Mycenaean Greece
Warrior kingdoms in fortified citadels take over the Aegean, and Greek is written down.
- When
- —
- Duration
- 400 years
- Known to
- ± 50 years
- Era
- Bronze Age, Holocene
From around 1600 BCE mainland Greek centres at Mycenae, Pylos, Tiryns and Thebes build cyclopean fortifications, bury their elite in shaft graves and tholos tombs with gold masks and weapons, and by 1450 BCE take over Crete. Their palaces run tightly controlled redistributive economies documented in Linear B. Unlike the Minoans they fortify heavily, and their art is full of hunting and war.