Lion Gate in Mycenae: description, history. Mycenae and Troy

When planning a trip to Greece, be sure to set aside a few days for a trip to Mycenae. It is not without reason that this ancient city is called the cradle of Hellas. It is thoroughly imbued with the spirit of ancient heroes performing feats in the name of the gods of Olympus, and with unprecedented luxury, which all the kingdoms of the world could envy.

Myths about the appearance of Mycenae

The birth of Mycenae goes back far into history. Archaeologists believe that the city was formed in the sixteenth century BC. Located in the western Peloponnese peninsula, it became the most influential city of Ancient Greece and marked the beginning of an entire era called the Mycenaean era.

Greek legends say that the city was founded by the great hero Perseus, the son of Zeus, with the help of giants and Cyclopes. Indeed, the city itself, the palace and the fortress walls were built from huge blocks of stone, perfectly fitted to each other without the use of mortar. Some blocks weigh about one hundred tons, and the walls themselves rise to a height of thirteen meters. This method of building walls was called “cyclopean masonry.” Most of the buildings in Mycenae were built using this technique. It is difficult to imagine how these blocks moved during construction.

Founders of Mycenae

Historians believe that the founders of the city can be considered the ancient Achaeans, whose main activity was military campaigns against nearby states. Homer in his famous poems praised Mycenae and its warlike founders. Strategically, Mycenae was very conveniently located - the city, surrounded by well-fortified walls, was located on the top of a hill. The plain stretching around made it impossible for enemies to approach the city unnoticed. Gradually he grew stronger and flourished.

History of Mycenae: heyday

The Mycenaeans carefully guarded the approaches to their city, and by the thirteenth century BC they had extended their influence over the entire peninsula. The townspeople were actively engaged in trade and developed their city. The Mycenaean culture replaced the Minoan civilization, which was practically destroyed after the eruption of the Santorini volcano. The Mycenaeans settled the island of Crete, archaeologists have found evidence of their culture in the ruins of the Minos Palace. Several centuries of Mycenaean rule left a huge imprint on the entire history of Ancient Greece.

According to myths, Mycenae set off from this city on a multi-year campaign against Troy. The fall of Troy was a gift to the great king from the gods for fulfilling his promise to sacrifice himself my own daughter Iphigenia. A few days after his enchanting return to Mycenae, the king was killed by his own wife, Clytamestra, who was distraught after the death of her daughter. To this day, in Greece, her name means “husband killer.”

During their heyday, the Mycenaeans built many cities and decorated their city with majestic structures, such as the royal palace, for example. The difference between poor and rich townspeople was very significant. The Mycenaeans strictly divided society into classes, giving privileges to traders and military leaders.

Fall of Mycenae

Several centuries of the power of the Mycenaean civilization ended after the invasion of the Peloponnese in one thousand two hundred BC by the warlike tribes of the Dorians. They destroyed most of the major cities of the peninsula, including Mycenae. Troy also fell under their onslaught, which did not have enough time to recover from the triumphant victory of Agamemnon. The inhabitants of Mycenae still tried to revive the city, but gradually left the Peleponnese for Asia and the islands. For many centuries, Mycenae was forgotten.

Discovery of Mycenae: excavations by Heinrich Schliemann

Mycenae owes its new birth to the famous Heinrich Schliemann. A persistent archaeologist, keen on the search for the legendary Troy, quite unexpectedly came across one of the burial grounds in the vicinity of Mycenae, which stunned the archaeologist with unprecedented wealth. Jewelry, parts of military armor, figurines and household items - all of this was made of gold. From several burial grounds, Schliemann managed to recover more than thirty kilograms of precious metal items. The gold found is of particular value to archaeologists. Initially, scientists attributed it to the period of the legendary king Agamemnon, but after a long study they dated it to the sixteenth century BC. The treasures found in the city were the most significant archaeological find of the late nineteenth century. Mycenae personifies everything that this majestic and mysterious city has given the world; it amazes the tourist’s imagination with the power of the palace walls, unique royal burials and the barbaric luxury of the artifacts found.

Attractions Mycenae

Excavations at Mycenae continued long years, revealing new treasures of this amazing city to the world. Each discovery proved that Mycenae had such a powerful influence on the Peloponnese, which Ancient Greece had never experienced before. The sights of Mycenae are now a huge complex with the ruins of the royal palace, burial grounds and fortress walls. You can wander around this for hours. A special place among archaeological finds is occupied by the Lion Gate and shaft tombs at Mycenae. Scientists have not been able to come to a consensus about their origin to this day. An excursion tour to Mycenae can be purchased directly in Athens. Two hours spent on the road is a very small price to pay for the stunning sight that will appear before the eyes of the tourist.

Lion Gate in Mycenae: description

To enter the well-fortified fortress of the city, it was necessary to pass the Lion Gate. They themselves are composed of four monolithic blocks, each of which weighs about twenty tons. Archaeologists believe that these blocks were carved from amygdalite rock. The blocks are carefully processed and adjusted to each other. After many years of study, archaeologists discovered that the blocks were processed with a tool similar to a circular saw. The jagged marks on the stones are still clearly visible. This is one of the first mysteries that the Lion Gate at Mycenae provided to scientists and historians. The type of construction of the gate is identical to the fortress wall - monolithic masonry. According to scientists, the bas-relief of lions was installed above the gate much later than the construction of the fortress wall. The date of its foundation dates back to approximately the thirteenth century BC. Lions are a very common heraldic symbol in Europe. Many royal dynasties were proud of their image on their coat of arms.

The bas-relief is made of three blocks and depicts two powerful animals standing on their hind legs, leaning on a column. The blocks are cut from solid limestone rock. Unfortunately, the heads of the animals were not preserved, but archaeologists claim that they were cast from gold and turned towards the entering people. According to some assumptions, lions were a symbol of one of the ruling dynasties Mycenae. According to another version, this monumental bas-relief was dedicated to the patroness of the entire animal kingdom - the goddess Potnia. Many historians see the similarity of the bas-relief with ancient Celtic motifs. In their culture, lions occupied a special place, but until today scientists have not figured out the meaning of the majestic image.

Myths about the origin of the Lion Gate

The Lion Gate in Mycenae is a unique structure, the like of which has not been built during the entire heyday of Mycenaean culture. The manner of construction and the carefully crafted bas-relief depicting a column in the Cretan style made scientists recall the most ancient Hellenic myths.

Myths say that the Hellenes were the descendants of the powerful Atlantean gods, who came to the land of Ancient Greece from their lost land. Indeed, many stone structures that archaeologists attribute to the period of the Cretan-Minoan civilization and the Mycenaean civilization that replaced it leave many questions. How could huge blocks of stone be mined and delivered to the construction site? Why do some of them show traces of processing with tools similar to modern ones? Why is the bas-relief of the gate so closely intertwined with images in other cultures? None of the questions were answered.

The Mystery of the Lion Gate

If we take into account that the Lion Gate in Mycenae was erected as a defensive structure, then another mystery of this mysterious place appears before scientists - all the treasures that Schliemann found in his time were in burial grounds located actually under the base of the gate. In the same place, the famous archaeologist managed to find the tomb of Agamemnon himself, filled to the brim with gold and silver artifacts. Not before, not anymore late period The Greeks did not make such burials.

Archaeologists believe that the entrance to the citadel through the Lion Gate was not available to every person. This is evidenced by the road leading to the gate - along it are located the famous shaft tombs, which became sacred to the Mycenaeans. An outsider could not be allowed into the place of worship. This revealed fact emphasizes the special significance of the Lion Gate as a religious structure during the heyday of Mycenaean culture.

Why did the Mycenaeans make such burials? And why did they place their treasures at the entrance to the city? The scientific world has not yet put forward a worthy hypothesis. The Lion Gate in Mycenae carefully guards the secrets of its creators

Royal Palace

Tourists who buy an excursion tour to Mycenae can see other historical monuments of this once rich city. Directly from the Lion Gate the road led to the royal palace. The ruins of this structure even now delight tourists. In the center of the building there was a huge rectangular hall with a hearth - a megaron. The hearth was carefully decorated and decorated with ornate designs; at the four corners of the hearth there were massive columns supporting the vault. The walls of the main hall were decorated with drawings in the Cretan style. Homer called this hall “shining” in his poems. It should be noted that the Minoans were excellent engineers and architects. The entire structure was built on different levels, connected by a string of corridors and halls. Under the palace there was a system of communications and water supply for the city. Many buildings within Mycenae were built on two or three floors, which speaks not only of the financial viability of the townspeople, but also of the skill of the builders.

The palace itself supposedly housed an ancient sanctuary. Archaeologists have found several sculptures of goddesses and a child. Scientists know absolutely nothing about who the Mycenaeans worshiped. Just as their funeral rites are not known or understood by historians.

Mine Tombs

The Mine Tombs are no less unique a place than the Lion Gate in Mycenae. Two burial circles, converted into a sanctuary in a later period, were the resting places of noble Mycenaeans. Scientists still cannot explain why the townspeople buried their loved ones sitting in narrow shaft-shaped burial grounds. This phenomenon is in no way connected with all previously known Hellenic rituals. Each burial ground was filled with decorations and household items. It should be noted that all items were made of precious metals. Bronze items were occasionally found. After Schliemann's discovery of the shaft tombs, Mycenae began to be called “gold-abundant.”

The monumental Lion Gate, luxurious gold jewelry and myths, legends and mysteries - all this was given to the world by the “gold-rich” Mycenae. Greece is capable of bewitching any tourist who will definitely want to once again touch its history, permeated with thousands of years.

Troy gained fame thanks to numerous legends and myths, and especially Homer’s poems “Iliad” and “Odyssey”. For many centuries, the real existence of the city was questioned. But in 1870, G. Schliemann, an amateur archaeologist, discovered the city of Troy. A lot of research was done here and nine cultural layers were discovered.

Troy in the works of Homer is also called Ilion

This is an ancient city of the Luwian civilization, it was located on the territory of Asia Minor, near the Aegean Sea. The city was found thanks to the work of the ancient Greek poet Homer. Troy gained its fame thanks to the legends about the Trojan War, as well as the events that accompanied it. The poem "Iliad" describes that it was a long war that destroyed the city.

City population

According to the research of archaeologist Korfman, Troy is considered the heir to the civilization of Anatolia. In confirmation of this, archaeologists have found many finds on the territory of Troy. The ancient Trojans are considered descendants of the ancients Indo-European peoples, and were Luwians.

Around the 2nd millennium BC. there was a resettlement of this people to Anatolia, most of the finds relate specifically to this civilization. During excavations in 1995, a seal was found depicting hieroglyphs written in Luwian. It was very common in Asia Minor. Only finds that would confirm that the Luwian language was used in Troy were no longer found.

Religion

Archaeologists during excavations in Troy found objects related to the Hittite-Luwian culture. Near the southern gate, 4 steles were found; they denoted a deity in the Hittite culture. Not far from the city walls, a cemetery was discovered with signs of cremation. It is not typical for Western peoples to bury the dead in this way, but for the Hittite culture it was customary to cremate.

First and second ditch

There is a hypothesis that Troy was much more large sizes than archaeologists previously thought. In 1992, a ditch was discovered that surrounded the city. This ditch was located in such a way that it covered an area of ​​almost 200 thousand m2, although the area of ​​the city was only 20 thousand m2. It is believed that this was the Lower City; a large population lived in the city until 1700 BC.

In 1994, another artificially created ditch was found; it ran 500 meters from the city fortress. Both of these ditches were a system of fortifications to protect the fortress and their description is in the Iliad.

Troy was located between the Greeks and the Hittites, and therefore it was constantly involved in battles. If we look at the artifacts found during excavations, it is difficult to say exactly about the political life of the city. The lack of information has given rise to many theories based on legends and myths. Homer's epic "Iliad" is considered by some scholars to be literally eyewitness testimony, but this war took place long before the author was born, and he could only learn from others.

According to the legend, which is described in the poem “Iliad,” the cause of the war is called Helen the Beautiful wife of the Greek king Menelaus. Paris, the son of King Priam of Troy, stole Helen, and of course the Greeks wanted her back, and because of this, a war began. Such an event could have happened in reality, but it alone could not become the only reason for the war.

Most likely, other events preceded Elena’s kidnapping, and they led to the start of the war. The legend of the Trojan Horse is also world famous.

Legend says that the Greeks won the war. They won with the help of cunning, inventing the Trojan Horse. This version has contradictions and inconsistencies. In the Iliad, there is no mention of the Trojan Horse at all, although the poem is written entirely about Troy. In the Odyssey, on the contrary, it is described in great detail. The Trojan Horse was most likely the poet’s fiction, since archaeologists have not yet found any evidence.

Reasons for the destruction of the city

Homer in his writings describes that the cause of the death of the city was the Trojan Horse. Homer describes how the Greeks, after a ten-year war, made a gift to the Trojans. The priest of the city of Laocoon threw a spear as a gift and it became obvious that it was hollow inside, but no one paid attention to this.

Residents of the city agreed to accept the gift. Probably, the Trojans’ logic was not very good, and they brought the Greek gift to the city. When night came, the Greek soldiers got out of their horses, opened the gates of the city to the Greek army and slaughtered all the Trojans. In reality this seems unlikely. Historians believe that the city was most likely burned by the Greeks. This is indicated by traces of the fire found at the excavations.

Now Troy is a huge territory with many excavations.

Numerous myths and legends about Troy arouse the interest of scientists and adventurers, and push them to conduct research in an attempt to discover the true history of this ancient majestic city. Excavations continue to this day, but the mysteries are not diminishing. Perhaps one day the true history of Troy will be revealed to the world.

Mycenae is an ancient city mentioned in many Greek legends. It was the birthplace of the famous Agamemnon, who defeated the impregnable Troy. Numerous characters from the works of ancient poets and mythical heroes also lived here. The city was the largest cultural center. He even gave a name to an entire era, called the “Mycenaean civilization.” Mycenae was noted for its enormous wealth, traces of which were discovered during archaeological excavations several centuries later.

Mycenae in mythology

According to the myths of Ancient Greece, the city was built by the son of Danae and Zeus, Perseus. It was he who won the victory over the terrible Gorgon Medusa. To protect the city, the mighty Cyclopes erected a fortress wall 900 m long. It was made of huge stone slabs. Their height in some places reaches 7.5 m, and their weight is 10 tons. No man can do such a job.

The management of Mycenae passed from Perseus to his descendants, who maintained the prosperity of the city for several generations. Gradually, power passed to the Atreus dynasty, which did not diminish the influence of the city.

Scheme ancient city

Agamemnon, a worthy ruler and heir to the dynasty, managed to gather an army and defeated Troy in a long struggle. However, at this time tragic events occurred that had an impact on his entire life. They are described in myths and works of poets.

During the campaign, tailwinds stopped and further progress was in doubt. At the behest of the Oracle, Agamemnon sacrificed his own daughter to the gods. The sacrifice was not in vain, the gods helped Agamemnon win, but broke the hearts of the girl’s mother and the king’s wife. Returning home only 10 years later, the king found his wife Klymnestra heartbroken. She did not forgive her husband and, conspiring with her lover, killed him in the bathroom. Almost three millennia later, the Greeks continue to call female husband-killers after the ancient queen.

Mycenae in the history of Greece

Mycenae was largest city the entire Aegean coast and ancient Hellas. Unfortunately, very little documentary evidence from that period has survived. Most information has to be drawn from archaeological finds and poetic works of Homer, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides and others.

Historians suggest that the city was founded in 2000 BC. During its history, it had to experience prosperity and decline twice. The first period falls on the pre-antique era and ends during the volcanic eruption on the island of Santorini.

In its second heyday, Mycenae became the largest city in modern Europe, which owned almost all the lands of the Peloponnese. The residence of the rulers was also located here. By the beginning of the Christian era, the role of Mycenae had significantly decreased, and complete desolation overtook it by the 2nd century. already AD.

Description and attractions

Thanks to the work of archaeologists of the 19th century. managed to discover an ancient city and study its history. A real revolution in the study of Mycenae was made by Heinrich Schliemann, a businessman and amateur archaeologist obsessed with the idea of ​​finding the great Troy. During the excavations, many household items and clay tablets were discovered, as well as jewelry, including the golden mask of Agamemnon.

Inside the fortress walls, which in some places reached 17 m in thickness, galleries and casemates were built. From the base of the hill to the fortress there were numerous paths for the inhabitants of the surrounding area. Noble people traveled to the city along a paved road. The main gate of the city was the Lion Gate, made of three hewn blocks and decorated with figures of lionesses.

In the central part of Mycenae there were rooms for the king and queen (megarons). These are spacious halls with a throne for the ruler. Elements of beautiful frescoes and the remains of a hearth in the central part have been preserved to this day on the floor and walls. All important meetings and trials took place here. Among other rooms, the reddish floor of the bathroom, where the famous Agamemnon was killed, survived.

To store the ashes of crowned persons, tombs in the form of shafts were used. Of greatest interest is the treasury of Atreus, to which a 36 m long corridor leads. The treasury itself has a cylindrical shape and is covered with a huge monolithic slab. Scientists still do not understand how ancient builders were able to install a slab weighing more than 120 tons.

Not far from the tombs you can see the remains of other buildings, such as the houses of the Sphinx, an oil merchant or a wine merchant. There is also a museum on site, which displays valuable archaeological finds.

How to get there?

To get to the ruins of the ancient city, you should come to the small village of Mykines, which is located 90 km from Athens. Excursion buses regularly depart to Mycenae from the capital's KTEL Athenon terminal. You can visit the ruins on your own by purchasing a ticket for 8 euros, but an excursion in the company of an experienced guide who will share a lot of useful and interesting facts will leave more impressions.

Mycenae — oldest city mainland Greece. Only Knossos, the center of the Minoan civilization, on Crete is ancient. Mycenae dates back to the second millennium BC. Currently the city is in ruins. In turn, the ruins have been turned into a museum. On the 29th day of our stay in Greece, it became completely boring to see the ruins; we spent about two to three hours in Mycenae. The complex is quite small and quite monotonous.

Grave Circle A. Mycenaean Acropolis. On the right is the entrance, below is a parking lot for tourist buses.

Mycenae is one of the most easily accessible attractions in the Peloponnese. 120 km from Athens, and 110 of them are on the highway. By time approximately 1 hour 10 minutes. We arrived from the other side; these days our base was in Epidaurus.

The Mycenaean fortress occupied a very advantageous strategic position, it towered over the Argos plain and controlled all the mountain passes to the north, all the way to Corinth. The main entrance to the city was decorated with the Lion Gate, built around 1260 BC. e. Above them were carved two large stone lions. The entire structure was crowned with a roof, the length of which was 8 m, height - 90 cm, and width - 2.4 m.

From the gate there was a road to the royal palace. Its walls were decorated with frescoes, similar to Cretan paintings. Thus, the inhabitants of Mycenae had an idea of ​​Minoan culture. The houses of lesser-ranking townspeople were crowded around. One of them, the so-called House with Columns, was three-story.

I am not an expert in history or archaeology. But I would like to know who lived here, when, and what the building was used for. Often such information simply does not exist. On information stands there are approximate dates and descriptions appearance...although not even the appearance, but the remnants of the appearance.

They clogged my veins with sand
And the dry wind smoked my lips -
The cubes placed by the Cyclops,
The well-trodden sleepy Mycenae.

Everyone remembers the rocks - how alternately
Signalmen have spent the night sleeping for years
At the piled fires, how sensitively they waited
The cherished message: Agamemnon is near!

Once here, there is no need to regret,
That time has become silent on your wrist,
That danger sleeps in the stones like a scorpion,
The abandoned herd bleats sadly,

The sound of a sheep's rattle is sad.
From the liquid shadow of oleander leaves
Look, doomed Cassandra,
On pale Slavic freckles.

Oh prophetic, my simple epic,
He will distort your features with a yawn,
But, you know, with great pleasure
I would swap my jeans for peplos.

Dark centuries of victory and treason
We woke up in a confident hexameter,
I didn’t come, but you returned to me,
Confused old Mycenae.
Helga Haren

In the 3rd millennium BC, there were three major centers of human civilization: Mesopotamia, Egypt and the Hittite Empire. The ancestor of all empires was Mesopotamia, the origin of which is shrouded in historical fog.
One day the huge Hittite Empire collapsed. Its fragments flew in all directions, giving birth civil war, devastation, famine and fratricidal clashes. In those days there were no strictly guarded borders - neither our own nor neighboring countries, so different groups - in fact, even completely independent peoples scattered in different directions.
The Hittite Empire was located in Albania, Croatia, Serbia, and Macedonia. Those peoples who left war and devastation to the west eventually ended up on the Apennine Peninsula, becoming Etruscans, Sabines, and Latins. The other, largest group of peoples moved south, towards the future Hellas. These were the Pelasgians, Achaeans, Dorians, Ionians, Leleges, and Carians.
Arriving on the territory of the future mainland Greece, they inhabited it, displacing or partially assimilating the mysterious Minoan civilization that existed there. And on the islands the Cycladic culture replaced the Cretan and Proto-Aegean culture. As a result of this fusion, the so-called Aegean or Mycenaean civilization arose. The culture flourished from 1500 to 1050 BC. Then it slowly turns into classical Hellas.
A dramatic leap in Greek culture occurred around 1700 BC. At this time, the Cretan-Minoan culture began to fade away, but its influence remained.
Heinrich Schliemann, a German amateur archaeologist, was once a wealthy merchant who made his fortune working in St. Petersburg, then supplemented it with financial transactions in America, giving Greece another millennium of history. He achieved this, relying on the mythological legends of Homer.
The Tomb of Atreus, which he explored in 1879, is the largest domed tomb in Mycenaean culture.

It is impossible to truly know the Mycenaean culture down to the smallest detail. Some architectural moves still remain a mystery. It remains to rely on archaeological information and myths ancient Greece and on the information of those peoples who came into contact with them.
From 1700 to 1500 BC Mycenaean culture used deep shaft tombs lined with stone slabs, earth, brushwood or grass at the bottom. Royal tomb 1450 BC it looked like this: a long passage began on the hillside, the sides were lined with stones and ended in front of the door that closed the entrance to the tomb. Wooden doors were covered in bronze. The facade was decorated with 2 columns 10.5 m high. In the triangular opening above the entrance there was once a sculpture just like on the Lion Gate, which I will talk about later.

Through the passage one could get directly under the arch of the dome.

The diameter of the room is 14 m 25 cm, height 12.5 m. Starting from the 3rd row, the masonry forms a vault.

The weight of the beam above the entrance is 120 tons.

A small entrance leads to the room where the deceased and the offerings that accompanied him to the afterlife were located.

The stones are not very tightly fitted to each other, so between the vertical seams there are voids that bees have chosen; they fly freely back and forth through the entrance to the tomb in the summer.

This is perhaps one of the attractions that you need to remember when traveling to Greece - the huge vault of the tomb, reminiscent of a medieval cathedral, sunlight at the entrance, turning further into twilight, and the buzzing of bees, vaguely reminiscent of the sound of an organ.

Apart from the key stone that closes the tomb from above, this is an original, ingenious structure.

The length of the inclined corridor-dromos, which leads to the tomb, is 36 m, width 6 m.

The quarry from which the blocks were taken was located 15 km from Mycenae.
Throughout the Argolid you can see the remains of bridges from the Mycenaean era. There was an extensive network of roads between the cities. The city was ruled by a king who had full power during the war. In peacetime, decisions were mainly made by the local aristocratic assembly.
The Acropolis is an elevated fortified area on a hill, an invention of the ancient Mycenaeans. There was always a spring inside the acropolis. In the center of the city there has always been a Palace - the center of cultural and political life. Traces of Mycenaean culture extend to the Baltic.
From 3000 BC there were already settlements here. Mycenae also existed in the classical era, having taken part in the events of the Greco-Persian wars, but in 468 BC. the city was ravaged by the Argolians. Since then, Mycenae has become one of the many appendages of the powerful Argos. Gradually, life in this area came to a standstill.
The height of the mountain on which the city of Mycenae was located is 254 m above sea level.

The heyday of Mycenae was observed in the 18-12th century BC. In the 2nd century BC. all residents left the city.
Fortifications around the center of Mycenae were erected around 1350 BC. The second line of fortifications appeared in 1250 BC. At the same time, the Lion Gate was built.

The second line of Mycenaean fortification arises in connection with the invasion of the Dorians and other northwestern Greek tribes. The Lion Gate marks the main entrance to the city.

The masonry is made of conglomerate similar to Meteor rocks.

The two lionesses that support the column with the altar are made of a different stone.

The heads of the lionesses made of gold were turned towards the man who was entering the city, but they, naturally, have not survived to this day. Each of the three beams that precede the entrance weighs more than 20 tons.
Life in Mycenae was in full swing until the end of the 11th century BC. It's hard to imagine that the stones at the base of this wall have been lying here for 3,250 years!
To the left of the entrance there was a small shrine in the wall.

In this territory, 19 mine burials were excavated, of which 6 are the richest, where most of Schliemann's gold.

He believed that he had discovered the tomb of Agamemnon and his father, King Atreus - a golden mask, one of the ones he found in the burials, was directly called the “mask of Agamemnon.” Later, researchers found that the mask was made long before the reign of Agamemnon, in the 16th century BC. This exhibit is a masterpiece of Mycenaean art, and at the same time the most famous mistake in the history of archaeology.

The conclusion that the death mask of King Agamemnon was found was made by Heinrich Schliemann based on the description of the Trojan War in Homer’s epic “Iliad” and on the works of Pausanias, an ancient Greek geographer who lived in the 2nd century BC. Pausanias in his writings described that Agamemnon was buried inside the city, and his wife Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus were buried outside the city wall, as unworthy people. When starting excavations in Mycenae, Heinrich Schliemann was guided precisely by the works of ancient Greek writers. The archaeologist was sure that inside the city walls he would definitely find the remains of the Mycenaean heroes about whom Homer and Pausanias wrote.
In the ancient Greek epic written by Homer, the famous Iliad, Agamemnon is one of the main characters, he was distinguished by his courage and became famous for many exploits. The Trojan War began with Paris kidnapping the beautiful Helen, the wife of King Menelaus, brother of Agamemnon. Menelaus, together with Agamemnon, convinced the Greek rulers to participate in a military campaign against the Trojans. Agamemnon led the Greek army. The Greek army defeated the Trojan army, but fate turned away from Agamemnon. His wife Clytemnestra, having cheated on him with his cousin Aegisthus, planned to kill Agamemnon. Clytemnestra and Aegisthus carried out their plan and killed Agamemnon along with his mistress Cassandra. The sad fate of the Mycenaean king served as the plot for many ancient Greek tragedies.
In these shaft tombs were discovered: the men wore golden masks, breastplates and greaves, swords and daggers; for women - golden tiaras; both have vessels made of gold, silver and electrum, sacred bowls for ritual drinking in the form of animal heads (the so-called rhytons). The dead were covered with cloaks decorated with gilded plaques depicting symbols of immortality - bees, spirals, stars, etc. The total weight of the gold treasures was 15 kilograms.
Men's faces are usually not covered with masks. The fact that they were men and warriors is indicated by the presence of weapons in their graves, and the amount of gold and the care of the work indicate honor, wealth and status.
All these treasures of the Mycenaean kings were concentrated in the shaft tombs of circle A and B, while the magnificent Mycenaean tholos - grandiose round tombs - turned out to be completely empty, they were plundered long before exploration.
Part of the Mycenaean gold is in the Athens Archaeological Museum, and most of it, found in both Troy and Mycenae, is in the Pushkin Museum in Moscow, ending up in the USSR after World War II as a trophy taken in Berlin.
The Alpha burial circle was formed in 1600 - 1700 BC. In the 13th century, the burials were surrounded by a stone fence, hollow from the inside. Nobody knows why this was done. It is believed that these burials were sacred burials of people who played some role in the local religious cult or the founders of Mycenae.
Moreover, another level of the wall was erected around 1250 BC.

Beyond Circle A was a religious center. Next are the ruins of a granary and residential areas.

During its heyday, about 2,000 people lived here. At that time it was a populous city; it was not for nothing that Homer called it “Gold-abundant Mycenae” in his works.
The houses of the inhabitants of Mycenae are characterized by the fact that the only entrance led through the men's half of the house into the women's.
The main center of the political and spiritual life of Mycenae was the Palace, which was located on the top of a hill. At the entrance there were propylaea that supported two columns. The palace premises were painted with colored plaster, which was found in abundance during excavations. Around 13th century BC was in the palace strong fire. I don't think the landscape has changed much since then.

In the Mycenae Museum you can see what was partially discovered during excavations.