Chasing The Odyssey- Day 2, Mycenae And The Tomb Of Atreus

As the bus lumbered up the road, I didn’t realize the significance of exactly where we were.  We had just been herded back onto the bus after about an hour at Epidauros and then another hour on the bus.  We were doing some serious bus travel that day…and seeing some of the most legendary sites in Greece….all in one day.

Arriving at Mycenae, I wasn’t really struck by the legends or grandeur I was expecting.  But as we got off the bus, I looked across the valley to where the Citadel of Mycenae had once stood.  There on the hill were the crumbling remains of a society so old, there’s not a lot of information about it.  We know they lived at about the height of the Bronze Age….and legends have formed around the actual people who lived and died in these buildings.  This was once the real citadel of one of the leaders of the Trojan War and ruler of all of Greece at the time (Agamemnon)….who lived in the time of Hector and Odysseus and the legends of the Odyssey.  Keep reading as I take you where legends lived.

The Citadel of Mycenae.  But there is so much more on this ground that we didn’t get to see or has not been fully explored, it’s a bit mind-blowing.  Compare my photo to the next one from Google Earth to see more.

The “Tomb or Treasury” of Atreus is perhaps the finest example of a Tholos (Beehive) Tomb ever found…..it was never buried and has always remained visible.  When the tomb was “officially” discovered by western archeologists in the 1800’s it was empty like it is today, having been emptied by grave robbers sometime in the last thousand years.  However, there were various pillars and sculpted decorations still left; which made their way to private collections of British Lords and the British Museum, where you can see them today.  There are other Beehive Tombs in the Mycenae area, no one knows why they were not hidden further.  As the story goes, some of the other Beehive Tombs were covered and hidden, but the tops of the tombs were always capped with rock.  So people just found the earthen mounds, moved the stones or rocks on top and slid down on ropes to access the tombs….and their riches.

There is speculation that this tomb or treasury may have been so perfect that it was left for travelers and visitors to the city to see as they approached on the main road, allowing them to visualize the grandness of the Mycenae before they even arrived in the city.  As you look at my pictures, you may recognize symbols of Greece or Ancient Greece like the entrance to the Tomb of Atreus and the famous Lions Gate, often featured in media.

Here’s the Tomb of Atreus from my lens:

Mycenae

Known for its famous Lions Gate, Linear B writing and as the home of Agamemnon, Clymenestra and Atreus…this is a city still caught in the mists of time, as not much is really known about it.  Historians and Archeologists say the city was a leading military and economic center that flourished during the late Bronze Age (1600-1100 BC) and the collapse of the Mycenae city-states around 1100 years BC led into the Greek Dark Ages.  The city was known during the time of the Persian Wars (5th century BC) and sent warriors to the Battle of Thermopylae, but the city had already started to collapse.  Wars with neighboring city states, earth quakes, overspending and poor farming led to the downfall of the city.  Even as the city was visited by Greeks in the 2nd Century BC, it was in ruins.

After seeing what I think is one of the most important sites from the middle Bronze Age, we really didn’t have time to process all this, before we boarded the bus and took off to more…..shopping.  That will come with the next post….Greek Independence Day!

So yeah, in one day we had left Athens, took in the Corinth Canal, went to the Sanctuary of Asclepius at Epidauros with the it’s famous theater and then took in the Tomb of Atreus and the Citadel of the Mycenae.  This was a packed day, with more to come.  Keep reading every Saturday,,,,as this is only DAY 2 of the trip.

Thank you for reading our website and blog posts.  We don’t write for ourselves, we write because we travel slow with family and we think you can too!  If you hit the LIKE button for this story and FOLLOW our website, that would be a huge compliment!  

Wanna read other posts I’ve written about this trip? check them out below:

Overview: Chasing The Odyssey, An American Family Visits Greece

Chasing The Odyssey- Day 1, Getting On The Ground In Greece

Chasing The Odyssey- Day 2, The Corinth Canal

Chasing The Odyssey- Day 2, The Sanctuary Of Asclepius At Epidauros

BTW, if you have ever seen the picture of the mask I have below, you have seen one of the death masks found in Grave Circle A (in Mycenae) in the 1800’s by a German Archeologist….who also claims to have found Troy.  This mask is called the Mask of Agamemnon but it actually dates to hundreds of years before he lived (if he really lived).  You can read about it at this LINK and make up your own mind.