Our hotel had discouraged us from using the bus system, encouraging us to book a guided tour instead. We did not really want to do that, mostly because it was really expensive and the tour would not spend as much time as we wanted to in the places we wanted to see. After our successful excursion yesterday to Delphi, we decided we could do it.
I can understand why the hotel discouraged us. The bus stations are hard to get to (we had to take a taxi), and they are not in a great part of town. The stations are also pretty dirty, but the buses are actually quite nice - at least as nice as a charter bus. We managed to get the bus and change to another bus at the Corinth canal. From there we went to Mycenae, where we got a taxi to the archaeological site. After that we took a taxi to ancient Corinth and then a taxi to the Corinth canal. We then took the bus back to Athens, and took the metro back to the stop near our hotel. It was all confusing but we managed to do it without getting off at a wrong stop. The taxi drivers were pretty nice and it actually was not that expensive. Cheaper than the chartered tour by a long shot.
Mycenae is one of the places we dreamed of going when we decided to take the trip to Greece. It is the ruins of the ancient bronze age civilization that dominated the Peloponnese from about 1600 to 1200 B.C. One of their kings, Agamemnon, led the Greeks against the Trojans in the Trojan war when a prince of Troy stole Helen from her husband, King Menelaus of Sparta (Agamemnon's brother). So these are the Greeks of the Iliad and the Odyssey.
The classical Greeks who built Athens and Sparta and flourished in the 5th and 4th century B.C. looked back on the Mycenean period as a golden age. The Iliad and the Odyssey had a huge effect on the Greeks of this time. Herodatus tells a story in his history in which the Spartans need help fighting the Tegeans. They consult the oracle and are told to bring the bones of Orestes, the son Agamemnon, back
to Sparta. The Spartans found the bones and knew they were Orestes' bones because they were the bones of a giant. To them the ancients were bigger and better.When one looks at Mycenae, one understands why the Greeks thought about them the way they did. The Mycenean civilization was vast, organized, opulent, and well run. The Myceneans also had a written language, called Linear B. After Mycenae's collapse, Greece entered a dark age. When the later Greeks saw the enormous ruins, they must have been shocked because no one in their day could have hoped to achieve such a feat. They made up stories, based on shreds or true oral history, that explained the enormity of what they saw. For example, when the Greeks saw the walls of Mycenae, they came up with a story that a giant, called the Cyclops, built them. It was inconceivable to them that men such as themselves could do anything that great. Looking at the walls, it is easy to see why the Greeks came up with that idea. I hope the photo on the right gives some idea of the enormity of it all.
Mycenae lies on a steep hill between
two mountains. The photo on the left should give you an idea of this. Mycenae is not far from the sea, but far enough inland to make it safe from invasion by pirates. Looking at the landscape, you cannot imagine anyone attacking from the north. It would simply be too hard to get over the mountains. It could be approached from the south, but sitting on the hill, Mycenae has a commanding view of the Argos plain. They could prepare way before any army could reach them, and I could not imagine being on the other side of the wall, looking up at the hill, and thinking I could actually take this city. The presence of the city would be amazingly intimidating.
You enter Mycenae through a gate called the Lion Gate. The photo on the right shows this gate. It is absolutely incredible to look at. The craftmanship of the
stones that make up the gate is unbelievable. I hope the
photo gives a real idea of the scale. The walls and the gate make it clear that this must have been an advanced civilization. The number of people that would be required to quarry, shape, and move these stones must have been huge.
Mycenae was a redistributive civilization that controlled production. The common people would plant and farm according to the rulers of Mycenae. The rulers probably had some knowledge of agriculture, using astronomy to determine the best time to plant particular crops. My grandfather still says that he plants his garden by what he calls "the signs." By that he means similar techniques to what the Myceneans would have used. The city also provided protection, as well as organized trade for the citizens' goods. The Myceneans were a great trading people. Artifacts have been found at Mycenae from Spain, England, Canaan, Egypt, and even Afghanistan.
Mycenae probably derived its wealth from
trade. Most of what they traded was olive oil. The plain of Argos, in front of Mycenea, is an ideal place to grow olives. In fact, 40% of the economy of Argos today still is made from farming olives and oranges. Olive oil was such a valuable commodity because in the ancient world they did not have soap. Instead they would apply olive oil to their bodies and use a scraper to remove the oil along with dirt and grime. They would then bathe in water. Olive oil doesn't smell too good, and so it would have to be perfumed. The perfume was usually made from things like frankincense and myrrh imported from Arabia. If you recall the Queen of Sheba, her land was wealthy as a result of trading these sorts of scents. To the left is a photo of the plain of Argos from atop Mycenae. Almost all the trees you see are olive trees. This should give you a sense of how high up Mycenea was and how much the citadel dominated the plain of Argos.
The Trojan war took place in about 1200 B.C. This was in the height of the Mycenean civilization. Sometime around 1150 BC the Mycenean civilization was totally destroyed. Almost every Mycenean city in Greece, including Mycenae itself, shows evidence of being sacked and burned. The most common theory involves an invasion of a group of people from the North called the Dorians. However, the fall of the Mycenean civilization was part of a general collapse of several civilizations at the same time, known as the Great Bronze Age Collapse. The Hittite Empire in Turkey fell, along with the Ugaritic Canaanite civilization in Lebanon; there was also a severe weakening of the Egyptian Empire. These civilization were attacked by a group called "The Sea People," and their fall completely destroyed the trade system that Mycenae participated in.
Thinking of the collapse of Mycenae, I began to realize on what a shaky edifice civilization is built. Seeing Mycenea, you cannot imagine it ever falling. I imagine right up until it happened the Myceneans never guessed their civilization could fall. They probably never saw it coming—after all, they had flourished for over 500 years. After their fall, it would take 400 years before Greece would begin to recover, and probably another 200–300 years before it would achieve a comparable level of civilization. Its probably a lesson for our present civilization and a good prescription for our arrogance. I am reminded of the words of Isaiah who said:
For the LORD of hosts has a day against all that is proud and lofty,
against all that is lifted up—and it shall be brought low;
against all the cedars of Lebanon, lofty and lifted up;
and against all the oaks of Bashan;against all the lofty mountains,
and against all the uplifted hills;against every high tower,
and against every fortified wall;against all the ships of Tarshish, and against all the beautiful craft.
And the haughtiness of man shall be humble and the lofty pride of men shall be brought low, and the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.
And the idols shall utterly pass away. And people shall enter the caves of the rock and the holes of the ground, from before the terror of the LORD, and from the splendor of his majesty,when he rises to terrify the earth.
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