The last major work of the giant of the field. Martin P. Nilsson set himself the task of tracing the elements of Greekmythology, as they appear in Homer's Iliad, to their source in Mycenaean culture, a much earlier period. His conclusions, drawn from a very limited empirical material - archaeology, very few relevant Linear B texts - are remarkably compelling.

The identification of two Mycenaean terracotta centaurs from the excavations at Ras Shamra-Ugarit suggests a Bronze Age origin for the centaurs known from the historic periods of Greece. The Mycenaean centaurs from Ras Shamra-Ugarit are compared to the later examples from the Greek mainland. No continuous artistic tradition can be identified among the preserved examples. Since writing ceased to be used in Greece in the Iron Age and no artistic trend connecting the different representations of centaurs can be (...) seen, it is suggested here that the concept of centaurs was transmitted by way of the oral tradition. (shrink)

IONE Mylonas Shear claims in her article in JHS 2002 that two Mycenaean animal figurines from Ugarit, only one of which has been previously published, represent Mycenaean centaurs and are thus predecessors of centaurs of the historical period. It is quite clear, however, that both belong to the so-called figurines, which consist of driven oxen plough or single chariots, as identified by E.B. French and further defined by me in my work on the terracottas from the Sanctuary of (...) Aphaia on Aigina. In an abbreviated group there is only one animal instead of two, with one human, sometimes two, standing at the rear of the animal, in or behind a small or almost non-existent box or balustrade. According to what animal head is at the front of the figurine, either horse or bovine, it is an abbreviated chariot or, much more commonly, a driven ox. In the fully preserved pieces the head of the driver always faces towards the animal head. (shrink)

Αυτό το άρθρο παρουσιάζει τα αποτελέσματα μιας λεπτομερούς μελέτης των μυκηναϊκών ελεφαντουργημάτων από το Αρτεμίσιον της Δήλου, και περιλαμβάνει όλα τα αποσπασματικά κομ- μάτια που φυλάσσονται στις αποθήκες του Μουσείου. Ο βασικός στόχος της μελέτης ήταν να καθοριστεί ο χαρακτήρας αυτού του υλικού, μέσα από τον προσδιορισμό του σταδίου κατεργασίας στο οποίο βρίσκεται το μεγαλύτερο μέρος των αντικειμένων, καθώς και από το ποσοστό των ατελείωτων ή μερικά κατεργασμένων αντικειμένων. Ένας άλλος στόχος ήταν ο προσδιορισμός της προέλευσης του υλικού. Παρόλο που (...) ο χαρακτήρας του υλικού αυτού δεν παραπέμπει άμεσα σε ένα μεγάλο πρωτογενές εργαστήριο ελεφαντουργίας, υπάρχουν αρκετοί παράγοντες οι οποίοι δείχνουν ότι ένα τμήμα του τουλάχιστον ήταν μέρος εργαστηριακού συνόλου, πιθανώς επαρχιακού, το οποίο θα συνδύαζε τόσο πρωτογενή, όσο και δευτερογενή κατεργασία του ελεφαντοστού. Όσον αφορά την προέλευση του υλικού, ένα μικρό ποσοστό είχε προφανώς εισαχθεί από την Ανατολή, περιλαμβανομένης και της Κύπρου, ενώ η πλειονότητα αποτελείται από τυπικά προϊόντα ελεφαντουργίας της ηπειρωτικής Ελλάδας. Η τοποθέτηση του εργαστηρίου αυτού στην ίδια την Δήλο είναι πολύ πιθανή. (shrink)

There are two possible positions with regard to the Mycenaean hegemony: that it existed or that it did not. Modern scholars who accept its existence appear to be more vocal in arguing their position than are those who question the existence of Mycenaean unity. Desborough, for example, states forcibly:I am firmly convinced that there was one ruler over the whole Mycenaean territory, with his capital at Mycenae, although the tablets are of no assistance one way or the (...) other in this matter, and although the overlordship of Agamemnon clearly envisaged by Homer can perhaps be explained simply as a military leadership for the purpose of waging war against Troy. The burden of proof must therefore depend on other evidence, the archaeological material taken in conjunction with the fairly frequent mention by the Hittites, in the fourteenth and much of the thirteenth centuries, of the king of a land called Ahhiyawa, which I believe to represent the entire Mycenaean orbit.The opposite position is represented largely through hints given in a larger context. Stubbings, for example, writes of ‘the Mycenaean Greeks of the mainland and the Mycenaean rulers of Cnossus’ and of ‘the mainland kingdoms’. Catling speaks of ‘metropolitan Greeks grown jealous of the wealth and power which their Knossian relatives had built up’. This emphasis on plurality, it seems to me, is the best way not only to view the events of the Mycenaean Greek world but also to understand the nature and degree of change in Greece during the Dark Age period. (shrink)