The Middle Helladic Period

Abstract

THE CULTURE of the Middle Helladic period, that is, the culture of the Greek mainland from 1900 to 1550 B.C., has been the subject of increasing interest during the past few years for several reasons. First, such excavations as those at Lerna, Argos, and Kirrha have added enough to the archaeological evidence to justify more detailed study of this period. Second, the decipherment of Linear B as a Greek dialect has made it more likely that the Greek language was introduced prior to the Mycenaean age. The hypothesis that the beginning of the Middle Helladic period marks the first entry of the Greeks into Greece has undergone severe criticism, and a prerequisite to any discussion of this problem is a knowledge of the Middle Helladic period. Furthermore, the relationship of Greece during this period to Crete, the Cyclades, Anatolia, and the northern areas has not been fully explored, but the course of exploration has provoked lively discussion. Finally, something of domestic life and architecture can be observed, in rough outline, and much argument has ensued about antecedents, relationships, and descendants. In sum, one may say that it is an area of study full of interesting problems, particularly in regard to the history of the Greek language and culture. All the direct evidence is material, the result of archaeological exploration. The period itself was demarcated by C. W. Blegen in 1916 as the result of his work at Korakou.1 Since that time over seventy Middle Helladic sites have been discovered on the mainland, about a dozen of which have been excavated and published properly.2 Thus all historical