**Breaking News** Ancient city of Tenea found in Greece
Posted On: Nov 14th, 2018 at 15:27
Greece
Located west of the Isthmus of Corinth, the ancient city of Tenea has finally been discovered by archaeologists.
Although excavations started in 2013, it was only in the last two months that archaeologists had realised what they had discovered based on artefacts and rich grave goods.
Famed for being founded by Trojan captives from the even more famous Trojan wars, the city was extremely wealthy and the artefacts discovered so far bear this out. The city would have been an important connection between nearby Corinth and the south-western city of Argos, one of the earliest settlements in civilised western history.
Very little is known about Tenea, although there are many historical references which clearly suggest the city was founded by Trojans. This itself tells us a lot about how ancient prisoners were used after defeat. Of course, it was the Mycenaeans who were responsible for this entire episode, as their culture was the dominant force in Greece at that time. Following the destruction of Mycenae and the palace economy after the wars, commerce then shifted towards the coastal cities of Argos and Corinth, and also trade between Greece and Asia Minor flourished even further as Greek colonisers settled in Asia Minor itself. It does seem a rather odd thing to do – to emigrate to another country to start colonising, but then to bring immigrants into your own country to build new cities and settle. Maybe they both preferred the weather in each other’s country! However, the most likely scenario is that skill sets learned by different cultures could be implemented in both areas so that trade becomes much easier. In other words, if one culture is making square plugs and the other round holes, they don’t mix. By migrating these skills and swapping ideas trade would flourish under the same implemented system, and this may be one reason why we see such a boom in engineering techniques and trade during the first millennium BC.
