lemnos/sea people

From: Mark Odegard <markodegard@...>
Date: Fri Dec 29, 2000 8:44pm
Subject: Lemnos.


From my reading, Lemnos seems to have been a golden
center of
civilization from the Neolithic down to the start of
the Iron Age.

If you pay attention to the geography, you see it is
the biggest
island after exiting the Hellespont. Being a big
island, it also has a
regular water supply. Being an island, it was pretty
immune from
invasions until the advent of the Sea People. It is
located within
easy rowing/sailing distance of the Hellespont, the
mouth of the
Hebrus, the Struma, and even the Axios. It was ideally
situated for
the exange of trade goods from South Central Europe and
the Black Sea.

The one thing I want to know more about is the
impression I have that
Lemnos seems to have been a paramount trade center
during the Bronze
Age, the ultimate wholesale/retail center the Aegean.
The island was
*wealthy*.

Finding odd inscriptions on Lemnos would be no more
unexpected than
finding inscriptions in dozens of different languages
in present-day
New York City.


Are you sure that Lemnos was INVADED by the sea peoples? Maybe Lemnos
was a part of the very same cultural sphere for a long, long time, and
that Mirina of Lemnos was a friendly harbour for the sea peoples -
both being part of a surviving minoan culture after the cretans were
driven out apprx. 1200 BC?

Morten