Mycenae

From New World Encyclopedia
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Archaeological Sites of Mycenae and Tiryns*
UNESCO World Heritage Site

The Lion Gate at Mycenae
State Party Flag of Greece Greece
Type Cultural
Criteria i, ii, iii, iv, vi
Reference 941
Region** Europe and North America
Coordinates 37°43′51″N 22°45′22″E / 37.73083, 22.75611
Inscription history
Inscription 1999  (23rd Session)
* Name as inscribed on World Heritage List.
** Region as classified by UNESCO.

Mycenae (Greek Μυκῆναι), is an archaeological site in Greece, located about 90km south-west of Athens, in the north-eastern Peloponnese. Argos is 6 km to the south; Corinth, 48 km to the north. From the hill on which the palace was located one can see across the Argolid to the Saronic Gulf.

In the second millennium B.C.E. Mycenae was one of the major centres of Greek civilization, a military stronghold which dominated much of southern Greece. The period of Greek history from about 1600 B.C.E. to about 1100 B.C.E. is called Mycenaean in reference to Mycenae.

For a recent authoritative account of discoveries at Mycenae see Elizabeth French, Mycenae: Agamemnon's Capital, Tempus 2002.

Name

The so-called "Tomb of Aegisthus" outside the walls of the citadel

The reconstructed Mycenaean Greek name of the place is Mukanai (long a), which has the form of a plural, like Athanai. The change of a to e is a development of later Attic-Ionic.

Although the citadel was built by Greeks, the name is not thought to be Greek, but is rather one of the many pre-Greek place names inherited by the immigrant Hellenes. John Chadwick said:

"Names such as ... Mukanai ... are certainly derived from one or more unknown languages, previously spoken in Greece."

The pre-Greek language remains unknown, but there is no evidence to rule out a member of the Indo-European superfamily. (See Pelasgian, Minyans)

Prehistory

Neolithic

Only scattered sherds from disturbed debris have been found datable to this period, prior to about 3500 B.C.E. The site was inhabited but the stratigraphy has been destroyed by later construction.

Early Bronze Age