Mycenae, Greece

Mycenae are about 3 hours from Athens.

On the way to Mycenae, you have to go through the lovely town of Corinth

The famous Corinth Canal Channel

The famous Corinth Canal connects the Gulf of Corinth with the Saronic Gulf in the Aegean Sea. It cuts through the narrow Isthmus of Corinth and separates the Peloponnesian peninsula from the Greek mainland, thus effectively making the former an island. The canal is 6.4 kilometers in length and only 21.3 meters wide at its base. Earth cliffs flanking either side of the canal reach a maximum height of 63 meters. Aside from a few modest sized cruise ships, the Corinth Canal is unserviceable to most modern ships.

At Mycenae, I visited the ruins of  mythical King Agamemnon castle/Citadel as well as his tomb

The Famous Lionesses gate . 

The gate is the  main entrance to the Bronze Age citadel of Mycenae.The Lion Gate is the sole surviving monumental piece of Mycenaean sculpture, as well as the largest sculpture in the prehistoric Aegean. Scholars seem to think that imposing gate of the citadel with the representation of the lionesses may have been an emblem of the Mycenaean kings and a symbol of their power. Legend has it that lionesses are a symbol of the goddess Hera

Brief History of Mycenae

The archaeological site of Mycenae and the imposing ruins was one of the greatest city of the Mycenaean civilization, which dominated the eastern Mediterranean world from the 15th to the 12th century B.C. and played a vital role in the development of classical Greek culture.It was a military stronghold which dominated much of southern Greece.From the hill on which the palace was located, one can see across the Argolid to the Saronic Gulf. This city is  linked to the Homeric epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey , which have influenced European art and literature for more than three millennia. 

The period of Greek history from about 1600 BC to about 1100 BC is called Mycenaean in reference to Mycenae. By 1200 BC, the power of Mycenae was declining; during the 12th century, Mycenaean dominance collapsed. The destruction of Mycenae is part of the general Bronze Age collapse. Within a short time around 1200 BC, all the palaces of southern Greece were burned, including that at Mycenae. This is traditionally attributed to a Dorian invasion of Greeks from the north, although some historians now doubt that this invasion caused the destruction of the Mycenaean centres. Displaced populations escaped to former colonies of the Mycenaean in Anatolia and elsewhere, where they came to speak the Ionic dialect.

Pictures of the Ruins

 Standing in front of the Archaeological Museum at Mycenae

Some pictures of items in the Museum

Sample Artifacts used in Mycenae

The Tomb of Agamemnon  also known as the The Treasury of Atreus

 The Tomb of Agamemnon is one of a number of 'beehive' tombs found in the vicinity of the ancient site of Mycenae. It is by far the best preserved of these tholos tombs, located at the site. constructed during the Bronze Age around 1250 BC. It was the Greek traveler of antiquity, Pausanias, who reported that the people of his day ( 2 C BC) believed the tholos graves were treasure stores. This is why it is known as a Treasury, and although it may originally have contained treasure, it was also a grave, had nothing to do with Atreus, and probably not with Agamemnon either. However people believed that King Agamemnon was buried in this tomb