Key sites- Mycenae

MYCENAE

Mycenae, started in around 1,650 bce and was at its peak in 1,400- 1,200 bce. the greeks believed that perseus founded mycenae, and cyclopes built the walls. i mean none of that happened but yk.

Mycenae was vv famous. mythologically, a few centuries after its founding, it was ruled by king agamemnon, who fought in the trojan war. i mean he didn't actually exist so yk

a LOT of treasure was found in mycenae. by shliemann- we don't rlly trust schliemann but he's a meme and a vibe and makes the coursework 2000x more interesting. 

 mycenae is built on a hill, so it was a citadel- a city built on a hill and defended by walls. its perimeter is 900 m which is small. 

sally ports defended mycenae. they were maybe secret passages that defenders of the city would run out of and attack the attackers!!!

but they weren't secret bc the enemy could see them. and the passage is only 2.5 m wide. how defense-y they really were is a ✨mystery lost in time✨

corbelling- it was a technique used to 'span the gap' in the sally ports. bigger and bigger blocks of stone would be put on top of each other until the gap was closed. i'm putting an image in bc my explanation is dodgy

passsage that leads to underground cistern- so there were passages 18m under ground level (their ceilings used corbelling btw!!) and there were clay pipes in the roof that carried water from a natural spring near the city. this was in case the city ever went under siege, the mycenaeas would still have water.

 mycenaean walls- the original mycenaean walls were built around the city in around 1350 bce. not much of them is left today, at all

in 1200 bce the original walls were expanded and were like 900 m perimeter. the greeks later thought that a cyclops built them because the bricks used were like 2000 tonnes and rlly rlly big. the mycenaeans had used ramps and rollers, and the greeks had not considered that.

the walls were made of limestone, mortar, earth and rubble. 

- the lion gate

was the…