The Mycenaean kingdoms were small in size. The centers of Mycenaean civilization were located in well-fortified cities, which were usually built on top of hills surrounded by fortress walls. This is how the first acropolises appeared - “upper cities”. The Acropolis contained within its walls the royal palace, houses for servants, warriors and artisans, as well as numerous storage facilities for grain, wine, and oil. Workshops were also located here, weapons and jewelry were stored. According to inscriptions on clay tablets found in Mycenae and Pylos, up to five thousand people of various professions worked in the palaces, there was an extensive bureaucratic apparatus that took into account everything, even broken wheels and broken vases.
The most famous palace-fortresses were located in Mycenae, Tiryns and Pylos. The largest of them is Mycenaean. In 1250 BC. e. A powerful stone wall was erected around the Mycenaean Acropolis, in some places its thickness reached 7 m. And this is far from the limit; in Tiryns, for example, the thickness is 9, and in places 17 m. The famous Lion Gate was broken into the wall around Mycenae, so named because that above them are depicted two lions standing on their hind legs. Between the lions is a column, which, according to scientists, symbolizes Artemis, the patroness of the city.
This is what the animals greet. Most likely, lions were a symbol of the Atrid family. However, according to legend, King Agamemnon insulted the goddess by not sacrificing his firstborn daughter Iphigenia to her. For this, Artemis sent a storm that did not allow the Achaean ships to leave the harbor to sail to the walls of Troy. The storm continued until the king gave his daughter to be slaughtered, but instead the goddess sent a golden doe to the altar, and took the girl to the lands of the Tauri, where she made her a priestess in her temple.
Outside the walls, the road led through the acropolis to the royal palace, built of mud brick on a wooden frame. The palace was once brightly painted not only from the inside, but also from the outside. Rectangular in plan, it enclosed not a courtyard, as in Crete, but a spacious internal hall with a colonnade and a hole in the roof - a megaron. Here the king gathered his entourage and conducted state affairs. The throne was located to the right of the entrance, and there were benches along the walls near it. The Mycenaeans considered the throne to be the sacred womb of the mother goddess. In Tiryns it is surrounded by sacrificial canals, through which, during the ceremonies, libations of wine and blood penetrated into the womb of the earth. Sitting on the throne, the king was in unity with the goddess and drew strength from her.
The Mycenaean megaron was almost completely destroyed; archaeologists created its reconstruction on the basis of halls from other palaces, for example in Pylos. There the walls of the hall were decorated with frescoes. Like the Cretan palaces, Pylos was equipped with running water and swimming pools. The city rulers kept a collection of clay tablets, which scientists managed to read. It turned out that the kings of Pylos were excellent hosts. The king owned a large plot of land, three times larger than the allotments of the nobility. Thus, he was the richest supplier of grain to the market.
The clay tablets also told us something about the structure of the state. The king was called Wanaka, the small kings were called basileus, and there were several of them subordinate to Wanaka. The king was assisted by the commander of the army - ravaketa, "ruler of the nations." He could conduct receptions in the second, smaller megaron. The king had advisers - 14 telestas, representatives of the nobility and palace officials. The priests of the main temples, called “God’s people,” were held in high esteem. The king of the Mycenaean culture was considered the main one among the rulers of other cities and bore the title “senior king.”
The palace in Tiryns was painted with multicolor frescoes in the 13th century. BC e. There were patterns along the ceiling depicting the starry sky. However, the subjects of the frescoes are completely different from those of the Minoans. A favorite of them is hunting. Goddesses going on a hunt, hunting a boar with dogs, chasing a deer, battle scenes. The limestone floors were painted with colored stains to imitate marble. Sometimes there are chess cells alternating with fish and octopuses. Great difficulties awaited archaeologists during the excavations of Thebes. Other Mycenaean cities were not populated later. For example, Mycenae was abandoned already in the time of Homer. Now the nearest settlement to them is the village of Mykines. But the center of Thebes - Kadmeia - is located under the modern city. The citadel of the fortress was destroyed in the 13th century. BC e. Scientists were able to discover fragments of the palace, in which a fresco was discovered with a procession of women bearing gifts to the goddess. Thematically similar to the Cretan ones, it is executed in a completely different way. All participants in the procession have the same profiles, hairstyles and tiaras. The figures are outlined in black, which gives the fresco a monumental feel, and the white and yellow background makes it brightly decorative.
The cities of the Mycenaean culture disappeared into the darkness of centuries as mysteriously as the Cretan palaces. Around 1200 BC e. The Achaean world experienced a series of upheavals. From Egyptian papyri it is known that in the 13th century. BC e. There were severe crop failures for several years in a row, causing famine throughout the Mediterranean. craft and trade fell. Vast areas were on the verge of extinction. fought wars for food. The invasion of Greece from the north by the Dorian tribes completed the destruction of the Mycenaean world. The palace at Mycenae fell around 1125 BC. e. However, before this tragic outcome, the Mycenaeans had to accomplish the greatest deed that would leave their name for centuries - to win the Trojan War.
Mycenae- the oldest city in 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.
The ruins of the city of Mycenae are located near the village of Myknes, 90 km from Athens. Ancient Mycenae was one of the centers of Mycenaean culture and experienced its heyday in the 15th - 11th centuries BC. e. The fame of “gold-abundant Mycenae” was confirmed by archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann, who in 1876 discovered a palace complex with shaft tombs containing gold items. Mycenaean gold is in the National Archaeological Museum. Today only the floors remind of the splendor of the royal palace, which stood on the top of the hill. The stones to this day retain traces of the fire that wiped out this magnificent creation from the face of the Earth. Palace complexes were built not only for the ruling elite. Craftsmen and merchants lived under the protection of fortress walls. Legend says that the 14-meter-wide fortress walls were built by the Cyclops, which is why these walls are called “Cyclopean.”
In the 13th century BC. e. The Lion Gate leading to the Acropolis was built. The gate owes its name to the bas-relief depicting lions crowning the doorway. Royal tombs with rich funeral gifts were found on the territory of the acropolis.
There are also several tombs outside the city walls, among which the treasury of Atreus (XIV century BC) and the tomb of Clytemnestra have been well preserved to this day. It is still unknown how the ancient craftsmen were able to install a huge stone slab weighing 120 tons above the entrance to the treasury.
The decline of the ancient city occurred during the Greco-Persian wars. The city was destroyed in the war with the Argives.
Surprisingly, the ruins that represent Mycenae today were once one of the most important cities in Greece. So important for the state that historians usually designate an entire stage in its development as “Mycenaean”. Tourist portal website
Mycenae - view of the remains of the citadel on the hill 
Mycenae - view of the archaeological site
The emergence of Mycenae
The first mention of Mycenae is found in the writings of Homer, who characterizes them as “Abundant of Gold.” However, the ancient city existed long before the birth of the legendary poet, who lived in the 9th century. BC. Researchers claim that the territory on which the capital grew Ancient Greece, was inhabited in the early Neolithic era. Of course, there was no talk of any large settlements at that time, but burials from that time indicate that the place, 90 km away from modern Athens, has been loved by mankind for a long time.
According to the ancient Greek epic, Mycenae was founded by Perseus, the son of Zeus and Danae. Archaeologists are sure that the city grew from ancient acropolis, which in 1800 - 1700 BC. partly was already surrounded by a fortress wall. By the Late Bronze Age (1600-1200 BC), the high ground had developed full-fledged city fortifications, and Mycenae was the dominant city (probably the capital) of the state in the eastern Mediterranean.
By 1350 B.C. the fortress walls were rebuilt in the so-called cyclopean style - when the wall is created from large hewn blocks laid without mortar. Surrounded by these fortifications, the ruins of which remain to this day, numerous palaces and temples were built. The total length of the fortress was 1105 m, the height of the protective structures reached 12.5 m. At the same time, the width of the masonry could vary between 7.5 - 17 m. In order to build such a wall, boulders weighing from 10 tons were required. The largest stones that were discovered during excavations weighed 20 tons. The “leaders” were approaching the 100-ton mark. Tourist portal website
Fall of the Mycenaean civilization
Mycenae - reconstruction of the citadel view By 1200 B.C. Mycenae's influence on the peninsula gradually declined. As a result, in just one century, the Mycenaean civilization practically ceased to exist as such, which is a consequence of the “collapse of the Bronze Age.” Most of the buildings in the city were destroyed. This was probably a direct result of the invasion of the Dorians, warlike peoples from the north (from Sparta, Crete, Southern Italy).
According to another version, the reason was the disruption of trade routes caused by the migration of the mysterious “peoples of the sea”, who destroyed the Hittite empire, as well as attacked representatives of the 19th and 20th ancient Egyptian dynasties. However, at the end of the 13th century, Mycenae equipped an expedition against Sparta, which indicates the absence of a threat from the sea.
Other probable reasons for the decline in Mycenae's influence include drought, earthquakes, and a volcanic eruption. However, it is now impossible to say exactly why the centers of this civilization were abandoned or destroyed almost simultaneously.
One way or another, Mycenae continued to exist. Even if it’s not shiny anymore. During the archaic era, a majestic temple of Hera was built in the citadel. The Mycenaean army fought at Thermopylae during the war with the Persians. Troops also took part in the Battle of Plataea. And 468 BC. e. was marked by further losses for the city - the troops of the Argos polis captured Mycenae, expelled the inhabitants and destroyed the fortifications.
On short term Mycenae was rebuilt during the Hellenistic period, when the city boasted a luxurious theater, the ruins of which remain to this day. However, gradually this place was abandoned again, and during the Roman period of Greek history, Mycenae already became a tourist attraction.
Greece Mycenae - lion gate at the entrance to the citadel 
Mycenae - lions on the gates
Attractions Mycenae
The Mycenaean acropolis, in contrast, has been preserved rather poorly. The fate of the city and the trials that befell its buildings also had an impact. Already after Mycenae was abandoned, in the 2nd century BC. The acropolis suffered from a severe fire. However, thanks to the cyclopean masonry and the thoroughness of the construction, some of the walls are still preserved here, conveying the solidity of the construction.
To get to the territory of the Acropolis, you need to get acquainted with another attraction of Mycenae - the Lion Gate. It is interesting that the fortified part of the city was something akin to a divine monastery for the residents - commoners could only get here during holidays. It is not surprising that the central gate that separated the fortress from the dwellings of the poor was built in such a way as to demonstrate its significance for the border between the two parts of the capital of the polis. Thanks to the solid masonry of the walls, the gate was perfectly preserved. As well as their main decoration - a bas-relief with two lionesses. It is considered one of the most famous heraldic monuments in the world, and the gate itself has become a symbol of the destroyed city. Tourist portal website
Mycenae - Acropolis 
Mycenae - one of the tombs
Excavations of ancient Mycenae
In 1874 - 1876 During excavations in the territory of Mycenae, numerous tombs belonging to the kings of the polis were discovered. “Graves” were built in the form of peculiar domes - “tholos”, which were made of stone slabs. To get an idea of the scale, you can imagine the treasury of Atreus, the mythical king. The height of the burial chamber in it is 13 m (the height of a five-story building), and the width is 14 m.
Surprisingly, two huge slabs above front door, used instead of floor beams, weigh approximately 120 tons together. Unfortunately, the tomb was plundered in ancient times. Since tholos (as the tombs were called) could only be afforded by the famous and wealthy inhabitants of Mycenae, during excavations here many objects made of precious materials were discovered. In addition, the burials made it possible to learn a lot about the Mycenaean culture - its time is poorly covered in literary monuments.
No less interesting are the tombs of Clytemnestra and Aegisthus, the Mycenaean ruler and her lover, found near the fortress wall. Unfortunately, the graves of the lovers were damaged during the Hellenistic period, when the famous Mycenaean theater was built over them. Later, the queen’s burial was restored, and during excavations, a lot of expensive jewelry was found in it. Tourist portal website
Mycenae - golden mask 1600g. BC. 
Mycenae - gold jewelry found during excavations
Archaeological Museum of Mycenae
The Archaeological Museum has been operating on the excavation site in Mycenae since 1902. The modern building for it was built very close to the acropolis. The building is located so that visitors studying the exhibits displayed in the halls can look at the ruins of the city through the huge windows. The exhibitions occupy a quarter of the entire museum space. At the same time, the greatest attention is paid to the life of the Mycenaeans - the people, two thousand years BC. began the construction of one of the most advanced countries of the ancient world.
At the foot former city The Argolid Plain stretches out - a fairly large area of fertile land, which 4,100 years ago became home to Greek tribes who entered the Middle Helladic era. Today the plain is one of the most attractive tourist sites, despite its distance from Athens - a large number of The architectural structures preserved here allow guests of Greece to experience the greatness of the civilization that laid the foundations for modern political, scientific and cultural trends. Tourist portal website
Mycenae opening hours:
Winter: from 08:00 to 17:00
Summer: (May 1 - October 31) from 08:00 to 20:00
Ticket for Acropolis, Treasures of Atreus and Museum:
Full price - 12.00 €
Discounted - 6.00 €
Teenagers under 18 years old - free
Free for everyone: March 6, April 18, May 18 (International Museum Day), last weekend of September, October 28, every first Sunday of the month from November 1 to March 31.
Mycenae address: T.K. 21 200, Mykines (Prefecture of Argolida)
Mycenae is an ancient city in the northeastern Peloponnese on the Argive Plain. Currently it is a ruin located 32 km north of the Gulf of Argolikos.
Historically, the city appeared on an important part of the route from the Peloponnese north to the rest of Greece. Its significance was so great that it left its mark on ancient greek mythology. According to legends, the city was founded by Perseus, the son of the supreme god Zeus and the unfortunate Danae, the winner of Medusa the Gorgon. Legends about the divine origin of Mycenae were supposed to confirm the importance and greatness of the city.
Story
People lived in these places in the early Neolithic - 5-6 thousand years ago. Archaeological excavations have shown that on the site of Mycenae in the 3rd millennium BC. e. there was a village. The city appeared later and by the 17th century. BC e. became the capital of the Achaean state - the very first of the main ancient Greek tribes. The ancient poet Homer, describing the Achaeans in the epic poem “The Iliad,” meant all the Greeks of the Peloponnese: Mycenae had become so powerful by that time.
The wealth of Mycenae and the luxurious lifestyle of its rulers are evidenced by precious finds from burials Mycenaean kings XVII-XVI centuries BC e., made during excavations in the 19th century.
In the XVI-XV centuries. New, more powerful fortifications were erected on the Mycenaean acropolis, and a royal palace was built.
Mycenae was then ruled, according to legend, by the most famous of its kings, Atreus, also a character from ancient Greek mythology, the son of the divine Pelops and the father of Agamemnon and Menelaus, the heroes of Homer’s poems.
Mycenae is best known as the residence of the Pelopids, King Atreus and his son Agamemnon, Agamemnon's wife Clytemnestra and their children Orestes and Electra.
Mycenae flourished between 1400 and 1200. BC e. Rulers of Mycenae in the XIV-XIII centuries. BC e. the descendants of King Atreus erected tholos - large round domed tombs, which replaced the modest shaft tombs built before the rise of Mycenae.
The power of Mycenae at that time extended to the entire northern part of the Peloponnese, the Mycenaeans captured Knossos on Crete, traded with Ancient Egypt and the Hittite kingdom, Cyprus and Syria.
It is clear that such a rich city had many enemies.
The walls around the acropolis became even higher, and those who wanted to get behind them, into the fortress, had to go through the Lion Gate. Anticipating brutal wars and a grueling siege of Mycenae, in the 12th century. BC e. An underground stepped gallery was cut from the fortress to a source located far below.
The fate of Mycenae was decided by a terrible fire that occurred around 1200 BC. e. The city died in flames.
Centuries later, Mycenae was partially restored, but its former greatness never returned. Although, to prove their strength, Mycenae participated in Battle of Thermopylae 480 BC e. and at the Battle of Marathon 490 BC. e. - the largest during the Greco-Persian wars of 499-449. BC e.
The entire Peloponnese was captured by the Dorians, another ancient Greek tribe. They made neighboring Argos their capital; they did not want Mycenae to be strengthened, and in 470 they captured the city and destroyed it to the ground.
There was still life in the ruins of the city for some time, but by the 2nd century. it was completely abandoned and abandoned.
The city played such an important role in ancient times that “Mycenaean” is the name given to the entire period of prehistoric civilization in Greece (1600-1100 BC).
The ruins of the ancient city of Mycenae are located on the Greek peninsula. The city's strategic location is a rocky ridge overlooking the passage from the Peloponnese north to the rest of Greece.
Excavations in Mycenae were started by enthusiastic archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann, who argued that Homer’s poems directly indicated the location of the burials of the Mycenaean kings.
Excavations of Mycenae began only in 1874, they were carried out by Heinrich Schliemann (1822-1890), who had already become famous for the discovery of the “Gold of Troy”, which resulted in a huge international scandal. The German archaeologist carried out excavations until 1876 and managed to discover traces of civilization of the 2nd millennium BC. e., described in the works of the ancient Greek geographer Pausanias, and before that were considered the same myth as the legends of Perseus and Medusa the Gorgon.
Schliemann sought to find the tomb of the Mycenaean king Agamemnon, and discovered the tomb, although archaeologists express great doubt that this is the burial place of Agamemnon. But a lot of treasures were found: total weight gold finds amounted to more than 14 kg. Excavations have confirmed the truth of many of the descriptions made by Homer in the Iliad and Odyssey.
Excavations were carried out even after Schliemann. All found ruins and structures can be divided into three groups.
The shaft tombs are the earliest objects excavated at Mycenae. These are not actually mines, but rather large stone wells. They were untouched, the robbers did not reach them. The decoration of all six tombs is striking in its extraordinary splendor and richness. The faces of the dead were covered with gold masks, and gold items lay scattered around, from jewelry to many gold disks and plates embossed in the form of octopuses and rosettes, as well as bronze daggers with hammered gold handles, with fine gold and silver inlays on the blades. Above the graves are steles with carved images of chariots, hunting scenes and spiral patterns.
Tholos, or domed tombs, have been found outside the city walls. In total, nine of them were discovered, and nearby there were a large number of chamber tombs. These are underground vaulted structures in the shape of an ancient beehive, with a high dome. A dromos, a corridor, leads into the tholos. When the burial ceremony was completed, the entrance was blocked with stones, and the dromos was filled with earth. The largest tholos, called the “Tomb of Atreus,” is made of giant stone blocks. The lintel beam measures 38.512 m and weighs about 120 tons (!). The diameter of the tomb is 15 m, the height is 13 m. Of course, they buried in them not characters from ancient Greek myths - Atreus and Clytemnestra, but representatives of the reigning family. The domed tombs were unlucky: they were plundered in ancient times.
The fortress walls and the palace are the most recent objects in Mycenae. The walls are made of huge stone blocks. The wall has a Lion Gate with bastions on the sides. They owe their name to the triangular slab at the top, on which two lionesses are carved. These animals are the only work of monumental sculpture of that time that has survived to this day.
Little remains of the palace; one can only judge from the size of the ruins that it was monumental and consisted of many ceremonial, residential and utility rooms. There was also a Doric temple here: its remains have been found.
In extensive lower town quarters with stone houses of wealthy artisans and traders, conventionally called the House of the Wine Merchant, the House of Shields, and the House of the Oil Trader, have been preserved.
Next to the ruins of ancient Mycenae there is a town bearing the same name.
From a hill almost devoid of vegetation, where only poppies grow red, on which the ruins of Mycenae are located under the scorching sun, a panorama of the entire Argolis region opens up - right up to the Saronic Gulf Aegean Sea.
general information
Location: southern Greece.Official status: archaeological site of Mycenae and Tiryns.
Administrative affiliation: decentralized administration of the Peloponnese, Western Greece and Ionia, administrative region (periphery) of the Peloponnese, nome of Argolis, municipality of Argos-Mycenae, Greece.
Date of foundation: around the 17th century. BC.
First written mention: VIII century BC e.
Language: Greek.
Ethnic composition: Greeks.
Religion: Greek Orthodoxy.
Currency unit: euro.
Numbers
Area: 0.32 km 2 (heyday, 1350 BC).Fortress wall: length - about 900 m, weight of stone blocks - from 20 to 100 tons, height - up to 7.5 m.
Height above sea level: 278 m.
Distance: 90 km southwest of Athens.
Climate and weather
Mediterranean.Warm winter, hot summer.
Average January temperature: +14°C.
Average temperature in July: +27°С.
Average annual precipitation: 400 mm.
Relative humidity: 65%.
Attractions
■ Archaeological Park "Mycenae": shaft tombs (XVII-XVI centuries BC), fortress walls (XIV century BC), Lion Gate (late XIV-XIII centuries BC), tholos (chamber tombs, XV-XIV centuries), palace (XVI-XIII centuries BC), residential buildings, warehouses, tanks (XIV-XIII centuries BC), granary (XII century BC .), reservoir "Perseus Spring".Curious facts
■ Ancient Greek myths about the founding of Mycenae by Perseus say that the main fortifications of the city were erected by the Cyclopes - powerful giants. Hence the name of the masonry made of roughly hewn blocks of enormous size - cyclopean.■ The name “Mycenae” is clearly not of Greek origin and was inherited from local tribes by Hellenes who came from other places. Nevertheless, myths connect this name with the Greek word “mykes” - “mushroom”. The ancient Greek geographer Pausanias claimed that Perseus himself came up with the name after looking at the mushroom-shaped peak on which Mycenae was located.
■ The first written mention of Mycenae is found in the poems of Homer.
■ In the second half of the 20th century. and at the beginning of the 21st century. The authenticity of the Mask of Agamemnon has been questioned. Some archaeologists referred to the fact that even before the excavations in Mycenae, Schliemann was noticed in forgery: he deliberately brought to the excavations objects that were found in completely different places, and the Mask of Agamemnon is sharply different in style from everything else that was found in Mycenae. The official point of view categorically denies forgery.
■ The ruins of Mycenae became a tourist attraction back in the era Ancient Rome: Wealthy Romans made trips here to see the remains of Mycenae's former greatness.
■ Schliemann fully trusted what was written in Homer’s poems and interpreted it accordingly in his research. So, having discovered a skull under a golden mask in a Mycenaean tomb, he immediately exclaimed: “I saw the face of Agamemnon!”
■ In 1999, the ruins of the city of Mycenae were included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
■ Of the other Pelopids (descendants of the divine Pelops), who chose Mycenae as their capital, the most famous are Agamemnon’s wife, Clytemnestra, and her children, Orestes and Electra. Their fate, as set out in myths, is terrible: Clytemnestra killed her husband (“buried” away from the city wall of Mycenae), Orestes killed his own mother (died from snake bite), Electra (pushed her brother to kill her mother, “buried” in Mycenae). Electra became the main character in tragedies set in Mycenae: Aeschylus's "Choephoros", Sophocles' "Electra", Euripides' "Electra" and "Orestes", Seneca's "Agamemnon".
■ As a businessman, Heinrich Schliemann made his fortune by supplying the Russian army during Crimean War 1853-1856: he traded in strategic goods - sulfur, saltpeter, lead, tin, iron and gunpowder.
■ The Mycenaean civilization replaced the Minoan when its center, the island of Crete, was destroyed by the eruption of the Santorini volcano, which served as the basis for the myth of the death of Atlantis.
■ Another “registered” item found by Schliemann in the tombs of Mycenae in 1876 is the famous golden Cup of Nestor. Schliemann stated that this was the exact cup that Homer described in the Iliad as belonging to Nestor, king of Pylos. Most archaeologists do not agree with Schliemann: the Mycenaean burial appeared three centuries before the expected date of the Trojan War, and the appearance of the cup differs from that described by Homer.
■ The area where the ruins of Mycenae are located is very poorly developed economically, but people from these places occupied and continue to occupy a leading place in Greek politics.