“The Decline of the Mycenaeans”
Humanities I
In regards to Ancient Greece, there is a frequent inability to
determine a completely factual account of how its history occurred,
due primarily to a lack of tangible evidence. Among these
unanswerable questions remains the fate of the Mycenaeans, in
particular, how exactly their culture faded into obscurity. It is
with this demise that I have found myself most intrigued, as the
affluence and productivity of the culture had all the characteristics
of a long lasting people, yet they seemingly vanished out of thin
air. Of the numerous possible causes for this decline, there are
three most prominently accepted among historians. Through my own
research however, I have been unable to find a theory that ties the
three scenarios into one that outlines how they could have all
contributed to each other, though it seems evident that this may have
occurred.
The first of the prominently accepted theories is that of an
invading “Sea People”. The most telling evidence of this theory comes
from the tablets discovered at the Palace of Pylos. Though the
inscriptions do little to illustrate who exactly these people were,
or from where they may have come, they describe an array of defensive
preparations being made by the Mycenaeans in an effort to divert and
discourage the invaders. Unfortunately, we are able to attain only a
limited amount of information from these tablets, as they were
partially destroyed when the palace was set ablaze, but we do know
that at least a handful of the invaders were able to penetrate the
defensive measures. Once within the town, these invaders sought out a
number of highly ranking religious leaders, and had them killed by
drowning. We do not know for sure what the ultimate goal was for
these Sea People, but we can assume that the successful invasions
contributed greatly to a sense of mistrust,...