Thanks to the dedication of archaeologists who are ready to give up comfort for the time being in order to search for ancient artifacts, we today know for sure that, for example, Troy is not Homer's fiction, as it has long been believed. The excavations of Schliemann, an amateur archaeologist, not only confirmed the story of the Trojan War, but also revealed to the world the treasures of the ancient Mycenaean civilization. Among these archaeological finds was a golden mask, which is often called the mask of Agamemnon.
Homer "Iliad"
We know little about the creator of one of the oldest literary works - Homer. No one knows the exact date of his birth, nor the place of his birth. Until the 70s of the XIX century, it was believed that the events described by Homer in the Odyssey and the Iliad were nothing but a part of ancient Greek mythology, because along with people, gods and demigods participate in epics.
However, the archaeological site of Troy, and then Mycenae, prompted scientists to take a fresh look at the works of Homer. In particular, the Iliad tells of the events of the Trojan War, the historicity of which today no one doubts. The Greek army was commanded by Agamemnon, king of Mycenae. At that time, this city was the most significant in the south of the Balkan Peninsula.
In the Iliad, Agamemnon appears as a valiant warrior, but his shortcomings - intransigence and arrogance - later brought many disasters to the Greek army. How the life of the Mycenaean king ended, the Iliad is silent, nevertheless, later epic works of the Greeks tell about it. Interest in them has revived with renewed vigor after the mask of Agamemnon was discovered as a result of excavations of the ancient Mycenae.
Myths and Reality
Other ancient authors wrote about the Mycenaean king and the tragic fate of his family: Stesichore, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, etc. Until now, no documentary evidence has been found of his existence, therefore Agamemnon in history is considered a mythical figure, although, as they assume, he had prototype - the Greek king Akagamunas, reported by the Hittite sources of the XIV century. BC. Thus, the golden mask found in the 19th century could not have belonged to the legendary Mycenaean king.
According to Greek mythology, Agamemnon, after the murder of his father, King Mycenae, fled with his brother to Aetolia. The ruler of Sparta came to their aid and helped return to their hometown. When Agamemnon established himself in Mycenae, he expanded the boundaries of his possessions, turning into a powerful king. Later, he married the daughter of Tsar Sparta Clytemnestra, who gave birth to his son Orestes and three daughters.
Endless memory
After the end of the Trojan War, Agamemnon returned to Mycenae with rich booty. What was his future fate? There are several versions set forth in Greek myths. According to one of them, he fell at the hands of his cousin Aegisthus, who seduced the wife of Agamemnon. According to another, he was killed by Clytemnestra herself, who did not forgive the fact that he sacrificed their daughter Iphigenia to the goddess Artemis. In any case, Agamemnon in Mycenae was waiting for death.
The plot, in which evil rock pursues the family of the Mycenaean king, formed the basis not only of ancient tragedies. It was developed in his work by later authors, for example, a German playwright and poet of the 16th century. Sachs G., founder of the Italian tragedy Alfieri V. (XVIII century.).
The murder of the ruler of Mycenae again attracted the attention of playwrights when Schliemann G. discovered the royal tombs. Among the ancient artifacts was, as the archaeologist believed, the mask of Agamemnon. After this discovery, the king’s death was defeated in almost three dozen plays and several operas.
Archaeological expedition
One hundred and fifty years ago, scientists were skeptical of the historicity of Homer's works. In contrast, the German amateur archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann believed that the great Greek was not mistaken and that Troy really existed. Based on the epic of Homer and the notes of Pausanias, the Greek geographer who visited Asia Minor in the 2nd century AD, he went in search of a vanished city.
No one could have imagined that in 1873 he would indeed be able to find the ancient Troy. Encouraged by success, after three years, Schliemann began excavating Mycenae in Greece. Much of what we know about Mycenaean civilization today is the merit of this enthusiastic archaeologist. The finds made by him confirmed Homer's message about the extraordinary wealth of the kings of Mycenae.
The Agamemnon mask alone made a huge impression on the scientific world of the 19th century, and it was not the only gold object discovered by the Schliemann expedition. Excavations began in August 1876 and continued until the end of the year, but in September it became obvious that archaeologists found a civilization that flourished here in the II millennium BC.
Royal tombs
Despite the fact that the discovered artifacts were more magnificent than those that he managed to unearth in Troy, Schliemann was unsatisfied. Obsessed with the idea of finding the tomb of Agamemnon, about which many ancient Greek authors wrote, he continued to work, despite the difficulties.
In the end, Schliemann unearthed the royal tombs, where the golden mask of King Agamemnon was found. Five of them were inside the fortress and were grave mines, and four later were located behind the fortress walls. The burial places were untouched, so all the funeral decorations, and there were a lot of them, were preserved.
Schliemann had no doubt that in front of him was the tomb of Agamemnon and his comrades, killed by Clythemestra and her lover Egist. The golden funerary mask that he found in one of the tombs is known today as the mask of King Agamemnon.
Ancient custom
For different peoples, the rituals associated with faith in the afterlife differ. Nevertheless, you can always find in them something in common. For example, the manufacture of funerary masks was inherent in the ancient Egyptians, Assyrians, Chinese, Indians, and the peoples of Siberia.
The golden mask of Agamemnon, found by Schliemann, suggests that the Mycenaeans also believed that the image of the deceased is very important for his well-being in the afterlife, even in the absence of portrait resemblance. Of course, these ritual objects were made of gold only for rulers, ordinary people were content with clay or wood.
Riddles of the ancient Mycenae: Agamemnon's mask
More than a hundred years have passed since the discovery made by Heinrich Schliemann, but much remains a mystery. What the lions represented at the gate of the same name, what tools the Mykene used to build structures from cyclopean stones, why the city was abandoned - these and other questions remain unanswered.
The mask of King Agamemnon also keeps his secret. The only thing that could be established with absolute accuracy - it belonged to another person, since it was made 400 years before the Trojan War, a contemporary of which was the Mycenaean king. Scientists came to this conclusion after the death of Schliemann. The archaeologist himself never doubted that the artifact he found was nothing more than a mask of the legendary Agamemnon.