Tiryns

Τίρυνς

Greece · Peloponnese, Argolis

PalaceExcavation ongoingUNESCO · 1999
Approximate period1,600 BCE — 1,100 BCELate Bronze Age; main Mycenaean phase, approximate See on the map ↓

In brief

Tiryns is a Mycenaean palatial center on the Argolid plain, known for its walls built from large stone blocks. Excavations investigate the development of palatial society and earlier settlement phases.

What was found?

  • 1Mycenaean palace and megaron

    Palace remains including a large reception hall connected to courtyards. They show that administration, reception ceremonies and religious practices came together around the palace.

  • 2Cyclopean walls

    Defensive walls built of large stone blocks and expanded in stages. They reveal the organization and construction knowledge required to build monumental defenses.

  • 3Corbel-vaulted galleries

    Corridors and rooms within the walls, roofed by progressively projecting courses of stone inward. According to researchers, the connected rooms were probably used for storage.

  • 4Palace wall paintings

    Painted remains that decorated the palace walls and some of its floors. They document the visual richness of palace life and the work of specialized craftspeople.

What does it point to?

Tirins points to a center where defense, storage, production and administration were organized around the palace. Galleries within the walls and decorated palace spaces show that technical skills were used both for protection and to display the power of the rulers.

What did it teach us?

  1. Showed that Mycenaean builders could construct stone-roofed corridors using the corbelling technique.
  2. Revealed that workshops, storerooms and houses coexisted around the palace.
  3. Showed that the walls were expanded according to the settlement's needs rather than built in a single phase.

Images

The Cyclopean Walls of Tiryns
George E. Koronaios · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Passageway of the galleries within the walls of Tiryns
Alun Salt · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Record

Culture
Mycenaean
Team / historical
Joseph Maran; German Archaeological Institute and Heidelberg University
Coordinates
37.5994°, 22.8000°

Sources

  1. whc.unesco.org
  2. publications.dainst.org
  3. uni-heidelberg.de
  4. en.wikipedia.org
  5. Argolis Eski Eserler Müdürlüğü
  6. Yunanistan Kültür Bakanlığı — All of Greece on Culture

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