Architecture of an ancient Greek fishing village

[lisbei]

Hi everyone! I'm working on a story which is set in Bronze Age Greece - well, sort of, as in, more based on a recent movie-Bronze Age Greece than anything which really historically happened

Comments

[mutive]

I would check out: http://age-of-bronze.com/ It's a gorgeous series of well researched comics about the Trojan War. There's a lot to be said for reading "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey" as well, as it's probably as close to an historical account as you can get.

I doubt that the fishing village would be made of stone. Fortresses were, and there were also other homes made of stone outside the fortresses, but I agree that this doesn't make sense with a fishing village. (And probably during attacks, the villagers raced off to the nearest fortress, if need be.) I believe that the temporary settlement the Myceneans set up on the Trojan coast (in the Iliad) is made of wood (mostly one room buildings), so that may be the nearest analog. I'm forgetting if anything similar is mentioned in the "Odyssey", but it seems highly probable.

[pocketmouse]

You could have wood or brick (unbaked, or sun-dried, not fired). Both were traditional building materials in Greece before stone, and were probably used in step with it in poorer areas. If you use brick, since it's not baked, you're still probably going to want a stone base for it (see: socle), because unbaked bricks wick moisture. The bricks would be plastered over, and possibly reinforced with wood.

Utica might be a good example of some of the stuff you're looking for, depending on when you're actually dating your Bronze Age to.

[lisbei]

Thanks so much, I had thought of stone but not brick, because I was very hesitant about the wood, as I live in the Mediterranean on an island which didn't have trees as such until the Knights of St John came along.

I know Greece is much bigger and had woodland but I wasn't so sure about its availability in coastal regions.

As for the actual dating, it's more of a mumblemumbleTheseusmumble, so I'm not that strict with it!

[pocketmouse]

Even if it wasn't available enough to make structures entirely out of wood, it'd be used as supports and in flooring and roofing.

[randomstasis]

Wood buildings are only common where wood is plentiful, so stone and brick are more common on the greek coasts

[sollersuk]

Though it's worth bearing in mind that wood was more plentiful in the Bronze Age - ancient writers commented on deforestation and the impact on the soil.

It's been suggested that the shape of later typical Greek temples was a survival from the shape of the original wooden houses.

[lisbei]

Thanks so much, those links are amazing - I'll check out the Lipari find too!

[lady_lirenel]

I would agree with the people who said probably wooden/mud buildings.

But mostly I want to say: I soooo agree with you about how 17th century is not ancient. Ancient, to me, is pre-Dark ages, and that's only if you want to be very general about it. This is one of my big pet peeves in life.

[marycatelli]

I've freaked out people by talking about modern times -- as in ancient medieval modern.

[sollersuk]

Me too. Coming at it from both linguistics and archaeology, anything after 1500 is definitely modern.

[randomstasis]

But yes, didn't you know? the Victorian era is "ancient times", and the King James Bible is written in "Old English"

[lebannen]

Maybe see if you can somehow watch City Beneath the Waves: Pavlopetri, which has lots of images of current best-guess coastal Bonze Age Greek buildings. Possibly they're bigger and smarter than a smaller village might have been, but it should be some help.