Greece - Korina Miller [130]
The lavish gold jewellery exhibits on display, including the gold funeral mask once thought to have been that of Agamemnon, are in fact copies (the originals can be found at the National Archaeological Museum in Athens.
Entry to the Citadel of Mycenae is through the dramatic Lion Gate, solidly constructed of massive stone blocks, over which rear two large lionesses. This motif is believed to have been the insignia of the Royal House of Atreus.
Inside the citadel, you will find Grave Circle A on the right as you enter. This was the royal cemetery and contained six grave shafts. Five shafts were excavated by Schliemann between 1874 and 1876, uncovering the famous and magnificent gold treasures, including a well-preserved gold death mask. Fervently, he sent a telegram to the Greek king stating, ‘I have gazed upon the face of Agamemnon’. The mask turned out to be that of an unknown king who had died some 300 years before Agamemnon.
To the south of Grave Circle A are the remains of a group of houses. In one was discovered the famous Warrior Vase, regarded by Schliemann as one of his greatest discoveries because it offered a glimpse of what Mycenae’s legendary warriors looked like.
The main path leads up to Agamemnon’s Palace, centred on the Great Court. The rooms to the north were the private royal apartments. One of these rooms is believed to be the chamber in which Agamemnon was murdered. Access to the throne room, west of the Great Court, would originally have been via a large staircase. On the southeastern side of the palace is the megaron (reception hall).
On the northern boundary of the citadel is the Postern Gate through which, it is said, Orestes escaped after murdering his mother. In the far northeastern corner of the citadel is the secret cistern, which can be explored by torchlight, but take care – the steps are slippery.
Until the late 15th century BC the Mycenaeans put their royal dead into shaft graves. They then devised a new form of burial – the tholos tomb, shaped like a beehive. The approach road to modern Mycenae passes to the right of the best preserved of these, the Treasury of Atreus, or tomb of Agamemnon. A 40m-long passage leads to this immense beehive-shaped chamber. It is built with stone blocks that get steadily smaller as the structure tapers to its central point. Further along the road on the right is Grave Circle B, and nearby are the tholos tombs of Aegisthus and Clytaemnestra.
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AGAMEMNON AFFAIRS
Agamemnon is one of the principal characters in the ‘Iliad’ and crops up regularly in Greek legend. He was the son of Atreus and the king of Mycenae and was later the commander-in-chief of the Greeks during the Trojan War. He and his brother, Menelaus, both married the daughters of the King of Sparta, Clytaemnestra and Helen. According to legend, Paris, the son of the Trojan king, stole away Helen; this was the catalyst for the Trojan War when Agamemnon called on his country’s princes to unite in a war of revenge. Around this time the goddess of hunting, Artemis, also sought revenge from Agamemnon and stalled the departing war ships with adverse winds. To make peace with Artemis, Agamemnon was forced to offer his daughter, Iphigenia, as a sacrifice. When Artemis then set the seas right again, the ships sailed from Aulis for Troy and the 10-year siege of Troy began. During the last year of war Agamemnon had a jealous quarrel with Achilles over the attentions of a captive female. Finally, Agamemnon returned to Argolis victorious with his war spoils, which included Cassandra, the Trojan princess. His victory was shortlived; on his return home he was murdered by his wife and her lover, Aegisthus. Years later Agamemnon’s daughter, Electra, and her brother, Orestes, avenged their father’s death by murdering Aegisthus and Clytaemnestra.
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Sleeping