Mycenaean, Any member of a group of warlike Indo-European peoples who entered Greece from the north starting c. 1900 bc and established a Bronze Age culture on the mainland and nearby islands. Their culture was dependent on that of the Minoans of Crete, who for a time politically dominated them. They threw off Minoan control c. 1400 and were dominant in the Aegean until they themselves were overwhelmed by the next wave of invaders c. 1150. Mycenae continued to exist as a city-state into the period of Greek dominance, but by the 2nd century ad it was in ruins. Mycenaean myths and legends lived on through oral transmission into later stages of Greek civilization and form the basis of Homeric epic and Greek tragedy. Their language is believed to be the most ancient form of Greek.