The royal residence of King Agamemnon and his family.

The fortified citadel is nested over the fertile plain of Argolis near the sea in the northwest Peloponnese in a commanding position, controlling all approaches. In the middle of the 14^th century BC, the first fortified enclosure wall was erected, and Mycenae became the most powerful palatial center in the region.

The site possessed two basic advantages. The hill of the Acropolis was protected by the two neighboring mountains of Prophetis Ilias and Sara. It is 278 m above sea level, and it was inaccessible and hard to approach because of the mountains that surrounded it.

It lay on the main roads linking Argolida to the Peloponnese and was thus able to control the movements of products to the surrounding regions and to maintain contacts with other regions in the Aegean and the Mediterranean.

The founding of Mycenae is attributed to a legendary hero called Perseus, son of Zeus, and Danae, daughter of the king of Argolis, Acricios, who left Argos for Tiryns and later employed Cyclops to build the walls of Mycenae with giant stones. Eurystheus was the last of the Perseid dynasty and ordered Herakles to perform his 12 labors. Then Atreus the son of Pelops started the Atreid dynasty. Perseus gave the site its name either after his sword scabbard fell to the ground and was regarded as a good omen or as he found a water spring near the mushroom (mykes).

Situated on a rocky hill commanding the surrounding plain as far as the sea, it covers 30.000 square meters. The excavations have unearthed pottery of high-quality wall paintings and shaft graves.

Situated on a rocky hill commanding the surrounding plain as far as the sea it covers 30.000 square meters.

The lion’s gate

The lion gate guards the citadel and the king. Two heraldic lions and a column altar symmetrically arranged around a column. The lions were either facing each other or those who were entering the gate. It is the first example of monumental sculpture in European history, constructed in a triangular shape that acts as a relieving triangle. Its shape distributes the weight above the door to two sides and away from the horizontal lintel. It is carved of gray limestone; the heads of steatite are missing today.

Agamemnon himself had passed many times under this gate. When he left his palace to go to Avlida and then to Troy. When he came back from Troy to be atrociously murdered. His wife Clytemnestra passed out this gate on her carriage when she had believed that her daughter Ifigenia would be married to Achilles.

Lions portray power. And Agamemnon was really very powerful and rich, and apart from being a king in his own land, he was the leader of the Argeans during the Trojan War. But was he really rich and powerful?

Agamemnon himself declares that he was indeed prosperous. In Iliad, after his disagreement with Achilles, his army was defeated by the Trojan troops. He finally regrets his behavior towards Achilles, and he is ready to offer him enough gifts to persuade him to come back to the battle. So he says: Ι was blinded with passion, so I will give him great gifts.

Seven tripods that have never yet been on fire and ten talents of gold

-I will give him twenty iron cauldrons and twelve strong horses that have won races and carried off prizes.

- Rich indeed both in land and gold is he that has as many prices as my horses have won.

I will give him seven excellent workwomen Lesbians whom I chose for myself when we took Lesbos and with them the daughter of Briseus. All these things will I give him right now and if the gods vouchsafe me to sack the city of Priam, let him come when we Achaeans are dividing the spoil and load his ship with gold and bronze to his liking…when we reach Achaean Argos wealthiest of all lands he may be my son in law….I have three daughters, let him take one of his choices….and will give him seven well-established cities.

- As we know in Mycenae a syllabic script known as Linear B was in use, tholos tombs were constructed and artifacts of great artistic value were produced. They had plenty of raw materials as we see in the above text of Iliad. A centralized political system with a king on the top was quite efficient and there were strong commercial ties with other centers and a militaristic attitude. Majestic citadels and palaces grand royal burials, elaborate grave goods like jewelry, weapons, vessels of all kind were in abundance. The countless Linear B tablets are written catalogs and official records of a very stout bureaucracy

- A monumental staircase, the North Gate, and a ramp were added to the Acropolis after the destruction in the late 13^th century, and the walls were extended to include the Persian spring within the fortification. The spring was reached by an impressive corbelled tunnel with 86 steps leading down to the water source.

We can imagine the Great Ramp laid with a long purple carpet on the day Agamemnon returned from Troy, and his wife prepared a glorious welcome for him so that nobody would suspect the murder she had planned.

The most significant construction is the Grave Circle A, a location of royal burials. It has a diameter of 27 m, and it is located immediately to the right inside the Lion Gate. The circular burial area is enclosed by a double ring of upright-dressed stone slabs.

The cult center consists of five building complexes on the southern slope of the citadel. Among the artifacts found in the ruins are the wall paintings and the clay figurines exhibited at the local museum. The palace occupies a central location. It was accessed from the south through two guard rooms.

The state rooms were arranged around a central court, which led to the megaron with its four columns arranged in a square around the sacred hearth. It was decorated with vivid frescoes and mosaics.

Built between 1350 and 1250 BC, it is one of the latest of its kind—the best-preserved Tholos tomb found. It is an architectural masterpiece indicative of the level of craftsmanship that Bronze Age masons had reached. Its entrance is framed by megalithic stones, and the entire monument is constructed with well-dressed stones.

The corridor leading to the entrance is 35 m long by 6 m wide, and its carefully laid stones were waterproofed in the back with a layer of clay. Laid in the pseudoisodomic style.

There is a characteristic relieving triangle crowning its lintel that consists of two massive stone slabs. The tholos is 14.5 meters in diameter and 13 meters high. It is made of dressed stones where one circle overlaps the one immediately below toward the inside until the concentric circles end in a single stone at the very top.