Customer Reviews

The Mycenaeans

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I read this book right after reading Burckhardt's "History of Greek Culture." Quite a contrast- since that book was written in the 1800's and this book was written in 2007. This book is an easy read with lots and lots of photos. I came away with a better understanding of bronze-age greek civilization.

I love history. I can't get enough of it, and I love reading about where our Western History began...in ancient Greece. Who doesn't know the story of the Trojan War and its heros like Hector, Achilles, Ajax, Priam, Agamemnon, and, of course, the beautiful Helen of Sparta who launched a thousand black sailed ships to reclaim her from Troy! This was the Late Bronze Age; the Age of Heros, whose tales would be recorded and retold down to our very day. But were they real? What was their daily lives really like? Why did victorious Myceanea along with its neighbors like Sparta and Argos fall so soon after their victory, and what roles does the Hittites and the mysterious Sea Peoples play?

For those who want to know their true story, here it is; the real flesh and blood people who built the "Mighty walls of Tiryns" and "Golden Mycenae" and so much more. This book takes an often conviluted and difficult subject and lays it out clearly and complete as any ancient history can be. The book also includes some outstanding photos to complete a nearly perfect history of the rise and fall of a majestic people who still fill the imaginations of Western Man!