Premium · Walking Tour

Mycenae & TirynsCitadel of Agamemnon

Walk the citadel of the Bronze Age kings who sacked Troy. The Lion Gate still stands. The Treasury of Atreus still vaults overhead. Every narration traces back to a specific passage in Pausanias's Description of Greece, Book 2 — the 2nd-century AD eyewitness account that has been the foundation of Mycenae scholarship for 1,800 years.

Hear a sample narration
31 narration points ~3 hours audio Mycenae citadel + tholos tombs + Tiryns acropolis
Verified Sources

How we ground every narration

Every stop traces back to primary archaeological and heritage records. Not AI-generated guesses. Here's how each narration gets built.

  1. 1

    Multi-source aggregation

    Each stop pulls from OpenStreetMap · 67 features in this old town (the open mapping database used by Apple Maps and Tesla), Wikidata · 35 cross-referenced entries (the peer-reviewed structured-data project), the heritage authority below, and primary historical texts where they exist.

  2. 2

    Authority validation

    Cross-referenced against British School at Athens · continuous Argolid excavation programme.

  3. 3

    Fact-check pass

    Every sentence is checked against the verified sources above. Anything that can't be supported gets cut.

  4. 4

    Primary text citation

    Tier-1 stops trace back to specific passages in Pausanias's Description of Greece, Book 2, cited per stop.

Spot anything inaccurate? Email [email protected] — fixed in the next pass.

The Tour

Bronze Age ground. Pausanias walked here.

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The Citadel of Mycenae

The acropolis enclosed by cyclopean walls — the Lion Gate, Grave Circle A, the palace complex with megaron and throne, the cult centre, the secret cistern stairway.

12+ narration points
The Tholos Tombs

The Bronze Age beehive tombs scattered around the citadel — the Treasury of Atreus you walk inside, the Tomb of Clytemnestra, the Tomb of Aegisthus, the Tomb of the Lions. The largest preserved corbelled domes from the ancient world.

10+ narration points
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Tiryns Acropolis

The second great Mycenaean citadel, twelve kilometres south. The casemate galleries, the gates, the megaron foundations, and the cyclopean walls that Pausanias called the work of giants.

5+ narration points
Highlights

The Bronze Age made visible

The Lion Gate
c. 1250 BC · the only surviving monumental sculpture from Bronze Age Greece

A twenty-ton limestone lintel topped by two lionesses flanking a column. The most famous gateway from the prehistoric world, still standing where Pausanias saw it in the 2nd century AD.

The Treasury of Atreus
c. 1250 BC · Largest surviving corbelled dome from antiquity

You walk through the dromos and step into a 14-metre-tall beehive vault. Each course of stone projects slightly inward, gradually closing the dome above you. The largest enclosed space ever built before the Pantheon.

Grave Circle A
Shaft graves · 16th century BC

The royal burial ground where Heinrich Schliemann uncovered the gold death masks in 1876 and famously claimed to have looked upon the face of Agamemnon. The earliest evidence of Mycenaean wealth — gold cups, swords, jewellery, and the masks themselves.

The Cyclopean Walls
Late Helladic IIIB · ~13th century BC

Walls fitted from blocks so massive Pausanias believed only the Cyclopes could have lifted them. Many courses still stand to their original height. The visual signature of Mycenaean defensive architecture.

Tomb of Clytemnestra
Late Helladic IIIB · ashlar tholos

The second-largest preserved beehive tomb at Mycenae, attributed by modern convention to Agamemnon's queen. You enter the chamber where the corbel courses rise to a single capstone — no inscription, no certainty, only the chamber itself.

Tiryns Citadel
Mycenaean · 13th century BC

Pausanias devoted his attention to Tiryns and its galleries — barrel-vaulted casemates inside the cyclopean walls, used for storage and defence. The propylon, the megaron foundations, and the same monumental wall construction as Mycenae.

How It Works

Walk. Listen. See what they saw.

1
Open the tour

Tap "Start Walking Tour" and allow location access. The map shows all 31 narration points.

2
Walk at your pace

Follow the suggested route or explore freely. GPS tracks your position. Reach a site and the narration plays automatically.

3
Hear the stories

Each narration connects what you can see today to what Pausanias saw in the 2nd century AD, layered with the modern archaeology that has rewritten what we thought we knew about the Bronze Age Aegean.

What You Get

A companion who knows every passage of Pausanias

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GPS-Triggered

Narrations play when you reach each site. No buttons, no track numbers. Walk naturally — the stories find you.

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Studio-Quality Voice

Premium narration that sounds like a documentary. Warm and knowledgeable, not a textbook reading.

📚
Fact-Checked Twice

Every narration is drafted, cross-checked against primary sources, then passed through a second editorial pass that strips unsupported claims. Dates, names, and citations verified.

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Interactive Map

See all narration points on the map. Tap any point to hear it early or replay it later.

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31 Sites

From Schliemann's Grave Circle to the corbelled vault of the Treasury of Atreus to Tiryns's casemate galleries. Major monuments get deep dives. Tholos tombs and palace sub-buildings get concise narrations.

Your Own Pace

Spend an hour or a full day. Skip sites, revisit favourites, take breaks. The tour adapts to you.

Common Questions

How it works

It’s not just GPS — what are the ways to trigger a narration?

Three ways, all built in:

  • GPS-triggered (default): walk near a site, the narration starts automatically.
  • Tap any marker on the map: open the map view, tap any of the 31 markers to play that narration on demand — no walking required.
  • Queue controls: pause, skip, replay any narration; the queue auto-advances as you walk.

The map-tap option means you can stand anywhere — even at home before you travel — and play any narration. GPS just makes it hands-free while you’re actually walking the site.

Do I need cell service or data while I’m there?

No. Use the “Download for offline” button before you go, and the entire tour — audio, maps, narration text — works without any data connection. Tap-to-play and the map both work fully offline. GPS itself doesn’t need data; only the download does.

What if my phone’s GPS is unreliable?

Two backstops. First, the map shows every site — just tap the marker for the place in front of you. Second, you can manually queue any narration even when GPS is off. The platform never assumes GPS works; it’s the convenience layer, not the gate.

How long is the tour and how much time do I need?

The audio runs ~3 hours audio total, but you walk at your own pace. 31 narration points across the site. Most visitors take 2–4 hours; some spread it over multiple visits. Your access lasts 30 days from purchase, so revisit as often as you like.

Can I share with my partner or family?

One purchase covers one device session. Most couples share earbuds and use a single phone — the audio is paced for that. If you want everyone listening on their own device, each person needs their own purchase. We do not gate sharing aggressively; we trust visitors to do the right thing.

What if I never use the tour, or never make it to the site?

Full refund if you never trigger a single narration on-site. Partial refund based on how far you got. See the refund policy for specifics.

What sources is the Mycenae content based on?

Each narration traces back to a specific passage in Pausanias's Description of Greece, Book 2 — chapters 16-17 on Mycenae and chapter 25 on Tiryns. Pausanias's 2nd-century AD eyewitness account has been the foundation of Argolid scholarship for 1,800 years. Where Pausanias is silent (the Treasury of Atreus, Grave Circle A, the cult centre and several citadel sub-buildings excavated after his visit), the narration draws on modern consensus from the British School at Athens / Mycenae excavation publications and the work of Mylonas, Iakovidis, and the Greek Archaeological Service. Each stop in the audio guide carries its Pausanias chapter:section citation where one exists.

Walk where Agamemnon walked
31 narration points. Citadel, tholoi, and Tiryns — every passage of Pausanias Book 2.
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