Tiryns: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia
Article Images
Line 50:
Tiryns was a [[hill fort]] with occupation ranging back seven thousand years, from before the beginning of the [[Bronze Age]]. It reached its height of importance between 1400 and 1200 BC, when it became one of the most important centers of the [[Mycenaean Greece|Mycenaean]] world, and in particular in [[Argolis (ancient region)|Argolis]]. Its most notable features were its palace, its [[Cyclopean masonry|Cyclopean]] tunnels and especially its walls, which gave the city its [[Homer]]ic epithet of "mighty walled Tiryns". Tiryns became associated with the myths surrounding Heracles, as the city was the residence of the hero during his labors, and some sources cite it as his birthplace.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/Tiryns.html |title= Tiryns, Greek Mythology Link |access-date= 2002-08-07 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20020807190348/http://homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/Tiryns.html |archive-date= 2002-08-07 }}</ref>
The famous [[megaron]] of the palace of Tiryns has a large reception hall, the main room of which had a throne placed against the right wall and a central [[hearth]] bordered by four [[Minoan civilization|Minoan]]-style wooden columns that served as supports for the roof. Two of the three walls of the megaron were incorporated into an [[Archaic period in Greece|archaic]] temple of [[Hera]]. The site went into decline at the end of the [[Mycenaean period]], and was completely deserted by the time [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] visited in the 2nd century AD.
In 1300 BC, the [[citadel]] and lower town had a population of 10,000 people covering 20–25 hectares. Despite the destruction of the palace in 1200 BC, the city population continued to increase and by 1150 BC it had a population of 15,000 people.<ref>{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=9DBeI_KhYFQC |title= The Philistines and Aegean Migration at the End of the Late Bronze Age|first= Assaf|last=Yasur-Landau|date= 16 June 2014|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn= 9781139485876|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url= https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/941|title=Archaeological Sites of Mycenae and Tiryns|first=UNESCO World Heritage |last= Centre}}
</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=74JI2UlcU8AC|title=International Dictionary of Historic Places: Southern Europe|first1= Trudy|last1= Ring|first2= Robert M.|last2= Salkin|first3= Sharon La|last3=Boda|date=1 January 1994|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=9781884964022 |via=Google Books}}
</ref>
Line 62:
Tiryns is first referenced by [[Homer]], who praised its massive walls.<ref>[[Homer]] Iliad 2.555</ref> Ancient tradition held that the walls were built by the [[Cyclopes]] because only giants of superhuman strength could have lifted the enormous stones.<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] Description of Greece - about Boeotia [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+9.36.5&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 9.36.5]</ref> After viewing the walls of the ruined citadel in the 2nd century AD, the geographer [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] wrote that two mules pulling together could not move even the smaller stones.<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] Description of Greece - about Corinth [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D2%3Achapter%3D25%3Asection%3D8 2.25.8]</ref>
Tradition also associates the walls with [[Proetus]], the sibling of [[Acrisius]], king of [[Ancient Argos|Argos]]. According to the legend Proetus, pursued by his brother, fled to Lycia. With the help of the Lycians, he managed to return to Argolis. There, Proetus occupied Tiryns and fortified it with the assistance of the cyclopes. Thus Greek legend links the three Argolic centers with three mythical heroes: [[Acrisius]], founder of the [[Dorians|Doric]] colony of [[Ancient Argos|Argos]]; his brother [[Proetus]], founder of Tiryns; and his grandson [[Perseus]], the founder of [[Mycenae]]. But this tradition was born at the beginning of the historical period, when Argos was fighting to become the [[hegemonic]] power in the area and needed a glorious past to compete with the other two cities.{{Citation needed|date=January 2019}}
==History==
Line 68:
===Neolithic===
The area has been inhabited since prehistoric times[[prehistory]]. A small [[neolithic]] settlement thrived.
===Early Helladic===
{{see also|Tiryns culture}}
In the middle of the 3rd millennium BC, it was a flourishing early pre-Hellenic settlement located about {{convert|15 |km|abbr=on}} southeast of [[Mycenae]], on a hill {{convert|300 |m|abbr=on}} long, 45–100 {{convert|45-100|m |abbr=on}} wide, and no more than {{convert|18 meters|m|abbr=on}} high. From this period, an imposing circular structure survived under the yard of a Mycenaean palace,. anIt imposing circular structurewas {{convert|28 meters|m|abbr=on}} in diameter,. whichIt appears to be a fortified place[[area of refuge]] for the city's inhabitants in time of war, and/or a residence of a king. Its base was powerful, and was constructed from two concentric stone walls, among which there were others cross-cutting, so that the thickness reached {{convert|45 |m|abbr=on}}. The superstructure was clay and the roof was made from fire-baked tiles.
===Middle Helladic===
Line 81:
In the Late Helladic, the city underwent its greatest growth, also known as the Mycenaean period. The Acropolis was constructed in three phases, the first at the end of the Late Helladic II period (1500–1400 BC), the second in Late Helladic III (1400–1300 BC), and the third at the end of the Late Helladic III B (1300–1200 BC). The surviving ruins of the Mycenaean citadel date to the end of the third period.<ref>Davis, Brent, Maran, Joseph and Wirghová, Soňa. "A new Cypro-Minoan inscription from Tiryns: TIRY Avas 002" Kadmos, vol. 53, no. 1-2, 2014, pp. 91-109</ref> The city proper surrounded the acropolis on the plain below.
The [[Late Bronze Age collapse|disaster]] that struck the Mycenaean centers at the end of the [[Bronze Age]] affected Tiryns, but it is certain that the area of the palace was inhabited continuously into the early [[Archaic Greece|Archaic period]], until the middle of the 8th century BC (a little later a temple was built in the ruins of the palace). In the post-palatial LH IIIC period ({{circa|1180 BC}}), an extensive deposit of precious items, including gold and silver objects and a fifteenth-century BC Minoan [[signet ring]], was made in a [[cauldron]] in Tiryns's lower town, within the foundations of a Mycenaean house.<ref name=Maran2006>{{cite book|last=Maran|first=Joseph|year=2006|chapter=Coming to Terms with the Past: Ideology and Power in Late Helladic IIIC| editor-last1=Deger-Jalkotzy| editor-first1=Sigrid| editor-link1=Sigrid Deger-Jalkotzy| editor-last2=Lemos| editor-first2=Irene S.| title=Ancient Greece: From the Mycenaean Palaces to the Age of Homer| isbn=978-0-7486-1889-7| publisher=Edinburgh University Press| place=Edinburgh|pages=123–150}}</ref>{{rp|129}}
===Classical period===
At the beginning of the [[Classical Greece|Classical period]] Tiryns, like Mycenae, became a relatively insignificant city. When [[Cleomenes I]] of [[Sparta]] defeated the [[Argives]], their slaves occupied Tiryns for many years, according to [[Herodotus]].<ref>[[Herodotus]] Book 6, 83</ref> Herodotus also mentions that Tiryns took part in the [[Battle of Plataea]] in 480 BC with 400 [[hoplites]].<ref>Herodotus Book 9, 28</ref> Even in decline, Mycenae and Tiryns were disturbing to the Argives, who in their political [[propaganda]] wanted to monopolize the glory of legendary (and mythical) ancestors. In 468 BC, Argos completely destroyed both Mycenae and Tiryns, and—according to Pausanias—transferred the residents to Argos, to increase the population of the city.{{citation needed|date=September 2014}} However, [[Strabo]] says that many Tirynthians moved to found the city of Halieis, modern [[Porto Heli]].<ref>[[Strabo]] 8, 373</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.geocities.com/btse1/halieishhistory.htm|title=A Brief History of Halieis|publisher=Geocities|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091021102334/http://geocities.com/btse1/halieishhistory.htm|archive-date=2009-10-21|url-status=dead|access-date=2019-01-11}}</ref>
Despite its importance, little value was given to Tiryns and its mythical rulers and traditions by [[epic poetry|epics]] and drama. Pausanias dedicated a short piece (2.25.8) to Tiryns, and newer travelers, traveling to Greece in search of places where the heroes of the ancient texts lived, did not understand the significance of the city.
Line 92:
The Acropolis was first excavated by [[Alexandros Rizos Rangavis]] and the German scholar [[Friedrich Thiersch]] in 1831.<ref>F. Thiersch, "Thiersch's Leben", Leipzig, 1866</ref> After trial excavations in August 1876, [[Heinrich Schliemann]] considered the palace of Tiryns to be medieval, so he came very close to destroying the remains to excavate deeper for Mycenaean treasures. He returned in 1884 with more archaeological experience and worked for 5 months there.<ref>[https://archive.org/download/bub_gb_pw4BAAAAMAAJ/bub_gb_pw4BAAAAMAAJ.pdf] Heinrich Schliemann et. al., "Tiryns: The prehistoric palace of the kings of Tiryns, the results of the latest excavations", Charles Scribner's Sons, London, 1885</ref> However, the next period of excavation was under [[Wilhelm Dörpfeld]], a director of the [[German Archaeological Institute]]; this time, the ruins were estimated properly.<ref>Jebb, Richard Claverhouse. "The Homeric House, in relation to the Remains at Tiryns." The Journal of Hellenic Studies 7 (1886): 170-188</ref><ref>Middleton, J. Henry. "A Suggested Restoration of the Great Hall in the Palace of Tiryns." The Journal of Hellenic Studies 7 (1886): 161-169</ref>
The excavations were repeated later by Dörpfeld with the cooperation of other German archaeologists, who continued his work until 1938. From 1910, the excavations were led by [[Georg Karo]],<ref>{{cite journal|last=Matz|first=Friedrich| author-link=Friedrich Matz|date=September 1964|title=Georg Karo| journal=Gnomon| volume=36|number=6|pages=637–640|jstor=27683484}}</ref>{{rp|639}} though the "Tiryns Treasure" was initially excavated in 1915 in Karo's absence by the Greek archaeologist {{ill|Apostolos Arvanitopoulos|el|Απόστολος Αρβανιτόπουλος}}, who was stationed in the region as a reserve officer of the [[Hellenic Army]].<ref name=Maran2006 />{{rp|129}} Karo was removed from his post at the DAI in late 1916, and excavations at Tiryns thereafter ceased until the end of the First [[World War I]] in 1918.<ref>{{cite book| last=Marchand| first=Suzanne| year=2008| chapter=''Kultur'' and the World War| orig-date=1996| title=Histories of Archaeology: A Reader in the History of Archaeology| editor-last1=Murray| editor-first1=Tim| editor-last2=Evans| editor-first2=Christopher| publisher=Oxford University Press| place=Oxford| isbn=978-0-19-955008-1| pages=238–278}}</ref>{{rp|261}} After [[World War II]] (1939–1945), the work was continued by the Institute and the Greek Archaeological Service. In particular, there were excavations in 1977, 1978/1979, and again in 1982/83.<ref>Kilian, K. 1979. Ausgrabungen in Tiryns 1977: Bericht zu den Grabungen, Archäologischer Anzeiger 1979, 379–411</ref><ref>Kilian, K. 1981. Ausgrabungen in Tiryns 1978/1979: Bericht zu den Grabungen, Archäologischer Anzeiger 1981, 149–194</ref><ref>Kilian, K. 1988. Ausgrabungen in Tiryns 1982/83: Bericht zu den Grabungen, Archäologischer Anzeiger 1988, 105–151</ref>
==Archaeological site==
Line 99:
The walls extend to the entire area of the top of the hill. Their bases survive throughout all of their length, and their height in some places reaching 7 meters, slightly below the original height, which is estimated at 9–10 m. The walls are quite thick, usually 6 meters, and up to 17 m at the points where the tunnels pass through. A strong transverse wall separates the acropolis into two sections -the south includes the palatial buildings, while the northern protects only the top of the hill area. In this second section, which dates to the end of the Mycenaean era, small gates and many tunnels occasionally open, covered with a triangular roof, which served as a refuge for the inhabitants of the lower city in times of danger.<ref>Zangger, Eberhard. "Landscape changes around Tiryns during the Bronze Age." American Journal of Archaeology 98.2 (1994): 189-212</ref>
The entrance of the [[citadel]] was always on the east side, but had a different position and form in each of the three construction phases. In the second phase, the gate had the form of the [[Lion Gate]] of [[Mycenae]]. Left there was a tower and to the right was the arm of the wall, so the gate was well protected, since the attackers were forced to cross a very narrow corridor, while the defense could hit them from above and from both sides. In the third phase, the gate was moved further out. The palace of the king, inside the citadel, similar to that of Mycenae (dimensions 11.8 × 9.8 m) consists of three areas: the outer portico with the two columns, the prodomos (anteroom) and the domos (main room) with the cyclical fireplace that was surrounded by four wooden columns. The lateral compartments of the palace seem to have a second floor.
The decoration of the walls of the outer arcade was rich. They had a zone at the bottom of alabaster slabs with relief rosettes and flowers. The rest was decorated with [[fresco]]s. Three doors lead to prodomos and then another to the domos. In the middle of the eastern wall is visible in the floor the place that corresponded to the royal throne. The floor was richly decorated with different themes in the area around the walls and the space between the columns of the fireplace. Of course, here the walls were decorated with paintings.
Line 123:
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:ArgolisTiryns| ]]▼
[[Category:Populated places established in the 3rd millennium BC]]
[[Category:Populated places disestablished in the 5th century BC]]
[[Category:5th-century BC disestablishments in Greece]]
[[Category:1831 archaeological discoveries]]
[[Category:Populated places in ancient Argolis]]
[[Category:Mycenaean sites in Argolis]]
Line 128 ⟶ 133:
[[Category:World Heritage Sites in Greece]]
[[Category:Cities in ancient Peloponnese]]
▲[[Category:Argolis]]
[[Category:Aegean palaces of the Bronze Age]]
[[Category:Former populated places in Greece]]
Line 136 ⟶ 140:
[[Category:Locations in the Iliad]]
[[Category:Hill forts]]
[[Category:Temples of Hera]]
[[Category:Citadels in Greece]]
[[Category:Neolithic sites in Greece]]
[[Category:Populated places destroyed during wars]]