|
Myceneau Civilization and the Dorian Invasion |
The Achaeans or Myceneans brought to Crete a number of things, since
their occupation - their dialect, their dress, their beards (which
Cretans used to shave) and fashions; their chiton, their house style,
with its megaroa, a kind of antechamber with a circular hearth, and
their calendar.
Also, a new political organization was established. Tablets refer to
the wanax. He replaced the Minoan monarch, and is surrounded by his
companions, to whom he entrusts the direction of the different royal
services and the execution of military orders. The island is divided
into fiefs, the significance of which eludes us; each of them obey a
king, a feudal archon who is vassal to the wanax.
The Greek pantheon was incorporated, and the names of many of the gods
known from mythology, as Athena, Poseidon and Hera are referred to in
the Linear B tablets.
Agriculture appears to advance, and a wool industry is established. As
Mycenean commerce opens new roads, it gives itself over to mass
production, and artistic and aesthetic qualities go by the board.
The army is significantly strengthened, and the tablets permits us to
reckon that the wanax had at his disposal more than 400 chariots. The
navy is still noteworthy and despite its decline, it offers 80 ships
for the expedition of Troy. Cretans furnish the Mycenean world with
sailors and mercenary soldiers.
Although the Dorian invasion is dark and confused, as as concerns the
unfolding the upset it carried to Crete is beyond dispute. New
institutions make their appearance: the conquerors are divided into
tribes; societies and gymnasia are established; the old inhabitants
come under the sattus of serfs, and the apetairei (neither bonded nor
enslaved, and excluded from the hetaireiai or societies); they dwell
mainly on the eastern section of the island. The Dorians brought with
them two other innovations: the building of temples, and the cremation
of the dead. |
![[logo]](http://www.nycretans.org/templates/ny/images/side.gif)
