Macedonia and Greece
The North Sea Peoples invaded Macedonia and Greece after the terrible eruption of the volcano on Thera. Get extra details about applications to earn money from home
The population of Greece was drastically reduced. As a result of this there was tiny resistance for the invaders except for any couple of groups of Achaean's who had fortified their defenses.
The Kings of Greece and Crete had received warnings that the Vikings have been coming from the North. They had enough time to prepare for their impending attack. Fortified enclosures had been hastily constructed. A wall was constructed about the Acropolis and a tunnel leading to the spring on the North side.
At Mycenae and Tiryus walls have been built of un-hewn rocks. Hidden approaches to wells had been built. At Corinth a robust wall was constructed.
Some Achaean chieftains hoped to fight at sea. The remains of their castles are proof that they lost.
The King of Pylos sent his navy to Pleuron on the North coast of the gulf of Corinth. Their ships have been manned with 400 rowers and warriors. They provided a coastal observation corps. They knew that the Vikings would land by sea.
Swift charioteers have been set up between the watching Navy plus the Palace of Pylos. The king of Pylos could not defend the whole coast nor avert a landing at just about every point. But he had a superb early warning system. But this coastal defense system could not stop the North Sea Peoples from landing on the coast of Peloponnese.
Hyllus, leader of the North Sea Warriors, produced the following proposal to the Greek king: "....There was no want for the two armies to danger their lives in an all out fight. He suggested that thr Pelopenessians chose a champion to fight him in a single combat. He gave his oath (sacred towards the Vikings) that if he lost he would withdraw his Army and make no additional attempt upon the Peloponnese to get a hundred years...."
In this duel, Echemus, King of the Greeks, slew Hyllus. The Vikings abided by their oath and passed on without invading. They returned a hundred years later and occupied the Peloponnese.
The land was then divided amongst the 3 great grandsons of Hyllus. Temenus, the eldest, received Argus. Cresphontes took Messene. Aristodemus took Sparta.
Aristodemus, according to Herodotus was the ancestor of the Spartan king. Leonidas, who fell in the head of his 300 Spartans at Thermopile.
The Vikings entered the peninsula shortly before 1200 BC. The palaces and settlements with the Peloponnese have been destroyed by earthquakes and fire and not by the invading Northern Warriors.
Between the all-natural catastrophes and the Northern invasions, the Mycenaean culture ended; circa 1150 and 1100 BC.
The King of Crete sent his fleet to cease the Vikings at sea. He also had 400 war chariots prepared for battle, in case they did land. Armour and weapons of all sorts had been produced ready. Additional than 20,000 sheep and 500 pigs had been gathered to feed the troops.
But just before the Vikings reached Crete the terrible eruption of Thera took location.
Archaeologists identified the weapons and remains from the North Sea Peoples on top rated of the volcanic ash and lava not in it or under it! They came soon after the disaster.
The Vikings only encountered resistance exactly where some part with the population who had survived banded themselves together inside a defensible position.
