Classical History: a Sketch, with Three Artifacts

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. P. WISEMAN
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Black Sea ◽  
The Black Sea ◽  
Greek Language ◽  
Greek City ◽  
Evidential Value ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
City States ◽  
The Temple ◽  
The Bronze Age

This chapter examines the chronological range of Greco-Roman history and the nature of the main narrative sources. The discussion begins about 1200 BCE, with the end of the Bronze Age palace culture, conventionally called Mycenaean. The destruction of the palace centres – at Knossos, Mycenae, Pylos, and Thebes – was responsible for preserving the ‘Linear B’ tablets, which form the earliest evidence for the Greek language. By the sixth century, Greek city-states were established widely round the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. This is the time of what is sometimes called ‘the Greek miracle’, the origin of philosophy and science as well as historiography. The chapter draws attention to three archaeological discoveries and the way their evidential value has been assessed: a gold mask, discovered in 1876 in the first of the ‘shaft graves’ at Mycenae, the so-called tomb of Agamemnon; an artefact discovered in 1977 by the Dutch archaeological team excavating the temple of Matuta at the Latin town of Satricum; and a gold bulb, or locket, discovered in 1794.

Northern Anatolia before Classical Times

1956 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 179-203 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. A. Burney
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Black Sea ◽  
Mediterranean Coast ◽  
Deciduous Forests ◽  
The Black Sea ◽  
Anatolian Plateau ◽  
North Side ◽  
Maritime Climate ◽  
The Bronze Age ◽  
Eastern Half

That part of northern Anatolia known in Greek and Roman times as Bithynia and Paphlagonia comprises a number of high ridges running from west to east, through which the rivers break their way in their tortuous courses down to the Black Sea. The region discussed in this article in fact comprises Paphlagonia, the eastern half of Bithynia and part of Phrygia, from the lower Sakarya to the mouth of the Halys; but, since these names do not apply to the Bronze Age, the whole will be termed northern Anatolia. As far south as the crest of the main ridge bounding the Anatolian plateau along its north side the land has a maritime climate quite different from that of either the plateau or the Mediterranean coast: rainfall is abundant, even at times in the summer; deciduous forests cover these north-facing slopes, right to the top. Sinop provides the best natural harbour on this coast. The change to the steppe country of the plateau is abrupt.

scholarly journals THRONE-LIKE ARMCHAIRS AND WAGONSIN THE BRONZE AGE СULTURES OF THE CIRCUMPONTIC AREA

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
А.Н. Гей
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Black Sea ◽  
Social Processes ◽  
The Black Sea ◽  
Burial Ground ◽  
The South ◽  
South Caucasus ◽  
The Bronze Age ◽  
Written Sources

На основании недавней находки двух повозок и необычного сиденья-кресла в новотиторовской культуре (погребение 21 кургана 4 Межкирпильского I могильника в степном Прикубанье), вероятных аналогий ей в материалах ямной и катакомбных культур Причерноморья и Предкавказья, а также беденской культуры на территории Грузии ставится вопрос о сложении особой, престижной формы погребального обряда с использованием двух повозок и кресла-трона. Возможные реплики его имеются и южнее, в Месопотамии (некрополь Ура). Специальный культ трона существовал у хеттов, две повозки и трон фигурируют и в хеттском царском погребальном ритуале, известном по письменным источникам. Хронологический приоритет подобных находок в новотиторовской культуре (29-28 вв. до н. э.) перед относящимся к беденской культуре курганом 3 Ананаури (24 в. до н. э.), тем более перед хеттскими табличками II тыс. до н. э., говорит в пользу сложения данного ритуала в среде степных курганных культур с последующим распространением в Закавказье и Анатолию. Что в свою очередь представляет интерес для реконструкции социальных процессов в различных культурах бронзового века, а также для выяснения путей проникновения групп носителей индоевропейских диалектов в Анатолийско-Месопотамский регион. The recent discovery of two wagons and an unusual chair looking like an armchair attributed to the Novotitorovka culture (grave 21, kurgan 4, Mezhkirpilsky I burial ground in the steppe Kuban region), and likely analogies to this find in the Yamnaya and Catacomb assemblages from the Black Sea maritime steppes and the Fore-Caucasus as well as the Bedeni culture in Georgia raise the issue of emergence of a special, prestigious form of the funerary rite with the use of two wagons and an armchair that looks like a throne. Likely replicas have been found further to the south in Mesopotamia (the Ur cemetery). A special cult of the throne existed among the Hittites for example, two wagons and a throne feature in the Hittite kingly funerary rite is known from written sources. The chronological priority of such finds in the Novotitorovka culture (2900-2800 СalBC) regarding kurgan 3 of Ananauri (2400 CalBC) attributed to the Bedeni culture, and, in particular, Hittite tablets dating to 2000 BC argues in favor of development of this rite among the steppe kurgan cultures with its subsequent dissemination in the South Caucasus and Anatolia. This fact is interesting for reconstruction of social processes in various Bronze Age cultures as well as clarification of the routes via which speakers of Indo-European dialects penetrated the Anatolia-Mesopotamia region.

II.—The Bronze Age in Macedonia

Archaeologia ◽  
1925 ◽  
Vol 74 ◽  
pp. 73-88
Author(s):  
Stanley Casson
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Black Sea ◽  
The Black Sea ◽  
Southern Europe ◽  
The South ◽  
South Eastern ◽  
South Eastern Europe ◽  
The Bronze Age

In most text-books of archaeology the section dealing with the Bronze Age in the Aegean invariably refers us to the culture of Crete and Mycenae. Under the heading of ‘South-Eastern Europe’ we are usually given an account of the Bronze Age of Hungary and the Danubian area. But between these two regions lies an area which is, as yet, almost entirely uncharted by archaeologists, an area which, from its position, is one of the most important in Southern Europe. Between the Danube and the Aegean, the Black Sea and the hills that hem in the river Vardar on its right bank, lies an area across which, by rigidly limited routes, have passed all intrusive elements from Asia and all invading elements into Asia, either by way of the South Russian Steppe or across the Dardanelles and Bosporus.

scholarly journals SCYTHIAN GRAVE OF THE MOUND ORLYKOVA MOHILA IN THE SOUTH OF KIROVOGRAD REGION

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 160-181
Author(s):  
S. A. Skory ◽  
A. P. Orlik ◽  
R. V. Zymovets ◽  
D. V. Karavaiko
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Black Sea ◽  
The Black Sea ◽  
Metal Shell ◽  
Black Sea Region ◽  
Found Objects ◽  
Funeral Ritual ◽  
The Village ◽  
High Social Status ◽  
The Bronze Age

The article publishes research materials of the Scythian burial intake from the excavations of the mound Orlikova Mogila near the village Bogdanovka, Bobrynetsky district of Kirovograd region (Northern part of the Black Sea Right-Bank Steppe). The grave was built in an earlier mound of the Bronze Age. The Bronze Age burial was located in the center and completely destroyed by Scythian grave. After the Scythian burial, the embankment was significantly enlarged, and also strengthened by stone krepida. By the time of the excavation, the mound had a height of more than 3.0 m and a diameter of more than 30 m. Scythian tomb had dimensions of 4 Ч 3 m and a depth of 2.8 m. From above it was covered with wooden deck and stone laying. Despite the devastating repeated robberies, the monument contains artifacts that can be interpreted as grave of a heavily armed warrior — man of 30—50 years old with a high social status. The deceased was accompanied by two dependent persons. Fragments of a metal shell made of plates, arrowheads, and fragments of two antique amphorae were found in the grave. Of great interest are the finds of bronze parts of a horse harness, located among the stones on the embankment. All these objects have traces of intentional damage, which, undoubtedly, is associated with a certain funeral ritual. Found objects, especially fragments of ancient amphorae, date the Scythian grave at the end of the 5th century BC. The appearance of such structures in the mounds of the Scythian pores in the northern limits of the steppe Black Sea region, apparently, should be associated with the promotion of Scythian nomads from the more southern regions

The Polis and the Economy

2018 ◽  
pp. 96-117
Author(s):  
Alain Bresson
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Land Ownership ◽  
Eighth Century ◽  
Greek City ◽  
The Status ◽  
City States ◽  
Taxation System ◽  
The City ◽  
The Bronze Age

This chapter examines the process that allowed the Greek city-states to achieve an impressive level of economic growth. It begins with a short historical overview of the development that took place in Greece from the end of the Bronze Age until the Archaic period, when the “eighth-century revolution” enabled Greece to experience a first phase of significant growth, including population growth. It then considers the taxation system of the city-states, focusing on the fundamental question of tribute and its replacement by comparatively modest levels of communal taxes and private rents in the framework of the polis. It also discusses the role of dignitaries, temples, and the king in the way in which local markets were supplied, as well as status of property and land ownership within the framework of the city. Finally, it compares the status of what the Greeks called “civic land” and “royal land”.

Introduction

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Duane W. Roller
Keyword(s):  
Black Sea ◽  
Classical Antiquity ◽  
Asia Minor ◽  
The Black Sea ◽  
Alexander The Great ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
Black Sea Coast ◽  
The Alps ◽  
South Shore ◽  
Sea Coast

In early 63 BC, Mithridates the Great, king of Pontos, who ruled a territory that included most of the Black Sea coast, was in residence at his palace at Pantikapaion, just north of the sea. For thirty years he had been fighting the Romans for dominance in Asia Minor and beyond, and although he had won numerous victories, the overall trajectory was one of steady defeat for the king as Roman power spread to the east. He had been forced to abandon his traditional capital of Sinope, on the south shore of the sea, and retreat to the farthest corner of his kingdom at Pantikapaion, one of the most remote cities of the Greco-Roman world, where winters were unimaginably cold and the barbarian threat was ever present. Many of his allies and much of his family had abandoned him. Although he planned an invasion of Italy by going up the Danube and south through the Alps, imitating his famous predecessor Hannibal, he devoted most of his time to botany and pharmacology, in the long-standing tradition of scholarly royalty. But eventually he realized that he had no other options, and thus asked a bodyguard to kill him. Thus ended the career of one of the most remarkable leaders of classical antiquity, the man whom his younger contemporary Cicero called “the greatest king since Alexander [the Great].”...

Greek Prehistory Through the Bronze Age

Classics ◽  
2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brendan Burke
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
History Of Archaeology ◽  
Greek Language ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
History Of ◽  
Epic Poems ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
The Bronze Age ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Of Greece

The history of archaeology of Greece as we know it today begins with prehistoric investigations that took place in the 19th century. Early excavations by Heinrich Schliemann, Arthur Evans, and Wilhelm Dörpfeld, along with Greek colleagues like Christos Tsountas, Panagiotis Stamatakis, Valerios Stais, and Antonios Keramopoulos laid the foundation for systematic, stratigraphic excavations. Research was heavily directed by ancient Greek texts, primarily the epic poems of Homer. Efforts to find archaeological truth to the legendary tales of the ancient heroes continue to be problematic, but, to a degree, early excavations revealed a rich and fascinating period of Greece’s development. Although the archaeological discoveries of Greek prehistory date to an age centuries older than Homer, the discoveries shed light on a vast, rich archaeological history, one upon which the Homeric tales were, at least partially, based. Early discoveries of prehistoric texts, especially on Crete with scripts in Hieroglyphic Minoan, Linear A (non-Greek), and Linear B (Greek), along with the enigmatic Phaistos disc, have expanded our understanding of the history of the Greek language and Greek people.

Thalatta, Thalatta: Xenophon's view of the Black Sea

2000 ◽  
Vol 50 ◽  
pp. 127-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Mitford
Keyword(s):  
Black Sea ◽  
Ancient World ◽  
The Black Sea ◽  
Greek City ◽  
To Come ◽  
The Moment

The moment when the Ten Thousand sighted the Euxine is one of the most haunting scenes to come down to us from the ancient world. Retreating from Cunaxa near Babylon in 401 BC, Xenophon describes how the Greeks fought their way northwards across Kurdistan to scale the Pontic mountains, and reached the sea at the Greek city of Trapezus, already more than two centuries old. By linking Xenophon's famous account with Hadrian's inspection of his eastern frontier, their route across the mountains, and their triumphant viewpoint, can be determined with some certainty.About 120 miles before the Greeks reached the Black Sea, the ruler of a large and prosperous city called Gymnias, probably the modern Bayburt, sent a guide to Xenophon.

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