Nubia and Mycenae

Nubia and Mycenae

Nubia is located in today's southern Egypt and northern Sudan. Its land is a desert divided by the Nile River. Due to the harsh environment it has not been able to support large populations for long periods. The great civilizations that did arise here however based their existence on trade and industry. It is a land of great natural treasures like gold mines, ebony, ivory and incense, which were prized by their neighbors.

The Nubian kingdom was closely associated with ancient Egypt, from which they adopted many of their practices such as religion and practice of building pyramids. Its kingdom survived longer that that of Egypt and was never annexed by the Romans. In later Roman times, Nubia was divided into three kingdoms, Nobatia, Makuria, and Aloda.

Because they did not write their own language until very late in ancient times we know little except what the Egyptians and Greeks said about them. Another problem was the dam at Aswan, Egypt. It created a five hundred mile long lake, which flooded many of the ancient temples and tombs of ancient Nubia. There was a mad rush to excavate the area in the 1960s before the building of the dam. Many of the native Nubians from the north were forced to relocate from their homelands to resettle in Egypt and Sudan.

Mycenae was a city-state of the Achaeans in ancient Greece. It is about 90 km southwest of Athens. During the second millennium B.C., Mycenae was one of the major centers of Greek civilization. In honor of Mycenae's leading position, 1600 B.C.- 1100 B.C. is called the Mycenaean period, which was dominated by a warrior aristocracy. This is the period in which scholars believe corresponds to the events in Homer's Iliad and Odyssey.

Mycenaean people built "beehive tombs," which are large circular burial vaults found in the hills. They were often buried with weapons and the nobility were buried with gold, masks, tiaras, armor and jeweled weaponry, also some of the nobility underwent mummification. The Mycenaean strongholds were located on top of hills protected by walls as thick as 6m.

During Roman times and in modern times this area has been a tourist attraction. The best-known feature of Mycenae is the Lion Gate, which was built in about 1250 B.C. The acropolis or "high city" of Mycenae is believed to fortified as early as 1500 B.C., within these walls monumental