Were I looking for a historian's account of Mycenae after Agamenon and the return of the Heracleidae...

[Antiochos VII Sidetes]

Where would I look? Who covers this period?

[Akrotatos]

He have no historical records of that period...and Agamemnon was a mythic figure.

I suggest looking for books about the Greek Dark Ages and the Mycenean civilisation.

[CtrlAltDe1337]

He have no historical records of that period...and Agamemnon was a mythic figure.

I suggest looking for books about the Greek Dark Ages and the Mycenean civilisation.

How do you know he was mythic?

[Timoleon of Korinthos]

Diodorus Sicilus records a few things about the Heracleidae in his 4th book. Polyaaenus also offers some historical info about them in his 1st book, but it is rather scanty, since he is more interested in the study of war rather than historical accuracy and narrative cohesion. And then you could also check the books of Pausanias, which are dedicated to Peloponnesus, Laconia first and foremost.

[Antiochos VII Sidetes]

Thanks, I'll look into those sources. +rep.

[clandestino]

Herodotus and Tucidides.

[Timoleon of Korinthos]

Thucidides devotes a couple of lines to the story of Heracles and Eurystheas and the origins of Agamemnon's power, but all he states regarding the period of the actual return of the Heracleidae is just one sentence: "...the 80th year [after the fall of Troy] the Dorians and the Heracleidae conquered Peloponnesus" book 1, par 12

Herodotus is a similar case, he writes a few sentences about the Dorian migration, but offers no specific timelines or detailed information:
"…but the Dorians on the contrary have been constantly on the move; their home in Deucalion’s reign was Phthiotis and in the reign of Dorus son of Hellen the country known as Histiaeotis in the neighbourhood of Ossa and Olympus; driven from there by the Cadmeians they settled in Pindus and were known as Macedons; thence they migrated to Dryopis, and finally to the Peloponnese, where they got their present name of Dorians.” book 1, par 56
and:
"Now these were the nations who composed the Greek fleet. From the Peloponnesus, the following: the Lacedaemonians with sixteen ships; the Corinthians with the same number as at Artemisium; the Sicyonians with fifteen; the Epidaurians with ten; the Troezenians with five; and the Hermionians with three. These were Dorians and Macedonians all of them, except those from Hermione, and had emigrated last from Erineus, Pindus, and Dryopis. The Hermionians were Dryopians, of the race which Hercules and the Malians drove out of the land now called Doris. Such were the Peloponnesian nations." Book 8 , par 43

In Diodorus and Polyaenus you will find more than a mere telegraphesque description like in those above, involving names of kings, oracles and military features, but ultimately I believe your best chance will be Pausanias, because he always elaborates on the myths and lore and traditions of each region.

[removeduser_487563287433]

Where would I look? Who covers this period?

Um, that's totally mythological.

[MaximiIian]

Um, that's totally mythological.

Myths are often extrapolations and exaggerations of truthful events.

[CtrlAltDe1337]

Um, that's totally mythological.

How do you know that? Sure, things got exaggerated a lot in the plays and such, but we've found Troy; I don't see why there couldn't have really been an Agamemnon. Its rare that myths are invented out of thin air. Usually they have some basis in historical fact (albiet exaggerated to different degrees)

[Stalins Ghost]

Good luck with that

Academia has spent literally centuries trying to assemble just a fairly limited picture of the dark age through all the mythological histories of the period.

[Antiochos VII Sidetes]

Thucidides devotes a couple of lines to the story of Heracles and Eurystheas and the origins of Agamemnon's power, but all he states regarding the period of the actual return of the Heracleidae is just one sentence: "...the 80th year [after the fall of Troy] the Dorians and the Heracleidae conquered Peloponnesus" book 1, par 12

Herodotus is a similar case, he writes a few sentences about the Dorian migration, but offers no specific timelines or detailed information:
"…but the Dorians on the contrary have been constantly on the move; their home in Deucalion’s reign was Phthiotis and in the reign of Dorus son of Hellen the country known as Histiaeotis in the neighbourhood of Ossa and Olympus; driven from there by the Cadmeians they settled in Pindus and were known as Macedons; thence they migrated to Dryopis, and finally to the Peloponnese, where they got their present name of Dorians.” book 1, par 56
and:
"Now these were the nations who composed the Greek fleet. From the Peloponnesus, the following: the Lacedaemonians with sixteen ships; the Corinthians with the same number as at Artemisium; the Sicyonians with fifteen; the Epidaurians with ten; the Troezenians with five; and the Hermionians with three. These were Dorians and Macedonians all of them, except those from Hermione, and had emigrated last from Erineus, Pindus, and Dryopis. The Hermionians were Dryopians, of the race which Hercules and the Malians drove out of the land now called Doris. Such were the Peloponnesian nations." Book 8 , par 43

In Diodorus and Polyaenus you will find more than a mere telegraphesque description like in those above, involving names of kings, oracles and military features, but ultimately I believe your best chance will be Pausanias, because he always elaborates on the myths and lore and traditions of each region.

Pausanias, eh? Well, thanks.

Um, that's totally mythological.

Oh, ya think, Ferrets? It's mythological? News to me.

I meant a historian who touches on more than the basic tale of the era/event.

[Stalins Ghost]

Yes, Agamemnon is a myth, as are the Heracleidae. It would be seriously flawed to consider the sources regarding them as being historical. You can use them conjecturally as representing a social commentary, but quite often will say more about the time the source was written in than that they are written about.

[removeduser_487563287433]

Basically what Stalins Ghost said. The OP is asking for the impossible - you're going to have to lower your expectations and understand the difference between the mythological and the historical.

[Timoleon of Korinthos]

The events of the period are not completely mythological. Sure, the Dorian invasion never happened in the way the ancients imagined it to have occured and the 'return of the Heracleidae' is a myth most probably invented to bring legitimacy to the new world order that emerged. But it is a fact that independent bands of people were constantly on the move migrating here and there in a turbulent, not coordinated and possibly violent manner, exploiting the vacuum of power after the fall of the Mycenean kingdoms and grabbing land wherever they could find it. Now, some of these groups were apparently large enough and their clashes with the locals were intense enough to leave a deep mark in the consciousness of all the populations involved in the process, so that centuries later the people still retained vague memories of the events and their protagonists. It is very similar with the Trojan war, which was once disregarded as a myth, until archaeolgy proved the existence of a historical core behind it. The question is where do you draw the line.

[Antiochos VII Sidetes]

Basically what Stalins Ghost said. The OP is asking for the impossible - you're going to have to lower your expectations and understand the difference between the mythological and the historical.

This I realize. I mean, more precisely, what classical historians wrote about the event. Apologies for the lack of clarity.

[removeduser_487563287433]

I'm not suggesting that there wasn't an Agamemnon, far from it. But this question is phrased solidly in myth. After Agamemnon? And when is that? The return of the Hercleidae? And who are they?