Tombs of Tholos from Mycenae

Tholos tomb in Mycenae: The so-called "treasure house of Atreus"

The Tholos graves of Mycenae are a characteristic grave form of round graves of the late Helladic period in Mycenae and the surrounding area. The nine graves were built over a period of around 300 years and underwent drastic changes in location, shape and design over the course of the epochs, which went hand in hand with a change in their meaning for the living.

The archaeologist Alan Wace divided the Tholos tombs into three groups:

• 1st group (SH II A early - SH II A; 1500 - 1470 BC):
  • Epano Phournos tomb
  • Cyclopean tomb
  • Tomb of Aigisthus

• 2nd group (SH II AB; 1460 - 1400 BC):
  • Tomb of Kato Phournos
  • Lions tomb
  • Panagia Tholos

• 3rd group (SH III B; 1300 - 1220 BC):
  • Grave of geniuses
  • Treasury of Atreus
  • Tomb of Clytaimnestra

literature

• Alan Wace, Leicester Bodine Holland: Excavations at Mycenae. The Tholos tombs . In: The Annual of the British School at Athens . tape 25 , 1923, pp. 283-402 , doi : 10.1017 / S0068245400010352 .
• George E. Mylonas : Mycenae. A guide to its ruins and history. Ekdotike Athenon, Athens 1993, ISBN 960-213-213-2 .
• Diamantis Panagiotopoulos: Semata - On the location and semantics of monumental grave structures in Mycenae. In: Christoph Kümmel, Beat Schweizer, Ulrich Veit (Eds.): Body staging, collection of objects, monumentalization. Dead ritual and grave cult in early societies. Archaeological sources from a cultural-scientific perspective. Waxmann, Münster 2008, pp. 107–123 ( archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de PDF).