View source for Treasury of Atreus

{{Short description|Tholos tomb at Mycenae, Greece, dated to ca.1250 BCE}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2023}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2023}}
{{Infobox ancient site
| name = Treasury of Atreus
| native_name = Τάφος του Αγαμέμνονα
| native_name_lang = el
| image = Treasury of Atreus Mycenae.jpg
| caption = The ''dromos'' of the Treasury of Atreus
| map_type = Greece Peloponnese
| map_caption = Location of the Treasury of Atreus in the Peloponnese
| location = [[Mycenae]], Greece
| built = {{circa|1400|1250 BCE}}
| cultures = [[Mycenaean Greece]]
| epochs = [[Late Bronze Age]] 
| material = [[Poros stone]], [[Conglomerate (geology)|conglomerate]], [[marble]].
| archaeologists = [[Heinrich Schliemann]], [[Panagiotis Stamatakis]], [[Alan Wace]]
| excavations = 1801–1955
| designation1 = World Heritage Site
| designation1_offname = 
| designation1_date = 1999
| designation1_number = 941
| alt = Tomb as seen from the front
| coordinates = {{coord|37.72682|22.75387}}
| designation1_partof = Archaeological Sites of Mycenae and Tiryns
| public_access = Yes
}}
The '''Treasury of Atreus''' or '''Tomb of Agamemnon'''{{sfn|Wace|1923}} is a large ''tholos'' or [[beehive tomb]] constructed between 1300 and 1250 BCE in [[Mycenae]], [[Greece]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/artifact?name=Mycenae%2C+Treasury+of+Atreus&object=Building | title=No artifact found }}</ref>

It is the largest and most elaborate ''[[Tholos (architecture)|tholos]]'' tomb known to have been constructed in the [[Aegean civilization|Aegean Bronze Age]], and one of the last to have been built in the [[Argolid]]. The main tomb consisted of a circular burial chamber, or ''thalamos'', topped with a [[Corbel|corbelled dome]]. This dome was the largest in the world until the [[Roman Empire|Roman period]], and remains the world's largest corbelled dome. Originally, the façade was decorated with marble columns and sculptures, which used marble from the [[Mani Peninsula]] in the southern [[Peloponnese]]. Its artwork has been suggested to have been inspired by that of [[Minoan civilization|Minoan Crete]] and of [[Ancient Egypt]].

Little is known of the persons who might have been buried in the tomb: the identification with the mythical Atreus and [[Agamemnon]] likely dates to the 18th century. The immense labour involved in the construction of the tomb, as well as the similarities between the architecture of the ''tholos'' and the structures of the citadel of Mycenae, has led to suggestions that it may have been intended for a ruler of Mycenae, and represent Mycenae's increasingly dominant status in the later part of the Bronze Age.

The tomb was first excavated in the 19th{{nbsp}}century, when parts of the marble sculptures of its façade were removed by the British aristocrat [[Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin|Lord Elgin]] and the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] governor [[Veli Pasha]]. It was partly excavated by [[Heinrich Schliemann]], and more fully by [[Panagiotis Stamatakis]], in the 1870s. Throughout the 20th century, the [[British School at Athens]] made a series of excavations in and around the tomb, led by [[Alan Wace]], which primarily aimed to settle the difficult question of the date of its construction.

== Name ==

===Mythology===
{{main|Atreus}}
[[File:Tieste-e-Atreo (De casibus).jpg|alt=Page from a medieval manuscript|left|thumb|Atreus (left) serves Thyestes his sons' flesh, portrayed on a medieval manuscript {{Circa|1410}}.]]
In [[Greek mythology]], [[Atreus]] was the son of [[Hippodamia (daughter of Oenomaus)|Hippodamia]] and [[Pelops]], the king of [[Pisa, Greece|Pisa]] in the western [[Peloponnese]]. In the version of the myth recounted by [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], Atreus and his brother [[Thyestes]] killed their half-brother [[Chrysippus of Elis|Chrysippus]] by casting him into a well out of jealousy, urged on by their mother.{{sfn|March|2009|p=434}} As a punishment for their crime, they were banished to Mycenae, where [[Hippodamia (daughter of Oenomaus)|Hippodamia]] is variously said to have died by suicide<ref>[[Hyginus (Fabulae)|Hyginus]], ''Fabulae'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#243 243]</ref> or further exiled herself to [[Midea (Argolid)|Midea]].<ref>{{Pausanias|en|6|20|7|ref}}</ref>

Atreus and Thyestes quarrelled for the throne of Mycenae: first, Thyestes gained it after Atreus' wife, [[Aerope]], gave a golden lamb from Atreus' flock to Thyestes and then tricked him into agreeing that whoever held the lamb should become king. Atreus in turn managed to regain the throne after [[Hermes]] persuaded Thyestes to hand the kingship to Atreus if the sun were to rise in the west and set in the east, and then [[Helios]] altered the usual course of the sun so that it did exactly that.{{sfn|March|2009|p=434}} Finally, Atreus banished Thyestes after tricking him into eating the flesh of his own sons.{{sfn|Clay|2009|p=221}}

On the advice of an [[oracle]], Thyestes had a son by his daughter, [[Pelopia]], as it was foretold that this son would kill Atreus. When the infant, [[Aegisthus]], was born, his mother abandoned him, but he was found by a shepherd and given to Atreus to raise; when Aegisthus entered adulthood, Thyestes revealed the truth of his parentage. Aegisthus killed Atreus and ruled Mycenae jointly with Thyestes.{{sfn|March|2009|pp=435–436}}

The heroes [[Agamemnon]] and [[Menelaus]] were the twin sons of Atreus, sometimes known as the ''Atreides'' in Greek literature. After their father's murder, they took refuge with [[Tyndareus]], king of [[Sparta]]: later, with Menelaus' assistance, Agamemnon overthrew Aegisthus and Thyestes and became king of Mycenae.{{sfn|March|2009|p=436}} However, Aegisthus would, along with Agamemnon's wife [[Clytemnestra]], kill Agamemnon on his return from the [[Trojan War]], before being himself killed by Agamemnon's son, [[Orestes]].{{sfn|March|2009|pp=439–440}}

===Modern name===

The precise origin of the name is uncertain, but it probably dates to the 18th century. The tomb was visible in Antiquity, but not associated with Atreus or Agamemnon when [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] visited in the 2nd&nbsp;century&nbsp;CE, since he describes the graves of both rulers as being within the walls of Mycenae.<ref>{{Pausanias|en|2|16|6|ref}}</ref> After Pausanias, there are no documented accounts of travellers visiting Mycenae until 1700,{{sfn|Moore|Rowlands|Karadimas|2014|p=2}} when the [[Venice|Venetian]] engineer and surveyor Francesco Vandeyk identified both the [[Lion Gate]] and the tomb now known as the 'Treasury of Atreus', which he conjectured was the tomb of a king.{{sfn|Moore|Rowlands|Karadimas|2014|p=4}} Claude-Louis Fourmont, who visited Mycenae in 1729–1730,{{sfn|Moore|Rowlands|Karadimas|2014|p=4}} used the name 'Tomb of Atreus' for the monument: by the time [[Edward Daniel Clarke]] visited at the beginning of the 19th century,{{sfn|Clarke|1814|p=688}} he could report a tradition that the tomb was known as 'Treasury of Atreus' and identified with the tomb of Agamemnon mentioned in Pausanias.{{sfn|Clarke|1814|p=689}}

The nearby tombs known as the [[Tomb of Clytemnestra]] and [[Tomb of Aegisthus]] are so named by association with the Treasury of Atreus.{{sfn|Wace|1923|p=296}}{{sfn|Tsountas|1897|p=57}}

== Construction ==
{{main|Beehive tomb}}
[[File:Piet_de_Jong_Atreus_Plan.jpg|thumb|[[Piet de Jong (artist)|Piet de Jong's]] architectural plan of the Treasury of Atreus, drawn for Alan Wace's excavations of 1921–1923.]]
The Treasury of Atreus is the largest and most elaborate of the known Mycenaean ''tholos'' tombs.{{Sfn|French|2012|p=673}} It follows the typical tripartite division of these tombs into a narrow rectangular passageway (''[[Glossary of architecture#D|dromos]]''), joined by a deep doorway (''[[Stomion (archaeology)|stomion]]'') to a burial chamber (''thalamos'') surmounted by a [[Corbel|corbelled dome]]. The dome was covered with earth to heighten it; some of this mound remains, but [[erosion]] has reduced its height and moved its apex towards the west.{{sfn|Mason|2007|p=38}}

The ''dromos'' of the tomb is oriented east-west and is 36{{nbsp}}m long by 6{{nbsp}}m wide.{{sfn|Wace|1923|p=338}} For the first 19 metres from the ''stomion'',{{sfn|Wace|1940|p=237}} the sides are dressed with [[Conglomerate (geology)|conglomerate]] stone walls:{{sfn|Mason|2007}} while the ''dromoi'' of earlier tombs had been lined with rubble or poros [[ashlar]], the Treasury of Atreus is the first tomb at Mycenae to be fully lined with conglomerate.{{sfn|Galanakis|2007|p=244}} The source of this conglomerate is likely to have been local to Mycenae.{{Sfn|Brysbaert|Vikatou|Stöger|2020|p=46}} Wace estimates the total volume of masonry in the ''dromos'' at over 600 m<sup>3</sup>, or a weight of over 1200 tons.{{sfn|Wace|1923|p=338}} The height of the walls increases from 0.5{{nbsp}}m at the eastern end to 10{{nbsp}}m at the façade; their thickness correspondingly increases from around 2{{nbsp}}m at the eastern entrance to around 3{{nbsp}}m at the western entrance nearest to the façade, reflecting the additional pressure of the earth behind the walls as well as from the façade they support. The ashlar walls are bonded by yellow 'Plesia' clay,{{Sfn|Brysbaert|Vikatou|Stöger|2020|p=46}} a [[Mortar (masonry)|mortar]] commonly used in Mycenaean architecture.{{sfn|Wace|1940|p=238}} 
{| class="wikitable floatleft"
|+The major periods of the [[Helladic chronology|Helladic Chronology]] used in this article.
!Period
!Approximate Date
|-
|Middle Helladic III
|c.1700–c.1600 BCE{{sfn|Shelmerdine|2008|p=4}}
|-
|Late Helladic I
|c.1600–c.1450 BCE{{sfn|Shelmerdine|2008|p=4}}
|-
|Late Helladic II
|c.1450–c.1400 BCE{{sfn|Shelmerdine|2008|p=4}}
|-
|Late Helladic IIIA
|c.1400–c.1300 BCE{{sfn|Shelmerdine|2008|p=4}}
|-
|Late Helladic IIIB
|c.1300–c.1180 BCE{{sfn|Shelmerdine|2008|p=4}}
|-
|Late Helladic IIIC
|c.1180–c.1050 BCE{{sfn|Shelmerdine|2008|p=4}}
|}
[[File:Facade of Treasury of Atreus, NAMA, 225556.jpg|alt=Photographs of red marble sculptures, with a spiral pattern.|thumb|Pieces of red marble (''rosso antico'' or ''lapis Taenarius'') from the façade of the Treasury of Atreus, in the [[National Archaeological Museum, Athens]].]]
The façade of the ''stomion'' is 10.5{{nbsp}}m high, with a doorway 5.4{{nbsp}}m high, 2.7{{nbsp}}m wide and 5.4{{nbsp}}m deep.{{sfn|Mason|2007|p=38}} On top of this doorway are two lintel blocks, the innermost of which is 8{{nbsp}}m in length, 5{{nbsp}}m in width and 1.2{{nbsp}}m thick: with a weight of around 120 tons, it is the heaviest single piece of masonry known from Greek architecture{{sfn|Santillo Frizell|1998|p=173}} and may have required up to 1,000 people to transport it to the tomb.{{Sfn|Mason|2007|p=49}} Above the doorway is a 'relieving triangle', an innovation first used at Mycenae on the earlier Tomb of Aegisthus to reduce the stress placed upon the lintel.{{sfn|Galanakis|2007|p=244}} This triangle is believed to have originally been decorated with sculpture.{{sfn|Wace|1923|p=344}} It has been suggested that the scale of the relieving triangle was intended to symbolise the power to harness resources.{{sfn|Hitchcock|2012|p=205}}
[[File:Sepolcro di Atreo a Micene - Pomardi Simone - 1820.jpg|alt=Line drawing of the interior of the tomb. The main entrance and side chamber door are both visible.|thumb|Drawing of the interior of the ''thalamos'', published by {{ill|Simone Pomardi|it}} in 1820 after visiting the tomb in 1801–1806, prior to modern excavation.]]
Due to the fragmentary and scattered nature of the remains,{{efn|See [[#Excavation|Excavation]] below.}} there are various reconstructions of the decoration of the façade.{{sfn|Higgins|Ellis|Hope Simpson|1968|p=331}} The door was flanked by [[Engaged column|semi-engaged columns]] in green marble, with zig-zag motifs on the shaft.{{sfn|Higgins|Ellis|Hope Simpson|1968|p=331}} Two smaller half-columns were placed on either side of the relieving triangle, while red marble was used to create a [[frieze]] with rosettes above the [[architrave]] of the door, and spiral decoration in bands of red marble that closed the triangular aperture.{{sfn|Higgins|Ellis|Hope Simpson|1968|p=331}} In the 1960s, [[Richard Hope Simpson]], along with [[Reynold Higgins]] and S.E. Ellis, demonstrated that the red marble, known as ''rosso antico'', came from quarries on the [[Mani peninsula]], and suggested that it was 'highly probable' that the green marble traced to the same source.{{sfn|Higgins|Ellis|Hope Simpson|1968|p=336}}{{efn|Elizabeth French has argued that both stones are 'probably from the Argolid', but without presenting evidence for this claim.{{sfn|French|2013|p=70}}}} This red marble was later known as ''lapis Taenarius'' after [[Taenarum (town)|Cape Taenarum]].{{sfn|Wilson|2013|p=449}} Two reliefs in gypsum (the only such use of the material in the tomb),{{sfn|French|2013|p=70}} carved with the image of bulls, may have decorated either the façade or the side chamber.{{sfn|Higgins|Ellis|Hope Simpson|1968|p=331}} The empty 'relieving triangle' above the lintel of the façade served to direct the weight of the dome away from the centre of the lintel, reducing the stress placed upon it.{{sfn|Zekiou|2019|p=177}} [[Christos Tsountas]] suggested that the façade may have included an alabaster [[cornice]], since fragments of a similar structure were found in the [[Tomb of Clytemnestra]], which he believed to be contemporary with 'Atreus':{{sfn|Tsountas|1897|p=119}} however, recent re-evaluation of the Tomb of Clytemnestra has suggested that it may have been built up to two centuries later,{{sfn|Mason|2013|p=97}} making this suggestion hypothetical at best.

The ''thalamos'' is made up of 33 courses of ashlar masonry (cut and worked [[limestone]]), 14.5{{nbsp}}m in diameter and 13.2{{nbsp}}m high.{{sfn|Mason|2007|p=38}} It was initially constructed by the excavation of a cylindrical cavity from the hillside, which was then built up with masonry into a corbelled dome.{{sfn|Lazar|Kadane|Chen|Cavanagh|2004|p=241}} Traces of nails hammered into the interior have been recovered, which have been interpreted as evidence for decorations, perhaps golden rosettes, once hung from the inside dome.{{sfn|Hitchcock|2012|p=205}} A 2.5-meter-high doorway on the northern side of the inner chamber leads into a 6-meter square side chamber:{{sfn|Mason|2007|p=38}} along with the [[Treasury of Minyas]] at [[Orchomenus (Boeotia)|Orchomenos]] in [[Boeotia]], which appears to be built to the same plan, the Treasury of Atreus is the only known Mycenaean ''tholos'' with a side chamber.{{sfn|Moore|2015|p=42}} Most scholars consider this to have been the location of any burials that were made inside the tomb, though no direct evidence of such burials has survived;{{Sfn|Hitchcock|2012|p=205}} Alan Wace, however, believed that it was used as an [[ossuary]] to which the remains of previous burials were relocated while further interments were made in the main ''thalamos''.{{sfn|Wace|1923|pp=351–352}} The tomb was the tallest and widest stone dome in the world for over a thousand years, until the Roman period, which saw the construction of the “Temple of Mercury” (actually part of a [[Thermae|bath complex]]) at [[Baiae]] in the late 1st&nbsp;century&nbsp;BCE or early 1st&nbsp;century&nbsp;CE and of the [[Pantheon, Rome|Pantheon]] in Rome in the 2nd century CE.{{Sfn|Watkin|2005|p=23}} Both of these are "true" domes, as opposed to corbelled domes, making the Treasury of Atreus the world's largest corbelled dome.
[[File:Interior of Treasury of Atreus, Mycenae, 090950.jpg|alt=Photograph of a small door within a dark chamber.|left|thumb|Entrance to the side chamber within the ''thalamos''.]]
The earthen [[tumulus]] above the tomb was originally supported by a retaining wall of [[Poros#Geology|poros stone]], which is preserved to a height of 1.5{{nbsp}}m and a thickness of around 1{{nbsp}}m.{{sfn|Mason|2007|p=38}} It is believed that this poros stone was quarried in the hills north-west of Mycenae, in the direction of [[Nemea]].{{Sfn|Brysbaert|Vikatou|Stöger|2020|p=46}} A terrace, approximately 27{{nbsp}}m in both length and breadth, was constructed in front of the tomb.{{Sfn|Mason|2007|p=36}}{{multiple image
| total_width       = 400
| image1            = Mykene BW 2017-10-10 12-31-43.jpg
| height1           = 618
| image2            = Lion Gate, Relief, Mycenae, 201509x.jpg
| height2           = 794
| footer            = Comparison of the relieving triangle of the Treasury of Atreus (left) and the relief of the Lion Gate (right)
| alt1              = Image of the relieving triangle
| alt2              = Relief of the Lion Gate, Mycenae
}}

[[James C. Wright|James Wright]] has described the construction of ''tholos'' tombs as a 'monumental expression of power',{{sfn|Wright|1987|p=176}} and highlighted the connections between the architecture of the tomb and that of the broadly-contemporary{{efn|See [[#Date|Date]] below.}} fortifications and palace on the acropolis. In particular, Wright draws attention to the resemblance between the relieving triangle and the sculpted relief of the Lion Gate, and the heavy use of conglomerate on the tomb, which is used within the citadel to accentuate key architectural features, particularly column and [[Anta (architecture)|anta]] bases, thresholds and door jambs.{{sfn|Wright|2006|p=59}} It has also been suggested that the tapering sides and inward slant of the doorway may have been inspired by [[Ancient Egyptian architecture]], while the running-spiral motif on the upper half-columns may trace back to Minoan art.{{sfn|Watkin|2005|p=33}}

Little is known about the organisation of the tomb's construction or the workers who built it. [[Elizabeth French]] has suggested that the same workforce who constructed the LH III ''[[megaron]]'' (the so-called 'Palace III') on the acropolis may subsequently have been used to construct the Treasury of Atreus,{{sfn|French|2012|p=673}} and that they may have been worked as part of a [[corvée]] system.{{sfn|French|2012|p=673}} It has been calculated that the construction of the tomb required at least 20,000 worker-days of labour,{{Sfn|Cavanagh|Mee|1999|p=99}}{{Efn|Fitzsimons gives a higher estimate of 32789 worker-days.{{sfn|Fitzsimons|2020|p=22}}}} and estimated that it may have occupied up to 1600 people{{Sfn|Fitzsimons|2020|p=21}} and been a years- or decades-long project.{{Sfn|Boyd|2015|p=443}}

Nothing is known of who might have been buried inside the tomb, though it is generally considered to have been an elite or royal figure,{{sfn|Mason|2007|p=35}} perhaps a ruler of the site or somebody close to its rulers.{{sfn|Pelon|1976|pp=370–371}}

== Date ==
[[File:Sir Arthur J. Evans Wellcome M0002342.jpg|alt=Black-and-white photograph of an ageing man, wearing a hat and a coat.|thumb|[[Arthur Evans]], {{Circa|1920s}}. Evans argued – ultimately unsuccessfully – for an early date of the Treasury of Atreus between {{Circa}} 1600–1500 BCE, to allow for its coincidence with the zenith of the [[Neopalatial Period]] of Minoan civilization.]]
The date of the tomb has historically been controversial,{{sfn|Boyd|2015|p=443}} though most scholars would now date it to {{Circa}} 1400–1250 BCE.{{sfn|Boyd|2015|p=443}} In the early 20th&nbsp;century, it was the focus of a debate between [[Arthur Evans]] and Alan Wace, which became known as the 'Helladic Heresy'. After the beginnings of his excavations of [[Knossos]] from 1900, Evans began increasingly to argue for a distinction between the 'Minoan' civilisation of Crete and the 'Mycenaean' civilisation of the mainland. Although he had used the terms 'Minoan' and 'Mycenaean' interchangeably for his findings on Crete during the first two years of excavation,{{sfn|Galanakis|2007|p=242}} Evans came to follow the German archaeologist [[Arthur Milchhöfer]] in arguing that the origins of Mycenaean civilisation lay on Crete:{{sfn|Karadimas|Momigliano|2004|p=249}} specifically, through the 'domination' of the mainland of Greece by 'Minoan dynasts'.{{sfn|Galanakis|2007|p=242}} In 1918, however, Wace published an article entitled 'The Pre-Mycenaean Pottery of the Mainland'{{sfn|Wace|Blegen|1918}} along with [[Carl Blegen]], whose own excavations at [[Korakou (Corinthia)|Korakou]] in [[Corinthia]] in 1915–1916 had convinced him that substantial differences existed between 'Minoan' and 'Helladic' culture in the Late Bronze Age.{{sfn|Myres|1923|p=72}}{{sfn|Galanakis|2007|p=242}} In their article, Wace and Blegen argued for the essential continuity of mainland-Greek, or 'Helladic', culture from the early to late Bronze Age, and that 'Mycenaean' civilisation (which then referred specifically to the period now designated as the Late Helladic).{{sfn|Wace|Blegen|1918|p=176}} Mycenaean culture, they argued, was 'not merely transplanted from Crete, but [was] the fruit of the cultivated Cretan graft set on the wild stock of the mainland'.{{sfn|Wace|Blegen|1918|p=188}} Moreover, while they accepted the influence of Crete on mainland Greece during the Middle Helladic period, they argued that the culture of the mainland remained 'Mycenaean as opposed to Cretan',{{sfn|Wace|Blegen|1918|p=189}} and that it was 'inconceivable' that Late Helladic culture represented a different 'race' to that of the Early Helladic.{{sfn|Wace|Blegen|1918|p=189}}

Wace and Blegen's argument stood in direct opposition to Evans' narrative, by which the [[Grave Circle A, Mycenae|Shaft Graves of Mycenae]], first used in the transition between the Middle Helladic and Late Helladic periods,{{sfn|Dickinson|Papazoglou-Manioudaki|Nafplioti|Prag|2012|p=162}} represented the tombs of the 'Minoan' rulers of Mycenae, and therefore a sharp break with the cultural forms that preceded them. He further argued that the ''tholoi'', particularly the Treasury of Atreus, were not only contemporary with the Shaft Graves but themselves copies of similar-looking structures found on Crete.{{sfn|Evans|1929|pp=67–70}} In the report of his first excavations at Mycenae in 1920, of which he informed Evans by letter, Wace suggested a later date for the Treasury of Atreus of {{circa}}1400–1200&nbsp;BCE, rather than the {{circa}}1600–1500&nbsp;BCE needed to conform with Evans' theory.{{sfn|Galanakis|2007|p=241}} This chronological disagreement, and the associated implication that the monumentality and elaboration of Mycenae's funerary forms had increased over the Late Helladic period — which was seen to contradict the idea of the site having been dominated by Cretan rulers{{sfn|Galanakis|2007|p=255}} — was dubbed the 'Helladic Heresy' by [[John Percival Droop]].{{sfn|Droop|1926}}

Following further excavations in the 1920s, including that of the Tomb of Aegisthus, which he dated securely to LH IIA and argued as earlier than 'Atreus', Wace dated the tomb to LH III,{{sfn|Wace|1923|p=340}} later giving a ''[[terminus ante quem]]'' of 1350{{nbsp}}BCE.{{sfn|Wace|1940|p=246}} This was primarily based on the findings of his 1939 excavation, which showed that the ''dromos'' had been dug through the so-called 'Bothros deposit', which included LH{{nbsp}}IIIA1 material, providing a ''[[terminus post quem]]'' for its construction.{{sfn|Hope Simpson|Dickinson|1979|p=34}}  Most modern treatments consider the construction of the Treasury of Atreus and the fortification of the citadel of Mycenae, including the construction of the Lion Gate, to be broadly contemporary and to belong to the LH&nbsp;III period.{{sfn|Boyd|2015|p=443}} However, there is some disagreement about the relative chronology: [[George E. Mylonas|George Mylonas]] argued that the fortifications began in LH&nbsp;IIIA2 and that the Treasury of Atreus was constructed in LH&nbsp;IIIB1, contemporary with the final phase of fortification,{{sfn|Mylonas|1983|p=77}} while William Cavanagh and Christopher Mee,{{sfn|Cavanagh|Mee|1999|p=94}} along with Elizabeth French, considered that 'Atreus' belongs to the early part of LH&nbsp;IIIA1.

By LH III, Mycenae and nearby [[Tiryns]] were the only sites in the Argolid where ''tholos'' tombs were constructed:{{sfn|Mee|2012|p=286}} previously, such tombs had been constructed at [[Dendra]], Kazarma, Berbati, [[Prosymna]] and Kokla.{{sfn|Dirlik|2012}} Scholars generally consider that the Treasury of Atreus was the penultimate ''tholos'' constructed at Mycenae, ahead of the Tomb of Clytemnestra.{{sfn|Mason|2013|p=97}}{{efn|Olivier Pelon argued that the Tomb of Atreus was the latest of the ''tholoi'',{{Sfnm|1a1=Pelon|1y=1976|1pp=482–483|2a1=Pelon|2y=1990|2p=109}} though this chronology predates the reassessment of the Tomb of Clytemnestra to LH IIIB1.{{sfn|Mason|2013|p=117}}}}

A single sherd beneath the threshold of the tomb dates to LH&nbsp;IIIB&nbsp;middle: this is considered to have come to be there during a later refurbishment of the tomb.{{sfn|French|2013|p=69}}

== Location ==
[[File:Late Bronze Age Tombs at Mycenae.svg|alt=Map of Late Bronze Age tombs at Mycenae, including Atreus.|thumb|The ''tholoi'', chamber tombs and grave circles around Mycenae. The Treasury of Atreus is numbered as 4.]]
{{main|Mycenae}}

The site of Mycenae is situated in Argolis, in the north-eastern Peloponnese, on the eastern edge of the Argive Plain. The Treasury of Atreus is located to the west side of the modern road leading to the citadel, approximately 500{{nbsp}}m south-southwest of the Lion Gate.{{Sfn|Boyd|2015|p=444}}

The earliest of Mycenae's ''tholoi'' were constructed around the Kalkani [[necropolis]], which had previously been used for the earliest chamber tombs.{{Sfn|Boyd|2015|p=444}} The Lion and Aegisthus tholoi, by contrast, were built much closer to the acropolis, a trend followed by the later Tomb of Clytemnestra. This creates a division of most of Mycenae's nine ''tholos'' tombs into two groups, separated by the Panagia ridge.{{sfn|Hope Simpson|Dickinson|1979|p=36}}{{sfn|Mason|2007}} The greater size and elaboration of the tombs nearer the citadel has led to the suggestion that they are 'more royal' than those on the other side of the Panagia ridge,{{sfn|Hope Simpson|Dickinson|1979|p=39}} though the chronological concentration of most of the ''tholoi'' in LH&nbsp;IIA, the fact that the smaller Cyclopean and Epano Phournos ''tholoi'' predate the grander Lion and Aegisthus tombs, and the fact that ostentatious burials continued in monumental chamber tombs all problematise a straightforward connection between ''tholos'' tombs and royalty at Mycenae, at least before LH&nbsp;IIB.{{sfn|Nash|2017|pp=37–41}}
[[File:Treasury of Atreus and Maycenae, 20M0599.jpg|alt=Photograph of an outside view, with a small amount of wall visible in the foreground.|left|thumb|View of the acropolis of Mycenae from the Treasury of Atreus, with the peak of Profitis Ilias behind. David Mason has argued that the coincidence of the shape of the acropolis with Profitis Ilias was an important consideration behind the placement of the Treasury of Atreus.{{Sfn|Mason|2007|p=48}}]]
The Treasury of Atreus is set alone at the southern edge of a bowl on the Panagia ridge's eastern slope.{{sfn|Mason|2007|p=40}} Prior to its construction, the site was occupied by a building, which was demolished to build the ''tholos''.{{Sfn|Brysbaert|Vikatou|Stöger|2020|p=46}} [[Michael Boyd (archaeologist)|Michael Boyd]] has suggested that the tomb's position was intended to 'co-opt the traditions of the past without directly competing with the present',{{Sfn|Boyd|2015|p=444}} since most contemporary burials were made in [[Mycenaean chamber tomb|chamber tombs]] further from the acropolis.{{Sfn|Boyd|2015|p=444}} David Mason has drawn attention to the tomb's position alongside a likely Mycenaean route to the acropolis,{{Sfn|Mason|2007|p=40}} which perhaps gave it a protective function,{{Sfn|Mason|2007|pp=40–41}} and to the views created both of the citadel from the tomb and of the tomb from the citadel, which he argues would have emphasised the connection between the dead interred in the tomb and the living who held power over Mycenae.{{Sfn|Mason|2007|p=45–48}} James Wright has also suggested that the location may have been selected for the greatest possible impact upon those arriving at Mycenae from the south.{{Sfn|Wright|2006|p=59}}

The alignment of the ''dromos'' is believed to have reflected topographic considerations — it is aligned perpendicular to the slope of the hill, which would have best facilitated its construction.{{Sfn|Mickelson|Mickelson|2014|p=5}}

==Post-Mycenaean history==

The remains of a seventh-century&nbsp;BCE [[krater]] decorated with the image of a horse, found beside the retaining wall of the tumulus, has been taken as evidence of cult activity at the tomb.{{sfn|French|2013|p=143}} Unlike the earlier Tomb of Aegisthus and the later Tomb of Clytemnestra,{{sfn|Antonaccio|1995|pp=34–40}} there is little direct evidence of the tomb's use in the post-Mycenaean period, though a bronze pin found in the side chamber and a handful of other bronze objects from the tomb have been suggested as possibly belonging to the [[Geometric period]].{{sfn|Antonaccio|1995|p=39}} In other tombs of Mycenae, post-Mycenaean finds which are not associated with burials have been interpreted as signs of [[Greek hero cult|hero cult]].{{sfn|Antonaccio|1994|p=396}} Remains of this period in ''tholos'' tombs have been seen as a means for the short-lived [[Argos, Peloponnese|Argive]] colony at Mycenae, established in the 3rd century&nbsp;BCE but abandoned within a century,{{sfn|Alcock|1997|p=24}} to assert its connection with Mycenae's mythological heroes and so its status and prestige in relation to Argos.{{sfn|Alcock|1997|p=24}}{{sfn|Jameson|1990|p=222}}

===Excavation===
[[File:Fotografi från Tiryns, Grekland - Hallwylska museet - 104612.tif|thumb|The ''dromos'' of the treasury, probably between Veli Pasha's excavations of 1810 and Stamatakis' clearance in 1876–1879.]]
In the 19th century, a local tradition believed that the tomb had been once explored by the ''[[Agha (title)|agha]]'' of the nearby village of Karvati, who took from it a bronze lamp.{{sfn|Smith|1916|p=216}} The first securely-documented entrance to the tomb was undertaken by the British aristocrat Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin. In 1801, Elgin had tasked his draughtsman, [[Giovanni Battista Lusieri]], and Philip Hunt, a chaplain to the British embassy in Greece, to investigate various archaeological sites in Greece with a view to finding antiquities that might be taken back to Britain.{{sfn|Gere|2006|p=51}} Hunt visited Mycenae in August, and reported the Treasury of Atreus as 'a most stupendous conical subterranean building, quite entire, called by some antiquaries the Tomb of Agamemnon, by others the Royal Treasury of Mycenae'.{{refn|Quoted in [[#CITEREFPryceSmith1928|Pryce and Smith 1928]], p. 15}} Hunt also noted that the tomb was not intact, but open to the elements, and that 'floods of rain' and ingress of debris had made access difficult.{{refn|Letter from Hunt to Elgin, 3 September 1801, quoted in [[#CITEREFSmith1916|Smith 1916]], p.200}}

Elgin visited on 8 May 1802, crawling, as his wife [[Mary Bruce, Countess of Elgin|Mary]] attested in a letter to her mother, through the tomb's relieving triangle.{{sfn|Gere|2006|pp=50–53}} He asked the [[voivode]] of [[Nafplio]] to clear the tomb, which was completed by Elgin's return to Mycenae on the 12th:{{sfn|Smith|1916|p=214}} the voivode presented him with fragments of pottery vases, ornamental stonework and a marble vase found within.{{sfn|Gere|2006|p=53}} Elgin also had parts of the columns flanking the doorway removed and shipped to England,{{sfn|Smith|1916|p=214}} along with the fragmentary [[gypsum]] reliefs of bulls,{{sfn|Moore|2015|pages=42–43}} and architectural drawings made of the tomb by [[Sebastiano Ittar]].{{sfn|Smith|1916|p=218}}

In June 1810, Veli Pasha, the Ottoman ''[[Pasha]]'' of the [[Morea]], excavated the monument.{{efn|Christos Tsountas, in 1897, wrote that Veli Pasha had 'rifled' the tomb in 1808: it is not known whether he is referring to the same incident.{{sfn|Tsountas|1897|p=131}}}} He cleared most of the entrance to the tomb{{sfn|Moore|Rowlands|Karadimas|2014|p=78}} and entered the chamber with ladders; according to [[Heinrich Schliemann|Heinrich Schliemann's]] later publication of his own excavations at Mycenae, he discovered 'bones covered with gold', as well as gemstones and other gold and silver objects.{{sfn|Schliemann|1878|p=49}} Veli Pasha sold some artefacts to the British [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|MPs]] and antiquarians [[John Nicholas Fazakerley]] and [[Henry Gally Knight]], and removed four large fragments of the [[Engaged column|semi-engaged columns]] beside the doorway. One of the fragments — last seen in 1815 — became part of a [[mosque]] in [[Argos, Peloponnese|Argos]]; Veli Pasha gave the others as a gift to [[Howe Browne, 2nd Marquess of Sligo]], who visited him shortly after the excavations and gave him two fourteen-pounder [[cannon]]s in exchange.{{sfn|Loughlin|2021|p=47}}{{efn|It is sometimes claimed that Sligo directed or co-directed the removals himself;{{sfn|Gere|2006|p=53}} this is likely to be erroneous, as Sligo arrived in Argolis only after the excavation and his letters make no mention of it.{{sfn|Loughlin|2021|p=47}}}} Sligo described the columnar fragments as 'trifles', but had them shipped to his estate at [[Westport House]] in [[County Mayo]], [[Ireland]], where they were discovered in a basement by his grandson, [[George Browne, 6th Marquess of Sligo|George Browne]], in 1904. George Browne offered them for 'public benefit' to the British Museum, to be combined with the fragments taken by Elgin and given in 1816 to the museum,{{sfn|British Museum|2021}} in exchange for replicas of the reconstructed columns; they entered the museum in 1905.{{sfn|Loughlin|2021|p=48}}

Heinrich Schliemann may have explored the tomb during his brief, illegal excavations of Mycenae in 1874.{{efn|Wace states that Schliemann 'made some tests' in the Treasury of Atreus, but gives the date as 1873 and as before his excavations of 1876.{{sfn|Wace|1923|p=283}} Schliemann's only visit to the site before those excavations, apart from a brief excursus to it in 1868, was between 23 February and 4 March 1874.{{sfn|Moorehead|2016|p=145}}}} In 1876, he excavated in the side chamber, finding a small pit of unknown purpose;{{sfn|Schliemann|1878|p=46}} Alan Wace later suggested that it was the base for a column which was never put in.{{sfn|Wace|1923|p=351}} Between 1876 and 1879, Panagiotis Stamatakis cleared the debris from the ''dromos'' and entrance of the tomb,{{sfn|Wace|1923|p=283}} recovering fragments of sculpture believed to have come from the relieving triangle.{{sfn|Wace|1923|p=344}}

[[File:Gruppbild från grävningarna i Asine. Övre raden fr.v - SMVK - C07780 (Alan Wace cropped).tif|alt=Black-and-white photograph of a moustachioed man, facing the camera, with an open-necked shirt.|thumb|Alan Wace in 1922, during excavations at [[Asine]]|195x195px]]

In 1920 and 1921, archaeologists of the [[British School at Athens]] under Alan Wace made small-scale excavations in the tomb for the purposes of establishing its date,{{sfn|Wace|1923|p=338}} including a trench in the ''dromos''.{{sfn|Wace|1923|p=339}} During the campaigns of 1920–1923, which had originally intended to excavate the seven thus-far unexcavated ''tholoi'' (that is, all except 'Atreus' and 'Clytemnestra'), Wace had the first architectural plans of the tomb drawn up by [[Piet de Jong (artist)|Piet de Jong]].{{sfn|Galanakis|2007|p=255}}

Another effort was made in 1939, where Wace dug trenches on the outside of the ''dromos'' in line with the façade and beyond the eastern end of the ''dromos''. Wace found that the façade and dromos were bonded together, showing that they were constructed together, and that the ''dromos'' had not previously been any larger than its present dimensions.{{sfn|Wace|1940|pages=237–238}} The 1939 excavation also showed that the ''dromos'' had been dug through the so-called 'Bothros deposit', which included LH{{nbsp}}IIIA1 material, providing a ''terminus post quem'' for its construction.{{sfn|Hope Simpson|Dickinson|1979|p=34}}

In 1955, Wace dug trial trenches in the area around the tomb,{{sfn|Mason|2007|p=50}} containing large quantities of Mycenaean potsherds, which have been interpreted (in line with similar contemporary deposits at the Tomb of Clytemnestra) as offerings made to the tomb's occupants.{{sfn|Wace|1956|p=117}}{{sfn|Mason|2007|p=50}}

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Atreas 1.jpg|Dome of the treasury
File:Entrance to the treasure of Atreus.jpg|Detailed view of the entrance
File:Facade of Treasury of Atreus 1.JPG|Reconstruction of a capital in the [[National Archeological Museum, Athens]]
Image:Schatzhaus des Atreus, Querschnitt.jpg|Section of the tomb
File:DK 1608 046013.jpg|Interior
File:Treasury of Atreus in the British Museum 04.jpg|Part of the column in the [[British Museum]]
File:Treasury of Atreus in the British Museum 01.jpg|Fragments of the facade in the British Museum
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[List of megalithic sites]]
* [[List of world's largest domes]]

==Footnotes==

===Explanatory notes===
{{notelist}}

===References===
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
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* {{cite journal|last1=Wace|first1=Alan|author-link1=Alan Wace|last2=Blegen|first2=Carl|author-link2=Carl Blegen|year=1918|title=The Pre-Mycenaean Pottery of the Mainland|journal=[[British School at Athens|The Annual of the British School at Athens]]|volume=22|pages=175–189|doi=10.1017/S0068245400009916 |jstor=30096516|s2cid=163842512 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1836453 }}
* {{cite journal|last1=Wace|first1=Alan|author-link1=Alan Wace|year=1956|title=Mycenae 1939–1955, part I: preliminary report on the excavations of 1955|journal=[[British School at Athens|Annual of the British School at Athens]]|volume=51|pages=103–122|doi=10.1017/S0068245400018803 |jstor=30096806|s2cid=159836724 }}
* {{cite journal|last1=Wace|first1=Alan|author-link1=Alan Wace|year=1940|title=The Treasury of Atreus|journal=[[Antiquity (journal)|Antiquity]]|volume=14|issue=55 |pages=233–249|doi=10.1017/S0003598X00015234 |s2cid=162739311 |issn=0003-598X}}
* {{cite journal|last1=Wace|first1=Alan|author-link1=Alan Wace|date=1923|title=Excavations at Mycenae § IX — The Tholos Tombs|journal=[[British School at Athens|The Annual of the British School at Athens]]|volume=25|pages=283–402|doi=10.1017/S0068245400010352|s2cid=183795426 }}
* {{cite book|last=Watkin|first=David|author-link=David Watkin (historian)|year=2005|title=A History of Western Architecture|isbn=9781856694599|publisher=Laurence King Publishing|place=London|orig-date=1986}}
* {{Cite book |last=Wilson |first=N. G. |title=Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-136-78799-7 |location=New York |oclc=862746243}}
* {{cite book|last=Wright|first=James C.|author-link=James C. Wright|year=2006|chapter=The Social Production of Space and the Architectural Reproduction of Society in the Bronze Age Aegean during the 2nd Millennium B.C.E.|title=Constructing Power: Architecture, Ideology and Social Practice|editor-last1=Maran|editor-first1=Joseph|editor-last2=Juwig|editor-first2=Carsten|editor-first3=Hermann |editor-last3=Schwengel|editor-first4=Ulrich|editor-last4=Thaler|pages=49–69|place=Hamburg|publisher=Lit Verlag|isbn=9783825893149}}
* {{cite book|last=Wright|first=James|author-link=James C. Wright|year=1987|chapter=Death and Power at Mycenae: Changing Symbols in Mortuary Practice|title=Les coutumes funéraires en Égée à l'âge du Bronze. Actes du colloque de Liège, 21-23 avril 1986 (''Aegaeum ''1)|editor-last=Laffineur|editor-first=Robert|editor-link=Robert Laffineur|place=Liège|pages=171–184}}
* {{cite book|last=Zekiou|first=Olga|year=2019|title=The Poetics of the Homeric Citadel|isbn=9781527527010|publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing|place=Newcastle-upon-Tyne}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Treasury of Atreus}}
* {{Structurae|id=20003185|title=Treasury of Atreus}}
*[http://www.vGreece.com/index.php?entry=entry061018-191233 Treasury of Atreus] 360° Interactive virtual tour
*[http://www.iol.ie/~geniet/eng/atreus.htm A different light inside Treasury of Atreus]

{{Architecture of Greece}}
{{World Heritage Sites in Greece}}
{{Archaeological site of Mycenae}}

{{coord|37.72682|22.75387|format=dms|type:landmark_region:GR|display=title}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Treasury Of Atreus}}
[[Category:Buildings and structures completed in the 13th century BC]]
[[Category:1879 archaeological discoveries]]
[[Category:Domes]]
[[Category:Mycenae]]
[[Category:Mycenaean tombs]]
[[Category:Mycenaean tholos tombs]]
[[Category:Archaeological discoveries in the Peloponnese]]
[[Category:Heinrich Schliemann]]
[[Category:Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin]]