Mykines (Mycenae) - visiting yet another old friend

I didn't have a schedule or itinerary for our stay in the Peleponnese, which turned out to be fortuitous since a recently published article about the overlap of Minoan and Mycenaen culture gave us a new goal.  Having been to Crete and visited half a dozen Minoan site, including three palaces, it only seemed appropriate to revisit the Mycenaen counterparts again.  We are going to leave the analysis and synthesis of what we observed between the two cultures for a separate post, but for now, here are new pictures of the fortified acropolis and palace at Mykines.

The famous Lion's Gate.  As this site was open later for "summer hours" and on a Tuesday (!), later in the afternoon all the tours had departed, and it is possible to get clean photos.

  Or one just with Randall!

It is a bit of a buzzkill, but the first thing you do see upon entering the fortress area is the Grave Circle, but they have done an extensive amount of excavation in this area since we last visited, revealing 12 unique graves.

  The Great Ramp--not ADA compliant.

  The Cult Center

   

The actual palace, although it is more just a poured concrete floor with some foundational walls.  Perhaps the similarities of Minoan and Mykenean sites isn't just with architecture and design, but I am sure Mr. Evans didn't have a hand in this "reconstruction".  We weren't allowed to walk through the area, but here is a rendering of the palace.

  Building Delta.

  House of Columns  

 

 

That classic Mykenean entrance, left from the northeast gate, and right from the bottom of the cistern staircase.

 More STAIRS!!

  View from the acropolis into the valley below, with elevation of House of the Merchant Group, Grave Circle B, and Tholos tombs.  We elected not to wander there again as by this time we had come to the conclusion that low foundation walls without a good site map wasn't as useful.

But here is a site map of the area, for reference.