Mycenaean Greece, Mediterranean Commerce, and the Formation of Identity

The impact of long-distance exchange on the developing cultures of Bronze Age Greece has been a subject of debate since Schliemann's discovery of the Shaft Graves at Mycenae. In Mycenaean Greece, Mediterranean Commerce, and the Formation of Identity, Bryan E. Burns offers a new understanding of the effects of Mediterranean trade on Mycenaean Greece by considering the possibilities represented by the traded objects themselves in their Mycenaean contexts. A range of imported artifacts were distinguished by their precious material, uncommon style and foreign writing, signaling their status as tangible evidence of connections beyond the Aegean. The consumption of these exotic symbols spread beyond the highest levels of society and functioned as symbols of external power sources. Burns argues that the consumption of exotic items thus enabled the formation of alternate identities and the resistance of palatial power.

Introduction: effects of trade; 1. Aegean agency in Mediterranean exchange; 2. Becoming Mycenaean: definitions of civilization, style, and art; 3. Imports in the early Mycenaean period; 4. Crafting power through import consumption; 5. Import consumption in palatial centers; 6. Funerary consumption and competition in the Argolid; 7. Conclusions: foreign and domestic in the Mycenaean world.

Bryan E. Burns is Associate Professor of Classical Studies at Wellesley College. He is the author of numerous articles on Bronze Age Greece and has been awarded fellowships and fieldwork grants from the Institute for Aegean Prehistory, the Loeb Classical Library Foundation and the American School of Classical Studies at Athens.