Mycenae

Mycenae (Greek: Μυκῆναι) is an archeological site located in the northeast corner of Peloponnese approximately 100 kilometers south from Athens.

The entrance to the citadel is a favorite site for picture taking. Two young tourists, Mark and Chloe, standing in front of the Lion Gate entrance.

According to Greek mythology Perseus founded the city.  The historian Pausanias suggested that Mycenae’s name was derived either from the word μύκης (Greek: mushroom) as Perseus found one at the site or after the cap (mycēs) of the sheath of his legendary sword.  The site has been inhabited since the Neolithic period.  The existing ruins, the fortifications and the Lion Gate were rebuilt with massive stones that they were thought to be the work of the one-eyed giants Cyclops and date from 1350 BC. 

Mycenae was built as a fortified hill surrounded by hamlets and estates.  Since Mycenae was the capital of a state that ruled much of the eastern Mediterranean world, the rulers must have placed their stronghold in this remote region for its defensive value.  Mycenae was a military power and the center of Greek civilization, in the second millennium BC, thus the period from about 1600 BC to about 1100 BC is called Mycenaean in reference to its name.

Palaces at that time were stately and featured the throne room.  The throne was placed against the center of a wall that allowed an unobstructed view of the ruler from the entrance.  Frescos adorned the walls and the floor of the palace and many of the houses of his subjects.

Mycenae’s king Agamemnon led the Greeks against Troy.  The Trojan War is one of the most important events and has been narrated through Homer’s Iliad that relates to its siege; and the Odyssey that describes Odysseus’s journey home.

The Ancient Greeks believed that the Trojan War had taken place in the 13th or 12th century BC, and that Troy was located near the Dardanelles.  As of the mid-19th century, both the war and the city were widely believed to be non-historical. However, in 1868, the German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann excavated its ruins.

In 1876, Heinrich Schliemann discovered a funeral golden mask. The mask covered the face of a body that he believed belonged to the legendary king Agamemnon. The mask is currently displayed in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens.