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BRONZE-AGE MYCENAE
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© This material copyright Timothy E. Gregory; all rights reserved.
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I. Reminder about periodization in Archaeology--the main periods used in
Classical Archaeology
A. Prehistory: to ca. 3000BC
1. Simple society, economy, and political structure
(relatively egalitarian and undifferentiated)
2. No use of writing
3. Examples are: Khirokitia (Neolithic) and Lemba (Chalkolithic)
B. Protohistory (Bronze Age): 3000-1000BC
1. More complex society, involving the emergence of the
state (usually kingship) and much greater differentiation of wealth
2. Use of writing, but under the control of the state,
as is mass storage/distribution
3. Examples: Knossos (Minoan), Mycenae (Mycenaean)
C. History: 1000BC-present
1. Very complex society, commonly with competing
systems
2. Use of writing/storage in the hands of many people
3. Examples: classical Greece and Rome
II. Mythology and Setting:
A. The home of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. Story of the Trojan War
and the sacrifice of Iphegeneia.
1. Mycenae was the most important center of Mycenaean
civilization.
2. In mythology, the founder of Mycenae was Pelops, and
Pelops' son was Atreus, who was the father of Agamemnon.
a. Menelaos, Agamemnon's brother, was king of Sparta;
Menelaos' wife Helen went off with the Trojan prince Paris.
b. Menelaos sought the support of Agamemnon and the
other kings and they attacked--and eventually took--Troy.
B. Conspiracy of Clytemnestra and Aegistheus, the murder, and revenge
of Orestes and Electra.
1. When Agamemnon returned to Mycenae, he was killed by
his wife Clytemnestra.
2. Their son Orestes later killed Clytemnestra and her
lover Aegistheus.
C. Mycenae had a commanding geographical position overlooking the plain of Argos.
II. Excavations:
A. Schliemann excavated 1874-76, continued by the Greeks
1886-1902.
B. The British, led by Alan Wace 1920-23 and 1950-56. Continued work
has been done by George Mylonas and Lord William Taylor.
C. These more recent excavations have considerably changed our
understanding of the site, especially outside the palace itself.
III. History:
A. Unremarkable Neolithic and Early Helladic, from 3000-2800 BC.
B. In Middle Helladic and Late Helladic I, there was a significant
settlement on the top of the hill.
C. Ca. 1650 considerable development.
D. Most of the surviving fortifications date to (1380-1190); the
greater part of the circuit was built ca. 1350, with significant additions ca. 1250.
E. Environs were damaged ca. 1200 but the citadel escaped, to be
destroyed ca. 1100. A small city was built on the ruins in the archaic age, but this was
captured by Argos in 486 BC and destroyed. The site, however, was always known.
IV. The Site: for a view of the site, click here
A. The hill is 912 ft. high
B. Walls of Cyclopean Masonry (made of huge worked but
even blocks); two gates and a sally-port
The walls are normally between 15 and 35 ft. high, but as much as 56 ft.; they are as much
as 46 ft. thick. The curtain wall is cyclopean, the gates ashlar (as are
the tholos tombs).
C. Lion Gate
Protected on the right by a bastion. The posts are 10.5 ft. high and the
lintel is 15 ft. long, weighing 18 tons. A slab of grey limestone fills the corbeled
relieving triangle. Two lions or lionesses rest on a pillar. A seal from Mycenae contains
a similar scene with a dove on top of the column: perhaps the sign or seal of the royal
house.
D. Grave Circle A
(shaft graves)
A circle 88 ft. in diameter, originally outside the defensive walls, but
in the 13th century brought inside the walls. The surface was covered with slabs, six of
which are in situ. There were 10 tombstones. This decoration of the site seems to be
later, ca. 1250 (tombstones are original, ca. 1600). There were 6 shaft graves (5 found by
Schliemann). Each grave had a pebble floor with rubble walls, wooden beams supported a
slate roof (i.e. an open space for the body). The graves were re-used.
Schliemann believed
he had found the grave of Agamemnon, where he found a gold
burial mask that is remarkable in its quality (the "Mask of
Agamemnon). In Grave III there were
women and two infants wrapped in gold cloth (identified as Kassandra, her two infants, and
the twins she bore to Agamemnon). There was an enormous quantity of gold and
weapons. In all there were 19 skeletons.
E. Palace
Above Grave Circle A, and a complex of presumably wealthy houses
was the palace was the Great Court,
probably open to the sky (note Schliemann's excavation). There is a stairway to the south,
although much of this area has fallen away. From the Court one passes into an anteroom,
then the throne room. On the other side is a porch (note column bases), vestibule, and the
megaron, 42 x 39 ft., with hearth. The top of the hill to the north presumably contained
the residential quarters, but most of this has been destroyed by later construction,
including a geometric temple. A room with red waterproof plaster is traditional site of
Agamemnon's murder.
F. Grave Circle B
A series of shaft graves (as Grave Circle A) from the 16th
century BC, but with much less elaborate grave goods.
G. Tholos Tombs ("beehive" tombs); the "Treasury
of Atreus"
There are approximately 100 tholoi, 9 at Mycenae LH II, 1520-1300 BC. Dromos is 115' long, 20' wide. The doorway is 18' high; lintel of 2 stones, inner
27' long, 17' wide and 3'9" high = 118 tons. Above is a corbeled vault. Facade had
columns, parts in the National Museum, but most in the British Museum. Facing of the
relieving triangle probably from quarries at Kyprianon near Cape Matapan. Bronze nails
still in place. The entranceway into the tomb is 17' thick. The corbeled
"dome" is 43' high, 47.5' in diameter; 33 concentric
courses, blocks as much as 7' long. Bronze nails for bronze rosettes as at
Orchomenos.
Small room of uncertain function on right.
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