Doing It My Way: Ritual and Death at Pylos and Mycenae in the Late Bronze Age (15 min)

Presenters

Joanne Murphy, University of North Carolina Greensboro

Abstract

In this paper, by exploring evidence for cult, ritual, and burial practices from Mycenae and Pylos, I argue that the idea of a Mycenean koine obscures the important differences between palatial sites during the Late Bronze Age. This examination shows clearly that these two communities differed in where they conducted their cults, how they expressed themselves through ritual, and when they invested in their mortuary arenas.

These palatial sites contrast greatly in the areas that they used for cult practices in LH (Late Helladic) IIIB when the palaces were securely established. At Mycenae the community reserved the cult center solely for cult practices. This area with limited access had a visible and physical relationship to the megaron that created and communicated a recognizable connection between the two areas and the people using them. As yet, no such area has been found at Pylos. At Pylos any cult or ritual activity carried out at the palace was conducted in multifunctional spaces, as opposed to one solely reserved for cult purposes.

The mortuary data from Pylos and Mycenae suggest that both sites invested in tombs and burials in the early period of state formation, but in the later period of LH IIIB when the palaces were clearly established the two communities diverged in their practices: Mycenae continued investing in the building of elite tombs, but Pylos had decreased its use of major burial areas.

Based on the available evidence for cult, ritual, and mortuary practices, I argue that the palatial elite at Mycenae limited and controlled access to cult and mortuary practices in a way that Pylos did not. I further contend that these differences help us understand the subtle but important differences in the power strategies and identities of these states.