The Mycenaean Origin of Greek Mythology

The Mycenaean Origin of Greek Mythology is a book by Martin P. Nilsson, first published in 1932. It examines how the great myths of classical Greece—those of Heracles, Theseus, the Theban cycle, Olympus—trace back to the Mycenaean civilization of the Late Bronze Age (c. 1600–1100 BC).

Nilsson combines archaeological findings, linguistic insights, and comparative myth to argue that surviving Bronze Age centers like Mycenae, Pylos, Thebes, and Orchomenus provided the geographical and cultural foundations for later mythic narratives. Rejecting simplistic parallels or purely euhemeristic explanations, he proposes a layered development in which Mycenaean religious traditions endured through the Greek Dark Age into Homeric and Hesiodic storytelling. His work reshaped the study of Greek myth by firmly anchoring it in prehistoric contexts and emphasizing continuity between Bronze and classical ages.