But
beyond that most of what we regard as historical truth is defined by the
agreement of historians. There are plenty of things we think we know about
which can be contradicted when new evidence is discovered. Only this morning I
heard on the radio that the site of the Battle of Hastings is now in dispute.
Closer to
my own interests, there is one bit of history that experts have never been able
to agree upon. Until the amateur archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann began
excavating the supposed site of the city of Troy people believed that the story
of the Trojan War was just a legend. Schliemann proved that not only had Troy
existed, but it had been destroyed and rebuilt many times. He then moved on to
excavate Mycenae, the city of Agamemnon, leader of the Greeks, and found
evidence of a rich and sophisticated society, where the palaces were decorated
with beautiful frescoes and the dead were buried with their faces covered by
masks of beaten gold. Yet for three thousand years, the only indication that
Mycenae had ever existed was the Lion Gate which was still visible above the
ruins.
What
happened to destroy Mycenae and its associated cities so completely that they
were consigned to the realm of myth? The first clues came when Carl Blegen from
the university of Cincinnati began to excavate the city of Pylos on the west
coast of the Peloponnese. Pylos was the fabled city of King Nestor, who plays a
large role in the Iliad. Sure enough, Blegen uncovered the remains of a palace
and surrounding buildings situated on top of the hill of Epano Englianos. It
was a sumptuous building, with a wide courtyard leading to a colonnaded portico
that gave entrance to the megaron, the main hall and throne room of Nestor and
his descendants. In the centre of the room was a circular ceremonial hearth and
the floor, walls and ceiling were decorated with coloured patterns and
beautiful frescoes depicting animals and sea creatures and in one place a
seated figure playing a lyre. It had obviously been the centre of a rich and
cultivated society, but the evidence showed that it had been destroyed in a
great conflagration, some two or three generations after Nestor's time.
Among the
ruins were many clay tablets incised in an unknown script. What surprised the
archaeologists was that similar tablets had been discovered in the ruins of
Knossos on Crete. It had been assumed that there was no connection between the
Minoans of Crete and the Achaeans of Mycenae and Pylos. In Knossos the tablets
were written in two different scripts at different periods, but no one was able
to read them. They were known simply as Linear A and Linear B. The Pylos
tablets were written in Linear B. The question was, in what language? Had the
Minoans come to Pylos? Or had the Achaeans gone to Crete? It was not until two
Englishmen, Michael Ventris and John Chadwick, cracked the code that an answer
emerged. To everyone's surprise, the language proved to be an early form of
Greek.
Most of
the tablets are simply bureaucratic records of taxes received, in the form of
wheat or olive oil or wine, and items given out, like seed corn. But in the
highest and therefore most recent layer they tell a very different story. They
carry orders for a census to be made of all the chariots in the kingdom and
those that required it to be repaired; for ships to assemble at a point off the
coast; for watchers to be sent north to towns along the coast; even for the
bronze votive vessels from the temples to be requisitioned and melted down –
presumably to be made into weapons. It is clear that Pylos was preparing for an
invasion. The layer immediately above these tablets shows evidence of a
devastating fire. Among the ruins are crushed jars which once contained olive
oil, which presumably helped to fuel the conflagration, together with fragments
of ivory and delicately painted cups and vases. Clearly, when the attack came
the Pylians were unable to withstand it.
As soon
as Linear B was decoded a great dispute began among scholars and
archaeologists. Some maintained that the Minoans must have been Greeks after
all. Others that the Mycenean Greeks must have conquered Knossos and imposed
their language. Others again suggested
that it was the Minoans who had come to Greece and were the founders of the
Mycenean civilisation. To my knowledge the argument has never been settled.
As far as
I am concerned, the answer is unimportant. What excited me about the tablets
was the evidence they provided that Pylos was preparing for an invasion – an
invasion which finally destroyed the city. How that happened is the basis for
my novel THE LAST HERO.
About
Hilary Green
OK, let’s
get one thing out of the way straight off – the one thing everyone wants to hear
about. I was once embraced by 007!
It was a
long time ago, admittedly, and he wasn’t 007 then, but I am the teacher who
gave Daniel Craig his first acting experience. I won’t say I guided his first
steps. It was more a question of standing back in amazement and watching it all
happen, because Daniel never need much instruction. It was all there from the
start, the charisma, the command of the stage, the instinctive grasp of
character, but I like to think my encouragement helped him along the way. For more abou Hilary Green Click Here
