4. Argos

Abstract

The Late Bronze Age in Greece is conventionally called ‘Mycenaean’, but it might in principle have been called ‘Argive’, ‘Archaean’, or ‘Danaan’, thanks to the names Homer gave the Greeks. ‘Argos’ describes Argos, located a few kilometres to the south of Mycenae. This city is an example of one of the centres in mainland Greece that maintained some sense of continuity of habitation from the Late bronze Age into the succeeding Early Iron Age. Early Argos was ruled by kings, mostly undistinguished apart from the shining exception of Pheidon, a hereditary king.