Mycenae is an amazing archaeological site that is located up
on a hill overlooking a dry Mediterranean valley in the Peloponnese which is a peninsula
in southern Greece. Mycenae is 120 km (75 miles) from Athens and about a half
hour drive from the coastal town of Nafplio (see a subsequent post).
This city was one of the earlier Greek archaeological cities
that experienced its peak between 1600 BC to about 1100 BC when it had more
than 30,000 inhabitants and covered about 32 hectares (about 79 acres). That is
about 3500 years ago and one of the older civilizations in the world with
Egyptian culture going back to 3150 BC and Chinese culture going back to the
Shang Dynasty that ruled from 1700–1046 BC.
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| Greek Poppy (Papaver rhoeas) |
Thinking back to these early centers of human civilization
puts me in awe of their achievements with language, tools, jewelry, and art. But
then I think about some of the Bristlecone pine trees that I have dated that
exceed 4000 years in age (reaching as old as 5000 years). It is amazing that
these individual trees have lived through the entirety of human cultural
development which suggests how short of a time humans have been on this planet
compared to other organisms or compared to the 4.6 billion years of Earth's geologic history.
We stayed at a large hotel called Petite Planete which was a wonderful
place that served great French influenced meals. The hotel was on the road out
to Mycenae and was probably about 20 minutes walking distance from the
archaeological site.
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| White African Daisy (Osteospermum Ecklonis) |
We spoke with an English tour guide who was actually on
vacation himself. He was telling us of times past when this hotel (which could
easily seat 100 people for a meal) was usually full with tourists coming to
tour Mycenae. The tourists would tend to spend a night or at least stop for
lunch. Now tour companies have developed
larger tour buses that can travel the country roads faster and most tourists
will take a partial day tour out of Athens to come to Mycenae for a few hours.
With this massive transport of most tourists in and out of Athens, local business
has fallen off and the hotel only had about four different couples of guests.
We took a walk on the evening that we arrived and enjoyed
the olive and orange trees scattered across the landscape. Once we got to a
higher vantage point we could tell that the entire landscape was spotted with
cultivated trees throughout the valley.
It was a good time of year to visit, because the orange
trees were in blossom sending their fragrant scents abroad on the air.
Wildflowers abounded across the landscape painting the area in bright red,
yellow, and purple colors.
On our walk, we could see the old structures of Mycenae on a
hill in the distance and it was hard to wait until the next day to go up and
see the archaeological site.
The ruins of Mycenae are famous for the Lions Gate which is
the main entrance to the ruins. The marble sculpture of two lions makes the
center piece to the entrance way.
The ruins were surrounded with thick defensive walls. Some
of the walls were about 20 feet thick with a few back doors hidden among the
rocks.
The archaeological site maintained a water supply through a
couple of cisterns that caught rainwater and stored it for the cities use.
In AD 1876 Heinrich Schliemann uncovered a tomb whose
occupant had a golden mask. Schliemann believed this to be the burial of Agamemnon
but later archaeological work dates this grave at 1550 to 1500 BC which
predates the life of Agamemnon, but the mask still holds that name.
Schliemann was a German businessman who was
an early amateur archaeologist that was a pioneer in the field. He believed in
the historical accuracy of Homer’s tales and excavated in Hissarlik in Turkey which
is thought to be the city of Troy and in Mycenae looking for evidence of archaeological
finds supporting the historical accuracy of Homer's Iliad and Virgil's Aeneid.
Some of his techniques were a bit brutish such as dynamiting his way through
nine archaeological levels at the site of Hissarlik including what was later
thought to be the true archaeological units of the city of Troy. Schliemann was
one of the earliest archaeologists and I can attest that the techniques of
excavation improved considerably since his time.
Other circular burial mounds existed around the site as well.
This one was near the museum and when it was complete, you could walk out of
the bottom portion of the mound.
The artifacts found at Mycenae demonstrate the wide range of
trade conducted at this site with artifacts coming from areas all along the
Mediterranean and as far away as the modern day United Kingdom.
I was most impressed with the extent of writing and language
that the Mycenae culture had 3500 years ago. Many of these tablets show bits of
writing.
The beads were carved with fine artwork.
There were many human form artifacts that were found on the
site including some articulated models or dolls.
Mycenae was at its height during the bronze age and many axe
heads, swords, and other metal implements were found in the ruins.
Overall, I was amazed at the level of cultural development
at Mycenae but in retrospect I can put that in perspective of other natural
phenomena like the life of trees that grow to 4000 years in age, clams that can
live to be 400 years old, or the age of the earth at 4.6 billion years. Humans
have spent such a short time on the planet and our cultural development has
been so recent; it is interesting that we now grapple with the issue of using up the resource that our society depends upon and we can measure the changes that we have made to the Earth's climate.
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| Purple Salsify (Tragopogon porrifolius) |
