Is the Treasury of Atreus a tomb?
Treasury of Atreus, also called Tomb of Agamemnon, a beehive, or tholos, tomb built about 1350 to 1250 bc at Mycenae, Greece.
What was the Treasury of Atreus a beehive tomb?
The Treasury of Atreus or Tomb of Agamemnon is a large tholos or beehive tomb on Panagitsa Hill at Mycenae, Greece, constructed during the Bronze Age around 1250 BC. The stone lintel above the doorway weighs 120 tons, with approximate dimensions 8.3 x 5.2 x 1.2m, the largest in the world.
What was found in the Treasury of Atreus?
In the treasury of Atreus, a Mycenaean king was buried with his weapons and enough food and drink for his journey through the Underworld. The dead were buried on the edge of the city in three different sorts of graves: a pit grave, a rock sepulcher, or a circular domed chamber (tholos) with an entrance passage.
What is special about the Treasury at Atreus?
The Treasury of Atreus is one of the most important monuments of the Bronze Age in Greece and is universally recognized as the supreme example of Mycenaean architecture. It is also the finest of all the many beehive or tholos tombs which are such a striking feature of Mycenaean culture.
What was a tholos tomb?
The tholos tomb is a round, beehive shaped structure famously built by the late Bronze Age Mycenean peoples. These were royal examples of the commonly employed chamber tomb.
What was the tholos tomb used for?
In the Mycenaean period, tholoi were large ceremonial tombs, sometimes built into the sides of hills; they were beehive-shaped and covered by a corbeled arch. In classical Greece, the tholos at Delphi had a peristyle; the tholos in Athens, serving as a dining hall for the Athenian Senate, had no outside columns.
Where is tholos tomb located?
A few early examples of tholoi have been found in Messenia in the SW Peloponnese Greece (for example at Voidhokoilia), and recently near Troezen in the NE Peloponnese. These tholoi are built on level ground and then enclosed by a mound of earth.
Why was the Treasury of Atreus built?
It seems that the aim of placing the Treasury of Atreus in the centre of the panoramic view of the Argive plain from the west side of the upper acropolis, was to remind those who entered the palace of what the ruler achieved in his lifetime.
What were tholos tombs made of?
ashlar blocks
Tholos Tombs at Mycenae The tholos was built out of ashlar blocks using a technique known as corbelling to create the dome (see page title illustration).
What is the tholos tomb?
The tholos tomb is a round, beehive shaped structure famously built by the late Bronze Age Mycenean peoples.
Where is the Atreus tomb?
The tomb stands by itself, located well away from the other ‘royal’ tholos tombs, which are grouped together beside the citadel. Understandably, the location of the Atreus Tomb has intrigued archaeologists for many years.
What is the Treasury of Atreus?
Treasury of Atreus, also called Tomb of Agamemnon, a beehive, or tholos, tomb built about 1350 to 1250 bc at Mycenae, Greece. This surviving architectural structure of the Mycenaean civilization is a pointed dome built up of overhanging (i.e., corbeled) blocks of conglomerate masonry cut and polished to give the impression…
What are the nine tholos tombs at Mycenae?
The nine tholos tombs at Mycenae are divided into two groups by a long hill called the Panagia ridge. There are four tombs on the east side of the hill. Romantically named, they are, in order of construction, the Tomb of Aegisthus, the Lion Tomb, the Treasury of Atreus and the Tomb of Clytemnestra.