In Search of the Classical World In Search of the Classical World: An Introduction to the Ancient Aegean By Dudley Moore In Search of the Classical World: An Introduction to the Ancient Aegean By Dudley Moore This book first published 2015 Cambridge Scholars Publishing Lady Stephenson Library, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2PA, UK British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Copyright © 2015 by Dudley Moore All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN (10): 1-4438-7813-8 ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-7813-5 CONTENTS Preface ......................................................................................................... x Acknowledgements ................................................................................... xii Introduction .............................................................................................. xiii Part One - Prehistory Chapter One ................................................................................................. 2 Myth and the Aegean King Minos and the Minotaur The Curse of the House of Atreus Troy and the Trojan War Pre-history and Troy Archaeology Chapter Two ................................................................................................ 8 Minoan Terminology and Chronology Chapter Three ............................................................................................ 11 Pre-palatial Minoans Architecture The ‘central authority’ Chapter Four .............................................................................................. 15 Emergence of Minoan Palaces Chapter Five .............................................................................................. 19 Proto-palatial Minoans Features Role of the ‘Palace’ vi Contents Chapter Six ................................................................................................ 24 Neo-palatial Minoans Religion Administration Destruction Chapter Seven ............................................................................................ 28 Mycenae Emergence of wealth Mycenaean roads Power force Burial evidence Chapter Eight ............................................................................................. 32 The Shaft Graves of Mycenae Grave Circle A Grave Circle B Chapter Nine .............................................................................................. 40 The Tholos Tombs of Mycenae Structures The Treasury of Minyas Treasury of Atreus The Tombs of Clytemnestra, Aegisthus and the Lion The ‘Forgotten’ tombs Dating of the tombs Burial customs Chapter Ten ............................................................................................... 50 Destruction and Post-palatial Period of Mycenae Destruction Post-palatial period Chapter Eleven .......................................................................................... 55 Emergence of Troy Chronology Topography/Geography Development of wealth Troy I and II Troy III Troy IV In Search of the Classical World: An Introduction to the Ancient Aegean vii Troy V Troy VI and VIIa Culture Chapter Twelve ......................................................................................... 67 The Trojan Treasure Discrepancies Other ‘inventions’ Schliemann: Conman? Part Two - History Chapter Thirteen ........................................................................................ 74 The Spartans and the Athenians The Spartans The Athenians Chapter Fourteen ....................................................................................... 79 Persian Invasions of Greece First invasion Second invasion Chapter Fifteen .......................................................................................... 85 478-436 BC, The Athenian Empire Government of Pericles Conflict between Athens and Sparta Chapter Sixteen ......................................................................................... 92 436-404 BC, Peloponnesian War The Archidamian war Alcibiades and the second phase of the war The invasion of Sicily The Ionian war Chapter Seventeen ................................................................................... 103 401-361 BC, The Rise of Thebes March of the ten thousand War with Sparta and Persia The second Athenian league and the supremacy of Thebes viii Contents Chapter Eighteen ..................................................................................... 110 359-323 BC, The Rise of Macedon and Alexander the Great Philip II of Macedon Alexander the Great Part Three - Literature and Philosophy Chapter Nineteen ..................................................................................... 122 Homer’s Iliad 1: Tragedy and Virtue Chapter Twenty ...................................................................................... 133 Homer’s Iliad 2: Distinction between Gods and God-like Chapter Twenty-One ............................................................................... 138 Homer’s Odyssey: A Fairy-tale World Fairy-tales of monsters and maidens Chapter Twenty-Two ............................................................................... 143 Homer: Literature and Archaeology Homeric epic Homeric references Archaeological references Homer: fact or fiction? Chapter Twenty-Three ............................................................................. 151 The Philosophers Socrates, 469-399 BC Plato, 427-347 BC Aristotle, 384-322 BC Chapter Twenty-Four .............................................................................. 158 Drama 1: Tragedy Introduction Aeschylus, 525-456 BC Sophocles, 496-406 BC Euripides, 484-406 BC Chapter Twenty-Five ............................................................................... 173 Drama 2: Comedy Aristophanes Menander In Search of the Classical World: An Introduction to the Ancient Aegean ix Chapter Twenty-Six ................................................................................. 178 Thucydides Sources and Further Reading ................................................................... 181 PREFACE One of the reasons I have written this book is because I recall, albeit many years ago, studying Ancient Greek History and Literature for the first time, at school. I was told to read a translation of Thucydides’ Peloponnesian War and Homer’s Iliad. I was not immediately spellbound by either tome. Despite both being in English translation, for all the sense they made, they may as well have been in their original Greek. On those balmy summer school days of youth, my idle gaze would wander, enhanced within a dream, from the leaded classroom window, across the quadrangle, over the headmaster’s lawn, pausing at length, to admire the serenity of the gothic revival chapel, only to return, half consciously, to the confounding poetry of Homer or histories of Thucydides. What were they talking (or in Homer’s case, singing) about? Several years later, whilst laid up in hospital, I decided to have another go at Thucydides and, with an older mind, I began to make some sense of him. Then, when I eventually went to university, as a very mature (in age rather than in mind) student, I was reacquainted with my old friend, Homer, and progressed considerably better than when I had first encountered him at school. In Thucydides, I discovered the classical era of the ancient Spartans and Athenians and the ardent struggles between them. This was history – a written record of what had transpired in the fifth century BC. Homer’s Trojan War was prehistory of the thirteenth century BC and based on myth. I was duly fascinated by it all and this led me to a further study of the classical civilisation of Greece, both historically and archaeologically. So, in searching for the Classical World of Greece we must go back to the Bronze Age. It is where it all started. Homer was waxing lyrical of a period of time in the Bronze Age around 1250 BC, some 500 years before his own time. His tales are the foundations of the history and drama of the fifth century BC Classical Greece which had a dedicated belief in their truth. Revealed to me were the intrigues of the Aegean and I was enlightened by the antics of the Bronze Mycenaeans and their shameful treatment of the Trojans. But was it all true? As prehistory (no historical writing) we only have archaeology to assist us in interpreting what was going on during the period. Accordingly, I set off on my own adventure into the study of archaeology and thereafter, the specific world of Minoan In Search of the Classical World: An Introduction to the Ancient Aegean xi Crete, Mycenae on mainland Greece and Troy on the northwest coast of Turkey. What I have produced in this book is what I have discovered over the years and my hope is that it will inspire others to follow a similar route – or destiny, as the Homeric gods would have us believe. If nothing else, you may be better ‘equipped’ than I was, all those years ago, to tackle Homer’s Iliad, Thucydides’ Peloponnesian War, and the study of the Classical World. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to thank Sarah Green and Kevin Brady for their kind assistance in proof-reading (I accept any final failings as mine was the final read) and for their helpful comments and encouragement. INTRODUCTION This is the story of ancient Greek history;