The Annual George E. Mylonas Lecture in Classical Art and Archaeology

At the Crossroads of History and Myth: The Great Mycenaean Kingdoms

With Michael L. Galaty, director and curator of European and Mediterranean archaeology, Museum of Anthropological Archaeology, and professor of anthropology, Department of Anthropology, University of Michigan

Exciting archaeological discoveries in the past 150 years have unearthed the great palaces of the Mycenaean world, immortalized in Homer’s Iliad. These palaces stand at the crossroads between myth and historical reality and offer a glimpse into some of the earliest states in Western civilization. Traditionally, Mycenaean states were thought to be small and independent but connected through their art, society, and culture. This view has been challenged by recent archaeological work, which suggests that the Mycenaean world was politically unified and formed a single kingdom stretching over a large part of Greece. This lecture will assess the implications that this assumption has for today’s world, in which some nations seek to grow at the expense of others, whereas others seek to separate and thereby shrink.

Presented in partnership with the Hellenic Government–Karakas Family Foundation Professorship in Greek Studies, University of Missouri–St. Louis; the Departments of Classics and Art History and Archaeology, Washington University in St. Louis; and the Classical Club of St. Louis.

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