Some Military Aspects of the Aegean in the Late Fifteenth and Early Fourteenth Centuries B.C.

Abstract

Part 1 (Driessen) discusses the evidence in the Linear B tablets for a military organization and the use of mercenaries at Mycenaean Knossos. First, the Pylian evidence for foreign troops is discussed. At Knossos, there is also evidence for relatively large groups of men who may be of non-Cretan origin in the Linear B tablets. It is asked whether these may be foreigners, as in the Pylian tablets, who rendered military service in return for fiefs of land. It is suggested that eqeta were military commanders responsible for groups of men and specific geographical areas. Keseno are identified as ‘foreign warriors’ who were of lower rank than eqeta, namely mercenaries in the service of the Mycenaean wanaka of Knossos.Part 2 (Macdonald) reviews the latest evidence for warrior burials in LM II–IIIA2. The term is confined to burials with swords, since they are more likely to have had a purely military function as well as being the weapon of prestige. The evidence for a major Knossian workshop which produced the finest ‘horned’ and ‘cruciform’ swords and one-piece spearheads is discussed. An examination of the different Knossian cemeteries leads to the possible identification of traditional Minoan burial grounds on Upper Gypsadhes and at Mavro Spelio, while the Zapher Papoura and Sellopoulo cemeteries may be those of the LM IIIA Mycenaean community. The concept of a military aristocracy is reviewed, and rejected in favour of an interpretation which sees the Knossian warrior burials as representing ‘officers’ of different ranks in the Palace military organization drawn from different levels of society. Finally, it is proposed that the lack of uniformity of sword-types and the absence of warrior burials in the Knossos area after LM IIIA2, represent the demise of the Knossian workshop and the end of the military organization.