According to a recent study, the Mycenaean Greeks bore genetic influences from diverse ethnic groups as part of the long process of the Indo-Europeanization of Greece, which began around 3100 BC.
The Mycenaean civilization (ca. 1600–1100 BC) was one of the most influential periods in the development of ancient Greece. Its people are known for their ties to the splendid Minoan civilization, grand palaces, the figure of King Agamemnon in Homer’s Iliad, and their presence throughout the Eastern Mediterranean. Scholars largely consider them the foundation of later Hellenic identity and the golden Classical era.
Based on research by Dutch historian and linguist Dr. Fred Woudhuizen, the Mycenaeans carried traces of diverse ethnic groups. According to his findings, the Indo-Europeanization of Greece occurred in at least three distinct phases, spanning from c. 3100 BC to c. 1600 BC. The final phase, around 1600 BC, saw the arrival and establishment of the founding fathers of the royal houses, whose ethnic identities were considered truly Greek, marking the rise of this civilization.
In his study, Traces of Ethnic Diversity in Mycenaean Greece (2013), Woudhuizen identifies the earliest phase with the settlement of speakers of an Old Indo-European language, the Pelasgians, the ancestors of the Greeks. He examined the intermingling between the various ethnic groups, which included both the newcomers of approximately 1600 BC and the indigenous populations.
For Woudhuizen, archaeology, comparative linguistics, and recent genetic research suggest a more diverse population base, indicating that the society was not a monolithic Greek entity but a multi-ethnic civilization shaped by successive waves of migration, cultural interaction, and regional variation. He argues that the world bore the imprint of this ethnic diversity, with an identity that was dynamic and layered, forged over centuries of interaction.
Three phases of Mycenaean Greek population formation
The formation of the Greek population evolved in three main stages, which did not follow a strict chronological order, since settlement and cultural integration phases overlapped.
Phase I: The Pelasgian phase (c. 3100 BC)
The earliest stratum of the Aegean population identified by Woudhuizen is often referred to by later Greek sources as the Pelasgoi or Pelasgians. Ancient historians such as Herodotus and Thucydides described them as pre-Hellenic inhabitants of Greece who spoke a language distinct from Greek.
Archaeologically, this phase corresponds to the Early Bronze Age, when distinctive material cultures began emerging across the Aegean islands and mainland. These groups are considered Indo-Europeanized but not yet Greek-speaking communities. Place names from this period are not etymologically Greek, and their origins remain unknown, so they are attributed to the Pelasgians. Although archaeologists cannot reconstruct their language with certainty, it is clear that the Pelasgian element provided an indigenous base upon which later groups layered themselves.
Phase II: Minyan and Middle Helladic inflow (c. 2300 BC onward)
The second phase is associated with the so-called Minyan ware of the Middle Helladic period. Scholars have long debated whether this ceramic style represented intrusive settlers or a local development. Woudhuizen supports the view that it reflects an inflow of new populations from the north or northeast.
He associates these groups with Thracian or Phrygian elements, drawing parallels with later populations of the Balkans and Anatolia. Linguistically, traces of non-Greek Indo-European vocabulary and certain mythological motifs may indicate this influence. This phase laid the groundwork for the later consolidation of Mycenaean civilization, while some regions retained distinct local identities.
Phase III: The Proto-Greek or Mycenaean arrival (ca. 1600 BC)
The third phase marks the emergence of recognizably Greek speakers in the Aegean. Woudhuizen argues that this wave brought the dynasties that would dominate the palatial centers of Mycenae, Pylos, and Thebes—key cities in the later development of Hellenism. This stage is characterized by the rise of shaft graves, wealthy warrior elites, and the Linear B script, an early form of the Greek language.
However, Woudhuizen emphasizes that these “proto-Greeks” did not simply replace earlier populations. Instead, they layered themselves atop a complex demographic base. Pelasgian substrata, Minyan groups, and foreign influences from Anatolia, Crete, and beyond all contributed to the intricate formation of Mycenaean identity.
Distinct ethnic names during the Mycenaean period
Three important ethnic names were present at the time of the Mycenaean Greeks:
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The Danaoi (Δαναοί), derived from the founding father of the Argive royal house, Danaos (Pausanias, Description of Greece VII, 1.7). According to Pindar (Pythian Odes 4.48), besides a form of address to the Argolid population, there is also a reference to the population of Sparta, or Lacedaimon.
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The Kadmeians. This name, derived from the founding father of the Theban royal house, Kadmos, is preserved in two variants in Homer’s Iliad (IV.385 and IV.391). Kadmos, or his father Agenor, originated from Phoenicia, specifically from Tyros or Sidon.
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The Achaians (Αχαιοί) are attested in three regions of ancient Greece. First, in southern Thessaly, particularly the Pharsalos region, including Phthiotis, the Mount Othrys area, the Iolkos Coast, and the northern coast of the Gulf of Pagasai. Second, they appear in the region of Elis, presumably introduced by Salmoneus, the brother of the king of Iolkos, Kretheus (Strabo, Geography VIII.3.31-2; Apollodoros, The Library I.IX.7; Diodoros of Sicily, The Library of History IV, 68. 1-3).
Other ethnic names that coexisted with the Mycenaean Greeks
Danaoi, Kadmeians, and the Achaians were the most prominent ethnic names coexisting with the Greek Mycenaeans. Woudhuizen identifies additional groups:
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The Lakedaimonians (Λακεδαίμονες), connected to the land named Lakedaimon, as recorded in a Linear B text from Thebes
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The Ionians (Ίωνες), attested in a Linear B text found at Knossos
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The Dorians (Δωριείς), recorded in a Linear B text from Pylos
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The Peraibians (Περαιβοί), also encountered in a Linear B text from Pylos
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The Odrysians (Οδρύσες), a Thracian kingdom, attested by Linear B inscriptions painted on stirrup jars discovered in the “House of Kadmos” at Thebes, i.e., before its subjection to the Mycenaean “koine,” a shared administrative and linguistic system across palatial centers, around 1350 BC
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The Minyans (Μινύες), attested in the region of Orkhomenos in Central Greece, where Heinrich Schliemann discovered the famous tholos tomb of Minyas
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The Cretans (Κρήτες), attested in the Pylos tablets and also mentioned in Homer’s Odyssey XI.237
Ethnic intermingling
From the starting point of Greek collective memory, beginning in Late Helladic I, around 1600 BC, literary tradition records the intermingling between foreign conquerors and local population groups.
In Argolis, Abas, Akrisios, and Proitos—rulers of the Danaid royal house in the second generation after the founding father Danaos—were of the Thraco-Phrygian lineage. According to Pausanias (Description of Greece VII.1.6), the sons of Akhaios, Arkhander and Arkhiteles, married the daughters of Danaos, Skaia and Automate.
With the death of Eurystheus, the last ruler of the Danaids, the royal house in Argolis passed through intermarriage to the descendants of Pelops from Achaea, who arrived with the Achaeans from the Peloponnese (Strabo, Geography VIII.5.5). Because of this connection, Homer describes Argos as Achaean in the Odyssey III.251. This dynastic change may also correspond archaeologically with the shift from shaft graves to tholos tombs, around 1450 BC, in the capital, Mycenae.
In Thebes, Cadmus from Phoenicia married Harmonia, the daughter of Thracian King Ares. Phoenician followers of Cadmus intermarried with part of the local inhabitants, the Aones, while another group, the Hyantes, emigrated to seek a new homeland (Pausanias, Description of Greece IX.5.1).
At Krisa, an ancient settlement near the foot of Mount Parnassus in Central Greece, Woudhuizen notes that the Cretans from Knossos who settled there likely intermingled with the local women and daughters, perhaps after having slain their husbands and boyfriends (Homeric Hymn to Pythian Apollo, 388 ff.).
Archaeological traces of diversity in Mycenae
Archaeological evidence supports a heterogeneous population landscape in Late Bronze Age Greece and, subsequently, among the Mycenaean Greeks.
The spread of several Minyan ceramic wares across the Peloponnese and mainland Greece points to cultural transfer and possible migration. Likewise, the palatial architecture in Mycenae, Tiryns, and Pylos shows both local innovations and strong borrowing from Minoan Crete, suggesting a multi-cultural environment.
Regarding burial practices, the transition from shaft graves to tholos tombs indicates changes in social structure and religious rituals, and possibly the integration of different traditions. Variation in burial goods across regions—such as gold masks in Mycenae, painted larnakes (small clay coffins) on Crete, and various weapons in Thessaly—signals local identities within the broader Mycenaean horizon.
In art, Mycenaean frescoes and seal stones incorporated hybrid styles borrowing from Aegean, Minoan, Egyptian, and Near Eastern motifs. A combination of styles and techniques indicates active cultural exchange between different communities.
Further evidence of ethnic diversity exists in linguistics. Many Greek toponyms do not follow Indo-European etymology. Names ending in –ssos (Knossos, Halikarnassos) or –nthos (Corinthos, Zakynthos) are explained as non-Greek survivals, possibly of Pelasgian or Anatolian origin.
Linear B texts also show words borrowed from other languages, particularly in areas such as agriculture, crafts, and religion, indicating contact with non-Greek-speaking populations. Before Linear B, cities in the Aegean used Linear A, an undeciphered script representing a non-Greek language, likely Minoan or Luwian. Its use alongside Linear B underscores a bilingual or multilingual environment.
Woudhuizen argues that the survival of non-Greek names in the Greek lexicon is direct testimony to the coexistence of different ethnic groups with the Mycenaean Greeks.
Genetic evidence of diversity in Mycenaean Greeks
Recent genetic research sheds new light on the population history of the Aegean. A study (Lazaridis et al., 2017) analyzed DNA from Mycenaean and Minoan skeletons and found that both peoples descended primarily from early Neolithic farmers of Anatolia and the Aegean.
The Mycenaeans, however, carried an additional component of ancestry related to populations of the Eurasian Steppe and Caucasus. This “Steppe-related” ancestry is absent in Minoans and may correspond to the arrival of Indo-European speakers in Greece during the Bronze Age. Despite this influx, continuity with earlier Aegean populations remained strong.
Woudhuizen interprets this genetic evidence in the context of multiple layers of settlement: an early Neolithic/Pelasgian substratum in Mycenae, a later influx of settlers possibly of Thracian or Phrygian origin, and finally a stratum of Indo-European Greek speakers. This demonstrates continuity and blending of cultures rather than abrupt population replacement.
