entrance and an interior room. The Lion Gate of Mycenae (so called from the relief
over its lintel) that forms the entrance to the palace dates from 1250 (see fig. 6) added
a century after the first fortification wall. The lions, clearly a symbol of royalty, have
lost their heads, possibly because they were gilded or made of bronze. The
fortification walls were mighty indeed. They were between 12 and 45 feet thick and
it has been estimated they were as high as 40 feet. Mycenaean culture is generally
thought to have been more warrior-based than the Minoan which flourished primarily
through trade. Certainly no comparable defensive structures have been discovered
on Crete. Nevertheless, remains of Mycenaean pottery are widespread in the
Mediterranean world, indicating that the Mycenaeans, like the Minoans, were great
sailors and traders. The Linear B tablets discovered at Mycenae and other
Mycenaean sites such as those at Pylos, Tiryns and Thebes, also indicate a highly
organized administrative system akin to developments on Crete.
The treasures found by Schliemann in the royal graves at Mycenae which date
from the sixteenth or fifteenth century and include the famous gold face masks (see
fig. 7), bear witness to the opulent beauty of Mycenaean artwork, which was highly
EARLY GREECE: HOMER AND HESIOD 7FIGURE 5 Plan of Nestor’s palace at Pylos
Source:C. Gates, Ancient Cities, second edition (Routledge, 2011), Fig 7.17, p. 136