Historical Overview Section
Mycenaean Greece (c. 1600 BC – c. 1100 BC) was a cultural period of Ancient Greece taking its name from the archaeological site of Mycenae in northeastern Argolis, in the Peloponnese of southern Greece. Athens, Pylos, Thebes, and Tiryns are also important Mycenaean sites. The last phase of the Bronze Age in Ancient Greece, it is the historical setting of much ancient Greek literature and myth, including the epics of Homer. Around 1400 BC (when this list kinda starts) the Mycenaeans extended their control to Crete, center of the Later Minoan or Early Mycenean Minoan civilization, and adopted a form of the Minoan script (called Linear A) to write their early form of Greek in Linear B.
Not only did the Mycenaeans defeat the Minoans, but according to later Hellenic legend they defeated Troy, presented in epic as a city-state that rivaled Mycenae in power. Because the only evidence for the conquests is Homer's Iliad and other texts steeped in mythology, the existence of Troy and the historicity of the Trojan War is uncertain.
Mycenaean civilization was dominated by a warrior aristocracy and many military items have been found by archeologists. The most impressive work is that of the Dendra panoply, a complete suit of Mycenaean armor. The cuirass is made up of bronze plates sewn to a leather garment. The weight of this armor must have hindered the mobility of a warrior, and it is for this reason it is supposed that it was worn by a warrior riding in a chariot. The typical Mycenaean helmet, in use from the seventeenth to the tenth centuries BC, was made of cut segments of boar's tusk sewn to a leather or cloth backing and is illustrated in ivory relief plaques found in the shaft graves of the seventeenth and sixteenth centuries BC and in wall paintings of that era from Akrotiri on Thera (Santorini) and of the thirteenth century BC in the so-called Palace of Nestor at Pylos. Groups of boar's tusk plates from the helmets themselves have been found at many sites, including Mycenae, Prosymna, Thermon and Elateia, as well as in southern Italy. This is the type of helmet which is described by Homer several hundred years later. Two types of shields were used: the "figure eight" or "fiddle" shield, and a rectangular type, the "tower" shield, rounded on the top. They were made of wood and leather, and were of such a large size that a warrior could completely cower behind his shield. Offensive arms were made of bronze. Spears and javelins have been found, and also an assortment of swords of different sizes designed for striking with the point and with the edge. Daggers and arrows, attesting to the existence of archery, compose the remainder of the armament found from this period.
Several explanations have been advanced for the causes of the decline of Mycenaean civilization including natural factors (climate change, earthquakes), however the most common theories are population movement and internal conflict, with the role of invaders such as the Dorian Greeks or the Sea Peoples complicit in both.
Troy
Ancient Greek historians placed the Trojan War variously in the 12th, 13th, or 14th century BCE: Eratosthenes to 1184 BCE, Herodotus to 1250 BCE, Duris of Samos to 1334 BCE. In the Iliad, the Achaeans set up their camp near the mouth of the river Scamander where they had beached their ships. The city of Troy itself stood on a hill, across the plain of Scamander, where the battles of the Trojan War took place. Recent geological findings have permitted the reconstruction of how the original Trojan coastline would have looked, and the results largely confirm the accuracy of the Homeric geography of Troy. Besides the Iliad, there are references to Troy in the other major work attributed to Homer, the Odyssey, as well as in other ancient Greek literature. The Homeric legend of Troy was elaborated by the Roman poet Virgil in his Aeneid. The Greeks and Romans took for a fact the historicity of the Trojan War and the identity of Homeric Troy with the site in Anatolia. Alexander the Great, for example, visited the site in 334 BCE and made sacrifices at tombs there associated with the Homeric heroes Achilles and Patroclus.
Using the army in FoG
- include your tactical tips or advice in here
- It looks neater if you do it with bullet points. Just put each new suggestion on a new line, starting with an "*"
UK Tournament Results with this army
Useful Links
User-contributed links about this army:
- Register and you can put you own link in here and then write some brief detail about the link here
- Register and you can put you own link in here and then write some brief detail about the link here
- put the link text readers will see in here write some more detail about the link here
Allies
Put information on allied contingents here - including recommendations on which to use, and why.
Painting and Collecting the Army
- Paint schemes, insignia, shield designs? Put it here.
15mm Manufacturers supplying figures for this army
You can see some of the figures in the Ancients Photo Gallery also on this site
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- Essex Miniatures Minoan, Mycenean and Trojan war ranges
- Black Hat Gladiator Games beefy Trojan/Mycenean Range.
- Old Glory Good Mycenean/Minoan range
- Magister Militum (includes former Chariot ranges) - Biblical is their specialist period. , Minoan range can be used
- Museum - Dendra armour and everything for these guys
- Toolshed have promised to launch some Minoan/Myceneans
- Baueda They sell some buildings for the era!
- MY Miniatures - Trojan range
Army Lists
Sample army lists for this army
Name of Army / Date
- Using asterisks inthe edit mode creates a bulleted list in the actual site
- This is a lot easier to do than easier than setting up tables
- For FoG I suggest listing your army in order or march
- with troop desctiptions on each line, for example
- 4 HF Armoured Average Drilled Impact Foot Swordsmen
- 8 LG Undrilled Unarmoured Poor Bowen
- Dont forget to include your Generals !!!
Include any notes you want here, including comments on how to use - or play against - the army.
Remember to leave a line before you copy the above section as a template for your own list
eBay Listings
UK Bookstore
| You can make the bookstore show only the books for the army you are setting up the page for. You need to change the line above where it says "node=0"by replacing the number "0" with the right code. You can find that by going to the Bookshop page, navigating to the right page, and holding your mouse over link to that army on the right hand menu. The node number you need to replace "0" with will show up in the bar at the bottom of your screen! Don't worry if you can't find it - I'll get round to sorting it out eventually |
