01
The Lion Gate
1250 BCE. Two lions have guarded this entrance for 3,300 years. The oldest monumental sculpture in Europe.
UNESCO · Mycenae
Where Homer lives.
The kingdom of Agamemnon. "Mycenae rich in gold", as Homer called it. From here, the Trojan War began.
When Homer wrote about Agamemnon, leader of the Greek armies at Troy, nobody was sure if he had ever existed. Until 1876, when a German merchant named Heinrich Schliemann dug here, and found gold masks, silver cups, and tombs filled with treasures.
"I have gazed upon the face of Agamemnon", he telegraphed the King of Greece. It wasn't Agamemnon — but it was an entire lost civilisation: the Mycenaean, which dominated the Aegean for four centuries before mysteriously vanishing.
What you'll see
Five places to pause.
02
The Treasury of Atreus
A beehive tomb 14 metres high, built with 120-ton stones. How they did it without the wheel, nobody knows.
03
Grave Circle A
Where Schliemann unearthed the "Mask of Agamemnon" — now in the National Archaeological Museum. 5 graves, 19 skeletons, 14 kilos of gold.
04
The palace
At the top of the citadel, with a view across the whole Argolid. Here the king drank, here the queen prayed.
05
The museum
Modern, well-curated. With replicas of the treasures and the real objects of everyday Mycenaean life.
Practical info
The visit.
Getting there
25 minutes' drive. Route through Argos. Parking outside the site, then a short uphill walk.
Hours & tickets
Summer: 8:00 – 20:00
Winter: 8:30 – 15:30
Combined ticket: site + museum + Treasury of Atreus.
Good to know
2-3 hours for the full site. Water & hat. Closed shoes. Go early — after 11am it gets hot.
From the poem to the stones.
From Seferis' Ancient Asini, to Homer's Mycenae. 25 minutes apart.