Economics of Religion in the Mycenaean World

The Mycenaean Linear B tablets include numerous references to religion, such as details of offerings, banqueting foodstuffs or land-tenure relating to cult personnel. While contributing significantly to our understanding of early Greek religion, the documents are exclusively economic and administrative records and the limitations of such sources have long been recognised. Few attempts have been made, however, to analyse the purely economic information about religion we do have in Linear B. Such analysis is essential to understanding the place of religion in Mycenaean palace society. This book asks a simple but important question: What proportion of the resources available to the palaces was directed towards support for religion?