Mycenae
The city of Mycenae was the thriving center of civilized Greece from around 1600-1100 BCE, a thousand years before the Golden Age of Athens. The Mycenaean Greeks are credited with inventing the Greek language and with innovations in architecture, art, engineering, and warfare - and much of the evidence for this was found right here, at the Archaeological Site of Mycenae (or as the locals call it, Mikines). Today, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
As we approached the site from the parking lot, we were dazzled by this view of the acropolis. The ruins were more than 3,000 years old, but they were still powerful. Excavations are ongoing.
We walked up a ramp along the Cyclopean wall, with stone blocks so massive that only a Cyclops could lift them, and entered through the iconic Lion Gate, with its two lionesses, now headless. Placing a triangular “corbelled” arch above a doorway, reducing the weight on the lintel, was a Mycenaean invention.
Inside the walls, we walked up another ramp and looked down at Grave Circle A, the royal cemetery discovered by archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann in 1876. Many gold, silver, and other precious artifacts were excavated here; we had seen some of them at the Archaeological Museum in Nafplio.
At the highest part of the hill, elevation 900 feet, were the remains of the palace. Low surviving walls outlined the megaron (throne room), courtyard, and other rooms. The view of the valley from up here was breathtaking! We could even see the deep blue water of the gulf in the distance.
On the back side of the hill were the water cistern, with steep, narrow steps leading down into its dark depths, and a secondary entrance called the Postern Gate, also made with massive Cyclopean stone blocks.
In the Archaeological Museum built into the base of the hill, there were several rooms filled with artifacts that had been unearthed at this site, including the gold “Death Mask of Agamemnon” that Schliemann had found in Grave Circle A. We were surprised to learn that Schliemann worked on the excavations at Mycenae for only 2.5 months; his successor, Christos Tsountas, worked there for fifteen years and made many important discoveries, yet received none of the glory.
On the road leading down from the main site was the Treasury of Atreus, also called the Tomb of Agamemnon. A long passageway led to the entrance to a large beehive-shaped tomb, about 48 feet in diameter and 43 feet high. Constructed around 1300-1250 BCE, it was the largest dome in the world until the Romans built the Pantheon more than a thousand years later.
It was exhilarating to explore mighty Mycenae and imagine King Agamemnon standing atop those Cyclopean walls and gazing across the valley to the sea.
