What is "mycenae"

Mycenae ( Greek: Mykēnai or Mykēnē) is an archaeological site in Greece, located about southwest of Athens, in the north-eastern Peloponnese. Argos is to the south; Corinth, to the north. From the hill on which the palace was located, one can see across the Argolid to the Saronic Gulf.

In the second millennium BC, Mycenae was one of the major centres of Greek civilization, a military stronghold which dominated much of southern Greece. The period of Greek history from about 1600 BC to about 1100 BC is called Mycenaean in reference to Mycenae. At its peak in 1350 BC, the citadel and lower town had a population of 30,000 and an area of 32 hectares.

The first correct identification of Mycenae in modern literature was during a survey commissioned by the Provveditore Generale of the Kingdom of the Morea in 1700, which used Pausanias's description of the Lion Gate to identify the ruins.