Mycenae and the Mycenaeans

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Mycenae and the Mycenaeans

• CLA 210
• Ross Scaife

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The Peloponnese and southern Attica
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The Argolid in the Peloponnese
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Chronological Overview

• Late Helladic period c. 1550 1100 BCE
• Massive fortifications built at Mycenae, Tiryns,
  Athens, and elsewhere in the 14th through 12th
  centuries (cyclopean walls)
• Major destructions during LH III (about 1200),
  followed by economic collapse and massive
  depopulation. Sic transit gloria mundi! Cause?

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Aerial view of Mycenae
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Mythologies associated with Mycenae

• House of Atreus key figures include Agamemnon,
  Clytemnestra, Orestes
• Also Menelaus and Helen of Sparta Nestor of
  Pylos
• Trojan War King Priam, Queen Hecuba, sons Hector
  and Paris (Alexander), daughter Cassandra

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Clytemnestra, in the Agamemnon
Here I stand and here I struck and here my work
is done. I did it all So he goes down, and the
life is bursting out of him great sprays of
blood, and the murderous shower wounds me, dyes
me black, and I, I revel like the Earth when the
spring rains come down, the blessed gifts of
god, and the new green spear splits the sheath
and rips to birth in glory! the first tragedy
in the Oresteia trilogy by Aeschylus, produced at
the theater of Dionysos in Athens c. 457 BCE
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Orestes (son of Agamemnon) kills Aegisthus (lover
of Clytemnestra) (Attic red figure vase, early
5th century)
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Mycenae
Lion Gate Grave Circle A Royal Megaron
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Heinrich and Sophia Schliemann
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Heinrich and Sophia Schliemann

• Archaeologists who worked at Troy, Mycenae, and
  Tiryns
• Heinrich was born in Germany 1822, died in Naples
  1890
• Married (Greek) Sophie in 1869, and she worked
  with him
• Heinrichs early business success let them begin
  excavating at Troy in 1873, then Mycenae in 1876,
  where he found a double ring of slabs and,
  within that ring, five shaft graves (a sixth was
  found immediately after his departure). Buried
  with 16 bodies in this circle of shaft graves was
  a large treasure of gold, silver, bronze, and
  ivory objects. Schliemann had hoped to find--and
  believed he had found--the tombs of Agamemnon and
  Clytemnestra.
• Schliemann became a symbol not only of the new
  archaeological scholarship of the second half of
  the 19th century but also of the romance and
  excitement of archaeology. (EB)
• But in fact their legacy is quite mixed.

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Lion Gate at Mycenae
Post and lintel, with relieving triangle
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In general, Mycenaean gateways are so designed
that an attacker would have to present the side
on which he would normally carry his offensive
weapons (the right side, unshielded if he wanted
to wield these weapons effectively) toward the
defenders in approaching the gate. -- Rutter
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Postern gate at Mycenae
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Grave Circle A (reconstruction)
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Some of the finds from Grave Circle A

• (materials usually dated c. 1600-1500 BCE)
• Death Masks
• Many other decorative gold objects
• Daggers
• (compare the later inlaid silver cup, LH III, c.
  1300)

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Two of the six gold death masks
I have just gazed upon the face of
Agamemnon!(something Schliemann probably did
not say!)
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from Grave Circle A
(materials usually dated c. 1600-1500 BCE)
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from Grave Circle A
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from Grave Circle A
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from Grave Circle A
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Grave Circle A at Mycenae two of the many
daggers
Lion Hunt
Nilotic Scene
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Inlaid silver cup, Mycenae (LH III , c. 1300)
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Gold signet ringswith Mycenaean themes
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Vaphio Cup (peaceful)
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Vaphio Cup (peaceful)
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Vaphio Cup (violent)
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Vaphio Cups (comparison)
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Some Mycenaean Architecture

• Gates and passages
• Post and lintel (Lion Gate, for instance)
• Corbelled arch
• Megaron
• Tholos tomb

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Features of the Mycenaean Megaron

• Tripartite division into porch, vestibule, and
  throne room.
• Large circular hearth, centrally located in the
  throne room.
• Four columns arranged in a square around the
  hearth in the throne room.
• Two columns between antae in the porch.

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Features of the Mycenaean Megaron

• A throne against the middle of the right-hand
  wall in the throne room (only Pylos and Tiryns
  for certain, but probably also Mycenae).
• Plastered floors decorated with painted patterns
  in the throne room, the vestibule, and the porch
  (Pylos, Mycenae, and Tiryns).
• Access to the throne room only from the
  vestibule, through an axially placed doorway.
• Rich decoration of the walls throughout the unit
  by means of frescoes.

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The procession is the most frequently repeated
theme of Mycenaean painting and is known for all
the main palaces. Stately figures are shown
carrying offerings
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Treasury of Atreus (LH III)
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Treasury of Atreus (LH III)
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Treasury of Atreus
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Very late Mycenaean art

• Warrior Vase from Mycenae (LH III 1200)
• Funerary Larnax from Tanagra (in Boeotia, LH III
  after 1300)

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Warrior Vase from Mycenae (LH III 1200)
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A Funerary Larnax from Tanagra
(Larnax sarcophagus, coffin)
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Another larnax from Tanagra