Heroes of the Bronze Age

ARCH 0412 From Gilgamesh to Hektor: Heroes of the Bronze Age April 20, 2016: The Hero of Lefkandi Creating and Negotiating Boundaries Timeline of Ancient Greece HOMERIC EPICS Composed Written Modified Early Bronze Age Middle Bronze Age Late Bronze Age Proto-Geometric Geometric Archaic Classic (3000-2000 BCE) (2000-1700 BCE) (1700-1100 BCE) (1100-900 BCE) (900-700 BCE) (700-480 BCE) (480-323 BCE) LEFKANDI HEROON Placing offerings in Mycenaean tombs start in late 8th century BCE Euboea and Lefkandi Lefkandi Cemeteries Toumba Cemetery ‘The Apsidal Building’ aka ‘Heroon’ • c. 1000 BCE • Short-lived • Built over Mycenaean tombs • Stratigraphic relationship between the burials and the structure unknown • Partly demolished after a short period of use Protogeometric and Geometric period houses in Greece Lefkandi: Apsidal house at Nichoria, Messenia, The largest of the apsidal 800-750 BC. houses known from this time period ‘Pesistris’ (Colonnade) Main (Eastern) Entrance ‘Pesistris’ (Colonnade) Reconstruction of Temple of Apsidal building of Lefkandi Zeus at Olympia Lefkandi: Female Inhumation Lefkandi: Male Cremation Funeral? ‘When we removed the clay floor to the east of the burial pit, we found an area of rock scorched by a fierce fire and containing a circle of postholes, each filled with charred wood, presumably the remains of the supporting timbers of the pyre on which our hero had been cremated.’ (Popham, Touloupa, Sackett 1982: 173) Lefkandi: Horse Burials The Afterlife of the Heroon The tumulus of Marathon Lefkandi and Homeric Funeral The people hitched up mules and oxen to their wagons and then gathered before the city with all speed. For nine days they brought in wood, an immense amount. When the tenth dawn came, they brought brave Hector out, then, all in tears, laid his corpse on top the funeral pyre. They set it alight. When rose-fingered Dawn came up, they gathered around that pyre of glorious Hector. Once they’d all assembled there together, first they doused the pyre with gleaming wine, every part that fire’s strength had touched. His brothers and comrades collected Hector’s ash-white bones, as they mourned him— heavy tears running down their cheeks—and placed them in a golden urn, wrapped in soft purple cloth. They quickly set the urn down in a shallow grave, covered it with large stones set close together, then hurried to pile up the mound, posting sentries on every side, in case well-armed Achaeans attacked too soon. Once they’d piled up the mound, they went back in, gathered together for a splendid feast, all in due order, in Priam’s house, king raised by Zeus. And thus they buried Hector, tamer of horses. Later Burials in Toumba Bronze bowl, imported from the Phoenician seal and scarab Near East, ca. 900 BCE Later Burials in Toumba Necklace of Isis and Horus, 1050 - 900 BC The Apsidal Building: House or Heroon? • Built on a prominent/visible part of the hill • Built on earlier Mycenaean burials • Very large (too large to be a house) • Very accessible • Has burials with rich grave goods, very central in the building • Possible remains from the actual funeral (charred wood to the east of the burial pits) • Later material culture deposited in the structure, particularly geared towards feasting Building or Burial? What Came First? Next Class: Lingering Bronze Age Heroes Eastern Mediterranean Heroes and Bronze-Iron Age Continuity.

Load more