On our way out of Nafplio to Akrogiali, we stopped at Tiryns, an important centre of the Mycenaean culture from the 15th to 12th century BC.
It was already 35°C when we arrived at 11:30AM. We were the only car in the parking lot on arrival and the staff were relaxing in the shade, watching the crazy tourists 😳
This is the citadel’s great entrance, up a huge ramp. Because Tiryns was only about 1.5 km from the sea, it controlled the major trade routes.The Niche, the size of a room.View of the cyclopean walls – “cyclopean” meaning a type of masonry using huge irregular blocks. It was named “cyclopean” due to the belief of ancient Greeks that it required Cyclops to move the massive blocks.Close up of the cyclopean walls. Many of the large blocks of limestone are 8-10 feet long, 3 feet thick, and 3 feet high. The interstices (space between blocks) were filled with clay and with small stones.We progressed slowly in the heat upwards, marvelling at the construction. Passing through the Great Propylon to the upper citadel. Some of these walls are 8 m thick! 😲From here, 28 m above sea level, there were breezes and a view of the Argolic Gulf in the distance,and opposite, a view of the olive groves.A favourite activity for the kids was to speculate where the bathrooms were. Just behind Nolan’s behind is the drain of the palace bathroom.Exploring the Great Courtyard in the upper citadel. To the left was the great courtyard, and on the right were the houses of the elite, their attendants and courtiers. Around this time, Nolan came running, yelling about people taking the suitcases out of the trunk of our car!! Neil and the boys sprinted back down back to parking lot while Lara and I followed at a slower pace.It turned out that another family had arrived, in the same colour and model car as we had, and parked right beside us in the empty parking lot. They were taking their luggage out of their trunk. 😅 Once our heart rates returned to normal, we explored the lower citadel, which had had more houses, and underground cisterns. Portals with corbeled arches (using overlapping stones to form an arch) like these were common along the walls of the lower citadel.
Tiryns was abandoned twice. The first time was in the 12th century BC after an earthquake and fire caused extensive damage. It was rebuilt and survived the Persian invasions, but was abandoned for good after being destroyed by Argos in the 4th century BC.
