Giants or Geniuses? Monumental Building at Mycenae

Barbro Santillo Frizell

doi:10.37718/csa.1998.13

Abstract

ln this paper I will focus on some aspects of the history of building technology, a neglected field in archaeology. The related subject is the monumental tholos tombs of Bronze Age Mycenae, and I will argue that a fuller understanding of the building procedure is necessary to interpret the monuments in their historical context. A new interpretation of their function and role in the royal propaganda is proposed.

Highlights

Barbro Santillo Frizell ln this paper I will focus on some aspects of the history of building technology, a neglected field in archaeology
A HEROIC LANDSCAPE The monumental ruins of Bronze Age Mycenae have always constituted a visible past in the landscape
Contrary to many other famous Bronze Age places, Mycenae was never completely buried over time and the memory of its glorious past lived on throughout the history of the ancient Greeks

Summary

Monumental Building at Mycenae

Barbro Santillo Frizell ln this paper I will focus on some aspects of the history of building technology, a neglected field in archaeology. The consequence of this attitude is, in our case, a poor understanding of the function and role of monumental building at Mycenae It can be examplified by such statements as: "The construction of the Tholos Tombs is understood, especially that belonging to the graves of the Late Mycenaean period" (Mylonas 1983:169).A list of similar statements could be made long but is of little use, since all scholars have based their observations on the publication of the British School in the 1920s (Wace 1925:283—396) which suffers from many faults and errors in the documentation, in the survey and the related drawings (Santillo 1990:17—18). The lintel blocks were launched and the struts in the stomion took on even more stress

At the level of the lintel the cupola changed

The men who participated were called the