Mycenae

The Mycenae

The period of Greek history from about 1600 BC to about 1100 BC is called Mycenean in recognition of Mycenae's leading position.

In the second millennium BC Mycenae was one of the major centres of Greek civilization, a military stronghold which dominated much of southern Greece. in Greece, the site is located about 90km south-west of Athens, in the north-eastern Peloponnese.
1500 BC The acropolis or "high city" of Mycenae is believed to have been fortified, as evidenced by grave-shafts dating from that period.

1350 BC the fortifications on the acropolis, and other surrounding hills, were rebuilt in a style known as "cyclopaean," because the blocks of stone used were so massive that they were thought in later ages to be the work of the one-eyed giants known as Cyclops. Within these walls, parts of which can still be seen, monumental palaces were built.

1250 BC The best known feature of Mycenae is the Lion Gate, which was built in a thriving city extended as far as Crete, Pylos in the western Peloponnese, and to Athens and Thebes.

1200 BC, The Dorian invasion of Greeks from the north, although some historians now doubt that such an invasion took place. Mycenaean dominance collapsed.
In inscription an invasion of Egypt in the fifth year of Merneptah's reign (1208 BCE) the chief of Lybia had allied himself with foreign troops. Pharoh Merneptah states that he defeated the invasion, killing 6,000 soldiers and taking 9,000 prisoners. The Sea Peoples, seafaring raiders who around 1200 BC sailed into the eastern shores of the Mediterranean attempted enter Egyptian territory of Ramesses III. The Sea Peoples were related to the Egyptian dynasty over Canaan and settled in Crete as mercenaries for the Egyptian guard in the days of Rameses II; the Denyen during the reign of Amenhotep III. The abrupt ends of several civilizations in the decades traditionally dated around 1175 BC after the solar eclipse marks the return of Odysseus, legendary King of Ithaca, to his kingdom after the Trojan War. Civil war to and rivalling claims to the throne, combined with the external threat of the Sea Peoples of Acre weakened the Hittites and by 1160 BC, the Empire had collapsed. A few states such as Byblos and Sidon managed to survive the Sea Peoples' invasions. Ramesses III successors ruled a small empire from Carchemish which stretched from Southeast Asia Minor, North Syria...[to] the west bend of the Euphrates from c.1175 BC to 990 BC.
Mycenae during the early period, was once again inhabited, though it never regained its earlier importance. Mycenaeans fought at Thermopylae and Plataea during the Persian Wars. In 468 BC, however, troops from Argos captured Mycenae and expelled the inhabitants. In Hellenistic and Roman times, the ruins at Mycenae were a tourist attraction (just as they are now). A sl town grew up to serve the tourist trade. By late Roman times, however, the site had been abandoned.

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