Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Royal palace
Schliemann took the extensive
South House
, beyond the grave circle, to be the Palace
of Agamemnon. However, a building much grander and more likely to be the
Royal
Palace
was later discovered near the summit of the acropolis. Rebuilt in the thirteenth
century BC, this is an impressively elaborate and evocative building complex; although
the ruins are only at ground level, the different rooms are easily discernible. Like all
Mycenaean palaces, it is centred around a
great court
: on the south side, a staircase
would have led via an anteroom to the big rectangular
throne room
; on the east, a
double porch gave access to the
megaron
, the grand reception hall with its traditional
circular hearth. The small rooms to the north are believed to have been
royal
apartments
, and in one of them the remains of a
red stuccoed bath
have led to its
fanciful identification as the scene of Agamemnon's murder.
2
The secret cistern and merchant houses
A salutary reminder of the nature of life in Mycenaean times is the
secret cistern
at the
eastern end of the ramparts, created around 1225 BC. Whether it was designed to
enable the citadel's occupants to withstand siege from outsiders, rival Mycenaeans or
even an increasingly alienated peasantry is not known. Steps lead down to a deep
underground spring; it's still possible to descend the whole way, though you'll need to
have a torch and be sure-footed, since there's a drop to the water at the final turn of the
twisting passageways. Nearby is the
House of Columns
, a large and stately building with
the base of a stairway that once led to an upper storey.
Only the ruling Mycenaean elite could live within the citadel itself. Hence the
main part of town lay outside the walls and, in fact, extensive remains of
merchants'
houses
have been uncovered near to the road. Their contents included
inscribed
tablets
(in Linear B, an early form of Greek) which detailed the spices used to scent
oils, suggesting that the early Mycenaeans may have dabbled in the perfume trade.
The discovery of the tablets has also shown that, here at least, writing was not
limited to government scribes working in the royal palaces, as had previously been
thought, and that around the citadel there may have been a commercial city of some
size and wealth.
Tholos tombs
Alongside the merchants' houses are the remains of
Grave Circle
B
, from around 1650
BC and possibly of an earlier, rival dynasty to those kings buried in Grave Circle A,
and two
tholos
(circular chamber-type) tombs, identified by Schliemann as the
tombs of “Aegisthus” and “Klytemnestra”
. The former, closer to the Lion Gate, dates
from around 1500 BC and has now collapsed, so is roped off; the latter dates from
some two centuries later - thus corresponding with the Trojan timescale - and can
still be entered.
The Treasury of Atreus
Same hours as the Citadel • Admission included in Citadel entrance fee
Four hundred metres down the road from the Citadel site is another, far more startling,
tholos
, known as the
Treasury of Atreus
or - the currently preferred official name
-
“Tomb of Agamemnon”
. This was certainly a royal burial vault at a late stage in
Mycenae's history, contemporary with the “Tomb of Klytemnestra”, so the attribution
to Agamemnon is as good as any - if the king were indeed the historic leader of the
Trojan expedition. Whoever it belonged to, this beehive-like structure, built without
the use of mortar, is an impressive monument to Mycenaean building skills. Entering
the tomb along a majestic 15m corridor, you arrive at the chamber doorway, above
which is a great lintel formed by two immense slabs of stone - one of which, a
staggering 9m long, is estimated to weigh 118 tonnes.
