Individuals and Society in Mycenaean Pylos
Series: - Mnemosyne, Supplements, Volume: 358
- Mnemosyne, Supplements, History and Archaeology of Classical Antiquity, Volume: 358
This book revises our understanding of Mycenaean society through a detailed analysis of individuals attested in the administrative texts from the Palace of Nestor at Pylos in southwestern Greece, ca. 1200 BC. It argues that conventional models of Mycenaean society, which focus on administrative titles and terms, can be improved through the study of named individuals. A new, methodologically innovative prosopography demonstrates that many named individuals were not only important managers of palatial affairs but also high-ranking members of the community. This work significantly broadens the elite class and suggests that the palace was less of an agent in its own right than an institutional framework for interactions amongst individuals and social groups.
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Dimitri Nakassis, Ph.D. (2006) in Classical Archaeology at the University of Texas at Austin, is Assistant Professor of Classics at the University of Toronto.
"Die Studie ist in vielen Einzelbeobachtungen sehr wertvoll. Ohne ihren prosopographischen Anhang wird künftig keine Untersuchung mehr auskommen, die sich Personen aus Pylos widmet." - Marko Müller, in: sehepunkte 14 (2014), Nr. 2 (15.02.2014)
"Nakassis presents a largely persuasive argument for a near one-name, one-individual identification and for the operation of individuals in multiple locales. Moreover, his collection of multi-tablet dossiers for individuals allows the cross-referencing of a broader elite, with previously unrecognized responsibilities and spheres of operation. His index collecting all data on named individuals and their degree of prosopographical certainty opens new avenues for the analysis of previously explored topics, such as production and administration, and it provides a way to explore topics previously inaccessible to scholarship, perhaps most importantly the vital topic of kinship relations – arguably our largest remaining gap in Mycenaean studies. Highly recommended." - Barbara Olson, in: Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2015.02.45
"Nakassis presents a largely persuasive argument for a near one-name, one-individual identification and for the operation of individuals in multiple locales. Moreover, his collection of multi-tablet dossiers for individuals allows the cross-referencing of a broader elite, with previously unrecognized responsibilities and spheres of operation. His index collecting all data on named individuals and their degree of prosopographical certainty opens new avenues for the analysis of previously explored topics, such as production and administration, and it provides a way to explore topics previously inaccessible to scholarship, perhaps most importantly the vital topic of kinship relations – arguably our largest remaining gap in Mycenaean studies. Highly recommended." - Barbara Olson, in: Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2015.02.45
All archaeologists and historians of ancient Greece, especially those interested in Greek prehistory and early Greek history, as well as those interested in early states and ancient administrative systems.