Aegean Influence in the Tomb Of Kha?

Αιγυπτιακή επιρροή στον τάφο του Kha;Στο παρόν άρθρο υποστηρίζεται ότι μία τριχολαβίδα του τύπου που είναι γνωστός και ως «curling tong» ή «σύνθετο εργαλείο», από τον τάφο του αρχιτέκτονα Kha στη θέση Deir el Medina ίσως απηχεί πρώιμες σχέσεις μεταξύ της Αιγύπτου και του Μυκηναϊκού κόσμου. Παρόλο που αντικείμενα αυτού του τύπου είναι γνωστό ότι κατασκευάζονταν στην Αίγυπτο πολλούς αιώνες πριν τον ενταφιασμό του Kha, το σχήμα του συγκεκριμένου αντικειμένου, το οποίο σήμερα βρίσκεται στο Αιγυπτιακό Μουσείου του Τορίνου, είναι ιδιαίτερο και προδίδει μυκηναϊκές στυλιστικές ομοιότητες. Η ιδέα αυτή ενισχύεται από άλλα αιγαιακά στοιχεία στον τάφο του Kha καθώς και σε άλλα σημεία της θέσης Deir el Medina.This paper argues that a pair of bronze tweezers, also known as a curling tong or ‘composite tool’, from the Tomb of the architect Kha at Deir el Medina may reflect early Egyptian relations with the Mycenaean world. Though the objects such as these were known and manufactured in Egypt for several centuries before the burial of Kha, the shape of this particular object, which is now in the Egyptian Museum of Turin, is remarkable and betrays Mycenaean stylistic influence. This notion is further supported by other Aegean elements in the Tomb of Kha and elsewhere at Deir el Medina

Francesco Iacono. 2019. The archaeology of Late Bronze Age interaction and mobility at the gates of Europe: people, things and networks around the southern Adriatic Sea. New York: Bloomsbury; 978-1-3500-3614-7 $102.60.

Review of Francesco Iacono. 2019. The archaeology of Late Bronze Age interaction and mobility at the gates of Europe: people, things and networks around the southern Adriatic Sea. New York: Bloomsbury; 978-1-3500-3614-7 $102.60. In Antiquity 93/369, pp. 830-83

The Wanassa and the Damokoro: a new interpretation of a Linear B text from Pylos

This paper aims to highlight a number of problems involved with current interpretations and identifications of persons in Ta 711, a Linear B tablet from the Mycenaean palace of Pylos, which records a number of objects that were presented on the occasion of the appointment of a da- mo-ko-ro. Contrary to current thinking, we argue that Pu2-ke-qi- ri, the person who appears to have recorded or received the gifts listed in this tablet, was not necessarily a male, and that an argument can be made that this person was attached to the household of the Queen. In addition, we propose that the da- mo-ko-ro, the official whose appointment is mentioned in the same text, may be compared to the Hittite LÚ.MEŠ AGRIG, the keeper of royal storerooms

Huurlingen, mobiliteit en reizigerslatijn Contacten tussen Europa en het Nabije Oosten in de Late Bronstijd

The aim of this paper is twofold. First, it argues that the Mycenaean Greek world served as a nexus for international trade between the Near East and Europe during the Late Bronze Age (ca. 1600 to 1100 BCE). Rather than a barbarian periphery, Europe – and in particular regions such as the Carpathian basin and the southern Baltic (Denmark and Scania) – was an integral part of the much better known ‘civilised’ world of the ancient Near East. Second, it argues that ‘mercenaries’ (a term that I will use rather loosely, and which includes both private entrepreneurs and military captives) served as a hitherto overlooked conduit for knowledge exchange between Europe, the Eastern Mediterranean, and the Near East. It will do so by highlighting a number of remarkable archaeological finds, and by discussing these against the backdrop of contemporary (Late Bronze Age and Iron Age) texts as well as later legends

FROM ‘LUGAL.GAL’ TO ‘WANAX’ Kingship and Political Organisation in the Late Bronze Age Aegean

n this book the much-debated problem of political organization in Mycenaean Greece (ca. 1400-1200 BC) is analysed and contextualised through the prism of archaeology and contemporary textual (Linear B, Egyptian and Hittite) evidence. From the early 14th century BC onwards, Hittite texts refer to a land Ahhiya(wa). The exact geographic position of this land has been the focus of academic debate for more than a century, but most specialists nowadays agree that it must have been a Hittite designation for a part, or all of, the Mycenaean world. On at least two occasions, the ruler of Ahhiyawa is designated as LUGAL.GAL –‘Great King’-; a title that was normally reserved for a select group of kings (such as the kings of Egypt, Assyria, Mitanni, Babylon and Hatti itself). The Hittite attribution of this title thus seems to signify the Ahhiyawan King’s supra-regional importance: it indicates his power over other, ‘lesser’ kings, and suggests that his relation to these vassals must have been comparable to the relations between the Hittite King and his own vassal rulers. The apparent Hittite perception of such an important ruler in the Mycenaean world is, however, completely at odds with the prevailing view of the Mycenaean world as a patchwork of independent states, all of which were ruled by a local ‘wanax’ -King. The papers in this volume address this apparent dichotomy and discuss various interpretations of the available evidence, and contextualise the role of the ruler in the Mycenaean world through comparisons with the contemporary Near East

The archaeology of Late Bronze Age interaction and mobility at the gates of Europe : people, things and networks around the southern Adriatic Sea

Middle Eastern Studie

Mycenae, Rich in Silver

Whilst gold is the metal that is most commonly associated with Mycenae -mostly because of Homer's reference to that city, but also because of the fabulous death masks that were uncovered by Schliemann in the shaft graves of Grave circle A, relatively little is known about the role and appreciation of silver in the Mycenaean world. Silver artefacts have been found only sporadically at Mycenaean sites, suggesting that the metal was rare, yet there is good evidence that the Mycenaeans were already mining silver in the Laurion, south of Athens. This article will try to explain this apparent dichotomy, by exploring the role and importance of silver in the Mycenaean world

Royal Gift Exchange between Mycenae and Egypt: Olives as "Greeting Gifts" in the Late Bronze Age Eastern Mediterranean

Contacts between Egypt and the Aegean during the Late Bronze Age, especially focusing on the relation between Minoan Crete and New Kingdom Egypt have been the subject of much study. The relation between the Greek (Mycenaean) mainland and Egypt generally is regarded as a more elusive topic, and most scholars seem to consider contact between the two a matter of irregular exchange, probably not even a direct exchange, but via middlemen (on Cyprus, in the Levant etc.). In this paper, data on the import of Mycenaean stirrup jars -generally regarded as containers for olive oil- in Egypt and the presence of the olive (oil) in Egypt are presented. Both archaeological and paleobotanical data are examined. The aim of the paper is to stimulate new thought on the possibility that contact, or rather, exchange, between Egypt and the Greek mainland was more than an irregular phenomenon and was instead highly organized, involving the active engagement of the ruling elite at Mycenae and the Pharaonic court. At the same time, it will be demonstrated that olives or olive oil were of importance in this Late Bronze Age interstate contact

A great king and a wanax? The politics of Mycenaean Greece

Middle Eastern Studie

Narmer, Scorpion, and the representation of the early Egyptian court

Numerous academic and popular articles have been published on the Narmer Palette, the Narmer Mace-head and the Scorpion Mace-head, arguably three of the most iconic early Egyptian monuments. It is generally recognized that these three objects are the climax of a centuries-old tradition of stone-working in the Nile valley and that most of the iconographic elements on these three objects can be traced back to earlier works of art such as the wall-painting in Tomb 100 at Hierakonpolis, Naqadan rock art, and older decorated palettes and mace-heads. As such, the Narmer Palette, the Narmer Mace-head and the Scorpion Mace-head combine various older iconographic elements that are for the first time organised in a single, more or less coherent narrative. The meaning of this narrative, however, eludes us: some scholars have argued that the reliefs on the palette and the mace-heads represent historical events, whereas others argue for a more symbolic interpretation. This article aims to further our understanding of these narratives by proposing new identifications of two figures shown prominently on both the Narmer mace-head and the Narmer palette; the so-called sandal-bearer and the wearer of the leopard skin.The full text of this article is not currently available in ORA