May 2, 2025 - Greece
Mycenae

We would be doing some sightseeing today from our base in Nafplio.  First stop -- Mycenae -- a short 30 minute drive north from Nafplio.  We arrived just before opening time.   A smart move as it turns out.  Mycenae would be the oldest thing we would see on our Greece trip.  And in Greece, that's saying something.

In the second millennium BC, Mycenae was one of the major centres of Greek civilization—a military stronghold which dominated much of southern Greece, Crete, the Cyclades and parts of southwest Anatolia. The period of Greek history from about 1600 BC to about 1100 BC is called Mycenaean in reference to Mycenae, a thousand years before Athens' golden age. At its peak in 1350 BC, the citadel and lower town had a population of 30,000 and an area of 79 acres.

On the left is the ticket office and gate.  At right is the Mycenae citadel.
   
Mycenae, an acropolis site, was built on a hill 900 feet above sea level, some 12 miles inland from the Gulf of Argolis. Situated in the north-east corner of the Argive plain, it easily overlooked the whole area and was ideally positioned to be a centre of power, especially as it commanded all easy routes to the Isthmus of Corinth. Besides its strong defensive and strategic position, it had good farmland and an adequate water supply.
 
This site is  strongly connected to the Homeric epics.  The earliest examples of the Greek language are also visible at Mycenae and Tiryn, preserved on Linear B tablets.
 
Walking up to the Citadel which as you can see dominates the entire large -- and surprisingly empty -- valley.
   

Looking down into the valley with the parking lot at left and ticket office at right.  The parking lot was practically empty when we arrived but it is starting to fill up with tour buses.

 
   
Approaching the famous "Lion's Gate", entrance to Mycenaean civilization.
   

"Mycenaean architecute is really massive.  The exterior walls that girdle the bae of the hill (1300 BC) 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."  ... Rick Steves

Lynette provides some scale next to Cyclopean masonry, showing how massive these building blocks are. 
 
   
And here we are, at the grand Lion Gate of Mycenae!
 
"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)."  ... Rick Steves
   

"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 BC, 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 borred elements of religion and the arts.

Sometime around the year 1200 BC, 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 BC, Mycenae was abandoned and burned, and Greece plunged into four centuries known as the Greek 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."  ... Rick Steves
   

The site was eventually abandoned, and by the Roman period in Greece its ruins had become a tourist attraction.

The ancient travel writer Pausanias, visited the site and briefly described the prominent fortifications and the Lion Gate, still visible in his time, the second century AD.

Pausanias was a Greek traveler and geographer. He is famous for his Description of Greece, a lengthy work that describes ancient Greece from his firsthand observations. Description of Greece provides crucial information for making links between classical literature and modern archaeology, which is providing evidence of the sites and cultural details he mentions although knowledge of their existence may have become lost or relegated to myth or legend.

He was probably born around 110 AD into a Greek family and was probably a native of Lydia in Asia Minor.  From 150 until his death around 180, Pausanias travelled throughout the mainland of Greece, writing about various monuments, sacred spaces, and significant geographical sites along the way. In writing his Description of Greece, Pausanias sought to put together a lasting written account of "all things Greek".

 
   
 
   
Looking at the rear side of the Lion Gate
   
Another look at the rear of the Lion's Gate.
   

Grave Circle A, where Heinrich Schliemann discovered the "Mask of Agamemnon" and other treasures,  in 1876.
   

A better look at Grave Circle A.
 
   
I guess they are still doing archaeological digs here.
   

We climb higher up to where the palace was.  You can see remnants of the lower town down below, where the common scum lived and worked.

The village of Fichti is visible in the distance.

 
   
School kids on a field tour.
   
Looking out over the valley, the Plain of Argos.
   
Yay, Mycenae!
   
We climb to the Royal Palace area.  These round bases are all that is left of Palace columns.
   

"Mycenae was a combination citadel, palace, home for up to 60,000 people, 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.  Mycenae controlled trade on the road from Corinth to Nafplio, and sea trade from Nafplio to points beyond."  ... Rich Steves

These are the remains of the final palace.  Earlier palaces must have existed but they had been cleared away or built over.

The construction of palaces at that time with a similar architecture was general throughout southern Greece. They all featured a megaron, or throne room, with a raised central hearth under an opening in the roof, which was supported by four columns in a square around the hearth. A throne was placed against the center of a wall to the side of the hearth, allowing an unobstructed view of the ruler from the entrance. Colorful frescos adorned the plaster walls and floor.  The room was accessed from a courtyard with a columned portico. A grand staircase led from a terrace below to the courtyard on the acropolis.  This was the political, administrative, and ceremonial core of Mycenaean power.
   
Living it up in the Palace.
   
 
   
 
   
"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, and main hall with its sacred cella area toward the back, where only the priest could go."  ... Rick Steves
   
Cone-shapped hill.
   
Not much is left.
   
 
   
 
   
 
   
The cone-shaped mountain to the southeast.
   
"The ruins at the east end were once mostly houses, storerooms, and workshops."  ... Rick Steves
   

At left, where the buses are, is where the Treasury of Atreus -- also known as the Tom of Agamemnon -- is located.  We would see this later.

That corner to the right is where the Palace throne room was located.
   
Not much is left, after 3,300 years or so.
   
 
   
Looking northeast.
   
 
   
Little workshops along the eastern spur.
   
Looking northeast.
   
We reach the eastern end with a little doorway in the wall; this was an escape route out the back.
   

Now we're working our way back west along the northern side. 
 
   

Approaching the cave-like opening of the cistern,  where water was stored from springs within the hillside, in case of siege or drought.
 
   
 
There wasn't much to see at the bottom of the steps.
   
Looking northwest.  That's the museum building down below.
   
The North Gate which has a similar rectangular cross-beam shape and heavy lintel.
   
Our party of adventurers exists the north gate.
   
Looking east at the city wall.
   
From the North Gate, outside the city walls, we followed a zig-zagging trail downhill leading to the Museum.
   

In the museum was this model of the Mycenae acropolis, looking north.  The Palace dominates most of the acropolis.  The sharp corner we saw is to the right.

The big flat area at center is the Palace's open-air courtyard.  At the far right is the main hall, or throne room where you can see the outlines of the round hearth in the center.  The four remaining bases around the hearth once held four inverted columns that supported the roof,  The king would have sat on his throne against the south wall (aat bottom).
   
This fresco is the largest piece of Mycenaean wall painting there is.
   
A bronze kettle.  The island of Cyprus had rich metal deposits and the Minoans -- from Crete -- took advantage of these, developing a high knowledge of metal working.  This skill soon spread to the mainland.  Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin, on a ten to one proportion.
   
Mycenaean Greece (or the Mycenaean civilization) represents the first advanced and distinctively Greek civilization in mainland Greece with its palatial states, urban organization, works of art, and writing system.  The Mycenaeans were mainland Greek peoples who were likely stimulated by their contact with insular Minoan Crete and other Mediterranean cultures to develop a more sophisticated sociopolitical culture of their own.  The most prominent site was Mycenae, after which the culture of this era is named. Other centers of power that emerged included Pylos, Tiryns, and Midea in the Peloponnese, Orchomenos, Thebes, and Athens in Central Greece, and Iolcos in Thessaly. Mycenaean settlements also appeared in Epirus,  Macedonia,  on islands in the Aegean Sea,  on the south-west coast of Asia Minor, and on Cyprus, while Mycenaean-influenced settlements appeared in the Levant and Italy.
 
The Mycenaeans traded all over the Mediterranean as you can see.. 
 
   
A replica of the Mask of Agamemnon, recovered in Grave Circle A, and probably the most famous artifact of Mycenaean Greece.  The original of course we saw in the Nationalal Archaeological Museum in Athens.
   
One last look at Mycenae.  Awesome place to visit.
   
An aerial view of Mycenae from the Madain Project.  Lions Gate and Grave Circle A are easily identifiable at lower right.  The Palace is at upper center.
   
What did it look like during its peak?  Here is one possible conception.
   
And another.
   
Or could it have been something like this.  Until they invent time travel or a way to look back in time, we will never know.
   
 
   
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