Life in Mycenaean Pylos

When it comes to the king's functions, there is very little evidence, but we know he played a significant role in both religious and secular affairs. The archaeological evidence supports this conclusion. The state apartments (4—6) embody the public power and splendor of a palatial center (Fig. 6). Access to this area from the main southeast entrance is very straightforward, and fresco remains from the outer porch suggest that the ceremonial procession observed in room 5 may actually have begun at the southeast entrance, so that the procession on the wall guided and accompanied visitors to the throne room (6). The frescoes of banqueting and entertainment here (Fig. 8), the libation channel next to the throne, and an offering table near the hearth tie the king closely to ritual activities. The startling quantities of ordinary household pottery found in pantries nearby (19-22, Fig. 13) suggest the regular entertainment of large numbers of people. Communal feasting is a way in many cultures of demonstrating and maintaining authority, and this may have been so at Mycenaean Pylos as well. The practice may also have had a ritual dimension; several Pylos texts list foods that are apparently earmarked for such feasts. It has been suggested that the spacious open area (63, 88) between the Main and Southwestern Buildings would have been a good space for large banquets: plenty of room, and easy access to the stores of crockery in the pantries.
Another topic on which the tablets give us a good deal of information is industrial production. There are hints in the tablets that the palace may have hired some otherwise independent workers, and paid them on contract for their services. Much more commonly, however, those working for the palace were fully or partially dependent on it. The palace collected raw materials and distributed them to craftsmen, and in due course recorded the receipt of the finished product. Such is the case with bronze workers at Pylos. The palace administrators were also much concerned with textile production, especially linen but also wool. One series of tablets records the amount of flax that various places were required to contribute to the center. Another lists the groups of women who did the work of spinning, weaving, and decorating linen (and probably woolen) cloth, along with other menial workers like grain-grinders and bath attendants. Most of these women are concentrated at Pylos itself, where there were twenty-eight workgroups comprising a preserved total of 377 women, but others are stationed elsewhere: seven groups (120 women) in the Hither Province, and fourteen groups (142 women) in the Further Province. A different scribe kept track of the groups working in each province; the tablets noted not only the number of workers but how many children they had with them. Still another scribe noted the monthly rations of figs and grain for the Hither Province workers, but such records are not preserved for the Further Province groups.
The perfumed oil industry at Pylos is also a good example of how the center organized the production of important commodities. In the ancient world scented oil was a frequent offering to the gods, and it was also used for medicinal and cosmetic purposes. It was of particular value in a world without soap, where odors could be masked more easily than erased. The Mycenaean world relied for such purposes on olive oil scented with various fragrances. The jars which contained this oil are distinctive (Fig. 15: top center, middle right, and bottom left; Fig. 23). They are called stirrup jars, because the handle resembles a stirrup, and they have a very small mouth, suitable for the small quantities used and easy to stopper. They turn up as offerings in tombs, and they are by far the most common type of Mycenaean pottery found outside Greece. Thus the manufacture and export of perfumed oil was big business, and there is a good deal of information about it in the tablets.
Lists of ingredients give us clues to the various types of perfumed oil and how they were made. Rose perfume, for example, was created by first boiling astringent herbs likethat owned by the next ranking figure, the lawagetas (his name should mean that he leads the people, perhaps in a military sense). Other officials appear on other landholding tablets; they seem to receive the benefit of land in return for service of some kind, and they can rent out shares in turn to other individuals.
When it comes to the king's functions, there is very little evidence, but we know he played a significant role in both religious and secular affairs. The archaeological evidence supports this conclusion. The state apartments (4—6) embody the public power and splendor of a palatial center (Fig. 6). Access to this area from the main southeast entrance is very straightforward, and fresco remains from the outer porch suggest that the ceremonial procession observed in room 5 may actually have begun at the southeast entrance, so that the procession on the wall guided and accompanied visitors to the throne room (6). The frescoes of banqueting and entertainment here (Fig. 8), the libation channel next to the throne, and an offering table near the hearth tie the king closely to ritual activities. The startling quantities of ordinary household pottery found in pantries nearby (19-22, Fig. 13) suggest the regular entertainment of large numbers of people. Communal feasting is a way in many cultures of demonstrating and maintaining authority, and this may have been so at Mycenaean Pylos as well. The practice may also have had a ritual dimension; several Pylos texts list foods that are apparently earmarked for such feasts. It has been suggested that the spacious open area (63, 88) between the Main and Southwestern Buildings would have been a good space for large banquets: plenty of room, and easy access to the stores of crockery in the pantries.
Another topic on which the tablets give us a good deal of information is industrial production. There are hints in the tablets that the palace may have hired some otherwise independent workers, and paid them on contract for their services. Much more commonly, however, those working for the palace were fully or partially dependent on it. The palace collected raw materials and distributed them to craftsmen, and in due course recorded the receipt of the finished product. Such is the case with bronze workers at Pylos.