By Dimitri Nakassis (University of Colorado-Boulder)
Abstract:
Around 1200 BC, palaces burned across the eastern Mediterranean, from the Mycenaean kingdoms in Greece to the flourishing towns of the Levantine coast to the city of Troy itself. The Mediterranean never fully recovered from this catastrophe, and why this happened is anyone’s guess. Theories include marauding invaders, climate change, internal rebellion, and natural disasters. This paper argues that to understand this collapse, we ...
By Dimitri Nakassis (University of Colorado-Boulder)
Abstract:
Around 1200 BC, palaces burned across the eastern Mediterranean, from the Mycenaean kingdoms in Greece to the flourishing towns of the Levantine coast to the city of Troy itself. The Mediterranean never fully recovered from this catastrophe, and why this happened is anyone’s guess. Theories include marauding invaders, climate change, internal rebellion, and natural disasters. This paper argues that to understand this collapse, we cannot lose sight of the local and the regional, and examines developments in southern Greece to try to understand some of the forces that transformed this part of the world forever.
Speaker Bio:
Dimitri Nakassis is Associate Professor with the Department of Classics, University of Colorado, Boulder, and was previously with the University of Toronto. He holds his degrees from the University of Texas at Austin (Ph.D. and M.A.), and the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor (B.A.), and his areas of specialization include Greek archaeology, especially the Late Bronze Age, Linear B and early writing systems, and survey archaeology. Professor Nakassis is co-director of the Western Argolid Regional Project, and his recent publications include KE-RA-ME-JA: Studies Presented to Cynthia W. Shelmerdine, co-editor, (Prehistory Monographs 46, INSTAP, 2014), and Individuals and Society in Mycenaean Pylos (Mnemosyne Supplements, History and Archaeology of Classical Antiquity 358, 2013). Professor Nakassis was named a 2015 MacArthur Foundation Fellow for his work on transforming our understanding of prehistoric Greek Societies.