Where Mycenae (Mikinai) ?
This ancient city situated some nine miles from the head of Argolikös Kolpos was the centre of a great Helladic civilization between about 1650 and 1100 BC. Despite scholarly conjecture, it is widely accepted that the period dominated by Mycenae (and therefore called the Mycenaean period) fits in with the Achaeans of Homer’s Odyssey and Iliad, although he probably telescoped events occurring over five centuries into a smaller timescale. The site was occupied very early on, but not until 1700-1650 BC did it become important. Its position guards the approaches to the Argolic Gulf and the natural land route through the mountains to Corinth. The Mycenaeans were a militant race that quickly came to dominate Greece: their domain covered the whole of the Peloponnisos, the Aegean Islands, the Greek mainland and Crete. Their cultural influence spread even further, to Asia Minor, Cyprus, Egypt and the Ionian Islands. The wealth of Mycenae was legendary and the dead were buried with lavish amount
