Mycenae

Mycenae (pronounced my-SEE-nee) sits on a hill 274 meters high, about 120 kilometers southwest of Athens, 11 kilometers north of Argos, and 48 kilometers south of Corinth. It lies 19 kilometers inland from the Saronic Gulf, near the modern town of Mykines in the northeastern Peloponnese. During the second millennium BC, this fortified citadel was a major center of Greek civilization, controlling much of southern Greece, Crete, the Cyclades, and parts of southwestern Anatolia. The period from roughly 1600 BC to 1100 BC is called Mycenaean after this site. At its height around 1350 BC, the citadel and lower town covered 32 hectares and held about 30,000 people.

The site was first correctly identified in modern times in 1700, when Venetian engineer Francesco Vandeyk, working for Francesco Grimani, used the ancient writer Pausanias’s description of the Lion Gate to recognize the ruins. In 1999, Mycenae—along with nearby Tiryns—was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List for its role as the heart of Mycenaean civilization, its outstanding architecture (including the Lion Gate, the Treasury of Atreus, and the massive walls), and its link to the Homeric epics. The earliest known examples of the Greek language, written on Linear B tablets, have been found at both Mycenae and Tiryns.

The name “Mukanai” likely comes from a pre-Greek language, not Greek itself. Later Greek legend, recorded by Pausanias, connected it to the word *mykēs* (“mushroom”): the mythical founder Perseus supposedly named the city after a mushroom he plucked there, or the cap of his sword’s sheath. Homer linked the name to the nymph Mycene, daughter of the river god Inachos. In the *Iliad*, the city is spelled Mykḗnē.

Built on an acropolis, Mycenae occupied a hill 274 meters high, 19 kilometers inland from the Gulf of Argolis. It overlooked the Argive plain and commanded routes to the Isthmus of Corinth, giving it a strong defensive and strategic position, with good farmland and a reliable water supply.

Faint traces of Neolithic settlement exist, with continuous occupation from the Early Neolithic (around 5000–4000 BC). The earliest pottery found is EN Rainbow Ware. During the Early Bronze Age (Early Helladic, 3200–2000 BC), Mycenae was occupied throughout. In 1877, Panagiotis Stamatakis discovered Early Helladic pottery in the sixth shaft grave of Circle A, and more Early and Middle Helladic material was found beneath the palace, on the acropolis summit, and outside the Lion Gate. A settlement from the Early to Middle Helladic period was uncovered near a well on Kalkani hill, southwest of the acropolis.

In the Middle Bronze Age (Middle Helladic, 2050/2000–1550 BC), Mycenae’s population grew considerably. In 1876, Heinrich Schliemann excavated shaft graves (Circle A) showing strong Minoan influence from around 1600 BC. Later, Circle B graves were found, dating to about 1650–1550 BC (entirely within Middle Helladic III) and less wealthy than Circle A. Circle A dates to the 16th century BC, spanning the transition to Late Helladic IA. Around 1800 BC (Middle Helladic II), the first pit or cist burials appeared on the acropolis’s west slope, which was partly enclosed by an early circuit wall.

During the Late Bronze Age (Late Helladic, 1550–1200/1150 BC), Mycenae became a major power. In Late Helladic I (1550–1450 BC), it grew in influence, and by the 15th century it was the main center of Aegean civilization. The period from about 1400 to 1200 BC (Late Helladic IIIA and IIIB) is called the Mycenaean Age. Minoan dominance ended around 1450 BC, and Mycenaeans occupied Knossos until its destruction around 1370 BC. Mycenaean expansion across the Aegean continued until a massive societal disruption in the early 12th century (Late Helladic IIIC) ended Mycenaean civilization, culminating in the destruction of Mycenae itself around 1150 BC.