Long before Greece was called ancient, around 1600 BC, the Eastern Mediterranean was inhabited by a civilization of traders and conquerors. These were the times of myths and legends.

The gods at that time often descended from, and mortals were ruled by their offspring. It was then that the well-known Perseus, the son of Zeus and the daughter of the Argos king, being the ruler of the nearby Tiryns, founded ancient city Mycenae.

The city began to have so much great importance that the last prehistoric period of Greek civilization is called "Mycenaean".

A bit of history

It is not known whether Perseus founded Mycenae, deciding to leave a memory about himself as a builder of cities, or as a sign of another victory. But it was ruled by many generations of his descendants, until the royal dynasty of Atreus came to replace it.

Some legends claim that Perseus chose this place because he lost the tip of his sword (mikes) here, others that Perseus found a mushroom (in Greek mikes) and, fleeing thirst, drank water from it.

A more prosaic tradition says that Mycenae was founded by the Achaeans, an ancient warlike tribe.
Be that as it may, the city is located in a strategically convenient location. They laid it at the foot of one of the mountains in the northeast.

The first mention of Mycenae as a "gold-rich" or "filled with gold" city was made by Homer in his epic.

Later, the German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann, during the excavation of Mycenae, found an explanation for this. The tombs and tombs on its territory were filled with gold ornaments and simple knick-knacks of very skillful work.

All this testified to the fabulous wealth of the rulers and nobility. Their remains were buried under a pile of gold items. Interestingly, not a single piece of iron was found.

Among the gold items found by archaeologists were: tiaras, fine bracelets, copper cauldrons with graceful golden buttons, golden bowls and jugs, many golden animal figurines, death masks, the most famous of which is the mask of Agamemnon, and many bronze swords.

Archaeological finds discovered in the tombs have become the largest treasure in the world, not only in terms of quantity (more than 30 kg of gold items were found), but also in terms of artistic and historical significance. Later, they were surpassed only by the finds found in the tomb of Tutankhamun.

All artifacts were transferred to the Archaeological Museum of Athens and the Archaeological Museum of Mycenae.

Successful geographical position Mycenae facilitated the conduct of trade by the inhabitants.
Wine, perfume, fabrics, bronze, gold and amber items were exported.

Wealth grew rapidly, the state flourished. Mycenae became very influential, and according to scientists, controlled the entire Mediterranean. Their rulers even led the confederation of the Peloponnesian kingdoms.

Mycenaean culture, weapons, and even fashion spread throughout known to the world... This was the reason for repeated attacks on the city. However, the Mykene themselves were warlike.

During its existence, Mycenae and the Mycenaean state have left a solid mark on history. The rulers of the city are heroes of legends and myths. Many tragic and heroic events are associated with the history of Mycenae.

For example, the legendary Trojan War was unleashed by the Mycenaean king Agamemnon. We will not go into the details of the divine feuds associated with the apple of discord and the struggle of the Olympic beauties for the title of "fairest", in which Tsar Menelaus and his wife Elena the Beautiful were involved, which led to the fall of Troy.

Historians are still inclined to a more realistic version that it was the ruler of Mycenae, Agamemnon, who went to war on the city, since Troy competed with them for dominance in the region. The siege of the city lasted for a decade.

Researchers attribute these events to the XIII-XII centuries. BC BC, but the date is controversial. The victory was granted by the gods to the king of Mycenae for the fact that he sacrificed his daughter, for which later, according to one of the legends, he was killed by his wife, who did not forgive him for killing her child.

According to another legend, during a long absence, the wife of Clytemnestra had a lover - a cousin of Agamemnon. And when the legal spouse returned from the war, they simply killed him, expelled the children - the legal heirs to the throne, and began to rule Mycenae.

The rapid development of the Mycenaean civilization is as inexplicable as its sudden disappearance. It is not clear exactly how and why their state fell. Historians put forward various hypotheses according to which the destruction of the city and the death of the state could have occurred as a result of interclass clashes.

According to other theories, a series of earthquakes, destruction of trade routes caused a precipitous fall of civilization. It is possible that this was finally facilitated by the invasion of the Sea People - the Dorians. But it is known for sure that the death of the Mycenaean civilization coincided with the end of the Bronze Age.

The "bronze collapse" was accompanied by the collapse of states and the destruction of large cities. Written language and traditions were lost, trade came to naught. The eastern Mediterranean plunged into darkness.

How to get to Mycenae

Time is relentless, and now we can only see the ruins of the once mighty city. This is all that has come down to us.

Mycenae is one of the greatest monuments of the Bronze Age.
The city is located in the east of the rocky ridge of the Peloponnese peninsula.

The landmark is the town of Mykene, located 2 km away. Geographical coordinates of the ancient city: 37 ° 43? 50? with. latitude, 22 ° 45? 22? v. e. From the capital of Greece - about 90 km to the south-west of the peninsula, or 32 km to the north from the Gulf of Argolicos.

You can get to Mycenae by a regular bus from Athens from the KTEL Athenon bus station in about two hours, the ticket costs about 12 euros. But you can get to Mycenae on your own, armed with a navigator or a map. You must first drive to the city of Argo, from there go to Mykene, passing another one - the Corinth Canal.

There are ruins on the territory archaeological park Mycenae. The entrance to the park is paid. Tickets are sold at the entrance and cost 8 euros, and children under 18 do not need to purchase tickets. By showing your ticket, you can see the Acropolis of Mycenae, the Archaeological Museum and the Treasury of Atreus.

When booking an excursion to Mycenae via the Internet or in hotels, check if there is a Russian-speaking guide. As a rule, a visit to Mycenae on such excursions is planned along with other attractions, so the cost depends on the type of transport, the number of places visited and the category of the excursion.

What to see

Like many cities, Mycenae had its own ruler, respectively a royal palace and a well-fortified citadel.

The city is surrounded by a 900-meter wall made of huge stones. Construction was carried out, no more, no less - the giants of the Cyclops.


Otherwise, how else can you explain the origin of such a powerful defensive structure. The stones are so tightly fitted to each other that there is a feeling of solidity of the walls. It was customary to call such a masonry cyclopean. Some stones weigh up to 10 tons.

The Tsar's Palace was erected on the top of a small hill at the foot of the mountain. This is the so-called upper city - the acropolis.


Here lived not only the reigning dynasty, but also other nobility and aristocracy. This is the center political governance city-state. There were also temples, warehouses and burials of deceased rulers on the territory.

The center of the Tsar's Palace is a rectangular room with columns and a hearth in the floor - the Tsar's reception room.


The so-called Megaron served as the administrative center of the city and held meetings, conferences and courts.
In Megaron there was also a symbol of royal power - the throne. In our time, only the foundation of the structure has been preserved.

The royal chambers are located on the north side of the palace. A temple with round altars was also erected here, near which a sculpture made of ivory was discovered, depicting two goddesses and a child.

Ordinary people lived outside the walls of the fortress at the foot of the hill. It is interesting that the buildings had a trapezoidal shape, with a short base directed towards the acropolis. Because of what the whole city from above looked like a fan. The most famous buildings are the House of the Sphinx, the House of the Vintner, the House of Shields and the House of the Oil Dealer.

It was possible to get into the fortress only on the road through. This is the most famous architectural landmark of Mycenae.

The gate is built of four heavy limestone slabs. Their span is a square, the side of which is about 3 meters. They were closed, most likely, with wooden doors, which have not survived to this day.

Their existence can be judged by the depressions on the side walls. The pediment is decorated with a bas-relief depicting two lions, which were a symbol of the royal dynasty, and personified its power.

Lions stand on their hind legs and lean on a column with them. Their heads have not survived, and according to various versions, they were made either of ivory or gold. This is the oldest sculptural composition in Europe.

A large staircase leads to the royal palace, starting from the courtyard at the Lion Gate. It is interesting that even then there was a bureaucracy. Clay tablets found during excavations in the palace turned out to be financial records, lists of slaves and artisans.

Mycenae possessed the greatest treasure of all fortresses - underground water sources.

Residents dug a deep tunnel to a spring known as the Perseus Fountain. This fountain and a huge defensive wall helped them withstand long sieges.

Outside the walls of the citadel, archaeologists have discovered giant domes - the tombs of kings and nobles, erected from powerful stone slabs. The tombs were disguised as a bulk mound, and a long corridor - dromos - led inward.

A corridor, through a high, up to 7 meters in height, monumental entrance, led into an inner vaulted chamber. After the funeral, the tomb was closed, and all entrances were covered with earth. The most famous and well-preserved is the treasury or tomb of Atreus, the father of Agamemnon.

But the tomb was plundered long before archaeologists found it.

On the territory of the fortress itself, as a result of excavations, the royal graves were discovered, right behind the Lion Gate.

Heinrich Schliemann unearthed five royal burials here. They contained the remains of nineteen dead, buried under heaps of gold jewelry. The most famous find was a golden death mask.


According to Heinrich Schliemann, the mask belonged to Agamemnon himself. Later it turned out that the burials were made several centuries earlier than the time of the legendary Trojan War.
In 1999, the ruins of Mycenae were included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Despite the fact that time did not spare the city, visiting it is very informative and interesting.

The descendants of the mythical Perseus ruled Mycenae for many generations, until they were replaced by the powerful dynasty of Atreus, with which many heroic and tragic events are associated. The son of Atreus, the legendary Agamemnon, who led the campaign against Troy, on the advice of the oracle sacrificed his own own daughter Iphigenia. After a triumphant return from the Trojan War, Agamemnon was killed in the bathroom by his wife Clytemnestra, who did not forgive her husband for the death of her daughter. Clytemnestra, in turn, is killed by his son Orestes, who is distraught with rage, incited by his sister Electra. What can I say? Cruel times, cruel morals. But after millennia, the name Clytemenestra became a household name in Greece for husband-killers.

These legends and assumptions were historically confirmed when the German amateur archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann, in search of Troy, accidentally stumbled upon one of the mine burial grounds. Several more burials of the same type were discovered nearby, and then it became clear why Homer called Mycenae gold-rich. During the excavations, an incredible amount of gold and amazingly beautiful things (about 30 kg!) Were found: jewelry, cups, buttons, military equipment and bronze weapons trimmed with gold. Amazed Schliemann wrote: "All museums in the world do not possess even a fifth of this wealth." But the most significant find was a golden death mask, which, according to Schliemann, belonged to Agamemnon himself. But the age of the burial grounds did not confirm this version, the burials were made much earlier, before the reign of Agamemnon. An interesting fact confirming the power and wealth of the ancient Mycenae is that no iron objects have been found. The main materials from which the discovered objects are made are silver, bronze and gold. The artifacts found in the mine graves are kept in the Archaeological Museum of Athens and in the Archaeological Museum of Mycenae.

The ancient city was strategically located on a hilltop, protected by the massive walls of the acropolis. The laying of the defensive walls was carried out without the use of any binder mortar. The stones fit so tightly that the walls give the impression of being monolithic. The famous "Lion's Gate" led to the acropolis - a cyclopean structure made of stones, decorated with a bas-relief with two lionesses - a symbol of the power of the royal dynasty. The gate is the most famous building of Mycenae, and the bas-relief is considered one of the most significant heraldic monuments in the world.

The citadel housed dwelling houses of the nobility and household buildings, and many of the buildings were two and three-story. Not far from the entrance are the remains of the burial circle A, where there are shaft tombs dating back to 1600 BC. Items found in them indicate that there were burials of royal families here.

From the courtyard at the "Lion's Gate" began a large staircase leading to the royal palace. The center of the palace was Megaron, a large room with a hearth on the floor. Tsar's Megaron was the central building, a kind of administrative center. Here meetings were held, courts were held. Only the foundation remained of the royal chambers. Fragments of the foundations of the red bathroom in which Agamemnon was killed can also be discerned.

At a short distance from the walls of the acropolis, burial circle B was discovered, which includes domed tombs (tholos) - another example of Mycenaean architecture. The most impressive and well-preserved of them is the so-called "Treasury of Atreus" or "Tomb of Agamemnon". When the burial was found by Schliemann, it turned out to be plundered. Therefore, it was not possible to establish who the tomb belonged to, but the size and architectural features suggest that there was a royal tomb inside. Round underground structures have replaced mine burials. A sloping corridor lined with stones leads to a high narrow entrance. Inside the tomb is an imposing dome 13.5 m high and 14.5 m in diameter, lined with horizontal rows of stones. Each row protrudes slightly above the previous one. Before the construction of the Roman Pantheon, the tomb was the tallest structure of this type.


Mycenae — oldest city mainland Greece. Ancient only Knossos, the center of the Minoan civilization, in Crete. Mycenae dates back to the second millennium BC. The city is currently in ruins. In turn, the ruins were turned into a museum. On the 29th day of our stay in Greece, looking at the ruins became completely boring, in Mycenae we spent about two or three hours. The complex is quite small and rather monotonous.

Grave Circle A. Mycenaean Acropolis. On the right is the entrance, below is the parking lot for tourist buses.

Mycenae is one of the most easily accessible attractions in the Peloponnese. 120 km from Athens, with 110 of them on the highway. By time about 1 hour 10 minutes... We came from the other side, these days our base was at Epidaurus.

The Mycenaean fortress occupied a very advantageous strategic position, it towered over the plain of Argos and controlled all mountain passes to the north, right up to Corinth. The main entrance to the city was decorated with the Lion Gate, built around 1260 BC. NS. Two large stone lions were carved above them. The entire structure was crowned with a roof, the length of which was 8 m, height - 90 cm, and width - 2.4 m.

From the gate there was a road to the royal palace. Its walls were decorated with frescoes, like Cretan paintings. Thus, the inhabitants of Mycenae had an idea of ​​the Minoan culture. The houses of less senior citizens were crowded around. One of them, the so-called Column House, was three-story.

I am not an expert in history and archeology. But I would like to know who lived here, when, what the building was used for. Often there is simply no such information. On information boards, approximate dates and descriptions appearance... although not even the appearance, but the remnants of the appearance.

It's time to finish the stories about other travels, begun last year ... There is not so much left to tell about Greece - about the ancient fortifications in Mycenae and the final post. You can talk a lot and for a long time about Mycenae, this is my favorite place in Greece, it was here, and not on the Acropolis, not in Epidaurus, that the monstrous abyss of times was felt. More than three and a half thousand years ago, this place already existed. The world did not yet know about many things, but this place was already. This is how it looked eleven years ago, this is a favorite photograph taken by me in Greece - a mountainside and an acropolis on it (view from):

The ruins of one of the oldest cities in the world are located 32 km north of the Gulf of Argolicos, near a tiny village that retains the name of the ancient city. They were located on a rocky ridge, overhanging from the east over the passage through which you can get from the Peloponnese to the north.

View from above:

Mycenae (Mykenai), an ancient city in Argolis, in the northeastern Peloponnese (southern Greece). The first settlements on this hill date back to the Neolithic era (4th millennium BC). In the 3rd millennium BC. Mycenae was still a small settlement. Became a major center in the late Bronze Age (1350-1200 BC). From the 17th century. BC. - the capital of one of the early class states of the Achaeans. Around 1200 BC Mycenae were killed by fire. In the following centuries, the city was restored, but no longer played a significant role. Having fallen into decay, the city continued to exist until 468 BC, when it was conquered by a new great power in the Argolic Valley, the city of Argos. Latest information about the population living in this city, we are given by the Roman traveler Pausanias in the 2nd century AD. In the era of late antiquity, Mycenae actually ceased to exist. Archaeological excavations of Mycenae have been conducted intermittently since 1876 (by the German archaeologist G. Schliemann, in 1920-1923 under the leadership of A. Weiss for the British School in Athens, the Greek scientists Chrestnos Tsuntas, G. Milonas, etc.)

Mycenae is perhaps the most famous city Greece, the kingdom of Agamemnon, the leader of the Achaean campaign against Troy, the city that dominated Greek history for 400 years, the acropolis that gave Schliemann a golden mask, history and architecture textbooks - Megaron, Lion's Gate, literature - Homeric characters. Located between two squat mountains, the ruins of Mycenae look hardly less majestic than in their heyday.

In the III-II millennia BC, in the era of the most ancient cultures of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Iran, India, China, on the islands and coasts Aegean there was a kind of Aegean culture, the predecessor of the ancient Greek. Here in that era received high development crafts and trade, and the social structure was not characterized by extreme forms of despotism, as a result of which the images of art were more humanistic, in it for the first time in the ancient world, attention was paid to a person, his feelings, everyday life.
Distribution area of ​​the Cretan-Mycenaean culture:

The inhabitants of Mycenae and Troy were the descendants of tribes that once came, like the Doryans later, from the north. There is no unequivocal conclusion about where the origins of their culture came from. There are different versions - the steppes of the Northern Black Sea region, Anatolia, Central Europe, since the available archaeological material is still recognized as too heterogeneous. Until 1953, doubts were expressed as to how much the Mycenaean civilization was Greek, until the first Greek alphabet was deciphered, which showed that the Mycenaean language was the primary form of the Greek language.

From the ancient Mycenae, the ruins of the city's fortifications have been preserved, including its Kremlin - the acropolis.

The beginning of the Mycenaean civilization proper is usually associated with the 16th century BC. This civilization appeared on the historical scene after a rather long pause - the cultural decline of the period of the XXII-XVII centuries. BC. or the Early Eladian III and Middle Hellenic periods. The great Mycenaean civilization itself is the result of a complex cultural synthesis that brought together heterogeneous ethnic elements of both Indo-European (Achaean or Hellenic) and non-Indo-European (Aegean, Pelasgic and Minoan) origins. And it would be good to remember this for those who, for the sake of their nationalist views, deny positive influence different cultures to the culture of his people, considering them "alien". Only in synthesis can the good be born, in self-isolation only degeneration. But I got distracted ...

Mycenae is a typical example of a type of fortified settlement at the top of a hill, a citadel palace or an acropolis town, characteristic of this time. This type goes back to the tradition of the first Indo-European newcomers who settled in the Balkan Peninsula at the end of the Early Bronze Age. Although the aliens settled in a country ideally suited for seafaring and trade, they initially established their fortified strongholds away from the coast, in places that were advantageous from the point of view of defense against the enemy. Such an ideal place was also the hill on which Mycenae was located. The city was built on a rocky hill (280 m above sea level), in the northern part of the fertile Argos plain, 15 km from the seashore. From the north, Mycenae is protected from the cold winds by Mount St. Ilya. The territory of the Mycenaean acropolis is 30,000 square meters. m, wall perimeter - 900 m.

In connection with important role, which the city played in the prehistoric era, "Mycenaean" is often called the last period of prehistoric civilization in Greece, also referred to as III late Helladic (c. 1400-1100 BC). Sometimes the term "Mycenaean" is applied to the entire late Helladic civilization (1600-1100 BC). From this diagram, it can be seen that in relation to the "golden age" of the Greek ancient civilization, the Mycenaean is about the same as the time of King Arthur from ours (it is suggestive, is not it?):

The main Mycenaean myths tell that the city was built by the murderer of the Gorgon's medusa Perseus, the son of Zeus, and Danai, irrigated with a golden rain ("Fear the Danes who bring gifts"). The dynasty of the descendants of the Perseevs was replaced by the Pelops family, cursed by a little-known driver for all sorts of meanness and greed. The ancient Greeks just ascribed to the Cyclops or Cyclops, the family of giants, the erection of the Mycenaean walls 13 meters high and 7 meters wide. Therefore, any masonry of roughly hewn blocks of huge size is usually called cyclopean. The ancient Greeks found it hard to believe that such giant boulders (some weigh up to 100 tons) could have been built by people. However, even the walls did not save Mycenae from retribution for the sins of Pelops, the hero who gave the name to the Peloponnese.

The significance of Mycenae is emphasized in Greek mythology since according to myths, the Greek campaign against ancient Troy was led by the mythical king of Mycenae Agamemnon. Participants in the Trojan events as interpreted by an artist of our time:

Most of all, Mycenae is known as the residence of the Pelopids, king Atreus and his son Agamemnon, the wife of Agamemnon Clytemnestra and their children - Orestes and Electra. Images of Orestes in ancient art:

It was in Mycenae that the "Palace of Agamemnon" was located where, according to myths, the wife of the great Agamemnon Clytemnestra killed the leader of all Greeks, who returned from Troy.

A bathroom has survived, in which Clytemnestra and her lover slaughtered her husband Agamemnon, who brought from Troy not only the gold that Schliemann got, but also the beloved of Apollo, the soothsayer Cassandra. The act of the jealous queen, who, by the way, was not embarrassed by her lover, was avenged by her son, Orestes. Orestes and Electra at the grave of Agamemnon:

The gate through which he fled from Mycenae, killing his mother, is still there.
Electra and Orestes killing Aegisthus in the presence of their mother, Clytemnestra; detail of a Greek vase, 5th century BC

Erinnias, goddesses of vengeance, pursue Orestes:

Pedigree of the Mycenaean Atrids:

The fate of Agamemnon was described by the epic poem "Return" (7th century BC) and "Oresteia" by Stesichor that did not come down to us. From dramatic works Antiquity, dedicated to the murder of Agamemnon, preserved the tragedies "Agamemnon" by Aeschylus (the first part of the trilogy "Oresteia") and Seneca. The plot was developed in European drama from the 16th century. Interest in myth awakened again in the second half of the 18th century. (tragedies "A." V. Alfieri, L. Zh. N. Lemercier and others).

In the photo - the staging of the story of Agamemnon in 1886 in Sydney (Australia):

Although the real Lion's Gate looks like this:

In the 19-20 centuries. the plot formed the basis for about 30 tragedies, dramatic tetralogy by G. Hauptmann (Iphigenia in Delphi, Iphigenia in Aulis, Death of Agamemnon, Electra).

In European musical and dramatic art, the plot of Agamemnon's death formed the basis for the libretto of a number of operas from the 18th to 20th centuries. ("Clytemstra" by N. Piccini; "Clytemestra" by N. Cingarelli; "A." by D. Treves; opera trilogy "Oresteia" by S. I. Taneyev; "Oresteia" by F. Weingartner; "Oresteia" by D. Millau; "Clytemestra "R. Prochazki;" A. "D. Kuklin;" Clytemestra "by I. Pizzetti and others) and cantatas (" Clytemestra "by L. Cherubini and others).

The surviving ritual epithet "Zeus-Agamemnon" shows that Agamemnon was probably originally one of those semi-divine patron heroes of his tribe, whose functions were transferred to Zeus with the formation of the Olympic pantheon.

An expression that exists in the modern lexicon "Atreus feast" is associated with Atreus. According to legend, the brothers Atreus and Fiestes fought for the throne in Mycenae. The first managed to seize the throne, but Fiestes constantly tried to win it back. According to another version, the wife of Atreus was the cause of the disagreement. Atreus decided to solve this problem once and for all and conceived one of the most terrible crimes in Greek mythology. He pretended to be reconciled with his brother and invited him to Mycenae for a meal that would symbolize their reconciliation.

Fiestos, suspecting nothing, accompanied only by his family, arrived in Mycenae. There, the servants of Atreus stole the children playing in the city, killed them and prepared a dish from them. Fiestos recalled his children only during the meal and asked his brother: "Where are my children?" and Atreus replied, "They are buried in you," while showing him their heads. Poor Fiestos, overwhelmed, went mad. The gods resented Atreus for unprecedented villainy and cursed him and his entire family. The theme of the curse of the Atrides has been repeatedly played up in world art and even became the leitmotif of Frank Herbert's fantastic cycle "Dune".

Did Atreus and Agamemnon exist, but it is proved that in antiquity Mycenae was a royal residence, their power extended to a territory that probably far surpassed all similar state formations that era in this region and covered, perhaps, the entire northern part of the Peloponnese.

Subsequently, Mycenae gradually lost their importance, although during the Greco-Persian wars they sent soldiers to Thermopylae and Plataea. Mycenae was almost completely destroyed by Argos in 468 BC, but few inhabitants remained here throughout the Hellenistic period. By the 2nd century. AD the city was abandoned. And now only numerous tourists disturb the peace of the thousand-year-old ruins ...

And once, many, many centuries ago, the city with its powerful fortifications looked something like this:

Next time we will take a closer look at all the premises of the Mycenaean Acropolis, see the famous Schliemann gold, vintage photos and engravings of these places, etc.

They clogged my veins with sand
And with dry wind they smoked their lips -
Cyclops placed cubes,
Well-groomed sleepy Mycenae.

Everyone remembers the rocks - as alternately
The signalmen spent the night for years
By the stacked fires, how sensitively they waited
The cherished message: Agamemnon is near!

Once here, there is no need to regret
That time fell silent on the wrist
That danger sleeps like a scorpion in stones,
The abandoned herd bleats sadly,

The sound of a sheep's rattle is sad.
From the liquid shadow of oleander leaves
Look, doomed Cassandra,
Pale Slavic freckles.

O prophetic, my unpretentious epic,
He will distort your features with a yawn
But, you know, with great pleasure
I would exchange jeans for peplos.

Deaf centuries of victory and betrayal
We woke up in a confident hexameter,
I did not come, but you returned to me,
Confused old Mycenae.
Helga Haren

In the 3rd millennium BC, there were three major centers of human civilization: Mesopotamia, Egypt and the Hittite Empire. The ancestor of all empires was Mesopotamia, the origin of which is shrouded in historical fog.
One day, the huge Hittite empire collapsed. Its fragments flew in all directions, giving birth civil war, devastation, hunger and fratricidal clashes. In those days, there were no strictly guarded borders - neither their own nor neighboring countries, so different groups - in fact, even completely independent peoples splashed in different directions.
The Hittite Empire was located on the territory of Albania, Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia. Those peoples who left the war and devastation to the west eventually ended up on the Apennine Peninsula, becoming Etruscans, Sabines, Latins. Another, the most large group peoples moved south, towards the future Hellas. They were Pelasgians, Achaeans, Dorians, Ionians, Lelegs, Carians.
Arriving on the territory of the future mainland Greece, they populated it, displacing or partially assimilating the mysterious Minoan civilization that existed there. And on the islands, the Cycladic culture was replaced by the Cretan and proto-Aegean ones. As a result of this alloy, the so-called Aegean or Mycenaean civilization took place. The culture flourished from 1500 to 1050 BC. Then she slowly turns into classic Hellas.
A dramatic leap in Greek culture occurred around 1700 BC. At this time, the Cretan-Minoan culture begins to fade, but its influence remains.
Heinrich Schliemann, an amateur German archaeologist, at one time a wealthy merchant who made his fortune working in St. Petersburg, then supplemented it with financial operations in America, gave Greece another millennium of history. He achieved this, relying on the mythological legends of Homer.
The tomb of Atreus, which he explored in 1879, is the largest domed tomb in the Mycenaean culture.

It is impossible to know for sure the Mycenaean culture to the smallest detail. Some architectural passages still remain a mystery. It remains to rely on archaeological information, myths ancient greece and on the information of those peoples who came into contact with them.
From 1700 to 1500 BC in the Mycenaean culture, deep mine tombs were used, lined with stone slabs, earth, brushwood or grass at the bottom. Royal tomb 1450 BC looked like this: a long passage began on the hillside, it was trimmed with stones on the sides and ended in front of the door that closed the entrance to the tomb. Wooden doors were covered with bronze. The facade was decorated with 2 columns 10.5 m high. There was once a sculpture in the triangular opening above the entrance, just like on the Lion Gate, which I will talk about later.

Through the passage one could get directly under the dome vault.

The diameter of the room is 14 m 25 cm, the height is 12.5 m. Starting from the 3rd row, the masonry forms a vault.

The weight of the beam above the entrance is 120 tons.

A small entrance leads to the room where the deceased and the offerings that accompanied him to the afterlife were located.

The stones are not very tightly fitted to each other, therefore, there are voids between the vertical seams, which the bees have chosen, they freely fly back and forth through the entrance to the tomb in the summer.

This is perhaps one of the attractions to remember when traveling to Greece - a huge vault of a tomb that looks like a medieval cathedral. sunlight at the entrance, passing further into twilight, and the buzzing of bees, vaguely reminiscent of the sound of an organ.

In addition to the key-stone that closes the tomb from above, this is an original ingenious construction.

The length of the inclined dromos corridor, which leads to the tomb, is 36 m, width is 6 m.

The quarry, from where the blocks were taken, was located 15 km from Mycenae.
Throughout Argolis, you can see the remains of bridges from the Mycenaean era. An extensive network of roads existed between the cities. The city was ruled by a king who had full power during the war. In peacetime, the decision was mainly made by the local aristocratic assembly.
The Acropolis is an elevated fortified area on a hill, an invention of the ancient Mycenaeans. There was always a spring inside the acropolis. There has always been a Palace in the center of the city - the center of the cultural and political life... Traces of the Mycenaean culture spread to the Baltic.
From 3000 BC there were already settlements here. Mycenae also existed in the classical era, having managed to take part in the events of the Greco-Persian wars, but in 468 BC. the city was ravaged by the Argolans. Since then, Mycenae has become one of the many appendages of the mighty Argos. Gradually, life in this area came to a standstill.
The height of the mountain on which the city of Mycenae was located is 254 m above sea level.

The flowering of Mycenae was observed in the 18th-12th century BC. In the 2nd century BC. all residents left the city.
The fortifications around the center of Mycenae were erected around 1350 BC. The second line of fortifications appeared in 1250 BC. At the same time, the "Lion Gate" was built.

The second line of fortification of Mycenae arises in connection with the invasion of the Dorians and other northwestern Greek tribes. The Lion's Gate crowns main entrance in town.

The masonry is made of a conglomerate that looks like Meteor rocks.

The two lionesses who support the altar column are made of a different stone.

The heads of the lionesses made of gold were turned to the person who entered the city, but they, of course, have not survived to this day. Each of the three beams that precede the entrance weighs over 20 tons.
Life in Mycenae was in full swing until the end of the 11th century BC. It is hard to imagine that the stones at the base of this wall have been here for 3250 years!
To the left of the entrance in the wall was a small sanctuary.

On this territory, 19 mine burials were excavated, of which 6 are the richest, where most of Schliemann's gold was found.

He believed that he had opened the tomb of Agamemnon and his father, king Atreus - a golden mask, one of the ones he found in the burials, was directly called "the mask of Agamemnon". Later, researchers found that the mask was made long before the reign of Agamemnon, in the 16th century BC. This exhibit is a masterpiece of Mycenaean art, and at the same time the most famous mistake in the history of archeology.

The conclusion that the death mask of King Agamemnon was found was made by Heinrich Schliemann based on the description of the Trojan War in Homer's Iliad epic and on the works of Pausanias, an ancient Greek geographer who lived in the 2nd century BC. Pausanias described in his writings that Agamemnon was buried inside the city, and his wife Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus were buried outside the city wall as unworthy people. Starting excavations in Mycenae, Heinrich Schliemann was guided precisely by the works of ancient Greek writers. The archaeologist was sure that inside the city walls he would definitely find the remains of the Mycenaean heroes, about which Homer and Pausanias wrote.
In the ancient Greek epic, written by Homer, the famous Iliad, Agamemnon is one of the main characters, he was distinguished by his courage and became famous for many feats. The Trojan War began with Paris kidnapping lovely Elena, wife of King Menelaus, brother of Agamemnon. Menelaus, together with Agamemnon, convinced the Greek rulers to participate in a military campaign against the Trojans. Agamemnon led the Greek army. The Greek army defeated the Trojan army, but fate turned away from Agamemnon. His wife Clytemnestra, cheating on him with his cousin Aegisthus, decided to kill Agamemnon. Clytemnestra and Aegisthus fulfilled their plans and killed Agamemnon along with his mistress Cassandra. The sad fate of the Mycenaean king was the subject of many ancient Greek tragedies.
In these mine tombs were found: men wearing golden masks, breastplates and greaves, swords and daggers; women have gold tiaras; both have vessels of gold, silver and electra, sacred bowls for ritual drinking in the form of animal heads (the so-called rhytons). The dead were covered with cloaks decorated with gilded plaques depicting symbols of immortality - bees, spirals, stars, etc. The total weight of the gold treasures was 15 kilograms.
The faces of men are usually not covered with masks. The fact that they are men and warriors is determined by the presence of weapons in their graves, and the amount of gold and the thoroughness of the work indicate honor, wealth and status.
All these treasures of the Mycenaean kings were concentrated in the mine tombs of circle A and B, while the magnificent Mycenaean tholos - grandiose round tombs - turned out to be completely empty, they were plundered long before the study.
Partially gold of Mycenae is found in Athenian archaeological museum, and a large part, found both in Troy and in Mycenae, is in the Pushkin Museum in Moscow, having ended up in the USSR after the Second World War as a trophy taken in Berlin.
Grave Circle Alpha was formed in 1600 - 1700 BC. In the 13th century, the burials were surrounded by a stone wall, hollow from the inside. Nobody knows why this was done. It is believed that these burials were sacred burials of people who played some role in the local religious cult or the founders of Mycenae.
Moreover, around 1250 BC, another level of the wall was erected.

Behind Circle A there was a religious center. Further, the ruins of a granary, residential areas.

During its heyday, about 2,000 people lived here. At that time it was a crowded city, and it was not for nothing that Homer called it “The Golden-rich Mycenae” in his works.
The houses of the inhabitants of Mycenae are characterized by the fact that the only entrance led through the male half of the house to the female.
The main center of the political and spiritual life of Mycenae was the Palace, which was located on the top of the hill. At the entrance there were propylaea, which supported two columns. The premises of the palace were painted with colored plaster, which was found in abundance during excavations. Around the 13th century BC there was a great fire in the palace. I don't think the landscape has changed much since then.

In the Mycenaean Museum, you can see what was partially discovered during excavations.