Ancient Greece

This book is the most fundamental reinterpretation of Ancient Greek history, culture, and society in thirty years. The authors refute the traditional view of the Greek Dark Age with evidence of a steady progression from Mycenaean kingship to the conception of aristocratic nobility in the Archaic period.

Introduction; Contributors and Editors; Abbreviations; Part I Political and Social Structures; 1 The wanax and the emergence of palatial architecture; James W. Wright; 2 Wanaks and related power terms in Mycenaean and later Greek; Thomas G. Palaima; 3 Mycenaean palatial administration; Cynthia W. Shelmerdine; 4 The subjects of the wanax; John T. Killen; 5 polidis and Antonios Kotsonas; Part IV: Religion and Hero Cult; 18 From kings to demi-gods: Epic heroes and social change c. 750-600.; Hans van Wees; 19 Religion, basileis, and heroes; Carla Antonaccio; 20 Cult activity on Crete in the Early Dark Age: Changes, continuities and the development of a 'Greek' cult system; Anna Lucia D'Agata; Part V: The Homeric Epics and Heroic Poetry; 21 The rise and descent of the language of the Homeric poems; Michael Meier-Brugger; 22 Homer and Oral Poetry; Edzard Visser; 23 Some remarks on the semantics of.