| Macedonia and Greece | | | | withdraw his Army and make no further attempt upon |
| The North Sea Peoples invaded Macedonia and | | | | the Peloponnese for a hundred years...." |
| Greece after the terrible eruption of the volcano on | | | | In this duel, Echemus, King of the Greeks, slew Hyllus. |
| Thera. | | | | The Vikings abided by their oath and passed on |
| The population of Greece was greatly reduced. | | | | without invading. They returned a hundred years later |
| Because of this there was little resistance for the | | | | and occupied the Peloponnese. |
| invaders except for a few groups of Achaean's who | | | | The land was then divided between the three great |
| had fortified their defenses. | | | | grandsons of Hyllus. Temenus, the eldest, received |
| The Kings of Greece and Crete had received | | | | Argus. Cresphontes took Messene. Aristodemus took |
| warnings that the Vikings were coming from the North. | | | | Sparta. |
| They had enough time to prepare for their impending | | | | Aristodemus, according to Herodotus was the |
| attack. Fortified enclosures were hastily built. A wall | | | | ancestor of the Spartan king. Leonidas, who fell at the |
| was built around the Acropolis and a tunnel leading to | | | | head of his 300 Spartans at Thermopile. |
| the spring on the North side. | | | | The Vikings entered the peninsula shortly before 1200 |
| At Mycenae and Tiryus walls were built of un-hewn | | | | BC. The palaces and settlements of the Peloponnese |
| rocks. Hidden approaches to wells were built. At | | | | were destroyed by earthquakes and fire and not by |
| Corinth a strong wall was built. | | | | the invading Northern Warriors. |
| Some Achaean chieftains hoped to fight at sea. The | | | | Between the natural catastrophes and the Northern |
| remains of their castles are proof that they lost. | | | | invasions, the Mycenaean culture ended; circa 1150 and |
| The King of Pylos sent his navy to Pleuron on the | | | | 1100 BC. |
| North coast of the gulf of Corinth. Their ships were | | | | The King of Crete sent his fleet to stop the Vikings at |
| manned with 400 rowers and warriors. They provided | | | | sea. He also had 400 war chariots prepared for battle, |
| a coastal observation corps. They knew that the | | | | in case they did land. Armour and weapons of all sorts |
| Vikings would land by sea. | | | | were made ready. More than 20,000 sheep and 500 |
| Swift charioteers were set up between the watching | | | | pigs were gathered to feed the troops. |
| Navy and the Palace of Pylos. The king of Pylos could | | | | But before the Vikings reached Crete the terrible |
| not defend the whole coast nor prevent a landing at | | | | eruption of Thera took place. |
| every point. But he had a good early warning system. | | | | Archaeologists found the weapons and remains of the |
| But this coastal defense system could not prevent the | | | | North Sea Peoples on top of the volcanic ash and |
| North Sea Peoples from landing on the coast of | | | | lava not in it or below it! They came after the disaster. |
| Peloponnese. | | | | The Vikings only encountered resistance where some |
| Hyllus, leader of the North Sea Warriors, made the | | | | part of the population who had survived banded |
| following proposal to the Greek king: "....There was no | | | | themselves together in a defensible position. |
| need for the two armies to risk their lives in an all out | | | | Who knows what history would have to say if the |
| fight. He suggested that thr Pelopenessians chose a | | | | Vikings tried to conquer Greece and Crete when they |
| champion to fight him in a single combat. He gave his | | | | were at full strength? |
| oath (sacred to the Vikings) that if he lost he would | | | | |