Daily Life of the Ancient Greeks

Historical Outline 9
Plan and section of beehive tomb. From Religion and the Greeks by Robert
Garland (Bristol, U.K.: Bristol Classical Press, 1994). Reprinted by permission
of Duckworth Publishers.
which was named for Agamemnon’s father. About the same time,
the fortification walls of Mycenae were rebuilt so that the walls had
an ornamental gateway surmounted by a relief depicting two lions
flanking a pillar.
The Mycenaeans were literate, though their script, which is
known as Linear B, was used exclusively for inventories and other
bureaucratic purposes. It was never put in the service of literature,
which in turn says much about their priorities. Without literature,
we cannot investigate thoughts and feelings. In short, we cannot
know what kind of people the Mycenaeans were.
The Trojan War
Later Greeks preserved the memory of a major expedition undertaken
by the Mycenaeans against a town called Ilion or Troy. The Trojan
War and its aftermath were commemorated in two epic poems
ascribed to Homer, The Iliad and The Odyssey, both composed around
700 b.c.e. , though whether they were the work of the same poet continues
to be a subject of debate. Once again it was Schliemann who,