Individuals and Society in Mycenaean Pylos: 358 (Mnemosyne Supplements; History and Archaeology of Classical Antiquity) - Hardcover

"Die Studie ist in vielen Einzelbeobachtungen sehr wertvoll. Ohne ihren prosopographischen Anhang wird kunftig keine Untersuchung mehr auskommen, die sich Personen aus Pylos widmet." Marko Muller, sehepunkte 14 (2014), Nr. 2 [15.02.2014] "Nakassis presents a largely persuasive argument for a near one-name, one-individual identification and for the operation of individuals in multiple locales. Moreover, his collection of multi-tablet dossiers for individuals allows the cross-referencing of a broader elite, with previously unrecognized responsibilities and spheres of operation. His index collecting all data on named individuals and their degree of prosopographical certainty opens new avenues for the analysis of previously explored topics, such as production and administration, and it provides a way to explore topics previously inaccessible to scholarship, perhaps most importantly the vital topic of kinship relations - arguably our largest remaining gap in Mycenaean studies. Highly recommended." Barbara Olson, Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2015.02.45.

This book revises our understanding of Mycenaean society through a detailed analysis of individuals attested in the administrative texts from the Palace of Nestor at Pylos in southwestern Greece, ca. 1200 BC. It argues that conventional models of Mycenaean society, which focus on administrative titles and terms, can be improved through the study of named individuals. A new, methodologically innovative prosopography demonstrates that many named individuals were not only important managers of palatial affairs but also high-ranking members of the community. This work significantly broadens the elite class and suggests that the palace was less of an agent in its own right than an institutional framework for interactions amongst individuals and social groups.