century B.C.E. Mosaic, from Gordion, Turkey and Recommendations for its Conservation and Treatment

The purpose of this report was to begin to consider options for how to improve the state of preservation and conservation of the Megaron 2 Mosaic. Archival documentation was gathered and a preliminary conditions assessment was performed. Research was conducted to find comparable projects that could establish a framework to help create a conservation plan for the mosaic. Finally, a phased program was created to guide the planning process. This information has been compiled in this thesis in order to establish a solid base on which future work can be built

Digital Palace of Nestor: Assessing Mycenaean Palatial Complex Construction of Socio-Political Status and Navigation Through Architecture

Because architecture necessitates the conscious planning of space, its consequences for navigation and socio-political status are equally deliberate and have indirect effects. This research combines experiential and spatial syntax techniques to gain a deeper understanding of how Mycenaeans shaped space to construct status and navigation in the Palace of Nestor at Pylos. Using a digital reconstruction of the palace ensured the most accurate experiential data by utilizing a whole, albeit virtual, version of the site. Without employing a digital reconstruction, the only experiences with the site would occur in the ruinous, actual site preventing complete experiences with how the site’s architecture affects the individual. Additionally, the spatial analytics provides the ability to cross-verify, quantify, and in the future compare, the results with other Bronze Age Palaces. While the quantitative methods discern how the architecture interacts with itself and agents in an idealized, objective environment, the phenomenological data elucidates if and how people actually experience the palace and what explicitly or implicitly affects their navigation. The latter ensures the interpretations of all the data maintains plausibility in the real world and not just statistical simulations. Together, the results indicate the palace’s left side has easy local access with little ability to travel across. Conversely, the right side has an overall easy ability to access anywhere in the palace but is difficult to enter. Similarly, court, megaron, and vestibule possess the highest status in the complex with increasingly restricted access into the latter two rooms

Iolkos: Myth, Archaeology and History

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Luoghi di culto e santuari della Sardegna nuragica

Nell'ambito della protostoria italiana, la Sardegna di età nuragica riveste un ruolo importante per quanto riguarda la documentazione sulla sfera del sacro, ed e l'unica regione che ha restituito strutture monumentali identificabili come edifici realizzati appositamente per il culto. U sklopu talijanske protopovijesti, nuraška Sardinija zauzima vaznu ulogu po nalazima sakralnog karaktera, budući da je to jedina regija gdje nalazimo monumentalne građevine izgrađene jedinstveno za kultne potrebe

The Homeric house in the light of recent excavations

Typescript"This thesis is approved by me for the degree of master of arts W.G. Manly"Last 11 leaves are blankM.A. University of Missouri 1904The purpose of this paper is to give a detailed description of the Homeric house, according to the information to be had from the Homeric poems, and to compare it with other palaces of early antiquity, such as those of Tiryns, Mycenae, Knossos and Phaistos