Mycenae ( my-SEE-nee; Ancient Greek: Μυκῆναι or Μυκήνη, Mykē̂nai or Mykḗnē) is an archaeological site near Mykines in Argolis, north-eastern Peloponnese, Greece. It is located about 120 kilometres (75 miles) south-west of Athens; 11 kilometres (7 miles) north of Argos; and 48 kilometres (30 miles) south of Corinth. The site is 19 kilometres (12 miles) inland from the Saronic Gulf and built upon a hill rising 274 metres (899 feet) above sea level. In the second millennium BC, Mycenae was one of the major centres of Greek civilization—a military stronghold which dominated much of southern Greece, Crete, the Cyclades and parts of southwest Anatolia. The period of Greek history from about 1600 BC to about 1100 BC is called Mycenaean in reference to Mycenae. At its peak in 1350 BC, the citadel and lower town had a population of 30,000 and an area of 32 hectares (79 acres). The first correct identification of Mycenae in modern literature was in 1700, during a survey conducted by the Venetian engineer Francesco Vandeyk on behalf of Francesco Grimani, the Provveditore Generale of the Kingdom of the Morea. Vandeyk used Pausanias's description of the Lion Gate to identify the ruins of Mycenae. In 1999 the archeological site of Mycenae was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List, along with the nearby site of Tiryns, citing its historical importance as the center of the Mycenaean civilization, its outstanding architecture and its testimony to the development of Ancient Greek civilization. Noteworthy architecture includes the Lion Gate, the Treasury of Atreus and the walls of Mycenae and Tiryns. These sites are strongly connected to the Homeric epics. The earliest examples of the Greek language are also visible at Mycenae and Tiryn, preserved on Linear B tablets.
Etymology
The name Mukanai is thought not to be Greek but rather one of the many pre-Greek place names inherited by later Greek speakers. Legend has it that the name was connected to the Greek word mykēs (μύκης, "mushroom"). Thus Pausanias ascribes the name to the legendary founder, Perseus, who was said to have named it either after the cap (mykēs) of the sheath of his sword or after a mushroom he had plucked on the site. Homer connected the name to the nymph Mycene, the daughter of the river god Inachos of Argos (Odyssey 2.120). In the Iliad the name of the city is spelled Mykḗnē (Μυκήνη).
History
Mycenae, an acropolis site, was built on a hill 900 feet (274 metres) above sea level, some 19 kilometres (12 miles) inland from the Gulf of Argolis. Situated in the north-east corner of the Argive plain, it easily overlooked the whole area and was ideally positioned to be a centre of power, especially as it commanded all easy routes to the Isthmus of Corinth. Besides its strong defensive and strategic position, it had good farmland and an adequate water supply.
Neolithic Age There are only faint traces of Neolithic settlement on the site although it was continuously occupied from the Early Neolithic (EN, c. 5000–c. 4000 BC). EN Rainbow Ware constitutes the earliest ceramic evidence discovered so far.
Early Bronze Age The Early Bronze Age (EBA) is known as the Early Helladic (EH) on mainland Greece, dated from around 3200-2050/2000 BC. The EH can be subdivided into EH I (3200-2650 BC), EH II (2650-2200 BC) and EH III (2200-2000 BC). Mycenae was occupied throughout this period. Pottery material spanning the entire Early Helladic was discovered 1877 by Panagiotis Stamatakis at a low depth in the sixth shaft grave in Circle A. Further EH and MH material was found beneath the walls and floors of the palace, on the summit of the acropolis and outside the Lion Gate in the area of the ancient cemetery. An EH–MH settlement was discovered near a fresh-water well on top of the Kalkani hill south-west of the acropolis.
Middle Bronze Age The Middle Bronze Age (MBA) is known as the Middle Helladic (MH) on mainland Greece, dated from around 2050/2000-1550 BC. At Mycenae the population grew considerably during the MH. In 1876, archeological digs conducted by Heinrich Schliemann found shaft grave evidence for extensive Cretan influence (Minoan) in the region from c. 1600 BC. Schliemann's shaft graves came to be known as Circle A to distinguish them from the Circle B graves, which were found at a later date, although Circle B are the earlier graves, dated c. 1650 BC to c. 1550 BC and entirely within MHIII. Circle A is dated to the sixteenth century BC, including the transition from Middle to Late Helladic IA (LHIA; c. 1550 – c. 1500 BC). The contents of Circle B are less wealthy than those of Circle A. In MH II (c. 1800 BC), the first burials in pits or cist graves are found on the west slope of the acropolis, which was at least partially enclosed by the earliest circuit wall.
Late Bronze Age
The Late Bronze Age (LBA) is known as the Late Helladic (LH) on mainland Greece, dated from around 1550-1200/1150 BC. In the absence of documents and objects that can be precisely dated, events at Mycenae can be dated only relatively within the constraints of Helladic chronology, which relies on categorisation of stratified material objects, mainly pottery, within an agreed historical framework. Mycenae developed into a major power during LHI (c. 1550 – c. 1450 BC) and is believed to have become the main centre of Aegean civilisation through the fifteenth century to the extent that the two hundred years from c. 1400 BC to c. 1200 BC (encompassing LHIIIA and LHIIIB) are known as the Mycenaean Age. The Minoan hegemony ended c. 1450 and there is evidence that Knossos was occupied by Mycenaeans until it too was destroyed c. 1370 BC. From then on, Mycenaean expansion throughout the Aegean was unhindered until the massive disruption of society in the first half of the twelfth century (LHIIIC), which ended Mycenaean civilisation and culminated in the destruction of Mycenae itself c. 1150 BC.
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