Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Maps
- List of Text-figures
- Preface
- CHAPTER XVII THE STRUGGLE FOR THE DOMINATION OF SYRIA (1400-1300 B.C.)
- CHAPTER XVIII ASSYRIA AND BABYLON, c. 1370-1300 B.C.
- CHAPTER XIX EGYPT: THE AMARNA PERIOD AND THE END OF THE EIGHTEENTH DYNASTY
- CHAPTER XX THE AMARNA LETTERS FROM PALESTINE
- CHAPTER XXI (a) ANATOLIA FROM SHUPPILULIUMASH TO THE EGYPTIAN WAR OF MUWATALLISH
- (b) UGARIT
- (c) TROY VII
- CHAPTER XXII (a) THE EXPANSION OF MYCENAEAN CIVILIZATION
- (b) CYPRUS IN THE LATE BRONZE AGE
- CHAPTER XXIII EGYPT: FROM THE INCEPTION OF THE NINETEENTH DYNASTY TO THE DEATH OF RAMESSES III
- CHAPTER XXIV THE HITTITES AND SYRIA (1300-1200 B.C.)
- CHAPTER XXV ASSYRIAN MILITARY POWER 1300-1200 B.C.
- CHAPTER XXVI (a) PALESTINE IN THE TIME OF THE NINETEENTH DYNASTY: THE EXODUS AND WANDERINGS
- (b) ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE
- CHAPTER XXVII THE RECESSION OF MYCENAEAN CIVILIZATION
- CHAPTER XXVIII THE SEA PEOPLES
- CHAPTER XXIX ELAM c. 1600-1200 B.C.
- CHAPTER XXX PHRYGIA AND THE PEOPLES OF ANATOLIA IN THE IRON AGE
- CHAPTER XXXI ASSYRIA AND BABYLONIA, c. 1200-1000 B.C.
- CHAPTER XXXII ELAM AND WESTERN PERSIA, c. 1200-1000 B.C.
- CHAPTER XXXIII SYRIA, THE PHILISTINES, AND PHOENICIA
- CHAPTER XXXIV THE HEBREW KINGDOM
- CHAPTER XXXV EGYPT: FROM THE DEATH OF RAMESSES III TO THE END OF THE TWENTY-FIRST DYNASTY
- CHAPTER XXXVI THE END OF MYCENAEAN CIVILIZATION AND THE DARK AGE
- (a) : THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL BACKGROUND
- (b) THE LITERARY TRADITION FOR THE MIGRATIONS
- CHAPTER XXXVII THE WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN
- CHAPTER XXXVIII GREEK SETTLEMENT IN THE EASTERN AEGEAN AND ASIA MINOR
- CHAPTER XXXIX (a) THE PREHISTORY OF THE GREEK LANGUAGE
- CHAPTER XXXIX (b) THE HOMERIC POEMS AS HISTORY
- CHAPTER XL THE RELIGION AND MYTHOLOGY OF THE GREEKS
- BIBLIOGRAPHIES
- Chronological Tables
- Index to Maps
- General Index
- Map 1. Ancient Asia Minor and Northern Mesopotamia
- Map 3. Distribution of Mycenaean sites and remains in Greece and the Aegean
- Map 14. The Western Mediterranean
- References
(b) - THE LITERARY TRADITION FOR THE MIGRATIONS
from CHAPTER XXXVI - THE END OF MYCENAEAN CIVILIZATION AND THE DARK AGE
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2008
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Maps
- List of Text-figures
- Preface
- CHAPTER XVII THE STRUGGLE FOR THE DOMINATION OF SYRIA (1400-1300 B.C.)
- CHAPTER XVIII ASSYRIA AND BABYLON, c. 1370-1300 B.C.
- CHAPTER XIX EGYPT: THE AMARNA PERIOD AND THE END OF THE EIGHTEENTH DYNASTY
- CHAPTER XX THE AMARNA LETTERS FROM PALESTINE
- CHAPTER XXI (a) ANATOLIA FROM SHUPPILULIUMASH TO THE EGYPTIAN WAR OF MUWATALLISH
- (b) UGARIT
- (c) TROY VII
- CHAPTER XXII (a) THE EXPANSION OF MYCENAEAN CIVILIZATION
- (b) CYPRUS IN THE LATE BRONZE AGE
- CHAPTER XXIII EGYPT: FROM THE INCEPTION OF THE NINETEENTH DYNASTY TO THE DEATH OF RAMESSES III
- CHAPTER XXIV THE HITTITES AND SYRIA (1300-1200 B.C.)
- CHAPTER XXV ASSYRIAN MILITARY POWER 1300-1200 B.C.
- CHAPTER XXVI (a) PALESTINE IN THE TIME OF THE NINETEENTH DYNASTY: THE EXODUS AND WANDERINGS
- (b) ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE
- CHAPTER XXVII THE RECESSION OF MYCENAEAN CIVILIZATION
- CHAPTER XXVIII THE SEA PEOPLES
- CHAPTER XXIX ELAM c. 1600-1200 B.C.
- CHAPTER XXX PHRYGIA AND THE PEOPLES OF ANATOLIA IN THE IRON AGE
- CHAPTER XXXI ASSYRIA AND BABYLONIA, c. 1200-1000 B.C.
- CHAPTER XXXII ELAM AND WESTERN PERSIA, c. 1200-1000 B.C.
- CHAPTER XXXIII SYRIA, THE PHILISTINES, AND PHOENICIA
- CHAPTER XXXIV THE HEBREW KINGDOM
- CHAPTER XXXV EGYPT: FROM THE DEATH OF RAMESSES III TO THE END OF THE TWENTY-FIRST DYNASTY
- CHAPTER XXXVI THE END OF MYCENAEAN CIVILIZATION AND THE DARK AGE
- (a) : THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL BACKGROUND
- (b) THE LITERARY TRADITION FOR THE MIGRATIONS
- CHAPTER XXXVII THE WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN
- CHAPTER XXXVIII GREEK SETTLEMENT IN THE EASTERN AEGEAN AND ASIA MINOR
- CHAPTER XXXIX (a) THE PREHISTORY OF THE GREEK LANGUAGE
- CHAPTER XXXIX (b) THE HOMERIC POEMS AS HISTORY
- CHAPTER XL THE RELIGION AND MYTHOLOGY OF THE GREEKS
- BIBLIOGRAPHIES
- Chronological Tables
- Index to Maps
- General Index
- Map 1. Ancient Asia Minor and Northern Mesopotamia
- Map 3. Distribution of Mycenaean sites and remains in Greece and the Aegean
- Map 14. The Western Mediterranean
- References
Summary
THE NATURE OF THE LITERARY EVIDENCE
Archaeological discovery affects our attitude to literary tradition in two ways. At first there is a tendency to dismiss the literary tradition as imprecise and faulty in comparison with the actual physical remains, from which a past civilization can be reconstructed upon precise foundations but within restricted limits. Then, when the material outlines of such a civilization grow firm, our knowledge of material conditions can be used to test the accuracy of details in the literary tradition. This stage has been reached for part at least of the Mycenaean period, and the literary tradition has been confirmed at many points. Thucydides was certainly correct in believing that Mycenae was a centre of importance, that its rulers spoke Greek for several generations before the Trojan War, and that the power of Mycenae finally overthrew that of Troy. The Homeric Epics, no less than the even more remarkable Epic of Gilgamesh, have merged into the world of fact and become historical documents. The Iliad provides in the Catalogue of Ships a political map of Mycenaean Greece to which excavation has added little but confirmation, and the poem tells us more of Mycenaean ideas and aspirations than the walls of the citadel can do. But the literary tradition contains much which can never be confirmed or refuted by archaeological discovery, and here we must rely on our own criteria for confidence or distrust.
Continuity of tradition was certainly maintained between the Mycenaean period and the archaic Greek period by the recitation of epic lays which were transmitted orally for several centuries, especially in central Greece, Ionia and Cyprus.
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- The Cambridge Ancient History , pp. 678 - 712Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1975
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