Mycenae (redirected from Mykênê)

Mycenae (mīsē`nē), ancient city of Greece, in Argolis. In historical times it had little importance and was usually dependent on Argos. Its significance is in its remote past as a center of Mycenaean civilization. The famous Lion Gate, which led into the city, and the Treasury of Atreus, the largest of the beehive tombs outside the walls of the city, are the most notable of its ancient remains.

Bibliography

See A. J. B. Wace, Mycenae (1949, repr. 1964); A. E. Samuel, The Mycenaeans in History (1966).

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Mycenae

Prehistoric city, northeastern Peloponnese, Greece. A natural rock citadel, it was the legendary capital of Agamemnon. It flourished during the Bronze Age, building the distinctive Mycenaean civilization. It was at its height in the Aegean c. 1400 BC and declined c. 1100 BC with the invasion of the Dorians from the north. Excavations at Mycenae began in 1840, but the most celebrated discoveries there were those by Heinrich Schliemann c. 1876. Ruins include the Lion Gate, acropolis, granary, and several royal beehive tombs and shaft graves.

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Mycenae

an ancient Greek city in the NE Peloponnesus on the plain of Argos

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Mycenae 

an ancient city in the Argolid (southern Greece), an important center in the Bronze Age. In the third millennium B.C., Mycenae was a small settlement. In the 17th century B.C., it became the capital of one of the early class-structured states of the Achaeans. The sumptuous objects obtained from excavation of two groups of Mycenaean royal graves of the 17th and 16th centuries B.C. testify to the rapid growth of Mycenaean economic power. In the 16th and 15th centuries B.C., fortifications and a palace were erected on the city’s acropolis. Mycenae was at the height of its development between 1400 and 1200 B.C. During that time, the Mycenaean acropolis was surrounded by new massive Cyclopean walls; the principal entrance through the fortifications was the Lion Gate.

In the 13th century B.C., an underground cistern was dug beneath the fortress; it was reached by a flight of steps and led to a spring far below. The monumental palace consisted of many public and private chambers and storerooms. Marble and terracotta statues of gods stood in a separate sanctuary. Quarters with the stone dwellings of wealthy artisans and merchants were located in the vast lower city. In the 14th and 13th centuries B.C., the descendants of King Atreus erected splendid circular vaulted tombs, or tholoi.

Circa 1200 B.C., Mycenae was destroyed by fire. The city was rebuilt in later centuries but no longer played an important role. In 470 B.C., Mycenae was conquered and ravaged by Argos. Excavations have been conducted sporadically since 1876 (by the German archaeologist H. Schliemann, the British scholar A. Wace, and the Greek scholars C. Tsountas and G. Mylonas).

REFERENCES

Blavatskaia, T. V. Akheiskaia Gretsiia vo vtorom tysiacheletii do n. e. Moscow, 1966.
Wace, A. J. B. Mycenae: An Archaeological History and Guide. Princeton, 1949.
Mylonas, G. E. Mycenae and the Mycenaean Age. Princeton, 1966.

T. V. BLAVATSKAIA