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Tyrins 48 pictures 2 minutes HQ video Continuing towards Nafplion, one is well-advised to stop at the ruins of Tiryns (2600-1100 B.C.), a powerful Helladic and Mycenaean city. The low acropolis extends from northwest to southeast and houses the anakroton surrounded by a stupendous Cyclopean circuit wall, eight meters high and six meters thick. Access to the anakroton is through a labyrinth of sloping ramped passages, and a sort of lower citadel built in the area below the acropolis. The "palace" was surrounded by walls that included, to the east and south, corbel-vaulted corridors linked to corbel-vaulted chambers built into the thickness of the walls. It is still uncertain whether these structures were used as storerooms or covered military outposts for archers during defensive and counteroffensive operations, since some of the chambers are equipped with window-like openings that could have been arrow slits. The megaron-style layout is rather articulated: a large courtyard precedes a wide porticoed atrium that leads to the throne room, around which lie the private residential quarters and utility areas. The bathroom is surprising for its size and luxury, with a monolithic limestone floor. As at Mycenae, this site also features an ingenious system of protected access to underwater cisterns and a long staircase that connects a defensive tower of the western bastion with a well-camouflaged postern in the wall. The Great Gate Almost equal in dimensions to the Lion Gate at Mycenae and built of the same material, breccia (pudding stone). The monolithic threshold, 4 meters wide and the west jamb, 3.20 meters high, are all that have survived intact. The Great Ramp The great ramp and tower at the entrance to the Citadel of Tyrins. Room This room is in the eastern branch of the wall of the upper citadel. Palace Complex This complex comprises the Great Megaron and the central court and is flanked by two wings of buildings, to the east and the west. In front of this complex are a second outer court and a small propylon. Wall Painting Back to Greece Index