Countryside & road systems
- Created by: Ruthfeath
- Created on: 19-05-18 11:09
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- Countryside & Road Systems
- Independent palace centres controlled a territory & the settlements within it - system of roads & bridges enabled connections within the kingdom
- Most remote parts of kingdoms were no more than 2 days walk from the capital, but reliable defence & efficient centralised government suggested by Linear B relied upon connections
- Inland sites needed a system of roads and bridges for these connections
- Network of roads linked Mycenae to other centres in the Argolid
- Good roads would have been needed for effective connections, overland trade & the moving of troops
- More substantial roads would have been needed for carts & chariots
- Traces of roads wide enough to take wagons can still be found around Mycenae
- Usually follow the contours of the hill - easier to build, used gentle gradients rather then steep drops
- On the route to Corinth retaining walls were built of Cyclopean size to support the road as it went through the hillside
- Viaducts built across ravines near Mycenae
- Viaduct 2km south of Mycenae, 1160BC
- Carried the road from Mycenae to the Heraion over the Chavos river - discovery of this led to discovery of entire road network
- Viaduct 2km south of Mycenae, 1160BC
- Used engineering to build their roads - streams crossed with bridges using large blocks of stone with gaps between to let the water pass through
- Roads seem to have been 3.5-4m wide - similar width to those in Crete
- Roads built in 3 layers
- 1. Foundation layer of stones
- 2. 25cm layer of small stones & earth
- 3. Surface of pebbles, earth & sand
- Mycenae seems to have had roads leading from it in 3 directions - north to Nemea, south to Midea, 11km to Argos & Tiryns
- Road systems near other citadels have been harder to identify - either because they were not built or have not survived
- In Mycenae the road system developed during the 13thC, & coincided with a phase of cultural & economic growth
- Roads built at same time as the Lion Gate
- Roads occurred after population rise used to manage increase in farming production?
- Also possible that the roads existed as paths & the increasingly wealthy ruler wished to display wealth - similar to Lion Gate
- Particularly good road contact with fertile inland plains nearby in the hills, reflecting their power base there
- Mycenae Survey - found important relationship between many cemeteries attached to main settlement & the road network
- Placing of more hidden chamber tombs by a road may have been merely a matter of convenience rather than a powerful display
- Roads near Gla
- One led about 100m away from the south gate
- Another led to a sanctuary on its way to Mycenae
- Built to link fortress with land around it on lake shore
- Krisa near Delphi dominated trade routes leading north
- 500m of excellent road supported on a 3m high wall
- Trade routes seem to have been protected with small semi-circular towers placed in the mountain passes north of Amphissa
- At least 3 roads seem to have led away from Tiryns
- To the dam site & perhaps Midea
- North to Mycenae
- South to Nauplion then to Epidaurus
- Steffen - roads built primarily for a military purpose
- No evidence for this - others have argued that they were more likely for trade & everyday use - military roads would probably not zig-zag across the landscape
- Jansen - road systems only for travel within one kingdom
- Castleden - roads designed to join up with other kingdoms
- Evidence from Knossos that this was the case in Crete - likely that the road system meant that the different kingdoms did have some contact with one another
- East of Tiryns tens of thousands of tons of earth was moved to form a dam & divert a fast river into a new direction
- Meant that river no longer flowed near the citadel & its surrounding towns
- Near the citadel of Gla a lake was drained so the citadel could be built
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