1200 B.C.E.
Dear Diary,
It has been a stressful time here in Pylos for many years, and it only seems to worsen. Even though it has been over 400 years since the volcanic eruption at Thera in Santorini, we still suffer from it today. Many of my friends think that the soil has changed a lot because of the volcanic ash in it, which has stunted the growth of the crops our ancestors grew on this same land before the eruption, like wheat and barley. Furthermore, after the initial explosion, there have been so many other natural disasters hindering our economy and daily life. Right after, many tsunamis affected the cities along the coast, so our trade with them has not been the same
More recently, there has been a string of earthquakes, destroying cities all over our area and further east one by one. I am just waiting for it to be our turn. The thought of an earthquake is becoming additionally scary as I look at how our economy, crops, and citizens are already doing. The air is getting drier here, so now our crops are struggling. If an earthquake were to happen here, our agricultural output would already be so reduced that I wonder if our economy could return from a disaster like that. Some of my friends and the other citizens are becoming frustrated with our leaders and the elite because of the food shortages from the drought and other natural disasters around us. I understand why they are distraught, as there are also invaders spreading famine and increasing rebellion in our community.
It is stressful to live through this as I feel like I can do nothing, as I am only a kid. I hope that something changes soon for the better, though the tension between our kingdom and the kingdom of Troy is increasing. I hope to write to you again after some of our problems have been resolved.
Best,
Tros
1175 B.C.E.
Dear Diary,
How could I have forgotten about you! The sweet voice of my childhood inspired me to write in you after finding you in a box hidden away. I have not written to you since my youth, so as you can only imagine, things have changed enormously. Even physically, it can be seen here in the destruction of the Palace of Nestor that occurred just a few years ago. Let me summarize some of what happened between my last entry and now.
As I ended my last diary entry, I discussed the rising tensions between our Mycenaean civilization and the kingdom of Troy, and tension turned out to be an understatement. It started with Queen Helen of Sparta being taken, by choice or not, I am still unsure, by Paris, the Trojan prince. With a lot of violence and destruction, along with the help of a fake horse, we were able to win the war over them. However, with all the instability in our kingdom, from the dwindling agricultural economy to the consistent natural disasters, we have yet to return to how we used to be. It has been an emotional, unnerving time as I fear we must have upset the gods since that is the only explanation I can find for this catastrophic change to our society.
Everyone continues trying to pinpoint a moment when our whole world turned upside down, but I am not sure we will ever know. The debate between whether the change resulted from the volcano from hundreds of years ago, the natural disasters that followed, the change in the entire climate, or the conflict with the Trojans has started to be debated more and more. I am not convinced by any of these arguments, however. After living through and hearing about many events that have brought us to this entirely different population, I believe it is a result of each event. The instability and distress that this unrelenting series of events has brought clearly factored into the end of that era for our kingdom. Though, who knows how people in the future will discuss the lapse into our new society, as even I have heard the wild rumors and conflicting theories about Ancient Egypt. Now, social status does not seem to matter as much, and there are a lot less families in our town, along with some other changes socially and politically.
Best,
Tros
Allie Giller is from Wilton, Connecticut, and is now a freshman at Colgate University. Though she is planning on majoring in Economics, she has always been interested in history and thinks that art is one of the best ways to get insight into civilizations of the past.
