by Hilary Green
I knew I should make plans for the ruins to be razed and a new house built in place of the old, but I could not bring myself to give the orders. I went back to my chariot and returned to my house in the city. As I entered the vestibule the porter met me.
'Sir, there is a visitor for you. He is waiting in the courtyard.'
'Who is it?'
'A stranger, sir. He said he has a message for you.'
In the courtyard a figure rose to greet me. It was a young man, perhaps seventeen or eighteen years old, and I felt I should recognise him but I could not call a name to mind. To my surprise he fell on his knees in front of me and greeted me with the royal titles I had once born as King of Pylos.
I bent and raised him. 'There is no need to kneel. I have not been a king for many years now.'
He looked at me. 'You do not remember me? I am Amyntas, the son of Chryses.'
His words turned the key which unlocked my memory. 'Of course! Forgive me, but you were a boy of – what, ten years? - last time I saw you. Your father, Chryses, was one of my father's most loyal Companions. I heard that he was killed trying to protect my escape when the Dorians over-ran Pylos. My commiserations. He was a brave man.'
The boy's eyes were shining. 'Brave, indeed, my lord. But he was not killed. He sends you greetings by me.'
'Not killed! Praise be to the Mistress! But how did he escape? And where is he now?'
Amyntas hesitated and I saw that he was at a loss as to where to start answering. I remembered my manners then and sent a servant for wine and honey cakes. When we were seated in the shade of the porch I asked again, 'How did your father escape? I was told all those who remained behind were killed.'
'He was left for dead, sir. When he regained consciousness the palace was on fire and the enemy had left it to burn. Somehow he managed to find a way out before the building collapsed and staggered to the house of a man he knew, a merchant he had had dealings with and had found honest. The man had hidden his goods in a deep cellar and he put my father in there too and heaped stones at the entrance so that the Dorians would not find their way in. The ruse worked. The Dorians ransacked the house but did not find the cellar and the merchant plied them with wine, so they let him live. When they were all drunk and sleeping he let my father out and tended his wounds and then lent him a donkey. When the first ships were sighted, my father had sent me and my mother and my two young brothers to our uncle on our country estate. He managed to reach us there and as soon as he arrived, with his tale of the destruction being wreaked on the city, it was decided that we must abandon everything and try to find refuge somewhere else. At first, we intended to try to rejoin you, my lord. We heard from other refugees that you had been seen on the road to Mycenae. But by then the Dorians had swept inland and the roads were too dangerous to travel. We made our way down the coast and by good luck we came upon a Cretan ship about to set sail. My uncle had money, and they agreed to give us passage to Knossos. There we were kindly received, but after a year there it was clear that there was no chance of getting land where we could build a new life for ourselves. One day a traveller came to the city and from him we heard that other refugees, not only from Pylos but from other Achaean cities the Dorians had invaded, had founded a settlement on the shores of Lydia. He told us that the land was good and the people friendly. So we set out and found it just as the traveller had said. We call the new city Colophon and we have lived there now for nearly seven years.'
'Colophon!' I almost spilt my wine at the name. 'Then you must have seen Alectryon, my dearest friend.'
He smiled, with the delight of one who has withheld the best news till last. 'It is Alectryon who sent me here, sir. He greets you by me and prays that you are in good health.'
'And he? Is he in good health? And does he prosper?'
'He is, my lord. He leads the council that rules the city, and I was to tell you ….'He hesitated, shyly.
'Go on, tell me what?'
'He said to remind you that once in jest he suggested to you that one day you would both go travelling to find a foreign princess to marry. I am to tell you that he has found his.'
'He is married?'
'To a Lydian princess. It was part of a pact that brought us peace with the local people. But I believe it was a happy choice.'
'And are there children?'
'A son and a daughter.'
For a moment the memory of my own son rose up and choked my throat, but I pushed the thought aside. 'I rejoice for him.'
His smile faded. 'Forgive me. I spoke thoughtlessly. I know that recently you suffered a terrible loss.'
I sighed. 'Indeed so. Two years ago, before the Dorians attacked again, I would have told you I had everything a man could hope for in this life. Sadly I now find myself almost as bereft as I was when I left Pylos.' I forced my thoughts back to the present. 'But what brings you to Athens at this time?'
'Not long ago a ship arrived, bringing news of the siege you had endured here, and also of your heroic battle which finally ended it. It was from those men that we also heard of the death of your wife and son. That was why Alectryon sent me.'
I nodded. 'It is like him, to seek to send me comfort.'
The boy hesitated, his young face suddenly serious. 'It is more than that, sir. I have not yet told you the most important part of my message. He and the elders of Colophon have charged me to say this. Colophon prospers. The land is rich and fair and the women beautiful. The new city grows, month by month. Now it needs a ruler. Many of the leaders of the community are Messenians. Until now the government of it has been in the hands of a few men, once Companions to King Sillos, under the leadership of Alectryon. Now Colophon requires a king. I am charged to invite, nay to beg you, to come to us so that the descendants of great King Nestor may rule over us as before.'
My mind whirled. I was being offered a new life, a new beginning. And I would see Alectryon again. But was this really the right path for me? Should I leave Melanthos and the Companions who had travelled with me so faithfully? But I knew that he had his kingdom and his family, and most of the others were well settled and had no real need of me. Was it my destiny to be a king once more? Did I owe it to my great ancestors to restore their line? An answer came to me.
'I must seek the will of the Goddess. Tomorrow we will go to Eleusis and consult her priestess. She is a wise woman and if anyone can understand the will of the Mistress of All Things it is she. I will give you my answer after She has spoken.'
At the holy shrine of Eleusis the same High Priestess who had set my feet upon the path of happiness years before took the omens for me and told me that the Goddess had so ordained my life that I should now be Her Royal Consort in Colophon. Melanthos gave me reluctant leave and I set about making my preparations. The ship that had brought Amyntas to Athens was still in port, awaiting my decision. I packed a chest with those possessions that were most precious to me and made the round of my friends to say farewell. Melanthos gave a parting feast for me and the following morning we drove in procession to the harbour, followed by a carriage bearing my daughter Electra, with her nursemaid, and Neritos's two young sons.
As the sacrificial fires were lit I was suddenly powerfully reminded of the day eight years earlier when I had set out with Alectryon on that momentous voyage that had first brought us into contact with the Dorians. I had been filled with such hope then, and now I found the same excitement stirring in my heart. Just when I had begin to think that the best years of my life were over, I was embarking on a new adventure. I embraced my friends for the last time and gave the order to cast off.
As the ship approached the shore I could see a great crowd of people assembled to greet me. I scanned the faces, searching for one fire-bright head, and found him just as I was about to disembark. The fire had dimmed to glowing embers, but those amazing sea-blue eyes were as vivid and expressive as ever. We approached each other slowly, striving to maintain a dignified restraint. His control broke before mine, but only just. We covered
the remaining distance at a run and threw ourselves into each others' arms.
When we had embraced he dropped to his knees and saluted me as King and as he did so the whole crowd behind him knelt and did likewise. As I raised him to his feet I looked around me at the eager faces, some strange, others wonderfully familiar; at the city behind them and the fertile land beyond; all offered to me to rule and care for. I realized suddenly that I was only twenty-five years old. If I were to live as long as my great ancestor Nestor I could look forward to another forty or fifty years of life.
I have lived almost that length of time now, here in this quiet place, in peace and prosperity. Alectryon found me a new wife, a dark haired Lydian beauty, with laughing eyes, high spirited as a thoroughbred horse. Different enough in looks and temperament from my beloved Philona not to invite comparisons but soon as dear to me as she had been. She has born me further sons, who I hope will succeed me here. Also, to our great joy, Alectryon's son married my daughter Electra, so grand-children of my blood and his are around me at this day.
Alectryon has been dead for some time now, but we shared many years of happy companionship together. Together we watched our city grow. We are far from the great centres here and to a large extent the movements of hostile peoples, which still continue, have passed us by: but we have had to fight more than once for our land, and shall have to do so again. Nevertheless, we have managed to preserve here something of the life we knew in Pylos. I cannot tell how much will remain after I am dead.
Each year has brought news of further destruction in our homeland. Melanthos died from the plague a few years after my departure, and his son Kodros has succeeded him. The walls of Athens still stand, but each year the Dorians come in greater force. Soon the great battle must be fought. Mycenae is also free of the invaders, but only her great walls keep them out. I expect daily the news that the sons of Heracles sit upon the throne of Atreus. When that happens our world, the world of the heroes who were our ancestors, will be gone. I pray the Goddess daily that Athens may survive, to keep alive the fame that they have passed down to us.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
The Mycenean Empire really existed. Excavations at Troy and Mycenae and later at Pylos have revealed a highly sophisticated civilization, where there were palaces decorated with beautiful frescoes depicting animals and plants, musicians playing the lyre, and warriors in chariots. The dead were buried with rich grave goods and masks of beaten gold were placed over their faces. The city of Mycenae was surrounded by massive walls. Archaeologists have found evidence of a fire which destroyed part of it, followed by a rebuilding programme which was clearly intended to strengthen the defences. Yet not long afterwards the city was razed to the ground. All that was left visible was the Lion Gate, which once gave entrance through the walls. Mycenae, the city of Agamemnon, was consigned to the realm of myth for three thousand years.
How did this happen? The first clues were found during the excavation of Pylos on the west coast of the Peloponnese, the city of the legendary King Nestor, who plays a large role in the Iliad. Among the ruins of the palace were hundreds of clay tablets inscribed in a script no one was able to decipher. In fact there were two different scripts, which were given the names Linear A and Linear B. What surprised archaeologists was the fact that similar tablets were also found in the ruins of the Minoan palace of Knossos on Crete. It had always been assumed that the Minoan and Mycenean civilizations were quite separate. It was not until Michael Ventris and John Chadwick succeeded in decoding Linear B that it was understood that it was an early form of Greek. Most of the tablets were simple records kept by the palaces scribes of taxes received and items given out; but in the highest and therefore most recent layer of the dig the tablets tell a different story. There are orders for chariots to be assembled and repaired in necessary; ships to be stationed at points along the coast; men to be despatched to the northern borders of the country; even for the bronze votive vessels from the temples to be requisitioned and melted down for weapons. It is quite clear that Pylos was preparing for an invasion. The layer above these tablets shows evidence of a devastating fire after which the city was abandoned. Clearly these preparations were not enough.
So who were the invaders, and how were they able to overcome such a powerful empire? That is the question I have endeavoured to answer in this book.
Suggestions for further reading:
'The Decipherment of Linear B' – Chadwick, J. Cambridge 1958
'Myceneans and Minoans' – Palmer, L.R. Faber and Faber 1961
'Greece and the Bronze Age' – Vermeule, E. Chicago 1964
'The Realm of the Great Goddess' – Thames and Hudson 1962
'The Greek Myths' – Robert Graves – Penguin Books 1955