This is probably the busiest archaeological site on the Peloponnese due to the number of day trippers that arrive here from Athens. Therefore, you might want to get to the site as early as you can. In the summer months it will also be far cooler in the morning as the site doesn’t have much shelter from the sun. Mycenae is associated with the House of Atreus or The Atreids as they’re also called. This family’s internecine rivalries were written about by Sophocles, Homer, and Euripides amongst others and historians do now believe they were a real family. The site of Mycenae dates from around the middle of the 2nd Millennium BC and comprises the main site with its cyclopean walls surrounding the acropolis, Royal Palace, and temples as well as other tombs, merchants’ houses, and the Treasury of Atreus.
On the way up to the main site containing the acropolis, do not miss the Treasury of Atreus on the left-hand side of the road. This is the finest example of a Mycenaean Tholos tomb (a tholos had a domed roof and is a circular room that served as the funerary chamber) in the area around the acropolis of Mycenae. The tholos has 33 rings of ashlar blocks, each fitted perfectly so that they project beyond the edge of the block below. The entrance path has cyclopean walls on either side which are impressive and perfectly preserved. The tombs of Clytemnestra and Aegisthus at the main site are not as impressive and neither is The Lion Tholos Tomb. The Treasury of Atreus dates from the mid-13th Century BC and so was built four centuries before the likely time of the Trojan War. Visitors can buy their entrance tickets for the main site here.
Tantalus founded the House of Atreus. He prepared a meal for the Gods and included his son Pelops in the stew. Only Demeter ate part of Pelops, his shoulder, the rest of the Gods were revulsed by what Tantalus had done. Zeus killed Tantalus and he was condemned to suffer an unquenchable thirst for eternity in the afterlife. Pelops was brought back to life and was given a new shoulder made from ivory. Pelops became a great king ruling over most of what is called The Peloponnese.
Menelaus and Agamemnon were the grandsons of Pelops. Agamemnon became king of Mycenae. When Menelaus’s wife Helen was abducted to Troy by Paris, Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia to ensure a smooth passage across the sea for his army. His wife Clytemnestra was not pleased about this and began an affair with Aegisthus when Agamemnon was away. When Agamemnon returned with his concubine Cassandra, Clytemnestra waited until a banquet was prepared for his return. Agamemnon had a bath and after he got out of the bath, Clytemnestra gave him a robe without an opening for the head. Whilst he was tangled in the robe, Clytemnestra and / or Aegisthus murdered him. They also attacked Cassandra and her entourage.
