Huurlingen, mobiliteit en reizigerslatijn: contacten tussen europa en het nabije oosten in de late bronstijd

Abstract

The aim of this paper (in Dutch) is twofold. First, it argues that the Mycenaean Greek world served as a nexus for international trade between the Near East and Europe during the Late Bronze Age (ca. 1600 to 1100 BCE). Rather than a barbar- ian periphery, Europe – and in particular regions such as the Carpathian basin and the southern Baltic (Denmark and Scania) – was an integral part of the much better known ‘civilised’ world of the ancient Near East. Second, it argues that ‘mercenar- ies’ (a term that I will use rather loosely, and which includes both private entrepre- neurs and military captives) served as a hitherto overlooked conduit for knowledge exchange between Europe, the Eastern Mediterranean, and the Near East. It will do so by highlighting a number of remarkable archaeological finds, and by discuss- ing these against the backdrop of contemporary (Late Bronze Age and Iron Age) texts as well as later legends.