Treasury of Atreus - Mycenae, Greece
N 37° 43.608 E 022° 45.219
34S E 654541 N 4176951
The Treasury of Atreus, also known as the Tomb of Agamemnon, is located in the Prefecture of Argolis, Region of the Peloponnesos, in Greece.
Waymark Code: WM6GA3
Location: Greece
Date Posted: 05/30/2009
Views: 21
From the
Great Buildings website: "This tholos tomb with stone dome, the largest known, was plundered in antiquity. An access passage (dromos), bordered by a peudo-isodome wall, leads to a faade 10.5 metres (34 feet) high. The door opens on to a rotunda, 14.6 metres (48 feet) in diameter and 13.5 metres (44 feet) high, with a masonry domed vault of 33 regular courses; some blocks bore a metal decoration, probably of 'patera' form. This door has a pyramidal shape which is also found in Egypt, and which reappears in classical architecture. The lintel is made up of two enormous blocks; the inner one weighs about 120 tons. The void triangle above it is characteristic of Mycenaean architecture: it serves to deflect the thrusts of the upper part of the building on to the supports of the door...No other Mycenaean building can boast such exact stone cutting, nor such refined proportions; not for another 1,000 years in Greece was such technical perfection put at the service of such a grandiose architectural design." — John Julius Norwich. The World Atlas of Architecture. p135.
The following additional information is from the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list
(visit link): "The archaeological sites of Mycenae and Tiryns are the imposing ruins of the two greatest cities of the Mycenaean civilization, which dominated the eastern Mediterranean world from the 15th to the 12th century B.C. and played a vital role in the development of classical Greek culture. These two cities are indissolubly linked to the Homeric epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey, which have influenced European art and literature for more than three millennia."