Harry's Peloponnese Guide: Ancient Tiryns (Tyrins) Argos Prefecture

They make a big fuss about close by Mycenaea and Delphi but leave poor Tiryns out of the lime light for some reason. True a lot of it, especially the megaron atop the acropolis is rubble but they could spruce that up with a little reconstruction if they put their minds to it. They have done it in Knossos and Delos and lots of other sites so why not here as well? These ruins, which predate Mycenae, are shrouded in mystery. Some will tell you that here Menaleus held court here and that he and Helen warmed one another's beds until that nasty Paris visited from Troy.. but others say that Menaleus really held sway in nearby Argos.

Well somebody or something was running the show from Tiryns and I want to know who! These ruins are very impressive and easy to find for once, since they are on the way to Argos and Naufplion. The walls are so big that they imply a strong degree of central authority and firm control of the local populace. It took years to build this place. Mycenaea, farther to the north is better situated defensively only in that it has the advantage of its two defiles protecting its flanks.

The stones used in their building are called "Cyclopean" since it was thought only a Cyclops would be strong enough to put them in situ. This is a fortress palace complete with fortifications. Its most impressive from below and mostly rubble above in the palace precincts. Still its well worth an a hours visit if in the neighborhood.

Ancient Tiryns (Tirintha)

Tiryns (Tirintha) is 4km from Nauplio on the road to Argos, with the limestone quarries at Aghios Ilias from which the ancient city was built on the way there, each with a chapel on it.

After that can be seen the penal Agricultural College established under the Kapodistrias government of 1828-31, which owned the field in which was discovered the Treasure of Tiryns (see below). The 13 century BC citadel of Tiryns, of Cyclopean proportions, sits on the top of a low hill (27 meters/88.5feet) known as Palaiokastro (old castle/fortress) with reclaimed marshland in between it and the sea now covered with citrus trees. In ancient times the sea was much closer, adding to the impregnability achieved by its massive walls. The hill is one of several rising up out of the plain, where the ancient city lay unfortified.

Its "Cyclopean" walls are famous as the finest examples of Mycenaean military architecture, much praised by such authors as Homer, Pindar and Pausanias and the interior of the palace was more elaborate than those of either Pylos or Mycenae.

The walls stretch for 700 meters/about 300 feet enclosing the fortress and are made of two kinds of limestone, red and grey in irregular sized blocks, the biggest of which weigh as much as 14,000 kg (30,800 lbs or approximately 15tons).

The lower part of the fortress walls are more regular and there the walls are 7-8meters thick, but in the upper part, broken by towers and the like they vary between 5-11meters in thickness. Their original height was around 20 meters.

On the east side is the entrance ramp (right) (about 5 meters wide) wide enough to accommodate chariots, and angled in such as way as to leave invaders unprotected on one side as they approached. In addition, beyond the gateway was a passage between the outer rampart and inner wall of the castle (11meter/36 feet high at this point), where attackers who managed to get through the gate were totally vulnerable to attack from every side by hurled weapons.

The main entrance shows no sign of a gate, but the Outer Gateway of the lower citadel is marked by a huge stone threshold (4meters/13 feet long) with holes that were obviously used for hinges and a socket in one of the jambs for the wooden bar that held the doors (now absent) shut.

This gateway compares in size with the Lion Gateway at Mycenae. Six chambers were built within the walls which were used as barracks or storerooms. (see plan above #6)The Great Propylaia is a double porch divided by a wall, with a single doorway in it.

There were wooden columns here, their stone bases still remain. This gateway followed upon an earlier one. The Royal Palace is reached from the north side of the forecourt near the Smaller Propylaion. The site of the palace complex was occupied in Neolithic times (probably), and remains of Early Helladic buildings have been discovered there.

The palace dates to the 14th century BC, was rebuilt after 1250 BC and again in 1200 BC, both times after natural disasters. A cult room from 1200BC was discovered, with an even earlier predecessor, and large numbers of terracotta figures found there. Evidence of metal working was also found.

The base of the palace walls is made of limestone, now only about one meter high, and above this the walls were of sun-baked brick covered with stucco on which frescoes were painted. The enormous stone thresholds of the doorways remain; the floors are made of a mixture of lime and pebbles that resembles concrete.

The Megaron (large hall or throne room) is approached via an outer chamber, ( in turn entered by triple doors), and in its center is a round clay hearth, with a diameter of 3-4meters.

Wooden columns supported the roof, themselves supported by stone pedestals. The painted floor remains somewhat intact, and the base of the throne is well-preserved (and housed in the Archaeological Museum in Athens, along with other items and frescoes from the site).

On the walls frescoes depict a boar hunt and a frieze of women. Beneath the Megaron and court is concealed a round building 28meters in diameter, dated from the Early Helladic period.

A square tower beyond the rear court gives way to a Secret Stair which descends through a huge bastion to a corbelled Postern Gate and from there one leaves the fortress. This flight of 80 steps was a clever innovation in the defensive structure of the palace, and yet another place where besiegers would have been made totally vulnerable.

There are two spring-fed underground Cisterns near the northwest angle of the lower enclosure in the ramparts, lead to by steeply descending secret passages, discovered only in 1962, and quite by accident. Stones covering the cisterns had Archaic inscriptions dating to 600BC.

Greece Travelers may take a luxury coach tour, rent a car or empower themselves with a private Oracle tour of their own design. Consider these other popular Greece travel destinations. If its on the Greek mainland Oracle can take you there in air conditioned & non-smoking security!

Athens, Cape Sounion, Ancient Corinth, Delphi & Ossios Lukas, Drama, Florina, Greneva, Chalkidiki, Imathia, Kastoria, Kavala, Kozani, Meteora, Mt. Athos, Mycenaea, Naufplion, Olympia, Pella and Vergina, Phillipi & Kavala, Dion & Mt Olympus, Sparta & Mystras, The Mani and Monemvasia, Thessaloniki,
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