Kingship in the Mycenaean World and Its Reflections in the Oral Tradition
by Ione Mylonas Shear
Motivated by the problems of defining the extent and nature of kingship in the Mycenaean world, this book surveys studies of the Linear B tablets, contrasts these theories with knowledge of the Mycenaean kingdoms gained from the archaeological record and compares this evidence with the oral tradition, specifically in the Iliad and Odyssey.
During the last few decades, there has been great interest in the problems of defining the extent and nature of kingship in the Mycenaean world. Questions concerning the degree of economic and religious power held by the king have been given special emphasis. This book surveys the conclusions drawn by individual scholars studying the Linear B tablets, contrasts their theories with our knowledge of the Mycenaean kingdoms as derived from the archaeological record, and finally compares this evidence with possible reflections in the oral tradition, specifically in the Iliad and Odyssey. This approach leads to the suggestion that the king in the Mycenaean period had only limited power over the society and its economy. Although the king appears to have controlled a large segment of the economy, it is argued here that other individuals and family groups within the kingdom also had a certain degree of economic independence.
- By (author) Ione Mylonas Shear
Other Titles in this Series
The Galatas Survey
Socio-Economic and Political Development of a Contested Territory in Central Crete during the Neolithic to Ottoman Periods
Volume 55
Mochlos IIC
Period IV. The Mycenaean Settlement and Cemetery: The Human Remains and Other Finds
Volume 32
Petras, Siteia II
A Minoan Palatial Settlement in Eastern Crete: Late Bronze Age Pottery from Houses I.1 and I.2
Volume 67
Neolithic Settlement of Knossos in Crete
New Evidence for the Early Occupation of Crete and the Aegean Islands
Volume 42
Ayioryitika
The 1928 Excavations of Carl Blegen at a Neolithic to Early Helladic Settlement in Arcadia
Volume 3
Kleronomia
Legacy and Inheritance. Studies on the Aegean Bronze Age in Honor of Jeffrey S. Soles
Volume 61
Mochlos IC
Period III. Neopalatial Settlement on the Coast: The Artisans' Quarter and the Farmhouse at Chalinomouri: The Small Finds
Volume 9
AMILLA
The Quest for Excellence: Studies Presented to Guenter Kopcke in Celebration of His 75th Birthday
Volume 43
An Archaeological Survey of the Gournia Landscape
A Regional History of the Mirabello Bay, Crete, in Antiquity
Volume 37
Mochlos IC
Period III. Neopalatial Settlement on the Coast: The Artisans' Quarter and the Farmhouse at Chalinomouri: The Small Finds
Volume 9
Mochlos IVA
Period III. The House of the Metal Merchant and Other Buildings in the Neopalatial Town
Volume 68
Similar Books
Caesar’s Visions and Impact on the Roman Empire
Revisiting the Archaeological and Historical Record of the 40s BC
Volume 2
Etruscan and Roman Hellenistic Anatomical ex votos
Reassessing Popular Religious Expressions in Central Italy
Volume 8
Invisible Labour in Antiquity
Visualizing Obscure Work in the Ancient Mediterannean and West Asia
Volume 1
Late Antique villae in the Balkans (3rd–7th c. AD): Current Research Questions and Perspectives
HAEMUS Companion to the Late Antique Balkans 1
Volume 4
Portraying the Individual in the Roman East
Local–Imperial Entanglements in Sculpture, Mosaics, and Paintings (First–Fourth Centuries AD)
Volume 18
Atlante tematico di topografia antica 36-2026
Urbanistica e monumenti, porti, Roma. Ricerche sui monti Aurunci
Volume 36
A Dramatic Event in Late Roman Florence
The Anomalous Burial Site Discovered beneath the Uffizi Gallery
Alexander the Great and the Campaign of Gaugamela
New Research on Topography and Chronology. IAMNI 1 (Italian Archaeological Mission to Northern Iraq)
Volume 53
Aspects of the Bronze Age in the Atlantic Archipelago and Beyond
Proceedings from the Belfast Bronze Age Forum, 9–10 November 2013
Ceramic Finds in Context (Roman to Early Islamic Times)
Final Publications from the Danish-German Jerash Northwest Quarter Project VII
Volume 13
Citizenship Practised, Citizenship Imagined
Multiple Ways of Experiencing Citizenship in the Greek World
