The Acropolis of Mycenae rises 280m above the sea on the top of a hill.
The slopes of the hill are surrounded by walls that turn the hill into a triangular-shaped acropolis with an area of 30,000 square meters. The walls follow the natural formation of the hill and are approximately 5.30 meters thick.
Their original height was around 12 m, built with irregular and unworked boulders and regular structures. The void was filled with smaller stones and clay. The builders used with great skill the hard arms of the hill to build the wall and give it a greater height.
The cobblestones used on the eastern side of the courtyard, the gate, and the tower are cobblestones (almond stone). They were quarried in the area of Mycenae and were worked with hammer and saw. They have an almost quadrilateral shape and are placed in horizontal uneven structures in a pseudo-isostructural rhythm.
The Tower is built with cobblestones, while on the wall of the eastern side, the cobblestones are the cladding that covers an older cyclopean wall. In the southwest outer corner of the tower, we have a different building system called "polygon." The oldest preserved enclosure according to the cyclopean rhythm was built in 1340 BC.
In 1250 the Gate of Lions was built, along with its tower, the lining of the eastern wall of the courtyard, and the western cyclopean wall around the burial circle A. Later they built the North Gate. At the end of the 13th century, an extension was added to the northeast corner of the Acropolis to include the Underground Tank.
The North Gate was built with four-sided cobblestones and a pseudo-isodomic system that also characterizes the Gate of Lions. The opening has a width of 1.40 m at the threshold and a height of 2.30 m. It was closed with a wooden double door.
Instead of a relief triangle above the overdoor, we have 2 plates that press only on the outer edges, and the weight is transferred to the jambs. Its inner courtyard is 4 meters wide. From the palace, the foundations and the bases of the columns of the outer and inner porticoes were saved.
The royal tombs were underground, carved into the rock. Their chambers were built with vaults built in the exhortational manner. They have a mouth and chamber in the shape of a circle. The Tomb of the Lions was built in the middle of the 14th century. The facade of the mouth (crushed stone) has been covered with porous four-sided cubes.
The entrance to the underground cistern is in the north-east corner of the high-arched extension. A descending staircase passes through the north wall and continues underground. The 16 steps of the descent are preserved. After the last flat staircase, there are 83 steps that lead to a well-shaped tank, a 5-meter-deep mountainous source of the area. The walls and the stairs are to a certain extent covered with dripping plaster. A separate work of engineering mentioned by Pausanias.
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