I Have Gazed Upon the Face of Agamemnon...

From the treasury of Atreus, we went up the road to the citadel of Mycenae, which is by far my favorite of all the archaeological sites that I have been to so far. It's a lovely site- the citadel was built on a hill for strategic purposes, but it affords a lovely view of the surrounding valley. The Argolid is a very pretty place. Mycenae is a very exciting place. The city gives its name to an entire civilization, the Mycenaean civilization, which was a dominant power in Greece at the end of the Bronze age, and, on account of that, to several time periods (Mycenaean, subMycenaean, etc.) The city appears in Homer as the home of Agamemnon, the brother of Menelaus and the husband of Clytemnestra, making him the brother-in-law of Helen. In the age of heroes it was the home of the house of Atreus, possibly one of the most dysfunctional families in all of history.
This is a mountain right next to Mycenae, and if you know your Aeschylus, you'll know why it's really cool- at the top of it, there is an old beacon. If you don't know the Agamemnon, what you need to know is that there is a part where Clytemnestra tells the chorus that her husband, Agamemnon, will be returning later that day- the chorus scoffs at her, until a messenger comes and says that Agamemnon will be returning that day. Clytemnestra then explains that she knew this because she was alerted by a series of beacons, going across the islands and to Mycenae.
Then we went down into an ancient cistern! It was very dark and the steps were very slippery, which is why I have a lot of pictures like this- we were using the flash from my camera to light the way. This cistern was dug into the rock, and would have provided water for the palace during seige conditions. At the bottom of the cistern! I like how Josh looks manic and Gina is making an awkward face. As usual. At least they look happy?

Ancient graffiti!