The Mycenaean culture (around 1600–1100 BC) was an early Greek culture during the Bronze Age on the Greek mainland and on Crete.
The name Achaean was used by Homer to describe them and occurs in the Iliad. The term that is used is derived from Mycenae, which is an important archaeological site about 90 km from Athens. Other important Mycenaean sites are at Athens, Thebes, Tiryns and Pylos. The epic poems of Homer, the Iliad and the Odyssey, are Mycenaean in origin.
The earlier Minoans traded but did not conquer. The Mycenaeans traded and conquered.[1]