Mycenaean Civilization

Location
• Mycenae was a city in
ancient Greece, located
10km north of agros in the
southern peninsula
• The Mycenaean civilization
flourished during the period roughly
between 1600 BC,
• It perished with the collapse of
bronze age civilization in the eastern
Mediterranean.
• The major Mycenaean cities
were Mycenae and Tiryns in
Argolis, Pylos in Messenia, Athens in
Attica, Thebes and Orchomenus in
Boeotia, and Iolkos in Thessaly.
Architecture
• The style of architecture used by the Mycenaeans in their cities developed during the
Early Mycenaean period.
• The plan and layout of the Bronze Age cities on the mainland resemble the “palaces”
of Crete in many ways, however, the Mycenaeans did develop their own style over the
following centuries.
• Architecture of the heroic age in southern Greece from the 17th to 13th century B.C.
Exemplified in the earliest phase by shaft graves cut into the sloping rock, with
sidewalls of stone masonry and a timber roof;
• In the middle period by monumental beehive tombs constructed of superimposed
layers of enormous stone blocks progressively projecting to create a parabolic
corbeled vault, with a stone-faced, inclined access passage leading to the entrance
composed of upward-slanting jambs and a heavy stone lintel supporting a
characteristic Mycenaean relief triangle
• In the late period by fortified palaces having Cyclopean walls, underground passages
with corbeled vaults, postern gates, and cisterns, laid out on an irregular ground plan,
with distinctive propylaea, one or more unconnected columnar halls with porches
facing individual courts, and long corridors linking auxiliary and storage rooms.
 Fortifications
• The principal Mycenaean towns were well
fortified. against a large hill as in Mycenae, or on
the coastal plain, like Gla or Pylos.
• Besides the citadels, there are also isolated forts
that undoubtedly served to militarily control
territory.
• Mycenaean walls were often made in a fashion
called cyclopean, which means that they were
constructed of large, unworked boulders up to
eight meters (26 ft) thick, loosely fitted without the
clay mortar of the day.
• Different types of entrances or exits can be seen:
for emonumental gates, access ramps, hidden
doors, and vaulted galleries scaping in case of a
siege. Fear of attack meant that the chosen site
must have a cistern or well at its disposal.
The graves of the bronze age
• Two sets of graves found in the soil of Mycenae have
given a fascinating glimpse of the wealth and artistic
accomplishments of this city.
• The graves in each were enclosed within a circular
wall. The older set, tentatively dated between 1700
and 1600 B.C., was outside the walls that surround the
citadel of Mycenae
• There were wealthy Greeks, perhaps from a royal
family or clan. Alongside the bodies, the surviving
relatives had deposited various offerings, for example,
a golden rattle in a child's grave.
• The second set of graves, inside the citadel walls, far
surpassed the older ones in wealth. Their contents
include such stunning luxuries as three masks of gold
foil that were pressed on the faces of the dead and a
complete burial suit of gold foil wrapped around a
child, as well as swords, knives, daggers, and hundreds
of gold ornaments.
 Tombs
• The tombs of the Mycenaeans are famous for
their unique construction and, of course, the
amazing riches that were found in many of
them.
• The first style of tomb popular on the
mainland was the shaft grave. Two well
preserved examples from Mycenae are known
as Grave Circle A and Grave Circle B. Both
were communal graves, the first held 19
skeletons and the second, 24. The spectrum of
ages represented in each suggest common
family burials. Both contained many fine
examples of Early Mycenaean art pieces,
including the now infamous Mask of
Agamemnon.
• The tholos tomb became popular for the burials of entire
royal families later in the Mycenaean period.
• These tombs are known throughout Greece during the
Bronze Age and are easily recognized by their bee-hive
shape created by corbel vaulting of a round building. The
most famous of these tholos tombs by far is the so-
called Treasury of Atreus discovered by Heinrich
Schliemann.
• These tholos tombs were entered through a dromos, or
entrance passage.
• Dimensions :
• At the Treasury of Atreus, this dromos is of monumental
proportions, 6m wide and 36m long. The dome of the
tholos is equally impressive, 14.6m in diameter and
13.5m to the top of the dome.
• The stone work of the interior is very refined for the
period, with a smooth surface of limestone.
 Corbel vaulting
• Many of the Mycenaean constructions utilized stone
blocks of an enormous size. Some of the blocks are the
size of a small truck.

• This technique can be used to span arched corridors

and circular domes in buildings and is often used to
lighten the weight above doorways. The corbel vault is
created by arranging courses of stones with each
successive course projecting slightly more into the
space, until a single stone can be placed over the top
of the triangular arch.

• The tunnel at Mycenae leading to the “secret spring”

and the tholos tombs of the Mycenaeans are the most
recognizable uses of corbel vaulting.
Lion gate
•The Lion Gate of Mycenae was the entrance to the city. Atop the
gate, two lions rampant are carved in stone relief. Similar bas-
reliefs of two lions rampant facing each other are found in a
number of places in Phrygia in Asia Minor.

•The gate was about 10 feet wide and 10 feet high; the carved
stone with the lions is about three feet high. It forms what is called
a "relieving triangle", because the carved slab weighs much less
than the stones to the right and left; this reduced pressure on the
lintel block below it. That block weighs two tons or so. The door
was made up of two wooden leaves opening inward.

•The lions originally had heads made of metal, but they have long
since disappeared. The column the two lions stand beside perhaps
represented the god of the royal house; the lions served to guard
the entrance.
 The Megaron
• The megaron is the great hall of the Grecian palace complexes.
• It was a rectangular hall, fronted by an open, two-columned porch, and a more or
less central, open hearth vented though an oculus in the roof above it and
surrounded by four columns.
• It was used for poetry, feasts, worship, sacrifice, formal royal functions, councils,
and is said to be where guests of the king would stay during their visits
• Originally it was very colourful — made with the Minoan architectural order, the
insides made of fired brick and a wooden roof supported on beams.
• The rooftop was tiled with ceramic and terracotta tiles.
• The Megaron creates the notion of special approach and axis and thus is
considered to be the predecessor of all orders in architectural theory
The Megaron
 Mycenaean palaces
• The palaces of the mainland Mycenaeans are sprawling
buildings usually located at the center of the fortified citadel.
• Mycenaean palaces were built around great halls called
megaron rather than around an open space as in Crete.
• The best examples of the Mycenaean palace are seen in the
excavations at Mycenae, Tiryns and Pylos.
• Within the palace complex residential space, storerooms
and workshops were arranged around the central megaron,
considered to function as the audience chamber for the
royals. Most were probably two-storied, but in all cases the
second story has not survived and must be hypothesized from
stairways.
• The plan of the palace varies a great deal from site to site,
but they all share the megaron as their central feature
• This plan features two megarons suggesting a public
audience chamber as well as one reserved for more
important visitors and family.
Palace of tyrins
•The city of Tiryns, situated on a ridge in the plain between
Nauplion and Mycenae, has been inhabited since the Neolithic
Age but attained its greatest splendour in the late Mycenaean
period (c. 1400-1200 BCE).
•The bluff on which it stood was only 18 m (59 ft) higher than the
surrounding plain, which in ancient times was a salt march.
• The palace on the summit of the citadel was excavated (1884-
85) by the German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann and until
the later discoveries in Crete was considered the most complete
example of the home of a prehistoric king in the Aegean area.
• It includes entrance gates, paved courts, large halls, vestibules,
smaller rooms, and a bath.
• It was apparently built by stages; the complex of buildings
representing both earlier and later palaces. Tiryns survived into
the classical period but was destroyed by Argos about 468 BCE.
•Tiryns survived into the classical period but was destroyed by
Argos about 468 BCE.
Knossos palace
•Labyrinth, or Knossos Palace, is the largest Bronze Age archaeological
site on Crete and probably the ceremonial and political centre of the
Minoan civilization and culture
•. The palace appears as a maze of workrooms, living spaces, and
store rooms close to a central square. Detailed images of Cretan life in
the late Bronze Age are provided by images on the walls of this palace
•. It is also a tourist destination today, as it is near the main city of
Heraklion and has been substantially restored by archaeologist Arthur
Evans.
•The palace has an interesting layout. The 1,300 rooms are connected
with corridors of varying sizes and direction, which is different than
other palaces of the time period which connected the rooms via
several main hallways.
• The 6 acres (24,000 m2) of the palace included a theatre, a main
entrance on each of its four cardinal faces, and extensive storerooms
(also called magazines).
•The 6 acres (24,000 m2) of the palace included a theatre, a main entrance on each of its four cardinal faces,
and extensive storerooms (also called magazines).
•The storerooms contained pithoi (large clay vases) that held oil, grains, dried fish, beans, and olives.
•Many of the items were created at the palace itself, which had grain mills, oil presses, and wine presses.
•Beneath the pithoi were stone holes used to store more valuable objects, such as gold.
• The palace used advanced architectural techniques: for example, part of it was built up to five stories high
The compartments in the floor were for grain and produce.
• An alternative explanation for these compartments is that they were catch basins for the contents of the
pithoi if one should break or leak. It would be very hazardous to store grain or produce in the floor of a
magazine, the main purpose of which was to hold giant vases of liquids.
Palace of pylos
• The most thoroughly excavated
palace is that of Pylos, the fable
home of King Nestor. The site is one
of the few Mycenaean cities that
was undamaged by later settlement
on the site, so modern excavations
have been quite fruitful.
• The information recovered from
Pylos reveals the high level of
decoration that occurred in
Mycenaean palaces.
• The walls, floors and ceilings of the
megaron were covered in frescoes
of bright colors.
• the residential suites on the ground
floor were quite spacious,
Citadel and fortifications

• The citadel of Mycenae was probably the greatest and the largest of all the
Mycenaean cities.
• Located on the top of a hill, the city was meant to take the fullest advantage of
the natural defenses.
• The fortified wall surrounding the city was built up in progressive stages with
the last section completed only a short time before the city was abandoned.
• The city walls were immense, incredibly thick, and consisting of several ton
boulders
 Reason of its collapse
• Around 1100 BC, the Mycenaean civilization collapsed.
Numerous cities were sacked, and the region entered what
historians describe as a dark age for its lack of inscriptions, with
some Mycenaeans fleeing to Cyprus as well as other Greek
islands and coastal parts of Anatolia.
• During this period, Greece experienced
decreasing population and the limited literacy, connected with
bureaucrats of palace culture, disappeared.
• Alternate theories for the decline also include natural disasters
such as a series of earthquakes or large-scale drought, although
these recent theories are more controversial.