Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Inside the citadel,
Grave Circle A
is on the right. This was the royal cemetery
and had six grave shafts. Five shafts were excavated by Schliemann between 1874
and 1876, uncovering magnificent gold treasures, including a well-preserved gold
death mask. Schliemann sent a telegram to the Greek king stating, 'I have gazed
upon the face of Agamemnon', but the mask turned out to belong to an unknown
king.
South of Grave Circle A are the remains of a group of
houses
. In one was dis-
covered the famous Warrior Vase, regarded by Schliemann as one of his greatest
discoveries because it offered a glimpse of what Mycenae's legendary warriors
looked like.
Follow the main path to
Agamemnon's Palace
, centred on the Great Court.
The rooms to the north were private royal apartments where it is thought that
Agamemnon was murdered. On the palace's southeastern side is the
megaron
(reception hall) and, beyond this, the
artisans' quarters
.
On the northern boundary of the citadel is the
Postern Gate
, through which,
it is said, Orestes escaped after murdering his mother. In the far northeastern
corner of the citadel is the
secret cistern
.
Until the late 15th century BC the Mycenaeans put their royal dead into shaft
graves. They then used a new form of burial - the behive-shaped tholos tomb.
Return via the
tholos tombs
of Aegisthus and Clytaemnestra and the nearby
Grave Circle B
.
Visit the museum, then head back along the road to modern Mycenae to the
Treasury of Atreus
, or tomb of Agamemnon. A 40m-long passage leads to this im-
mense beehive-shaped chamber.
Getting There & Away
Three daily buses (excluding Sunday) head to Mycenae from Nafplio (€2.60, one hour)
and Argos (€1.60, 30 minutes). The buses stop in the village and at the ancient site.
Other bus services, such as Athens-Nafplio, stop at the village of Fihtio on the main
road, leaving you 3km from Mycenae village (from where it's another 2km or so to the
site of Ancient Mycenae).
AGAMEMNON, KING OF MYCENAE
Agamemnon is one of the principal characters in the 'Iliad' and crops up regularly
in Greek legend. The son of Atreus and the king of Mycenae, he later led the Greeks
