All our legends and myths come from this era but most Greeks know nothing about this era. Classic and Hellenistic Greek history dominate our school system. Bronze age was covered in a few chapters in the sixth grade when I was at school. After this nothing.
Wow, so this is great... I've read a little bit about possible contacts between the Hittites and Mycenaeans and supposed letters between the two from the archives at Hattusa, but never came across something like this with such great detail, maps and machinimas. This is honestly a great video, thanks so much for creating this and shedding light to this extremely interesting by mostly unknown history. I mean, we've all heard of the Trojan War, but most don't know the real history of Bronze Age Greece and the nature of their presence in western Anatolia. Looking forward to the next one!
Thanks man, really appreciate the support! Yes, I have a collection of those letters. Basically all the Hittite correspondence concerning or mentioning the Achaeans that I could find. There will definitely be more videos concerning this topic!
You're dealing with such interesting subject matter. But this information is HIGHLY speculative. It's a real shame that your desire to present a coherent narrative overshadows your desire to present the subject accurately. At the very least you should state your sources clearly, and clearly label speculation as speculation rather than fact. I enjoy your videos and you're doing a great job with the production values. I can see that a lot of effort goes into them.
Fun fact: Today, the Northwest province of Peloponnese, Elis, is split into two with the south still called Elis and the north, Achaea. However, the root province of the Achaeans is Argolis (northeast), with its old capital Mycenae. The capital later changed to Argos, which is also the root place of the dynasty of Alexander the Great.
I remember that according to Hittite records, the Achaeans had 100 chariots in this army and scholars think it may have ended in a duel as only 1 casualty from each side is recorded
I really like your summary about the bronze Age expansion of Acheans in Anatolia but could you tell more about the sources enabling to tell this story please ?
These videos tend to mix mythology with pre-history in a way that is highly misleading, and present a lot of things which are very poorly attested or hotly debated by scholars as fact. They create a nice narrative, but give a really inaccurate representation of what we know. Presenting Acresus as a historical figure rather than a mythological one is just one example of a very misleading presentation here.
@@TheDrownedEarth Thanks for your comment about History accuracy, but at the same time can we really neglect the fact that in the depth of myths or ancient traditions there is still a basis taken from the reality... ?
Vast speculation & extrapolation from known facts here, but I have to admit the manner in which the dots were connected is both possible & satisfying. So it *could* have happened just this way.
This is a great video, but I tell my students they should include their sources of information. Could you include a list of where you found the translated Hittite documents? Are there any other historical documents that you used? I would like to share this with my students.
Thanks for the feedback! One of the best sources for this would be the Indictment of Maduwatta. It's covered in a book "Ahhiyawa Texts" by Gary M. Beckman.
And after this video, and the other about the mycenaean society, it's time to open up laptop, and put up a coastal raid on the Anatolian coast in bronze age TW. (ROME 1, not the mod for Rome 2 where only custom battles are available). Or maybe against the northern villages? Only poor peoples live there, few gold, but are a good source of slaves. An easy prey, the Asian cities are well defended instead. Whatever area I will raid, it's clear that we all hate the hittites here. 😂
It seems that Achaeans prefer to make weapon almost similar to weapons of King Hittite of Hatustusa/Ahhiyawa,the three holes at the base of King's sword.That's two holes at the base of my Achaeans copper/bronze Tongue-like sword.
