Mycenaean Citadels c. 1350–1200 BC

Osprey Fortress #22

by Nic Fields, Donato Spedaliere (Illustrator)

Mycenaean society was constantly geared for battle and invasion. Their 'cities' were heavy fortresses with unimaginably thick perimeter walls. Legendary sites such as Mycenae, Tiryns, Argos, Krisa, the Athenian Acropolis and Gla are all representative of their fortified citadels that dominated the Greek countryside for some 300 years until their sudden decline and abandonment around 1100 BC. This title describes the golden age of these fortifications; it details how these formidable structures were constructed and extended, as well as revealing the elaborate palace complexes built by the great Mycenaean warlords immortalised in the verses of Homer's Iliad.

Genres: History, Military History, Nonfiction, Ancient History

64 pages, Paperback

First published July 25, 2004

About the author

Dr Nic Fields started his career as a biochemist before joining the Royal Marines. Having left the Navy, he went back to University and completed a BA and PhD in Ancient History at the University of Newcastle. He was Assistant Director at the British School of Archaeology, Athens, and is now a lecturer in Ancient History and Archaeology at the University of Edinburgh.

Reviews

[Joe Krakovsky · Rating 5 out of 5]

MYCENAEAN CITADELS c. 1359-1200 BC complements another Osprey book: THE MYCENAEANS c. 1650-1100 BC. As I was a little over halfway through the book I was beginning to think I would only rate it a 3 star, but the last few pages made me up-rate it. You see, the author did a lot of research and while I admire that, depending on one's interest, too much can be too much. Frankly, I was getting bored. He started sounding like Schliemann explaining his findings to other archeologists instead of entertaining me like Homer. One site after another was discussed using terminology which I was too lazy to look up and measurements that were in metric. I know science, archeology, and the rest of the world uses metric, but if you are going to sell books in the US ...

 Here are some fun facts I learned while reading this. Tourists started taking a great interest in ancient ruins at the beginning of the 19th century. Some sites have been slowly worked on for over one hundred years! Of course they had breaks when funding ran out or wars interfered, but I still think that was interesting. You fans of Troy will be happy to hear that the author thinks that the myths have a core of truth, and I agree. The things they dig up shed light on how they worked, lived, and fought. Just how much of Homer's stories are true we may never know, but we do know that there was a Troy. Their warriors wore armor of beaten bronze plate, but helmets made of boar tusks. The Mycenaean citadels were unique in some ways. Some were fortified cities and military bases, but some were simply more like government buildings. One even lacked a protective wall. They often built their citadels on solid bedrock but sometimes had secret passages to fresh water. One unique secret cistern was actually a deep tunnel with stairs going down to the bottom. The water level determined how far down one had to go to fill one's jug. The gate was the weakest part of the wall so in order to reach the gate one had to traverse the length of a wall with one's right side exposed. As swords were carried in the right hand and the shield on the left, one was exposed to defending fire on the unprotected side.

There were the usual color prints of various citadels, a few maps and plenty of photos. At the end of the book was information on Mycenaean warfare and society, ancient authors, a glossary, extensive bibliography, and a list of the sites today in case you want to visit.

[Shrike58 · Rating 3 out of 5]

The real charm of this particular booklet in this series are the fascinating reconstructions of the citadels in question. Beyond that, this also works as an introduction to the Late Bronze Age collapse that ended the culture that created these fortresses. Actual rating: 3.5.

[Liam Malone · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not for everyone because it details dimensions, sizes, etc of things the average person would not be interested in. It is good for what it intends to be though. I took a course on Mycenaean Citadels while in graduate school at Florida State University, it was a good course because we were all art historians or budding archeologists. I was a literature person so was interested in the foundation myths.

[Nathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The introduction started incredibly well, but eventually it felt like the topics were being stretched to fill space and became boring. Loved the illustrations.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

A nice basic introduction to the subject matter. I am a big fan of Nic Fields, and I was not disappointed. I got an especial kick out of his interpretation of the List of Ships from Illiad 2, terrain that I had slaved over back in 1999, I think. He clearly got a lot more out of it than I did. As with all of Osprey books, the main problem is that it is too short.

[Ryan Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

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[Katia M. Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good little overview. It makes use of basic tables, maps and interesting illustration. If you knew nothing about the topic, it would be a good starter.