GREECE PELOPONNESE ARGOLIS MYCENAE ATREUS

The "Treasury of Atreus" (or "Tomb of Agamemnon") actually is not an ancient treasury but the largest, most famous and best preserved of the tholos tombs in Mycenae (for a more thorough discussion of Mycenaean burial architecture: see here). Due to the precision of the stone cutting and the refined proportions, the tholos is dated to ca. 1250 BC, which makes it one of the latest in Mycenae. This places it remarkably near to the most probable date of the Trojan War and the time of Agamemnon, son of Atreus. It is also known that the tomb was in use for a considerable period, although there is uncertainty about the exact time of its end.

The dromos is 36 m long and 6 m wide, its side walls are made of squared ashlar blocks in horizontal courses and steadily rising to the height of the entrance. At its end is the façade (10.50 x 6.00 m), which once had an elaborately sculptured and painted decoration.

Above left and center: Only the square pillar bases of the once elaborately decorated façade of the stomion are preserved. - Above right: The interior of the stomion where bronze nails held the original doorframe. - Below left: Looking from the thalamos to the stomion. - Below center and right: An inside view of the relieving triangle.

Above left: The inside of the tholos is a circular stone dome (diameter 14.60 m, height 13.50 m), the walls formed by 33 courses of blocks of stones with a length of 1.20 - 2.10 m each and a varying height. The blocks, perfectly joined without mortar, were superimposed in a way that each course slightly projected beyond the one below. Afterwards, the overlap was neatly cut away, producing the smooth, curved inner surface of the tholos that we see today. - Above right: Graffiti on the wall.

Below: A peculiarity of the "Treasury of Atreus", though not unique, is the existence of a side-chamber. This rock-hewn square chamber with a length of 8.20 m and a height of 5.80 m on the northern side of the thalamos is reached via a smaller doorway with a void triangle above it.