The Role of the Religious Sector in the Economy of Late Bronze Age Mycenaean Greece

This study examines the relationship between the Mycenaean palatial administration and the religious sector, asking whether the religious sector should be considered as a subsidiary part of the central administration, or whether, in fact it had its own power and economic independence. The study reassesses Linear B tablets, particularly those related to land-holding, to reconstruct the economic activities of the sanctuaries and their religious personnel, showing them to have been involved in agriculture, animal husbandry, textile manufacture, and bronze working, interacting with the palatial administration in much the same way as the secular collectors.