For Ancient Mycenaeans, Amber Symbolized Power, Status & Devotion to Helios

For the sun-worshipping ancient Mycenaeans, precious amber — the golden-colored translucent gemstone formed from fossilized tree resin — represented far more than a colorful fashion statement. It symbolized power, high social status and religious devotion to Helios, the sun god.

In a new study, Professor Janusz Czebreszuk, the Director of the Polish Archaeological Institute in Athens, describes how amber was an indicator of elite status during the heyday of Mycenaean society, which prospered from 1750 to 1050 BC, an era considered the final stage of the Bronze Age in ancient Greece.

As Czebreszuk and his team studied the gravesites of elite Mycenaeans, the one thing each had in common was the presence of amber adornments. Found in the graves of both men and women were amber gems strung into necklaces, fashioned into breastplates and worn as hair embellishments.

The researchers believe the amber artifacts originated from the Baltic region, specifically near the Bay of Gdańsk, which is on the north coast of Poland. Even today, this region is a vital source of amber.

Due to the long distances between the Baltic Sea and Ancient Greece, it became clear to Czebreszuk and his team that Bronze Age elites had access to an extensive trading network that spanned Europe.

“Amber arrived in Hellas (modern-day Greece) with the religious meanings it held in the north,” Czebreszuk told Polish news agency PAP. “In Central Europe, Neolithic artifacts like disc-shaped items with radiating patterns clearly referenced the sun, and amber symbolized the sun’s power.”

In Greek mythology, amber is said to come from the tears of the Heliades, the daughters of Helios.

As the story is told, Phaëton, the handsome mortal son of Helios, asked his dad if he could drive the sun chariot for a day. But during a reckless day of driving, Phaëton scorched the earth, creating its deserts. Zeus, the king of the gods, struck the young man down with a thunderbolt, leaving his sisters heartbroken. The Heliades grieved for four months and then the gods turned them into poplar trees and their tears into amber.

For the ancient Mycenaeans, owning amber was like holding a piece of the sun.

“Whoever had amber, whoever had an amber necklace, in a sense possessed a piece of the sun," Czebreszuk added. "Those who had it, and these were the elites, used amber to legitimize their claims to a superior position in society.”

Six years ago, researchers at the University of Granada, Spain, used a sophisticated technique known as infrared spectroscopy to analyze amber jewelry and other amber ornaments found at archaeological sites on the Iberian Peninsula.

While most of the samples were determined to be of local origin, other samples were linked to amber that originated from Sicily and the Baltic regions. The team reported that the Sicilian amber arrived on the Iberian Peninsula at least 4,000 BC while Baltic-sourced material was dated from 1,000 BC

The Spanish researchers concluded that amber was circulated through vast exchange networks across the Mediterranean, with the likely path of Baltic and Sicilian amber routed through North Africa.

Today, 90% of the world’s amber comes from Kaliningrad, a Russian territory tucked between Poland and Lithuania on the coast of the Baltic Sea. Due to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Kaliningrad Oblast became an exclave, geographically separated from the rest of Russia.

Credit: Amber image by Oxfordian Kissuth, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.