Tiryns
Tiryns Citadel · Tiryntha
Mycenaean 1600–1100 BCE, acme 1300–1200 BCE·Mycenaean·🇬🇷 Peloponnese (Argolis), Greece
About
About Tiryns
Mighty Mycenaean citadel near Argolic Gulf, Homer's 'well-walled Tiryns' with Cyclopean walls up to 8 m thick featuring intra-mural galleries (early vaulted passages), megaron palace with fresco floors, and siege cistern. Heinrich Schliemann and Wilhelm Dörpfeld excavated 1884–85, rivaling Mycenae in scale and revealing Mycenaean corbel vault engineering.
Why it mattersBest preserved Mycenaean fortification engineering, especially corbelled gallery vault prototype
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Galleries as casemates vs storage vs elite refuge
- 02Coastal vs inland harbor function after siltation
Theories
- 01Mycenaean thalassocracy naval base thesis
- 02Centralized vs part of Mycenaean koine
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.1400–1200 BCE walls in phases
- Period
- Mycenaean 1600–1100 BCE, acme 1300–1200 BCE
- Culture
- Mycenaean
- Purpose
- Fortified palace, naval/ administrative base controlling Argolic plain
- Rediscovered
- 1884 Schliemann-Dörpfeld
- Excavation
- Excavated
1400 BCE
Early Cyclopean walls
1250 BCE
Upper citadel megaron palace
1200 BCE
Lower citadel expansion galleries
On the ground
Structures & features
37.5994° N · 22.8000° E · 30 m · 3 mapped features
Cyclopean Galleries
galleryIntra-mural corbelled passages 8 m long, earliest European vault
37.5996° N · 22.7998° EMegaron Palace
palaceCentral megaron with hearth, columns, throne base and fresco floor
37.5994° N · 22.8000° ESiege Cistern
cisternSubterranean cistern with vaulted roof accessed by staircase
37.5992° N · 22.8000° E
Gallery