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Kings, Queens and Courts: the Minoans and Mycenae

A ten‑minute journey through the palaces, rulers and regalia of Bronze Age Crete and mainland Greece.

Chapters

• 0:07 Minoan Palaces and Power
• 1:52 Mycenaean State Formation
• 3:37 War, Kings and Legend
• 5:40 Legacy and Decline

On-screen text

• 0:07 Minoan Palaces and Power
• 0:14 Minoan Palaces and Power
• 0:31 Knossos palace: multi‑storey complex Historical record · Sir Arthur Evans, The Palace of Knossos (1900)
• 0:49 Minoan queen‑like figure in fresco The Institute's interpretation · Minoan fresco, House of the Ladies, Knossos (c. 1500 BC)
• 1:07 Phaistos palace central hearth Historical record · Luigi Pernier, Excavations at Phaistos (1930)
• 1:25 Akrotiri procession with horned staffs The Institute's interpretation · Akrotiri fresco, Thera (c. 1600 BC)
• 1:43 Linear A tablet with king sign The Institute's interpretation · Linear A tablets, Knossos (c. 1500 BC)
• 1:52 Mycenaean State Formation
• 1:59 Mycenaean State Formation
• 2:16 Mycenae’s iconic Lion Gate Historical record · Heinrich Schliemann, Mycenae excavations (1876)
• 2:34 Treasury of Atreus tholos tomb Historical record · Archaeological Survey of Mycenae, Treasury of Atreus (1902)
• 2:52 Linear B name Agamemnon Historical record · Linear B tablet PY V 1 (Pylos, c. 1200 BC)
• 3:10 Linear B name Atreus Historical record · Linear B tablet KN 877 (Knossos, c. 1300 BC)
• 3:28 Pylos tablets show palace bureaucracy Historical record · The Archive of the Palace of Pylos, Linear B tablets (c. 1200 BC)
• 3:37 War, Kings and Legend
• 3:44 War, Kings and Legend
• 4:01 Gold funerary mask from Mycenae Historical record · Grave Circle A, Mycenae, Gold Death Mask (1876, National Archaeological Museum, Athens)
• 4:19 Bronze swords from Mycenae graves Historical record · Bronze swords from Grave Circle A, Mycenae (c. 1500 BC)
• 4:37 Gold diadem fragment from Mycenae The Institute's interpretation · Gold diadem fragments, Mycenae (c. 1400 BC)
• 4:55 Herodotus on Mycenaean lineage Tradition / scripture · Herodotus, Histories 7.170
• 5:13 Thucydides on Mycenaean dominance Tradition / scripture · Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 1.4
• 5:31 Pausian description of Lion Gate Tradition / scripture · Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.16.5
• 5:40 Legacy and Decline
• 5:47 Legacy and Decline
• 6:04 Fire destruction at Knossos c.1450 BC Historical record · Arthur Evans, The Palace of Knossos, Volume III (1935)
• 6:22 Pylos palace abandonment c.1200 BC The Institute's interpretation · Radiocarbon study of Pylos archives, W. H. Stiner et al., Nature 2020
• 6:40 Linear A tablet with king sign The Institute's interpretation · Linear A tablets, Knossos (c. 1500 BC)
• 6:58 Gold diadem fragment from Mycenae The Institute's interpretation · Gold diadem fragments, Mycenae (c. 1400 BC)

Sources

Historical record: Sir Arthur Evans, The Palace of Knossos (1900) · Luigi Pernier, Excavations at Phaistos (1930) · Heinrich Schliemann, Mycenae excavations (1876) · Archaeological Survey of Mycenae, Treasury of Atreus (1902) · Linear B tablet PY V 1 (Pylos, c. 1200 BC) · Linear B tablet KN 877 (Knossos, c. 1300 BC) · The Archive of the Palace of Pylos, Linear B tablets (c. 1200 BC) · Grave Circle A, Mycenae, Gold Death Mask (1876, National Archaeological Museum, Athens) · Bronze swords from Grave Circle A, Mycenae (c. 1500 BC) · Arthur Evans, The Palace of Knossos, Volume III (1935)

Tradition / scripture: Herodotus, Histories 7.170 · Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 1.4 · Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.16.5

The Institute's interpretation: Minoan fresco, House of the Ladies, Knossos (c. 1500 BC) · Akrotiri fresco, Thera (c. 1600 BC) · Linear A tablets, Knossos (c. 1500 BC) · Gold diadem fragments, Mycenae (c. 1400 BC) · Radiocarbon study of Pylos archives, W. H. Stiner et al., Nature 2020

Sound: synthesized ambient (wind, drone, water) (CC0 — made by SoapBox). Made in 203 s of CPU.