The Mycenaeans

Ancient Peoples and Places

by William Taylour

Studies the distinctive culture of the Mycenaeans, examining the architectural, engineering and artistic achievements of this civilization which dominated the pre-Classical era of Greek history

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Archaeology, Greece

180 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1990

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

There seems to be two types of archeologists: those who capture the imagination of the public (and the scorn of the professionals), and those who excavate with toothbrushes. In the former category are Heinrich Schliemann -- famous for his work at Troy and Mycenae -- and Sir Arthur Evans, who jumped to grand conclusions from his Minoan excavations in Crete. In the toothbrush category is Lord William Taylour, author of The Mycenaeans. But then, so is just about every other archeologist after the romantic age of Schliemann and Evans.

Why is this? Unless you are excavating ruins where there was a supporting literature, all you have is a list of found objects and fragments of found objects that have survived 3,000+ years of earthquakes, floods, fires, wars, and just plain chemistry. There are objects made of metal, but this is the Bronze Age; and bronze generally does not survive great lengths of time when the forces of oxidation are present. There thousands of pieces of broken pottery, some painting, some plaster, no wood or paper, and no fabrics. Taylour and other modern archeologists are forced to work with what they can find.

There was a written language associated with Mycenae: Actually, there were three of them. Only one of them, called Linear B, has been deciphered and found to be a kind of proto-Greek. And what kind of literature was written in Linear B? Essentially, just storeroom inventories and such. There was no literature until Homer. And, although Homer wrote about Mycenae and its king Agamemnon, Taylour and others think that "Homer" came along several hundred years after Mycenae had fallen to set down in written form what had been an oral tradition.

Even toothbrush drudges like Taylour have to cut loose occasionally: This book's last chapters tries to reconstitute Mycenaean history and its ties with other ancient peoples, namely the Minoans, Egyptians, and Hittites. As Taylour observes, he is speculating. After a couple hundred pages of Late Helladic IIIA and tholos burials, it is good to breathe something resembling air.

[Nicholas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a rather dry work in terms of the tone of the writing, so it might not be the best starting point for the casually interested, but if you can manage to make it to the end then you will have learned a lot about the civilisation made famous by Homer. Taylour's research is excellent (probably to be expected since he participated in the ongoing excavations of Mycenae itself for several years) and he manages to pack a great deal into the relatively short space of this book. For a general overview of the Mycenaean civilisation there is probably no superior work currently available.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Neato introduction to the Mycenaeans from Schliemann's digs through Ventris's translation of Linear B to scholarship in the 1970s. Clearly written and well illustrated but somewhat dry and flavourless.

[Michał Hołda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about one of only two existing in Europe cultures, that are proto-greek, living 16 hundreds years before Christ. 1600 BC.

Possible inspiration of trade is in Stonehenge, its megalithic form inspired by Mycenaeans ,therefore Greek.

The Egyptians referred to the Minoans as the kftjw (vocalized as "Keftiu" in modern Egyptology pronunciation).

Second part of the book is about Michael Ventris who's family was from Cambridgeshire, his mother was half-Polish, raised him in artistic atmosphere, accustomed him holidays abroad or time to spend in British Museum.

He is deciphered of Linear B, the ancient Mycenaean Greek script.

PY Ta 641, sometimes known as the Tripod Tablet, is a Mycenaean clay tablet inscribed in Linear B, currently displayed in the National Archaeological Museum, Athens.

Linear B is syllabic language that is build from Linear A and is predating Greek language. Michael Ventris was architect, very good at it, but through his passion, he did extraordinary, and translated Linear B text.

There is mention that wánax was king, has his close to him people, and chief in command, wánax and cheaf are only two people having land and full housing with service.

Chariot was main vehicle back then and it was also used for war.

Good apparently where not sold in exchange for gold, but whatever excess of material workers has, they ought to give it away. Making 1 000 of sacrificial animals, and perhaps for poor to eat too.

There is also mention of other scholars, such as Bedřich Hrozný who found out that hittite is Indo-European language. Made the discovery through his reading of tablets that had been brought to Vienna from the Istanbul Museum. Since the tablets were written in the cuneiform script, which is described in Lesson 1 Grammar point 2, they were easily read.

I do like this book, its more like school book then some sacred scripture, but I gather it was good read.

[Jessica Snell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been skimming lots of books while researching the background of the Trojan War, but this one I read all the way through. I found it a great overview, in that it gave me a broad picture of the society and geography, but it didn't neglect interesting details either. The chapter on the slow unraveling of the mystery of Linear B was particularly fascinating - my admiration for the scholars who threw their intellectual resources into solving a puzzle they had no guarantee they'd be able to beat is huge!

[James F · Rating 3 out of 5]

Following up on my last year's rereading of the Illiad, I checked out this short summary of what is known about the Mycenaean culture. Taylour is an expert who was responsible for much excavation at the sites he discusses, so the book is presumably very reliable. It is now about 35 years old, but since it is mainly description of what has been found with very little speculative analysis, there's not much to become outdated. The main problem is that it was so short, and much of that space was taken up by the (very well chosen) illustrations.

[Katy Stauber · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was rereading this book and for being fairly old, it's a pretty good summation of the Mycenaean era. Lots of photos. So if you ever wanted to teach yourself Linear B, this book is for you.

[Al · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not bad, but not very well organized. Too much detail on material culture, with very little in the way of analysis or conclusion.

[Spencer Clevenger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good update from Chadwick's book on the Mycenaeans.