The Achaean Greeks built their settlements on high hills, surrounding them with a ring of powerful fortress walls - their construction became an urgent necessity. Mycenae is such an example. Mycenae- This ancient city- a fortress surrounded by fortress walls made of monolithic blocks. The walls of Mycenae and Tiryns that have survived to this day are impressive, dry-built from huge blocks of stone, so tightly fitted to one another that they created the impression of a monolith. Subsequently, such settlements received the name “ acropolis"-"upper city", The space between the blocks was filled with soil and clay. This is the so-called “cyclopean masonry”. The length of the wall of Mycenae is 900 m, thickness - from 6 to 10 m. Storerooms were built inside the walls for storing food and weapons.
The fortress has two gates - at the northwestern corner there is a main gate, known as the Lion Gate, while on the northern side there is a gate of secondary importance. The main road led to the Lion Gate. Famous " "- crowned by a monolithic pediment with the image of two lions resting on a small double altar.
Lions, whose heads have not been preserved, guard the column - a symbol of the palace of the Mycenaean rulers. The ceiling and lintel supposedly weigh more than 20 tons. The width of the gate is 3 meters. Previously, the gates were closed with wooden doors. We go up to them and take pictures in their doorway as a souvenir. There is a good draft blowing under the gate. From the gate the road rises to the hill where the royal palace was located, the plan of which was distinguished by the simplicity and severity of its architectural design. We rise even higher. Inside the fortress wall, to the right of the main entrance, there is a famous burial place, which is surrounded by circular fences, forming the famous grave circles.
Archaeological excavations are being carried out here, and we cannot go there; we can only look at them from above. One of his most outstanding stone circle finds was royal burials from 1600-1500. BC, that is, relating to the early period of Mycenaean culture. We climb higher up the mountainside. The sun is already hot here, +24 C’ in the shade. It's not easy to climb.
The Acropolis stands on a triangular hill, the height of which is about 40 m. At the top of the Acropolis are the ruins of a 13th-century royal palace. BC. This place is fenced. In the center of the palace there was once a ceremonial rectangular room (12 X 13 m) with a fireplace in the middle - megaron.
Here at the top you can sit on the stones and relax after a steep climb. Then we go around the rock on the other side and go down the ring road. The northeastern ledge was built in the 12th century BC. e. in order to provide it with water, for which an underground cistern was built in a natural recess in the rock. There was a terracotta water supply leading to the cistern. Secret reservoirs provided the palace with a constant supply of water, even in the event of a siege. We discovered the entrance to the cistern, which is a hidden stepped descent that runs through the entire thickness of the fortress wall and beyond.
It was already a little dark here, and you can use the light from your phone. It's scary to walk far.
Below the mountainside there is an archaeological museum. Under glass there are exhibitions of ancient objects: combs, beads, ceramics.
Family crypt of King Agamemnon
Starting around 1500 BC. The general kings of Mycenae and other Greek city-states were buried in tombs known as tholos. The tholos, excavated in Mycenae, was called the treasury of Artaeus, since at first it was decided that this was the burial place of Agamemnon’s father, Artaeus.
We pass through a narrow passage into a tomb under the mound. The king's body, along with his weapons and treasures, was placed in a crypt shaped like a beehive. This is a huge domed hall, 12 m high and 14 m wide, built without the use of mortar in 1250 BC. The tomb was built in the 13th century BC. and consists of a long (36 meters) corridor, a round room covered with a dome. Once upon a time, its walls were decorated with bronze gilded rosettes. One king owned up to 400 bronze foundries and many hundreds of slaves. The hall is empty, there is nothing here. The acoustics here are amazing. No traces of burial were found in the tomb; perhaps it was looted in earlier times.
This is a golden funerary mask of one of the first Mycenaean kings.
At first it was believed that it was made from the legendary king Agamemnon, who fought against Troy in the famous Trojan War, but it is now known that the mask dates back to a much more ancient period. But it is still associated with the famous Mycenaean king and is called: “The Mask of Agamemnon.” The mask is in the museum, but naturally it is a copy. The mask depicts the face of an elderly bearded man with a thin nose, close-set eyes and a large mouth. The face corresponds to the Indo-European type of face. The tips of the mustache are raised upward in the shape of a crescent, and sideburns are visible near the ears. The mask has holes for the thread with which it was attached to the face of the deceased.
Mycenae is an ancient city in the northeastern Peloponnese on the Argive Plain. Currently it is a ruin located 32 km north of the Gulf of Argolikos.
Historically, the city appeared on an important part of the route from the Peloponnese north to the rest of Greece. Its significance was so great that it left its mark on ancient greek mythology. According to legends, the city was founded by Perseus, the son of the supreme god Zeus and the unfortunate Danae, the winner of Medusa the Gorgon. Legends of divine origin Mycenae was supposed to confirm the importance and greatness of the city.
Story
People lived in these places in the early Neolithic - 5-6 thousand years ago. Archaeological excavations have shown that on the site of Mycenae in the 3rd millennium BC. e. there was a village. The city appeared later and by the 17th century. BC e. became the capital of the Achaean state - the very first of the main ancient Greek tribes. The ancient poet Homer, describing the Achaeans in the epic poem “The Iliad,” meant all the Greeks of the Peloponnese: Mycenae had become so powerful by that time.
The wealth of Mycenae and the luxurious lifestyle of its rulers are evidenced by precious finds from the burials of Mycenaean kings of the 17th-16th centuries. BC e., made during excavations in the 19th century.
In the XVI-XV centuries. New, more powerful fortifications were erected on the Mycenaean acropolis, and a royal palace was built.
Mycenae was then ruled, according to legend, by the most famous of its kings, Atreus, also a character from ancient Greek mythology, the son of the divine Pelops and the father of Agamemnon and Menelaus, the heroes of Homer’s poems.
Mycenae is best known as the residence of the Pelopids, King Atreus and his son Agamemnon, Agamemnon's wife Clytemnestra and their children Orestes and Electra.
Mycenae flourished between 1400 and 1200. BC e. Rulers of Mycenae in the XIV-XIII centuries. BC e. the descendants of King Atreus erected tholos - large round domed tombs, which replaced the modest shaft tombs built before the rise of Mycenae.
The power of Mycenae at that time extended to the whole northern part Peloponnese, the Mycenaeans captured Knossos on Crete, traded with Ancient Egypt and the Hittite kingdom, Cyprus and Syria.
It is clear that such a rich city had many enemies.
The walls around the acropolis became even higher, and those who wanted to get behind them, into the fortress, had to go through Lion Gate. Anticipating brutal wars and a grueling siege of Mycenae, in the 12th century. BC e. An underground stepped gallery was cut from the fortress to a source located far below.
The fate of Mycenae was decided by a terrible fire that occurred around 1200 BC. e. The city died in flames.
Centuries later, Mycenae was partially restored, but its former greatness never returned. Although, to prove their strength, Mycenae took part in the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC. e. and at the Battle of Marathon 490 BC. e. - the largest during Greco-Persian wars 499-449 BC e.
The entire Peloponnese was captured by the Dorians, another ancient Greek tribe. They made neighboring Argos their capital; they did not want Mycenae to be strengthened, and in 470 they captured the city and destroyed it to the ground.
There was still life in the ruins of the city for some time, but by the 2nd century. it was completely abandoned and abandoned.
The city played such an important role in ancient times, that “Mycenaean” refers to the entire period of prehistoric civilization in Greece (1600-1100 BC).
The ruins of the ancient city of Mycenae are located on the Greek peninsula. The city's strategic location is a rocky ridge overlooking the passage from the Peloponnese north to the rest of Greece.
Excavations in Mycenae were started by enthusiastic archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann, who argued that Homer’s poems directly indicated the location of the burials of the Mycenaean kings.
Excavations of Mycenae began only in 1874, they were carried out by Heinrich Schliemann (1822-1890), who had already become famous for the discovery of the “Gold of Troy”, which resulted in a huge international scandal. The German archaeologist carried out excavations until 1876 and managed to discover traces of civilization of the 2nd millennium BC. e., described in the works of the ancient Greek geographer Pausanias, and before that were considered the same myth as the legends of Perseus and Medusa the Gorgon.
Schliemann sought to find the tomb of the Mycenaean king Agamemnon, and discovered the tomb, although archaeologists express great doubt that this is the burial place of Agamemnon. But a lot of treasures were found: the total weight of gold finds was more than 14 kg. Excavations have confirmed the truth of many of the descriptions made by Homer in the Iliad and Odyssey.
Excavations were carried out even after Schliemann. All found ruins and structures can be divided into three groups.
The shaft tombs are the earliest objects excavated at Mycenae. These are not actually mines, but rather large stone wells. They were untouched, the robbers did not reach them. The decoration of all six tombs is striking in its extraordinary splendor and richness. The faces of the dead were covered with gold masks, and gold items lay scattered around, from jewelry to many gold disks and plates embossed in the form of octopuses and rosettes, as well as bronze daggers with hammered gold handles, with fine gold and silver inlays on the blades. Above the graves are steles with carved images of chariots, hunting scenes and spiral patterns.
Tholos, or domed tombs, have been found outside the city walls. A total of nine of them were discovered, and nearby - a large number of chamber tombs. These are underground vaulted structures in the shape of an ancient beehive, with a high dome. A dromos, a corridor, leads into the tholos. When the burial ceremony was over, the entrance was blocked with stones, and the dromos was filled with earth. The largest tholos, called the “Tomb of Atreus,” is made of giant stone blocks. The lintel beam measures 38.512 m and weighs about 120 tons (!). The diameter of the tomb is 15 m, the height is 13 m. Of course, they buried in them not characters from ancient Greek myths - Atreus and Clytemnestra, but representatives of the reigning family. The domed tombs were unlucky: they were plundered in ancient times.
The fortress walls and the palace are the most recent objects in Mycenae. The walls are made of huge stone blocks. The wall has a Lion Gate with bastions on the sides. They owe their name to the triangular slab at the top, on which two lionesses are carved. These animals are the only work of monumental sculpture of that time that has survived to this day.
Little remains of the palace; one can only judge from the size of the ruins that it was monumental and consisted of many ceremonial, residential and utility rooms. There was also a Doric temple here: its remains have been found.
In the vast lower city, quarters with stone houses of wealthy artisans and merchants, conventionally called the House of the Wine Merchant, the House of Shields, and the House of the Oil Trader, have been preserved.
Next to the ruins of ancient Mycenae there is a town bearing the same name.
From a hill almost devoid of vegetation, where only poppies grow red, on which the ruins of Mycenae are located under the scorching sun, a panorama of the entire Argolis region opens up - right up to the Saronic Gulf of the Aegean Sea.
general information
Location: southern Greece.Official status: archaeological site of Mycenae and Tiryns.
Administrative affiliation: decentralized administration of the Peloponnese, Western Greece and Ionia, administrative region (periphery) of the Peloponnese, nome of Argolis, municipality of Argos-Mycenae, Greece.
Date of foundation: around the 17th century. BC.
First written mention: VIII century BC e.
Language: Greek.
Ethnic composition: Greeks.
Religion: Greek Orthodoxy.
Currency unit: euro.
Numbers
Area: 0.32 km 2 (heyday, 1350 BC).Fortress wall: length - about 900 m, weight of stone blocks - from 20 to 100 tons, height - up to 7.5 m.
Height above sea level: 278 m.
Distance: 90 km southwest of Athens.
Climate and weather
Mediterranean.Warm winter, hot summer.
Average January temperature: +14°C.
Average temperature in July: +27°С.
Average annual precipitation: 400 mm.
Relative humidity: 65%.
Attractions
■ Archaeological Park "Mycenae": shaft tombs (XVII-XVI centuries BC), fortress walls (XIV century BC), Lion Gate (late XIV-XIII centuries BC), tholos (chamber tombs, XV-XIV centuries), palace (XVI-XIII centuries BC), residential buildings, warehouses, tanks (XIV-XIII centuries BC), granary (XII century BC .), reservoir “Perseus Spring”.Curious facts
■ Ancient Greek myths about the founding of Mycenae by Perseus say that the main fortifications of the city were erected by the Cyclopes - powerful giants. Hence the name of the masonry made of roughly hewn blocks of enormous size - cyclopean.■ The name “Mycenae” is clearly not of Greek origin and was inherited from local tribes by Hellenes who came from other places. However, myths associate this name with Greek word"Mikes" - "mushroom". The ancient Greek geographer Pausanias claimed that Perseus himself came up with the name after looking at the mushroom-shaped peak on which Mycenae was located.
■ The first written mention of Mycenae is found in the poems of Homer.
■ In the second half of the 20th century. and at the beginning of the 21st century. The authenticity of the Mask of Agamemnon has been questioned. Some archaeologists referred to the fact that even before the excavations in Mycenae, Schliemann was noticed in forgeries: he deliberately brought to the excavations objects that were found in completely different places, and the Mask of Agamemnon is sharply different in style from everything else that was found in Mycenae. The official point of view categorically denies forgery.
■ The ruins of Mycenae became a tourist attraction back in the era Ancient Rome: Wealthy Romans made trips here to see the remains of Mycenae's former greatness.
■ Schliemann fully trusted what was written in Homer’s poems and interpreted it accordingly in his research. So, having discovered a skull under a golden mask in a Mycenaean tomb, he immediately exclaimed: “I saw the face of Agamemnon!”
■ In 1999, the ruins of the city of Mycenae were included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
■ Of the other Pelopids (descendants of the divine Pelops), who chose Mycenae as their capital, the most famous are Agamemnon’s wife, Clytemnestra, and her children, Orestes and Electra. Their fate, as set out in myths, is terrible: Clytemnestra killed her husband (“buried” away from the city wall of Mycenae), Orestes killed his own mother (died from a snake bite), Electra (pushed her brother to kill his mother, “buried” in Mycenae). Elektra became the main one actor tragedies, the scene of which was Mycenae: “Choephoros” by Aeschylus, “Electra” by Sophocles, “Electra” and “Orestes” by Euripides, “Agamemnon” by Seneca.
■ As a businessman, Heinrich Schliemann made his fortune by supplying the Russian army during Crimean War 1853-1856: he traded in strategic goods - sulfur, saltpeter, lead, tin, iron and gunpowder.
■ The Mycenaean civilization replaced the Minoan when its center, the island of Crete, was destroyed by the eruption of the Santorini volcano, which served as the basis for the myth of the death of Atlantis.
■ Another “registered” item found by Schliemann in the tombs of Mycenae in 1876 is the famous golden Cup of Nestor. Schliemann stated that this was the exact cup that Homer described in the Iliad as belonging to Nestor, king of Pylos. Most archaeologists do not agree with Schliemann: the Mycenaean burial appeared three centuries before the expected date of the Trojan War, and the appearance of the cup differs from that described by Homer.
■ The area where the ruins of Mycenae are located is very poorly developed economically, but people from these places occupied and occupy leading place in Greek politics.
Mycenae flourished between 1400 and 1200. BC. The Mycenaean Acropolis, built back in the 16th-15th centuries. BC, was surrounded during this period by new powerful Cyclopean walls, massive fortifications built in three stages (1350, 1250 and 1225 BC).
The most recent objects discovered in Mycenae are considered to be the palace and fortress walls. The surviving fortress walls are mostly of the so-called Cyclopean masonry made of huge limestone blocks, not processed at all or only roughly chipped, but perfectly fitted.
Large sizes Mycenaean buildings speak of the rather high knowledge of the builders, the long-term working skills of the masons, the great skill of the stone carvers and a number of other workers. What is most striking is the monumental size of these structures. Huge unprocessed blocks of limestone, reaching in some cases a weight of 12 tons, form the outer walls of the fortress, the thickness of which exceeded 4.5 m. But these blocks still had to be delivered to the construction site! The stones were first processed with heavy hammers, then they were cut with a bronze saw. The use of a system of counterweights and brackets and the installation of drainpipes required quite complex calculations. Characteristic is the uniformity of precisely developed techniques for laying walls throughout the entire territory of the Mycenaean culture.
1-2 - two main types of Mycenaean masonry. The masonry was done using clay mortar. The middle of the wall was filled with rubble stone.
1 - roughly hewn polygonal stones.
2 - hewn rectangular blocks.
3 - cross-section of the walls of Tiryns, showing galleries and battlements made of raw brick. This is the most complex of the Mycenaean era fortifications.
4 - plan of fortifications in Mycenae. On the left is the Lion Gate.
5 - plan of fortifications of the 7th century. in Emporio on Chios.
6 - plan of fortifications of the 6th century. with projecting towers in Burunkuk-Larissa.
7 - plan of the Athenian border fortress of the 4th century. in Giftokastro.
The citadel of Mycenae has no towers, but the gates are well protected by bastions on the sides. Walls up to 8 m high have been preserved, although their original height is unknown.
The builders made excellent use of the natural landscape, erecting their walls on the ridges of the mainland rock. Along with the Cyclopean walls made of almost unprocessed blocks, in Mycenae there are sections of walls built using a different technique and from a different material - they are composed of even and regular masonry from well-processed almost rectangular stone blocks, sometimes reaching 3 m in length. Such is the wall and bastion at the Lion Gate, as well as sections of the wall at the northern gate. The gate had two leaves and was closed using a sliding beam. I wrote more about them.
The city was surrounded by a 900 m long fortress wall, which enclosed an area of over 30,000 sq.m. In some places, vaulted galleries with casemates were built inside the walls, in which weapons and food were stored (the thickness of the wall here reaches 17 m). The whole system defensive structures Mycenaean fortresses were carefully thought out and guaranteed defenders from unforeseen accidents.
The approach to the main gate of the citadel was arranged in such a way that the enemy approaching it was forced to turn towards the wall on which the defenders of the fortress were located with their right side, not covered by a shield. Behind the gate inside the fortress there was also a narrow courtyard, framed on both sides by walls, where it was easy to defend against enemies who broke through the gate.
Now, having entered the gate, we find ourselves in an open space, which is mainly occupied by a circular fence, formed by two rows of stone slabs placed on edge: they mark the sites of earlier shaft tombs. Inside this enclosure were tombstones, some with human figures carved on them. Between the circle of the fence and the wall there were houses and warehouses.
This so-called Circle A of the shaft tombs was included in the perimeter of the fortification walls during their construction, apparently as a kind of sacred, cult center. The earliest Mycenaean fortifications left this necropolis outside the citadel.
Throughout the 3rd and 2nd millennia, there are 5 main groups of burials: pit, box, shaft, chamber and dome. The most important monument of Mycenae are the shaft tombs. (XVI century BC). The first six graves of this type were discovered in 1876 by G. Schliemann within the Mycenaean citadel. These rectangular, somewhat elongated tombs were carved into soft rock to a depth of 0.5 to 3-4 m; they represent a further development of pit and box burials.
Archaeologists have recovered from them many precious objects made of gold, silver, ivory and other materials. Massive gold rings decorated with carvings, tiaras, earrings, bracelets, gold and silver dishes, magnificently decorated weapons, including swords, daggers, armor made of sheet gold, and finally, completely unique gold masks that hid the faces of the buried were found here. Amber, ostrich eggs and other obviously imported items were found in the graves.
The artwork in these tombs shows the influence of Cretan art, although the subject matter of the images differs significantly from Cretan. Minoan pottery was also found in the tombs. The tombs are located among the graves of the so-called. Middle Helladic period. Obviously, these were the burial places of rulers.
The richness of the inventory of the shaft tombs indicates a significant development of productive forces during the transition to the Late Helladic period. The widespread use of bronze, the abundance of precious metals and their generous use are a clear indicator of the separation of crafts from agriculture and the long-term accumulation of labor skills among Mycenaean artisans. The presence of things of foreign origin indicates connections, possibly trade, with distant countries. The totality of finds in the shaft tombs gives reason to consider the Mycenaean society of that time to be a class society. Slave society arose in Mycenae as a result of internal development.
The main street leads to the gate from the lower city past the sacred Mycenaean circle of shaft graves B (which date back to the 16th century BC and are older than the famous royal shaft tombs of circle A excavated by Schliemann).
Next to this complex are the remains of a building from the late Mycenaean period, also excavated by Schliemann, which today received the name “House of the Military Vase”, thanks to the famous large Mycenaean crater with images of warriors found here. This crater is today on display at the Athens National Museum.
It's time to remember the history of the archaeological excavations of Mycenae. The location of the ancient city was known for a long time - long before the moment when Schliemann first found himself at the walls of the ancient city in 1868. Images of a fortified acropolis on a rocky hill in the Argive valley are known already in the 18th and early 19th centuries. For example, here is a romanticized image of the Mycenaean Acropolis. Isn't it difficult to find out?
The history of Mycenae is one of the darkest and at the same time one of the most sublime chapters in the history of Greece, full of dark passions. It was archaeologists who proved the real existence of the events described in ancient poems. According to Homer's Iliad and Aeschylus' Agamemnon, Greece in the Mycenaean period was a country of high culture. The ancient historians Herodotus and Thucydides spoke of the Trojan War as a true incident, and of its heroes as real people.
Meanwhile, at a time when the Greeks came into view modern history, they did not particularly stand out among other nations in any way - neither in the luxury of palaces, nor in the power of kings, nor in a large fleet. It was undoubtedly much easier to attribute the information contained in Homer’s poems to the writer’s imagination than to agree that the era of high civilization was followed by an era of decline with its barbarism, and then a new rise of Hellenic culture.
Today, Mycenae is primarily associated with the name of Schliemann, who, having studied the texts of Homer’s poems, discovered Troy, and then the “royal tombs” in Mycenae.
In 1876, as a result of a fairly quick exploration, Schliemann excavated the shaft tombs of circle A, located inside the walls of the fortification, and made his world-famous finds. Among several golden tombstone masks, he chose the most “intelligent” face, as it seemed to him, and attributed it to Agamemnon.
The shaft tombs discovered at Mycenae by Schliemann in 1876 were the earliest of the sites: there are no Neolithic artifacts here, and early and middle Helladic remains are extremely insignificant. The objects found in the tombs date from the transition from the Middle Helladic to the Late Helladic period and illustrate the connections that existed between Greece and Crete ca. 16th century BC. View of Schliemann's excavations in Mycenae in an ancient engraving:
These tombs consisted of six large stone wells located in an area that was subsequently surrounded by a wall. 19 skeletons were found in the wells, one of which was preserved in partially mummified form. On the faces of several of those buried were masks made of beaten gold.
Here the plan clearly shows the location of all objects, incl. and tombs:
The graves contained treasures - objects made of gold, silver and bronze, including jewelry, bowls, swords, rings and other objects. Among the latter category are numerous gold discs and plates embossed or embossed with octopuses, rosettes, and other forms typical of Mycenaean burials: these could be sequins from clothing or decorations on coffins or other decorations.
There were also bronze daggers with hammered gold handles and designs on the blades made using the technique of gold and silver inlay; two have hunting scenes depicted in a lively and expressive manner.
The total weight of gold found here is more than 14 kg. Nowadays, Schliemann's finds adorn the exhibition of the National Archaeological Museum of Athens.
But some of the finds are also presented in Mycenae:
Some of the treasures today are not inferior to the creations of current designers. ;-)
Late Helladic potters made dishes of various sizes - from small goblets to huge vessels. The clay was well cleaned, the walls of the vessels were made thin, the surface of the vases was often polished, and the firing was of high quality.
In Athens, by the way, Schliemann built himself a luxurious mansion, the walls of which he decorated with paintings, in accordance with his eccentric taste, placing images of himself and his wife among ancient gods and heroes.
The six tombs contained a variety of metal products of high artistic level - weapons, drinking vessels, jewelry, masks, as well as 16th-century ceramics. BC.
It is an extremely rare case when royal burials are so ancient era have reached our days virtually unplundered. Most of these finds are exhibited in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens and are the most important part of the museum's exhibition.
By the way, it was in Mycenae that the famous steles with images of chariots were discovered - one of the oldest in Europe. Subsequently, with to varying degrees intensity, excavations were carried out throughout the 20th century (British archaeological school and Athenian archaeologists), as a result of which a complex of buildings inside the fortification, the palace itself, many buildings outside the walls, tholos tombs and many other monuments were uncovered.
But let's return to the acropolis. Moving up the preserved ancient staircase, which turns into a ramp paved with stones, you can climb to the very top of the hill, where the palace of the ruler of Mycenae was located.
Nowadays it is poorly preserved, but once it was entered via a two-flight staircase in the Minoan style with ceremonial reception chambers.
The monumental palace consisted of many ceremonial, residential and utility rooms; in a separate sanctuary there were statues of gods made of marble and terracotta.
At the top of the stairs there was a rectangular courtyard, into which opened a large hall, or megaron, consisting of a portico with two columns, a reception room and a rectangular main hall.
The structure of this official palace premises is described by Homer and it is similar to other Mycenaean palaces - in Megara, Pylos, Tiryns. The central hall of the megaron had dimensions of 12.95 x 11.50 m. In the center of this room there was a round-shaped sacred hearth, around which there were 4 wooden columns that supported the roof and were decorated with bronze plates and the throne of the ruler.
The hearth was repeatedly painted with colored patterns on thin layers of plaster. The floor of the hall is paved with flat slabs. Remains of fresco paintings were discovered here and are now in the museum.
The Achaeans borrowed many important elements of their culture from Crete. Among them are some cults and religious rituals, fresco painting in palaces, water supply and sewerage, men's and women's clothing, some types of weapons, and finally, linear syllabary. All this, however, does not mean that the Mycenaean culture was just a minor peripheral variant of the culture of Minoan Crete, and the Mycenaean settlements in the Peloponnese and elsewhere were simply Minoan colonies in a foreign “barbarian” country (this opinion was stubbornly held by A. Evans). Many characteristics Mycenaean culture suggests that it arose on Greek soil and was successively connected with ancient cultures this area, dating back to the Neolithic and Early Bronze Ages.
Great changes have taken place in the craft. The construction of palaces, defensive walls, tombs, roads, etc. urgently required new tools of production. Mycenaean builders used several types of chisels, drills, various hammers and saws; Axes and knives were used to process wood. Whorls and loom weights were discovered in Mycenae.
Megaron, which gave the textbook plan of a Greek dwelling of the 2nd-1st millennia BC, still allows you to imagine the view from the window of the palace of the proud Achaean leader - a cliff, a mountain, hills and a plain right up to the foggy sea in the distance.
Wrote very well about Megaron carmelist , although he wrote about Tiryns, this quote can also be applied to Mycenae: construction equipment is determined by the measure of one human strength, someone's brilliant architectural idea has just made it possible to invent a masonry method right angle made of stone. Another engineering genius thought of placing an ordinary tree trunk under the ceiling and created the most iconic element of architecture - a column. The symbiosis of these two creations gave birth to the megaron - the prototype of the future ancient classics. I think that the joy of the builders knew no bounds; they sculpted one megaron to another until they had sculpted the entire palace complex of Tiryns.
Let's summarize the above - the characteristic elements of the megaron:
- three-way division: balcony, vestibule and throne room;
- a large round hearth in the center of the throne room;
- four columns arranged in a square around the fireplace in the throne room;
- the throne is located against the middle of the right wall in the throne room;
- the floors and walls of the megaron are richly decorated with frescoes and geometric patterns;
- stone benches were located near the right and left walls of the throne room
The king's megaron had a sacred character: the king, who was also the high priest, sat on a throne, and the priests around him were on benches.
Megaron section:
There were many other rooms here and higher on the mountain, but for the most part no trace remains of them. Let us mention some of them: the courthouse was located directly in front of the megaron. Usually the court was surrounded on three sides by a colonnade. In Mycenae, near the court, the “Great Staircase” (a stone staircase originating from the “Lion Gate”) ends.
Megaron of the queen - in Mycenae this room is inferior in size to the megaron of the king, but was just as luxurious and with two light wells. The queen's megaron is located next to the north side of the king's megaron.
Bathroom - discovered near the royal rooms. The bathtub itself is assembled from fragments, and like all other small bathtubs, it is a sit-down bathtub. Even the Mycenaean kings did not have large baths!
At the top of the mountain there are traces of an archaic Doric temple, an archaic relief was discovered here, and objects dating back to the Hellenistic period were also found. In the southwestern part of the Palace, a vast area was occupied by a sanctuary. Dedicatory gifts to the deity, dues, gifts and income of the king were kept here. The pithoi currently visible were used to store oil and wine, and possibly grain, although little of the latter has been discovered. In the masonry tanks located in front of the pithos, precious utensils were probably stored. The storerooms had neither windows nor light wells and were illuminated by oil lamps.
In the northwestern corner of the fortified territory there was an underground spring with a reservoir, to which a staircase of 83 steps led. Ancient name source - Perseus. An underground stepped gallery was cut from the fortress to a source located far below.
Descending from the top of the hill, you must definitely look into the citadel, which goes deep into the walls of the citadel, and then into the ground, a man-made gallery leading to an underground source and a cistern with supplies drinking water. This typically Mycenaean vaulted room, built from huge, poorly processed limestone blocks, ending with a passage carved into the rock to the cistern, makes a huge impression with its power and size. Here you can see two narrow loopholes in the wall, which could serve as a secret passage for sudden attacks during a siege.
In the middle of the Late Helladic period, Mycenae began to weaken. Residents apparently expected attacks. Excavations show that all water sources were brought to the northern gate of the acropolis, and in its northeastern corner a deep underground cistern was built into which the waters of the Perseus spring flowed.
In conclusion, I would like to cite the arguments of American scientists about the connection between the Minoan and Mycenaean palaces.
The location of the Central Megaron at Mycenae clearly indicates that it was the architectural center of the palace structure. The location of all other buildings depends on the location of the megaron. In Mycenae, the megaron is the heart of the palace, directly administrative center. In Mycenae, the royal megaron housed courts and administration.
In contrast, in Crete, at the Palace of Knossos, the royal megaron is not a central structure, it is simply a monumental version of a normal private house. There are other throne rooms at Knossos that were used by kings for specific religious or state purposes. In this sense, the architecture of the Mycenaean Palace can be characterized as centripetal, in contrast to the centric nature of the Palace of Knossos.
Mycenaean palaces reflect much greater individuality than Cretan palaces in the sense that in Mycenae each building is unique, and in the Knossos palace there are about 30 storerooms alone. In Mycenae, palace architecture and dwellings are sharply contrasted ordinary people. If in Crete the buildings of the “lower cities” corresponded in style to palaces, then in Mycenae no similarity between the palace and the dwellings of the common people was found, despite an attempt by an expedition from the University of Minnesota in the 1960-1970s to draw up a complete plan of Mycenae. The palace at Mycenae is always associated only with the residence of the monarch and associated annexes, and this distinction between the royal domain and the residence of the common people was emphasized by the design of the massive walls around the citadel.
Sources cited in posts about Mycenae.
Mycenae- an ancient city built in the second millennium BC. It was one of the centers of Mycenaean culture, and then of Greek civilization. Now all that remains of it are ruins. Mycenae was abandoned around 1100 BC and remained in this state until the famous archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann discovered the city in 1874. It’s not far from Athens to here - about 90 kilometers.
Let's start our walk through Mycenae from the Treasury of Atreus. This is a tomb that was built around 1250 BC. The name is conditional and no one knows exactly who was buried here, but it is assumed that it was one of the rulers of Mycenae.
Entrance to the tomb
The slab above the entrance weighs 120 tons
Dome of the tomb. Masonry is held together without any mortar
We move to the Mycenaean acropolis. View of the ancient city
Let's get closer
The walls of ancient Mycenae were created using the so-called cyclopean masonry, when huge hewn blocks are held on top of each other only by their own weight without any mortar. The name “Cyclopean” comes from the ancient Greeks - over time, people believed that it was beyond the power of man to lift such boulders, and such construction was attributed to the mythical Cyclops
The Lion Gate was built in the mid-13th century BC
Bas-relief above the Lion Gate, from which it takes its name
Lion Gate from the other side
Graves of Circle A. It was here that Schliemann found the famous golden mask of Agamemnon. You will also see the mask itself just below.
The Lion's Tomb dates back to approximately 1350 BC and is so called not because lions were buried there, but because their figures were found on the walls. Above it was the same vault as above the Treasury of Atreus, which was shown above, but it collapsed
A couple more views of the ruins
In Greece they know that cats attract much more attention from tourists than any other antiquity, so there are plenty of them near any attractions
There is an archaeological museum on the territory of ancient Mycenae
Basically, various antique ceramics found in the surrounding area are presented here.
Simply handsome
Ancient writings
Fragments of an ancient fresco
Ancient jewelry
Various accessories of noble people
The golden mask of Agamemnon was found here in 1876, but a replica of the famous mask is on display in the museum. The original is in Athens, where we were recently. In fact, this mask did not belong to Agamemnon, since scientists attribute it to an earlier era, but the name stuck
Near-Mycenaean nature
On our way out we stopped at a souvenir shop
Here you can buy not only small souvenirs, but also statues like these. Prices, of course, are quite high and amount to tens of thousands of euros
Potter at work
I will add several reconstructions of Mycenae prepared by Danila Loginov (
- DATE: XII-XIV centuries BC. e.
- STYLE: Mycenaean
- MATERIALS: Stone
- BUILT: by order of the Cretan rulers
- The legendary palace-fortress of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, whose history many times became the plot for great works of ancient Greek literature
Homer, in his epic poems The Iliad and Odyssey, described Mycenae, the legendary mountain stronghold of King Agamemnon, as “an indestructible citadel, rich in gold.” Both Homer and Aeschylus in their Oresteia called Mycenae a place of bloody massacre, where mortals the gods punish. Agamemnon was the leader of the army during the Trojan War. Then, so that the gods would grant a fair wind so that the navy could move, he sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia. The king returned victorious, but his wife Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus killed him right in the bath. Orestes, the son of Agamemnon, took revenge on the murderers, and they accepted their death at his hand.
Myths and reality
Of all the archaeological sites in Greece that have a mythical past, Mycenae is the closest to Greek legend. Especially if we consider that legends intertwine stories from different times. Mycenae is located on the rocky hills above the Argive Valley, next to the main road between the cities of Corinth and Argos. The fortress walls and most of the buildings were built in 1380-1190 BC. e., although in this place since ancient times, from the 16th century BC. e„there were settlements of rulers. Today the citadel lies in ruins, but even now you can imagine its stunning splendor and marvel at the architectural achievements of the Mycenaean civilization.
The famous Lion Gate is the main ritual entrance to the fortress where the elite lived. Basically the city lay in front of them. To emphasize the splendor of the gate, the stonework there was treated better than in other places, and an amazing stone relief was installed above the gate. Two muscular and, alas, already headless lions in this relief stand on the sides of the column.
Behind the walls of the citadel
Just outside the walls of the citadel is the cemetery of the rulers, surrounded by a wall in a circle. In these tombs, the German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann discovered one of the most magnificent archaeological finds- many beautiful daggers made of bronze, bowls and goblets, tiaras and chains made of filigree gold and amazing gold death mask. Schliemann then exclaimed: “I looked into the face of Agamemnon!” Although subsequent research has shown that the tombs appeared 300 years before the Trojan War, there is still no doubt about the wealth and greatness of the Mycenaean civilization.
Behind the walls of the fortress, under the hill, is the so-called Treasury of Atreus, a fine example of a Mycenaean stone “beehive mausoleum”
From the tombs, stairs lead directly to the royal palace on the top of the hill, the boundaries of its walls are still visible. In the center there is a courtyard, from there you can enter the megaron, a large reception hall with a traditional round hearth. The walls of this hall were once covered with bright paintings. The palace also had a throne room and many small rooms. In the east is the House with Columns, a majestic building whose courtyard is surrounded on three sides by columns. The staircase has also been partially preserved; it once led to the second floor.
At the eastern side of the fortress there was a secret spring with a reservoir, it lay underground, and a spiral staircase descended to it. The reservoir was built in the 12th century so that the people in the fortress could withstand a long siege. The fortress was most likely besieged by hostile Mycenaean bets or Dorian invaders from the north. By 1100 BC. e. the once thriving settlement was already abandoned.
