Thank you for this excellent and insightful piece. For thousands of years, people have taken what they choose from the classics and then complained when others have chosen to take something else. The most annoying are those who claim that their choices are not political and then cite a work by a Tudor apologist playwright or Flavian propagandist. It is telling that Virgil chose a Trojan survivor for his founder of Rome.
Thank you also for not buying the no-collapse argument. No, it wasn't just different. Something had vanished along with the ceremonial centers of the Maya or the violent peace or the Romans. I'll recommend taking a look at After 1177 BC to get a feel for the changes and a sense of how little we know from that interregnum.
This is great. Is there some way to link to it that you approve of, because my entire Threads world conversing about this movie would benefit from your discussion.
Thank you, Patrick. This was great. I know you don’t subscribe to the saying “those who don’t learn from history…” but, nevertheless, some historical context - as well as your insight - is always appreciated.
"We have not the foggiest idea why these palaces were burned; social rebellions against kingly rule are one possibility, but it’s equally likely that competition between petty kings led to some centers wiping out others."
I toured the Peloponnese with a Greek archeologist a couple of years ago. We spent an afternoon at the site called Nestor's palace in the south-western Peloponnese. We discussed the burning of the Place.
His view was that fires were frequent because the buildings were heated by open hearths, not fireplaces or stoves, and because they often contained huge stores of highly flammable material such as dried grain, bolts of cloth, and huge vats of olive oil. But on most occasions the palaces were rebuilt.
After the last fire the site, was abandoned and the palace was not rebuilt, and that abandonment and failure is what was important.
This was wonderful. Enlightening and extremely well written.
Thank you for this excellent and insightful piece. For thousands of years, people have taken what they choose from the classics and then complained when others have chosen to take something else. The most annoying are those who claim that their choices are not political and then cite a work by a Tudor apologist playwright or Flavian propagandist. It is telling that Virgil chose a Trojan survivor for his founder of Rome.
Thank you also for not buying the no-collapse argument. No, it wasn't just different. Something had vanished along with the ceremonial centers of the Maya or the violent peace or the Romans. I'll recommend taking a look at After 1177 BC to get a feel for the changes and a sense of how little we know from that interregnum.
This is great. Is there some way to link to it that you approve of, because my entire Threads world conversing about this movie would benefit from your discussion.
I'd appreciate it if you did link to it! This is fine but it's probably better for me if you use the Patreon link: https://www.patreon.com/PastLivesMedia/posts/christopher-165426703
This feeds both my inner-archaeologist and my inner-pop culture maven at the same time!
Thank you, Patrick. This was great. I know you don’t subscribe to the saying “those who don’t learn from history…” but, nevertheless, some historical context - as well as your insight - is always appreciated.
"We have not the foggiest idea why these palaces were burned; social rebellions against kingly rule are one possibility, but it’s equally likely that competition between petty kings led to some centers wiping out others."
I toured the Peloponnese with a Greek archeologist a couple of years ago. We spent an afternoon at the site called Nestor's palace in the south-western Peloponnese. We discussed the burning of the Place.
His view was that fires were frequent because the buildings were heated by open hearths, not fireplaces or stoves, and because they often contained huge stores of highly flammable material such as dried grain, bolts of cloth, and huge vats of olive oil. But on most occasions the palaces were rebuilt.
After the last fire the site, was abandoned and the palace was not rebuilt, and that abandonment and failure is what was important.
great as always.