I am not so sure that the bulk of Greek myths come from Mycenaean Bronze Age times. My sense is that there was a very large disruption at the end of the Bronze Age and that there was collective memory loss around religion, culture, and story. I think a lot of Greek myth was adapted in the Iron Age from the stronger, older traditions in West Asia that survived the collapse of civilization in the eastern Mediterranean. Plus, I feel that if there was a really strong Greek-speaking epic tradition in the Bronze Age we'd have evidence of it from contemporary art at least and possibly also from written Bronze Age sources, if not in Linear B then in other languages. I just see the Mycenaean Bronze Age as a different cultural animal from what emerged in the 8th century in post-Iron Age Greece.
Of course, what I've just said is pure speculation. I'm hoping to get a publisher to fund some research time so I can back this up.
I'd be very interested in your research. I agree with you that the Mycenaeans were very different from Iron Age Greece, but all the mythology told in Classical Greece and Rome is set before the Bronze Age Collapse, like how much of so the fantasy genre is set in a magical version of the Middle Ages. Even modern novels are based on or pay tribute to ones that came before in a chain that can be traced back hundreds or thousands of years.
From what I've read, my limited understanding is that too few Linear B writings survive to really judge the culture, but those we have overwhelmingly involve inventories of goods or census records of people. My assumption is that literacy was largely limited to specialized scribes who used it mainly for official record-keeping. Tales would have been transmitted by song culture, which would not have left a written record until much later.
For sure I agree that a good amount of myths are set before the Bronze Age collapse. My personal hobby horse is that the stories we know weren't told in the form we know them during the Bronze Age. I think a lot of those memories got erased, and then a new generation of storytellers rose up in the Iron Age who used what memory was left to create something new, in conjunction with a lot of inspiration from the Near East. I think we'd be very surprised to find out the content of the stories that the Mycenaeans told--that in addition to boasting about their kings and power, they'd be hearkening back to the early Bronze Age, before that civilization rose. I actually wrote a novel about Greece in 2000 BCE, before the Mycenaeans came to power, that speculates about what life was like then.
That's very cool. It's definitely a challenge in retelling myths to decide where to tack between the later, more familiar versions and the earlier, more speculative versions.
BTW, I thought your Briseis segment where she talks to Patroclus was very well done. I would've commented immediately but it was very rough emotionally. Kudos for making it that tough to read.
This is a great summary. Well done.
I am not so sure that the bulk of Greek myths come from Mycenaean Bronze Age times. My sense is that there was a very large disruption at the end of the Bronze Age and that there was collective memory loss around religion, culture, and story. I think a lot of Greek myth was adapted in the Iron Age from the stronger, older traditions in West Asia that survived the collapse of civilization in the eastern Mediterranean. Plus, I feel that if there was a really strong Greek-speaking epic tradition in the Bronze Age we'd have evidence of it from contemporary art at least and possibly also from written Bronze Age sources, if not in Linear B then in other languages. I just see the Mycenaean Bronze Age as a different cultural animal from what emerged in the 8th century in post-Iron Age Greece.
Of course, what I've just said is pure speculation. I'm hoping to get a publisher to fund some research time so I can back this up.
I'd be very interested in your research. I agree with you that the Mycenaeans were very different from Iron Age Greece, but all the mythology told in Classical Greece and Rome is set before the Bronze Age Collapse, like how much of so the fantasy genre is set in a magical version of the Middle Ages. Even modern novels are based on or pay tribute to ones that came before in a chain that can be traced back hundreds or thousands of years.
From what I've read, my limited understanding is that too few Linear B writings survive to really judge the culture, but those we have overwhelmingly involve inventories of goods or census records of people. My assumption is that literacy was largely limited to specialized scribes who used it mainly for official record-keeping. Tales would have been transmitted by song culture, which would not have left a written record until much later.
For sure I agree that a good amount of myths are set before the Bronze Age collapse. My personal hobby horse is that the stories we know weren't told in the form we know them during the Bronze Age. I think a lot of those memories got erased, and then a new generation of storytellers rose up in the Iron Age who used what memory was left to create something new, in conjunction with a lot of inspiration from the Near East. I think we'd be very surprised to find out the content of the stories that the Mycenaeans told--that in addition to boasting about their kings and power, they'd be hearkening back to the early Bronze Age, before that civilization rose. I actually wrote a novel about Greece in 2000 BCE, before the Mycenaeans came to power, that speculates about what life was like then.
That's very cool. It's definitely a challenge in retelling myths to decide where to tack between the later, more familiar versions and the earlier, more speculative versions.
BTW, I thought your Briseis segment where she talks to Patroclus was very well done. I would've commented immediately but it was very rough emotionally. Kudos for making it that tough to read.