Midea - the House of Queens?

#Midea #mycenaeancitadels #mycenaeanarchitecture #cultcentre

MIDEA - House of Queens

Warning this post contains a great deal of speculation ?
and will probably getting revised as I get more data on the site

So let us consider Midea one of the three sites said in legend to have been fortified by an early ruler, the others being Tiryns and Mycenae. Why Midea? Its at the end of a road way up in the hills and while there are farmlands nearby what else was it defending?

These walls have been reduced by earthquakes fires and erosion. I note that several of them use the outer wall for one side of the building?

I'm seriously wondering since this site was once called Pereseus' Polis if it was actually a Helladic settlement of which there are traces that had walls FOR A WINDBREAK and terraces for gardens added? There is an odd story of which we have only one mention a sentence saying Hippodameia went to Midea because she was angry at Pelops for allowing Laios to seduce and kidnap their son.

Why journey to Midea?

What else do we know about Midea? There were crafts workshops there for ceramics and jewellery.

And this was found.

Its a wheel thrown goddess figure. Not the only one but why here?

Lets take another look at the location - way inland up in the foothills but within a days travel distance of major mycenaean argolid settlement sand cities.

So there were walls houses workshops shrines but why here?

Speculation indeed but I note after the 13th destruction by quake and fire there was less rebuilding and in a completely different style.

Were the walls there to guard valued crafters and their supplies or stop slaves trained in crafts from escaping? Did they function more as windbreaks?

Was this settlement also a hunting lodge for kings or a supply depot or maybe given the jewellery or ceramics workshops found a place for queens and princesses or priestesses who valued the arts?

I'm trying to get my hands somehow on a full copy of the reports of this site but with the lockdown of libraries it may take a while to read the full text as even as an ebook  its 60 plus $.

What do you think ?