And You Thought The Parthenon Was Old...

If you've seen The Clash of the Titans, you have certainly heard of Perseus: son of Zeus and Danae, killer of Medusa.... and? How about founder of a city that tested and advanced the culture of Greece, centuries before the years of the Parthenon, Socrates, and all those other things we know and love?

The city of Perseus is Mycenae, located on a steep slope above the plains of Argos. Its inhabitants cereated a culture that became synonymous with Greek culture for hundreds of years.

The site of Mycenae that we visited, that is to say, the site as it is now, is of course ruins - however, enough of the site exists that we found ourselves marvelling at the sheer achievement of the thing - the rocks seem too huge, the engineering too advanced, the art too, well, frankly, beautiful, to have existed two thousand years or so before Christ.

As I mention, the stone used for the city is HUGE. Take, for example, the Lion's Gate. This is the gate of the ancient city, and it still sits above the archway today. The lions engraved on it are still perfectly visible - when one takes into consideration that the Parthenon's art must be imagined to some extent to make it real to the visitor, this is amazing! The gate is there - it has been for millenia. It is only one of the things that gives the city of Mycenae the permanence that we felt.

The rocks used to build the city were so huge that the people couldn't believe that humans could have done it - instead, they believed that Perseus engaged the services of the Cyclopes - to this day, the city of Mycenae is called "cyclopean"

Besides the sheer size of the place, we were amazed at the location chosen for the city - Mycenae is located on a very sheer, rocky slope - a mountain, basically. We could see for what seemed like a hundred miles in every direction in front of the city. Behind the city are more mountains - providing protection from that direction. In all the others, an army could be seen for tens of miles, enabling the inhabitants of Mycenae to escape via small exits (seen above) or to prepare for battle.

Aside from all of that, the inhabitants of the city realized that water was a basic necessity for their survival - to this end, they dug cisterns, one of which provided an endless supply of water for the whole city. This was located deep within the city walls, to be protected to the end - I would show you a picture of it, but it was pretty dark in there, and I chickened out - however, this is the entrance.

After we visited the site, we went to the museum on-site, to see the art and daily living information. I was not allowed to take pictures, but I can tell you it is well worth the trip. We saw what we called the first "Barbie" doll - a plaything that had hinged knees and arms; clothing; pottery; money - things you probably never thought about having existed 3000 years ago.

The Archaeological site is not the only thing to see at Mycenae - there is also the massive Tomb of Agamemnon, also known as teh Treasury of Atreus.

This is another huge work - the lintel (the stone over the doorframe) weighs 120 tons! That is four times the size of the stones used in the pyramids - nobody knows how they moved it there - perhaps there really were Cyclopes!

We left Mycenae, headed for Nafplio, feeling more than a little humbled about what we had just seen. We had walked in the footsteps of an ancient civilization that most of us had never heard of; we got a glimpse into a life that existed 3000 years ago - it was easy to envision as we walked the pathways and through the footprints of houses. Mycenae made us really feel a connection to Greece itself; for the first time, the land, not just the culture we already knew about. It made us feel one with the very ground we are lucky enough to walk.