Section of dromos looking west and showing elevation of tholos entrance, M...

South side of tholos entrance with column base and column attachment cutti...

Section taken along the length of the dromos looking north, Mycenae, Treas...

Doorway to side chamber, Mycenae, Treasury of Atreus

Dromos and entrance, Mycenae, Treasury of Atreus

Detail of double row of holes on interior wall of portal for securing meta...

Context: Mycenae
Type: Tomb
Summary: One of 9 tholos tombs located outside the walls at Mycenae
Date: 1300 BC - 1250 BC
Dimensions:

Tholos is 14.60 m. in diameter and 13.40 m. high. Side chamber ca. 6 m. square and 5 m. high. Dromos, 36 m. long and 6 m wide.
Region: Argolid
Period: Late Bronze Age

Plan:

Subterranean circular chamber with a corbelled dome (hence also called "beehive tombs"), small adjacent rock-cut chamber and level dromos or access way leading to the side of the hill.

History:

Largest and best preserved of the 9 tholos tombs at Mycenae. Believed to be one of the latest built. In Pausanias' time thought to have served originally as a treasury.

Other Bibliography:

Rossiter 1977, 264G. Mylonas 1983, 172-175