Greek Orthodox Community of Melbourne and Victoria

Presenter: by Dr Stephie Nikoloudis

Venue: Kelvin Club

Entry: Free.

About 1000 years before Classical Greece and the Golden Age of Athens, the Mycenaean civilisation flourished on the Greek mainland and Crete during the Late Bronze Age (ca. 1600-1100 BCE).

At its peak, Mycenaean society was characterised by monumental tholos tombs and fortified citadels with palaces featuring impressive wall paintings, intricately decorated pottery, and artifacts from a range of spheres such as  textile production, metalworking and religious activity.

The Linear B economic documents discovered at the palaces, written in the earliest surviving form of the Greek language, indicate that complex bureaucracies were involved in the production, storage and redistribution of agricultural and other items.

Who were the administrators of these early palatial centres and their associated territories? How did they interact with the rest of the population? What power structures were in place at this time? How were Mycenaean communities organised socially and politically?

Archaeological and textual evidence is combined in this presentation to answer these questions.

Dr. Stavroula (Stephie) Nikoloudis:
Stephie Nikoloudis is an archaeologist, specialising in the Aegean Bronze Age (ca. 3000-1000 BCE). Her research focuses on Mycenaean society and Mycenaean Greek textual studies (Linear B script). She holds a doctorate from The University of Texas at Austin and has excavated in Greece, Cyprus, Turkey and Australia. She is an Honorary Fellow of The University of Melbourne (School of Historical and Philosophical Studies) and a member of the Eastern Boeotia Archaeological Project (EBAP), currently excavating a Late Bronze Age site located between Thebes and Tanagra in central Greece.