Editing Mycenae (section)

===Early archaeological work (1700–1876)===
{{See also|Treasury of Atreus#Excavations}}
In 1700, the Venetian engineer Francesco Vandeyk made the first known correct identification of Mycenae of modern times while surveying the [[Peloponnese]] (known to the Venetians as the 'Morea') under the orders of Francesco Grimani, ''[[Provveditore]]'' of the Venetian armies occupying the region. Vandeyk partially dismantled the debris that was then obscuring the [[Lion Gate]],{{sfn|Gere|2006|p=48}} and identified the tomb now known as the 'Treasury of Atreus', even conjecturing that it was the tomb of a king of Mycenae.{{sfn|Moore|Rowlands|Karadimas|2014|p=4}} During the 18th century, Mycenae was visited only infrequently by tourists, such as the Frenchman Claude-Louis Fourmont, who visited Mycenae in 1729–1730{{sfn|Moore|Rowlands|Karadimas|2014|p=4}} and drew parts of the walls and gates.{{sfn|Gere|2006|p=48}} From 1796, however, [[Italian campaigns of the French Revolutionary Wars#Bonaparte's war|Napoleon's invasion of Italy]] encouraged members of the [[Society of Dilettanti]], whose '[[Grand Tour]]' normally took place in Italy, to find alternative destinations, and members of the society began to include Mycenae on their itineraries: seeing it, in the words of Cathy Gere, as 'the ultimate [[Romanticism|Romantic]] ruin.'{{sfn|Gere|2006|p=50}}

In the early 19th century, local tradition held that the [[Treasury of Atreus]] had been once explored by the ''[[Agha (title)|agha]]'' of the nearby village of Karvati, who took from it a bronze lamp.{{sfn|Smith|1916|p=216}} By this period, more of Mycenae's monuments were visible and known to European visitors. In 1802, the British aristocrat [[Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin]] visited Mycenae looking for antiquities that might be taken back to Britain.{{sfn|Gere|2006|p=51}} While he had originally sought to remove the sculpted relief of the [[Lion Gate]], it proved too large to lift or transport, and so Elgin asked the [[voivode]] of [[Nafplio]] to clear the Treasury of Atreus, from which he removed fragments of pottery vases, ornamental stonework and a marble vase,{{sfn|Gere|2006|p=53}} as well as parts of its sculptural decoration.{{sfn|Smith|1916|p=214}} In June 1810,{{efn|Christos Tsountas, in 1897, wrote that Veli Pasha had 'rifled' the tomb in 1808: it is not known whether he is referring to the same incident.{{sfn|Tsountas|1897|p=131}}}} Veli Pasha, the Ottoman ''[[Pasha]]'' of the [[Morea]], excavated the tomb, clearing most of the entrance, and entered the chamber with ladders; according to [[Heinrich Schliemann]]'s later publication of his own excavations at Mycenae, he discovered 'bones covered with gold', as well as gemstones and other gold and silver objects.{{sfn|Schliemann|1878|p=49}} Veli Pasha removed four large fragments of the [[Engaged column|semi-engaged columns]] beside the doorway, some of which he gave as a gift to [[Howe Browne, 2nd Marquess of Sligo]], who visited him shortly after the excavations.{{sfn|Loughlin|2021|p=47}}{{efn|It is sometimes claimed that Sligo directed or co-directed the removals himself;{{sfn|Gere|2006|p=53}} this is likely to be erroneous, as Sligo arrived in Argolis only after the excavation and his letters make no mention of it.{{sfn|Loughlin|2021|p=47}}}} 

In 1834, the site was surveyed and mapped by French troops.{{sfn|Gere|2006|pp=57-58}} In 1841, [[Kyriakos Pittakis]], working on behalf of the [[Archaeological Society of Athens]], cleared the approach to the [[Lion Gate]] and made a tentative exploration of the [[Tomb of Clytemnestra]].{{sfn|Moore|Rowlands|Karadimas|2014|p=1}}{{sfn|Iakovidis|2005|p=163}}