Editing Mycenae (section)

===Late Bronze Age===
[[File:Mycenae ruins dsc06390.jpg|thumb|View from the [[acropolis]], or high city]]

In the absence of documents and objects that can be precisely dated, events at Mycenae can be dated only relatively within the constraints of [[Helladic chronology]], which relies on categorisation of stratified material objects, mainly pottery, within an agreed historical framework. Mycenae developed into a major power during LHI (c. 1550 – c. 1450 BC) and is believed to have become the main centre of Aegean civilisation through the fifteenth century to the extent that the two hundred years from c. 1400 BC to c. 1200 BC (encompassing LHIIIA and LHIIIB) are known as the Mycenaean Age. The Minoan hegemony ended c. 1450 and there is evidence that Knossos was occupied by Mycenaeans until it too was destroyed c. 1370 BC. From then on, Mycenaean expansion throughout the Aegean was unhindered until the massive disruption of society in the first half of the twelfth century (LHIIIC), which ended Mycenaean civilisation and culminated in the destruction of Mycenae itself c. 1150 BC.

====Late Helladic I (LHI; c. 1550–c. 1450 BC)====
Outside the partial circuit wall, [[Grave Circle B, Mycenae|Grave Circle B]], named for its enclosing wall, contained ten cist graves in Middle Helladic style and several shaft graves, sunk more deeply, with interments resting in cists. Richer grave goods mark the burials as possibly regal. Mounds over the top contained broken drinking vessels and bones from a repast, testifying to a more than ordinary farewell.<ref>{{harvnb|Velikovsky|1999|loc=Edwin M. Schorr, [http://www.varchive.org/schorr/use.htm "Applying the Revised Chronology: Later Use of Grave Circles"]}}.</ref> [[Stele|Stelae]] surmounted the mounds.<ref>{{harvnb|Komita|1982|pp=59–60}}.</ref>

A walled enclosure, [[Grave Circle A, Mycenae|Grave Circle A]], included six more shaft graves, with nine female, eight male, and two juvenile interments. Grave goods were more costly than in Circle B. The presence of engraved and inlaid [[Bronze Age sword|sword]]s and [[dagger]]s, with spear points and arrowheads, leaves little doubt that warrior [[Paramount chief|chieftain]]s and their families were buried here. Some art objects obtained from the graves are the [[Silver Siege Rhyton]], the [[Mask of Agamemnon]], the [[Nestor's Cup (Mycenae)|Cup of Nestor]] and weapons both [[votive]] and practical. The chemical compositions of the silver objects indicate that the silver was sourced from several locations.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.11141/ia.56.9|title=Sending Laurion Back to the Future: Bronze Age Silver and the Source of Confusion|last1=Wood|first1=J. R.|last2=Hsu|first2=Y-T.|last3=Bell|first3=C.|journal=[[Internet Archaeology]]|year=2021|volume=56| issue=9 | s2cid=236973111 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

[[File:Replicas of Mycenaean swords and cups.jpg|thumb|Museum replicas of Mycenaean swords and cups]]

====Late Helladic II (LHII; c. 1450–c. 1400 BC)====
[[Alan Wace]] divided the nine [[beehive tomb|tholos]] tombs of Mycenae into three groups of three, each based on architecture. His earliest – the Cyclopean Tomb, Epano Phournos, and the [[Tomb of Aegisthus]] – are dated to LHIIA.

Burial in tholoi is seen as replacing burial in shaft graves. The care taken to preserve the shaft graves testifies that they were by then part of the royal heritage, the tombs of the ancestral heroes. Being more visible, all the tholoi had been plundered either in antiquity or in later historic times.

====Late Helladic III (LHIII; c. 1400–c. 1050 BC)====
At a conventional date of 1350 BC, the [[Fortifications of Mycenae|fortifications on the acropolis]] and other surrounding hills were rebuilt in a style known as [[Cyclopean]] because the blocks of stone used were so massive that they were thought in later ages to be the work of the one-eyed giants known as the [[Cyclopes]].<ref>{{harvnb|French|2002|p=56}}.</ref> Within these walls, much of which can still be seen, successive monumental palaces were built. The final palace, remains of which are currently visible on the acropolis of Mycenae, dates to the start of LHIIIA:2. Earlier palaces must have existed but they had been cleared away or built over.

The construction of palaces at that time with a similar architecture was general throughout southern Greece. They all featured a [[megaron]], or throne room, with a raised central hearth under an opening in the roof, which was supported by four columns in a square around the hearth. A throne was placed against the center of a wall to the side of the hearth, allowing an unobstructed view of the ruler from the entrance. [[Fresco]]s adorned the plaster walls and floor.

{{multiple image
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| image1 = Mykene.Treasure.of.Atreus.tholos.jpg
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| image2 = Mycenae - Tomb of Clytemnestra.jpg
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| footer = Examples of [[Beehive tombs|tholos]], outside the citadel of Mycenae: [[tomb of Clytemnestra]], outside view (left), [[Treasury of Atreus]], inside view (right) .
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The room was accessed from a courtyard with a columned portico. A grand staircase led from a terrace below to the courtyard on the acropolis.

In the temple built within the citadel, a [[Scarab (artifact)|scarab]] of [[Tiye|Queen Tiye]] of [[Ancient Egypt|Egypt]], who was married to [[Amenhotep III]], was placed in the Room of the Idols alongside at least one statue of either LHIIIA:2 or B:1 type. Amenhotep III's relations with ''m-w-k-i-n-u'', *Mukana, have corroboration from the inscription at Kom al-Hetan - but Amenhotep's reign is thought to align with late LHIIIA:1. It is likely that Amenhotep's herald presented the scarab to an earlier generation, which then found the resources to rebuild the citadel as Cyclopean and then, to move the scarab here.

Wace's second group of tholoi are dated between LHIIA and LHIIIB: Kato Phournos, Panagia Tholos, and the Lion Tomb. The final group, Group III: the [[Treasury of Atreus]], the Tomb of Clytemnestra and the Tomb of the Genii, are dated to LHIIIB by a sherd under the threshold of the Treasury of Atreus, the largest of the nine tombs. Like the Treasury of [[Minyas (mythology)|Minyas]] at [[Orchomenus (Boeotia)|Orchomenus]] the tomb had been looted of its contents and its nature as funerary monument had been forgotten. The structure bore the traditional name of "Treasury".

[[File:Lion Gate Mycenes OLC.jpg|thumb|The Lion Gate (detail); two [[confronted-animals|lions]] or lionesses flank the central column, whose significance is much debated.<ref>An older view that it represents a goddess, now generally discounted, is to be found in W.K.C. Guthrie, in ''The Cambridge Ancient History'' (1975) Volume I, Part II, p. 864: "A frequent design on engraved Cretan [[engraved gem|gems]] is of the type made famous by the Lion Gate at Mycenae, a single upright pillar, flanked by a pair of guardian animals. Sometimes the same arrangement is preserved, but the anthropomorphic figure of a god or goddess takes the place of a pillar" (illustrations from Nilsson). More recent discussions of its symbolism can be found in James C. Wright, "The Spatial Configuration of Belief: The Archaeology of Mycenaean Religion" in S.E. Alcock and Robin Osborne (eds.), ''Placing the Gods'', Oxford University Press, 1996, pp. 37–78. Here Wright suggests that the pillar represents the palace which in turn represents the state.</ref>]]
[[File:Mykene BW 2017-10-10 13-23-40.jpg|thumb|Cyclopean masonry, rear side of the [[Lion Gate]]]]

The pottery phases on which the relative dating scheme is based (EH, MH, LH, etc.) do not allow very precise dating, even augmented by the few existing C-14 dates due to the tolerance inherent in these. The sequence of further construction at Mycenae is approximately as follows. In the middle of LHIIIB, around 1250 BC or so, the [[Cyclopean masonry|Cyclopean]] wall was extended on the west slope to include Grave Circle A.<ref>{{harvnb|Castleden|2005|pp=95–96}}; {{harvnb|French|2002}}; {{harvnb|Luce|1975|loc=p. 35: "The Lion Gate provides further testimony to the power of the Pelopids, for Mylonas appears to have shown conclusively that it dates from c. 1250. With the stretch of Cyclopean wall enclosing Grave Circle A it represents the climax of military and monumental construction."}}</ref> The main entrance through the circuit wall was made grand by the best known feature of Mycenae, the [[Lion Gate]], through which passed a stepped ramp leading past circle A and up to the palace. The Lion Gate was constructed in the form of a "Relieving Triangle" in order to support the weight of the stones. An undecorated postern gate also was constructed through the north wall.

One of the few groups of excavated houses in the city outside the walls lies beyond Grave Circle B and belongs to the same period. The House of Shields, the House of the Oil Merchant, the House of the Sphinxes, and the West House. These may have been both residences and workshops.

The largest stones including the lintels and gate jambs weighed well over 20 tonnes; some may have been close to 100 tonnes.<ref>{{harvnb|Scarre|1999}}.</ref>

Somewhat later, toward the end of LHIIIB around 1200 BC, another, final extension to the citadel was undertaken.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/artifact?name=Mycenae,+Citadel&object=Building|title=Mycenae, Citadel (Building)|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu|access-date=2018-07-07}}</ref> The wall was extended again on the northeast, with a sally port and also a secret passage through and under the wall, of corbelled construction, leading downwards by some 99 steps to a [[cistern]] carved out of rock 15 m below the surface. It was fed by a tunnel from a spring on more distant higher ground.

Already in LHIIIA:1, Egypt knew *Mukana by name as a capital city on the level of Thebes and Knossos. During LHIIIB, Mycenae's political, military and economic influence likely extended as far as [[Crete]], [[Pylos]] in the western Peloponnese, and to [[Athens]] and [[Thebes (Greece)|Thebes]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lesson 28: Narrative – Aegean Prehistoric Archaeology |url=https://sites.dartmouth.edu/aegean-prehistory/lessons/lesson-28-narrative/ |access-date=2022-09-15 |website=sites.dartmouth.edu}}</ref>