ΜΥΚΉΝΕΣ / Μυκήνες
9 Museum
10 Treasury of Atreus (a.k.a. Tomb of Agamemnon, 13th century B.C.)
Mycenae—a fortress city atop a hill—was the hub of a mighty civilization that dominated the Greek world between 1600 and 1200 B.C., a thousand years before Athens’ Golden Age. The Mycenaeans were as distant and mysterious to the Golden Age Greeks as Plato and Socrates are to us today. Ancient Greek tourists visited the dramatic ruins of Mycenae and concluded that the Mycenaeans must have been the heroes who’d won the Trojan War, as related in Homer’s epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey. They thought of the Mycenaeans as their ancestors, the first “Greeks.”
Following the same ancient sandal-steps as the ancient Greeks, today’s visitors continue to enjoy Mycenae’s majestic setting of mountains, valleys, and the distant sea. Exploring this still-impressive hilltop, you’ll discover the famous Lion Gate, a fine little museum, an enormous domed burial chamber...and distant echoes of the Trojan War.
When it comes to unraveling the mystery of the Mycenaeans, modern historians—armed with only the slimmest written record—are still trying to sort out fact from legend. They don’t know exactly who the Mycenaeans were, where they came from, or what happened to them. Here are the sketchy (and oft-disputed) details:
Around 1600 B.C., a Bronze Age civilization originating in Asia Minor developed an empire of autonomous city-states that covered the southern half of mainland Greece and a few islands. Their capital was the city of Mycenae, which also gave its name to the people and the era. From contact with the sophisticated Minoan people on the isle of Crete, the militaristic Mycenaeans borrowed elements of religion and the arts.
Sometime around the year 1200 B.C., the aggressive Mycenaeans likely launched an attack on Troy, a rich city on the northwest coast of Asia Minor (present-day Turkey). After a long siege, Troy fell, and the Mycenaeans became the undisputed rulers of the Aegean. Then, just as suddenly, the Mycenaeans mysteriously disappeared, and their empire crumbled. Whether the Mycenaeans fell victim to a sudden invasion by the Dorians (a Greek tribe), an attack of the mysterious tribes later dubbed the “Sea People,” a drought, or internal rebellion—no one knows. Whatever the reason, by 1100 B.C., Mycenae was abandoned and burned, and Greece plunged into four centuries known as the Dark Ages.
Nearly three millennia later, in 1876, German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann excavated this site and put it back on the archaeologists’ (and tourists’) map. Today a visit to Mycenae is a trip back into prehistory to see some of the oldest remains of a complex civilization in all of Europe—a thousand years older than Athens’ Acropolis.
By Car: Mycenae is 18 miles north of Nafplio (follow signs to Athens, on the way to the major E-65 expressway). From the modern town of Mycenae/Μυκήνες (near the larger town of Fichti/Φιχτι), the ruins are about two miles north, dramatically perched atop a hill. If you’re connecting Mycenae and Epidavros by car (allow 60 minutes), you can avoid driving all the way back into Nafplio by watching carefully for signs to either site, which direct you to a roundabout outside central Nafplio. At Mycenae, drivers can use the free parking lot near the entrance to the ruins and museum; if it’s full, park along the road leading to the lot.
By Bus: Buses run from Nafplio directly to ancient Mycenae (Mon-Sat 2-3/day—likely at 10:00, 12:00, and 14:00; no buses on Sun; possibly fewer buses Oct-April, 45 minutes), but the timing for the return trip makes taking a bus a pain. You’ll have either just 15 minutes to see the site (not enough) or 2.25 hours (a little too much for some people). For advice about connecting Mycenae and Epidavros in one bus-based day trip from Nafplio, see here. If you do take the bus, confirm that your bus goes to the archaeological site; other buses take you only as far as Fichti, two miles away (a €5 cab ride).
By Taxi: You can take a taxi to Mycenae from Nafplio (about €50-70 round-trip with time to sightsee). It’s best to arrange your return in advance, but to arrange a return taxi from Mycenae on the spot, call mobile 694-643-1726.
Cost: €12 (€6 off-season) ticket includes archaeological site, museum, and Treasury of Atreus up the road.
Hours: Roughly May-Oct daily 8:00-20:00; closes an hour or two earlier in fall; Nov-April daily 8:00-15:00. As at other archaeological sites in Greece, Mycenae’s hours can change without notice—ask your hotel or call the site to confirm before your visit; tel. 27510-76585 or 27520-27502, www.culture.gr.
Services: WCs are just above the museum, but none are on the actual site. A stand in the parking lot sells basic snacks.
Planning Your Time: As with most ancient sites with a museum, decide whether to see the museum first (to help reconstruct the ruins) or the site first (to get the lay of the land). To explore the cistern, bring a flashlight. To complement the information in this self-guided tour, read the chapter on Athens’ National Archaeological Museum, where many Mycenaean artifacts are now displayed (see here).
Length of This Tour: Allow an hour for the site, a half-hour for the museum, and a half-hour for the Treasury of Atreus. Mycenae makes for a handy half-day side-trip from Nafplio. Drivers can combine it with the Theater of Epidavros for a full day of ancient site-hopping.
Pronunciation: Mycenae is pronounced my-SEE-nee by English-speakers; Greeks call the town Mykenes/Μυκήνες (mee-KEE-nehs), also spelled Mikenes. The ancient people are known as the Mycenaeans (my-seh-NEE-uhns).
Starring: The hilltop fortress at the center of the most ancient, powerful, and enigmatic of ancient Greek civilizations.
SELF-GUIDED TOUR(See “Mycenae” map, here.)
The three main sightseeing areas at Mycenae are a few minutes’ walk from one another. The archaeological ruins consist of the walled city of Mycenae atop the hill called the acropolis. Here you’ll find the famous Lion Gate entrance, Grave Circle A (which yielded precious artifacts), and the ruins of the palace. Below the site is the museum, housing artifacts that were found here. Finally, as impressive as anything here is the Treasury of Atreus—a huge domed tomb located about 300 yards downhill from the main site (along the main road). A handful of other ruins and tombs are scattered around the area, but stick to these three to start your visit.
Note that some of the ruins (confusingly) have different names—for example, the Treasury of Atreus is also known as the Tomb of Agamemnon.
• Buy your ticket for the archaeological site and enter, climbing the ramp up the acropolis.
• You’ll enter the fortified complex through the...
The grand Lion Gate (c. 1300 B.C.) guards the entrance to this fortress city on a hill. Above the doorway, two lionesses flank a column, symbolically protecting it the way the Mycenaean kings once protected the city. The lions’ missing heads may have once turned outward, greeting visitors. The heads were made of stone or possibly of gold (anything made of a precious material like that would have been plundered long ago).
The lions form a triangle above the massive lintel (the crossbeam above the door). Mycenaean architects used the weak corbelled arch, less sturdy than the rounded Roman arch developed later. A simple horizontal stone spans the door, while heavy stones above it inch in to bridge the gap. The lintel is slightly arched to distribute the weight to the sides and add to its strength.
Apart from its rather fragile technology, Mycenaean architecture is really massive. The lintel weighs 18 tons—as much as a WWII B-17 bomber. The exterior walls that girdle the base of the hill (c. 1300 B.C.) were about 40 feet high, 20 feet thick, and 3,000 feet long. They were built with an estimated 14,000 boulders weighing 5 to 10 tons each. Marveling at the enormous scale, classical-era Greeks figured the legendary Perseus (who slew the Medusa) must have built the city with the help of the giant one-eyed Cyclopes, and dubbed the style “cyclopean.” In reality, the Mycenaeans probably lifted these big stones into place the same way the Egyptians built the pyramids—by building ramps and rolling the stones up on logs drawn by oxen or horses.
Pass through the gate. Carved into the stone are post-holes that held the wooden door. Just as you emerge, look left to see a square niche in the wall—this could have been a small shrine where statues of the gods who guarded the gates were displayed, or just a simple closet. Poke your head in to study the stonework.
• Head up the ramp. About 30 yards ahead, you’ll see (below and on the right) a circular wall that encloses rectangular graves. Walk a bit higher up the path and look down for the best view.
Judging from what was dug up in this round cluster of graves, Mycenaean royalty were buried here. The rectangular holes are called shaft graves, which were cut into the rock up to 20 feet deep. There are six such shaft graves here, each of which contained several bodies (19 total—9 women, 8 men, and 2 children). The bodies were found embalmed and lying on their backs along with their most precious belongings, with their heads facing east—toward the rising sun—indicating a belief in an afterlife. Gravestones atop the graves (like the one displayed in the museum) were decorated with a spiral, possibly a symbol of continuous existence.
In 1876 these graves were unearthed by the famed German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann. Schliemann had recently discovered the long-lost city of Troy, finally giving some historical credibility to Homer’s tales. He next turned his attention to Mycenae, the legendary home of Agamemnon. In Grave Circle A, he found a treasure trove of gold swords, spears, engraved cups, and ritual objects buried with the dead—30 pounds in all, confirming Homer’s description of Mycenae as a city “rich in gold.”
The prize discovery was a gold mask showing the face of a bearded man. Masks like this were tied onto the faces of the deceased. This one was obviously for an important warrior chieftain. Schliemann was convinced the mask proved that Homer’s tales of the Trojan War were true, and he dubbed it the “Mask of Agamemnon.” This mask and other artifacts are now in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens.
Could it really be the Mask of Agamemnon? No. Not only is it unlikely that Agamemnon ever really existed, but the mask is from the 16th century B.C.—at least 300 years before the legendary king supposedly burned Troy.
The Mycenaeans practiced several different types of burial: interred in a pit (for the poorest), encased in a ceramic jar called a cist grave (for wealthier folks), laid in a shaft grave (for royalty), or placed in an elaborate domed chamber called a tholos (like the Treasury of Atreus, which we’ll visit at the end of this tour).
• Continue to climb up the paths, zigzagging past the ruins of former houses and shops, to the top of the acropolis. On the right, below you, are the rectangular foundations of the former...
Several sites at Mycenae bear legendary names—“Agamemnon’s Palace,” the “Tomb of Clytemnestra,” the “Tomb of Agamemnon,” and so on. Although these names are fanciful with no basis in fact, real-life Mycenae does sound eerily similar to the legends found in writings attributed to the poet Homer (c. 850 B.C.) and other ancient scribes.
The tales of the Trojan War are set during the time when the Mycenaeans dominated the Greek world and had the power to conquer Troy. They tell of the abduction of the beautiful Helen (who had “the face that launched a thousand ships”) by Paris, a prince of Troy. Outraged at the loss of his bride, Menelaus, king of Sparta, convinced his brother Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, to lead the Greeks in an attack on Troy. But the winds were not favorable for launching the fleet. An oracle told Agamemnon that he had to sacrifice his daughter to get underway, so he lied to his wife, Clytemnestra, and ordered the priests to kill their daughter.
After the sacrifice, the Greek ships finally made it to Troy. When a long siege failed to defeat the Trojans, Odysseus suggested tricking the enemy by building a wooden idol (the famous “Trojan horse”), leaving it outside the city walls, and pretending to withdraw. The Trojans took the bait, brought the horse inside, and were met with an unpleasant surprise: The greatest warriors of Greece emerging from inside the horse to complete the conquest of Troy. The famous heroes of the Trojan War include Achilles and Ajax on the Greek side, and Paris’ brother Hector—all of whom died by the war’s end.
Homer’s Odyssey tells of the homeward journey of Odysseus, who survived the war, only to wander for 10 years, thwarted by the god Poseidon, before finally reaching home. Agamemnon’s fate is also told in the epic. After sacking Troy, Agamemnon returned to Mycenae with his Trojan concubine, where he was murdered by his wife (who was still brooding over her daughter’s sacrifice and not very happy about the new competition). Not that Clytemnestra was a dutiful spouse—her new lover helped her murder Agamemnon and the concubine.
Metaphorically, Agamemnon’s tragic story matches that of the historical Mycenaeans—no sooner had they returned home victorious from Troy than their own homes were destroyed. These legends of ancient Mycenae were passed down through oral tradition for centuries until, long after the fall of both Troy and Mycenae, they were preserved for posterity in Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey as well as other ancient epics.
Kings ruled the Mycenaeans from this palace, which consisted of a line of several rectangular rooms (about all that remains today are the outlines of the rooms).
Imagine entering the palace and walking through a series of rooms. You’d start in an open-air courtyard—that’s the biggest rectangle to the far right (west, toward the parking lot). Then you’d enter the palace itself, passing between two columns (see the remaining bases) onto a covered porch. Next, at the far end of the porch, was a small anteroom. Finally, you’d spill into the main hall—the throne room—at the east end. This great hall, or megaron, contains the outlines of a round hearth, which is where a fire burned. Here you could make burnt offerings to the gods. The four remaining bases around the hearth once held four inverted columns that supported the roof, which had a sunroof-type hole to let out the smoke. Against the wall to the right (the south wall) sat the king on his throne—the very center of power of the Mycenaean empire. The walls and floors were brightly painted with a pattern of linked spirals.
The same type of palace was found in every Mycenaean city, and later became the standard layout of the Greek temple—courtyard, colonnaded porch, small room (pronaos), and main hall with its sacred cella area toward the back, where only the priest could go.
• While we’re on the top of the acropolis, check out the view and imagine the city/fortress at its peak.
Mycenae was a combination citadel, palace, residence, and administrative capital of the extended empire of Mycenaean cities. But first and foremost, it was a fortress, occupying a superb natural defensive position guarding a major crossroads in Greece. The hill is flanked by steep ravines. To the south there are spacious views across the fertile plains of Argos to the Argolic Gulf, giving the inhabitants ample time to prepare for any attack by sea. The cone-shaped hill in the distance ringed with walls near the top was the fortress of Argos. The port of Mycenae controlled trade on the road from Corinth to Nafplio, and sea trade from Nafplio to points beyond.
In case of siege, Mycenae could rely on natural springs located on the mountainside to the east (away from the entrance—near the eucalyptus trees, a little above acropolis level, with a patch of exposed reddish hillside behind it). The water was channeled through clay pipes underground to a cistern dug inside the acropolis.
Though Mycenae was fundamentally a fortress, up to 60,000 people lived here.
• Facing the distant bay, find the Acropolis of Argos in the distance, and imagine the torches and bronze plates once used to reflect and flash messages across long distances. Now, work your way eastward (farther away from the entrance, and a bit downhill), noticing natural defenses provided by cliffs on the right, before descending to the...
The ruins at this end were once mostly 5 houses and storerooms. At the far eastern end, notice the doorway in the wall (now covered with a gate). This was 6 an escape route out the back.
Find the gaping cave-like opening of the 7 cistern, where 99 (slippery!) steps lead 50 feet down. Peering inside, you can see...absolutely nothing, unless you’ve packed a flashlight. The cistern stored water from springs within the hillside, in case of siege or drought.
• Head back toward the entrance—but bear to the right, following the north (outer) wall. Walk down the stairs and look for a gate on the right.
This 8 North Gate, smaller than the Lion Gate, has a similar rectangular crossbeam shape and heavy lintel. The wooden door is a reconstruction similar to the original, fit into the original holes cut in the lintel stone. Next to the North Gate is a niche in the wall (similar to the one at the Lion Gate) to display guardian gods.
• From here you can explore your way along the ramparts back to the Lion Gate, or head directly to the museum. If you’re ready to move on, exit through the North Gate, and bear left/downhill along the serpentine path to the museum, the modern building on the hillside below.
Whereas the ruins give a sense of the engineering sophistication of these people, the museum emphasizes their artistic, religious, literary, and cultural sides. You’ll see various funeral objects from the graves, plus everyday objects that show influences from the Egyptian, Minoan, and Hittite cultures.
• Follow the one-way, counterclockwise route through the collection, beginning in the...
The model of the Mycenae acropolis in the center of the room helps you visualize the city as it once was. Otherwise, the information posted here is pretty dull (on one side, a description of myths relating to this city; on the other, a dry history of the excavation).
• From the entrance hall, move into the next room, on your right, where you’ll find...
This room shows off religious items found in temples. Snakes were believed to have sacred connections and were used for bridging the worlds of the living and the dead. The mysterious two-foot-tall figurines were likely used by priests in rituals to scare away evil. Pottery items found in homes were simply practical in an age without plastic storage. Notice the well-preserved elegant designs and colors that were baked into the clay.
• Descend to the lower level to see...
This room is filled with items found in tombs from about 1500 B.C. In the octagonal case, you’ll see reproductions of the famous Mask of Agamemnon and other golden items (such as crowns and medallions). These objects were discovered here in graves. (The originals are now in Athens’ National Archaeological Museum.) On the wall behind the mask is a highly decorated funeral stele (gravestone) from Grave Circle B.
Diagrams below the artifacts show where each object on display was found in relation to the skeleton of the deceased. Back then, you could take it with you. Those with the means were sure to pack along jewelry, tools, kitchen utensils, even children’s toys and sippy cups. The miniature furniture was necessary for packing light. Tiny figurines may have represented the Goddess Earth. Notice the small baby coffin (a clay box with a lid, immediately left of the entry door).
• As you continue into the next room, notice (on your left) a big clay urn used as a coffin for burial, with a band of spiral designs across the middle. Many funeral objects (such as this urn) were engraved with a spiral pattern—possibly a symbol of the never-ending path of life.
In the case at the end of the room’s partition are fragments of clay tablets inscribed in the Mycenaean written language known to scholars as Linear B. Each character represented a syllable. These fragments concern distinct subjects, including “Religion,” “Lists of Names,” “Products,” inventories, and so on. Very few written documents survived from the Mycenaean era—no literature or history or stories—so we know very little of the Mycenaeans’ inner thoughts.
On the other side of the partition, a glass case displays sealstones, used to put a person’s mark in wax or clay on a sealed document or box, to ensure it reached the intended recipient unopened. The Mycenaeans led an active trading life, and every businessman would have had one of these. The red one on top, in the center (#14), has the symbol from the Lion Gate on it.
To the left a large map shows the vast Mycenaean trading world. The Mycenaeans were seafarers, bringing back gold from Egypt, lapis lazuli from Afghanistan, amber from Scandinavia, ivory from Syria, jewelry from Spain, and more. Near the door, the display on “Women of the Mycenaean World” makes it clear they had plenty of toiletry and jewelry items: combs, tweezers, mirrors, beads, pendants, and so on.
• Leaving the museum, take the ramp back up to the parking lot. (Just below the WC next to the museum, on your right, is the broken but interesting Tholos Tomb of the Lions.) At the parking lot, continue to the last area, one of the highlights of Mycenae: the tomb known as the Treasury of Atreus. It’s located about 300 yards south of the ruins, along the road back toward the modern town of Mycenae. You can walk there in less than 10 minutes. Or, if you have a car, stop at the Treasury on your way out of the site—there’s a small parking lot there. Show your entry ticket once more and follow the crowds gradually uphill to get to the...
Mycenae’s royalty were buried in massive beehive-shaped underground chambers called tholoi, which replaced shaft graves (like the ones at Grave Circle A) beginning in the 15th century B.C.
The entryway to this tholos itself is on a grand “cyclopean” scale—110 feet long and 20 feet wide. Imagine entering in a funeral procession carrying the body of the king. The walls rise at a diagonal up to the entrance, giving the illusion of swallowing you up as you enter.
The lintel over the doorway is mind-bogglingly big—26 feet across by 16 feet by 3 feet—and weighs 120 tons. (For comparison, the biggest stones of the Egyptian pyramids were 30 tons.) Notice before entering the hints of doorway hinges and ornamental pillars that once stood here.
Step inside and hear the 3,300-year-old echoes of this domed room. The round chamber is 47 feet in diameter and 42 feet tall, with an igloo-style dome made of 33 rings of corbelled (gradually projecting) stones, each weighing about 5 tons. The dome was decorated with bronze ornaments (you can see a few small nail holes where they were attached in the fifth row of stones up). The soot on the dome is from the campfires of fairly recent shepherds.
Kings were elaborately buried in the center of the room along with their swords, jewels, and personal possessions. There is also a side chamber (the door to the right) whose purpose can only be guessed at. After the funeral was over, the whole structure was covered with a mountain of dirt. But grave robbers got in anyway, and modern archaeologists have not found any bodies or treasures.
So why didn’t the dome collapse? The weight of the dome is distributed by two triangular niches—one over the main lintel, and one over the side doorway. Notice how the main lintel has a crack in it. That crack is to the side of the doorway, right where the triangular niche spills all the weight of the dome onto it. Without this arch, the lintel would have cracked in the center and the dome would have collapsed. Look carefully at the smaller triangle above the smaller side-door arch to find its little crack (on the left). Again, without the arch, the weight over the door would have caused the lintel to break—and you wouldn’t be standing here marveling at 3,300-year-old Mycenaean engineering.
• Our tour’s over. While only about 10 percent of the site has been excavated, I’ve Mycenae-n enough.