Perhaps such imposing, enclosing, restrictive walls should be the first image of this city. So well walled off from history was Mycenae, that for many years the stories told in Homer were thought by many to be pure works of fiction. No less interesting for that, but not springing from any historical basis. In the 1870's excavations at this site by the German archeologist Heinrich Schliemann, and work by others to interpret his finds, have led to a different view.

Emerging out of the ruins of Mycenae was evidence of a flourishing culture at this city and others nearby that came to be called Mycenaean. This culture with massive-walled cities fits the time and cultural context of Homer's stories. And it is old, for this city was at its height from 1550BCE to 1200BCE. By comparison, King David of ancient Israel was perhaps 1000BCE and Moses at 1300BCE.

Schliemann was not the most careful archeologist and many of his ideas have proven to be false. He did not discover the grave of King Agamemnon, for example. Homer's stories cannot be 'proven' in detail by anything found at Mycenae, but what you can say is that this culture at this city formed the milieu that was used in the stories of Homer.

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