Mycenae – Lion Gate

The Lion Gate was the only entrance and exit out of the citadel of Mycenae, southern Greece during the Bronze Age. It was constructed in the northwest of the Acropolis during 1250 B.C. and is named after the relief sculpture of two lionesses in a heraldic pose that stands above the entrance. The Lion Gate is the only surviving monumental piece of Mycenaean sculpture and also the largest sculpture in the prehistoric Aegean.

The Lion's Gate had 4 main materials, Rock, Gold, and Clay. It is a massive and imposing construction, standing 3.10 m wide and 2.95 m high at the threshold. It narrows as it rises, measuring 2.78 m below the lintel. The opening was closed by a double door mortised to a vertical beam that acted as a pivot around which the door revolved. The Cyclopean wall has a foundation of small stones and clay. The Thickness of the wall is about 4.6m. It was positioned so that approaching visitor to pass along an increasing narrow passage-way parallel to the enclosing wall, allowing defenders inside to attack hostile forces before they could reach entrance. The front and back of the wall are rock slabs but the inside is only ruble and earth. A few of the rocks have been altered with hammers or saws but most of the rocks are untouched by human hands.

The gate itself consists of two great monoliths capped with a huge lintel that measures 4.5×2.0×0.8m. Above the lintel, the masonry courses form a corbelled arch, leaving an opening that lightens the weight carried by the lintel. The wall has limestone relief over the gate which was mend to mask triangular space over the lintel of the gateway. This relieving triangle is a great limestone slab on which two confronted lionesses carved in high relief stand on either sides of a central pillar. The heads of the animals were fashioned separately and are missing. The pillar with circular motifs on its top is placed on an altar-like platform on which the lionesses rest their forepaws. A number of archaeologists...