The “Mask of Agamemnon” is one of the most famous gold artifacts from the Greek Bronze Age . Found at Mycenae in 1876 by the distinguished archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann, it was one of several gold funeral masks found laid over the faces of the dead buried in the shaft graves of a royal cemetery.
Is the mask of Agamemnon fake?
Made of gold, the real mask was found in a Mycenaean grave in 1876 by the “notorious” archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann, who “claimed it belonged to the legendary Greek king Agamemnon.” The mask actually dates from around 1550–1500 B.C.E., an earlier period than Agamemnon’s, so it’s not his.
How old is the mask of Agamemnon?
German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann, who discovered the artefact in 1876, believed that he had found the body of the Mycenaean king Agamemnon, leader of the Achaeans in Homer’s epic of the Trojan War, the Iliad, but modern archaeological research suggests that the mask dates to about 1600 BC , pre-dating the period ...
Where is the mask of Agamemnon today?
Today, the mask of “Agamemnon” resides in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens .
Who was the mask of Agamemnon made for?
Whatever the case is, this mask is crafted out of pure gold and such masks were put on the faces of deceased kings and royal people . According to Greek mythology, Agamemnon was the son of King Atreus of Mycenae and Queen Aerope.
Who found the mask?
The so-called ‘Mask of Agamemnon’, a 16th-century BC mask discovered by Heinrich Schliemann in 1876 at Mycenae, Greece. National Archaeological Museum, Athens.
Who made funerary mask?
Ancient cultures, such as the Egyptians , made funerary masks to protect the person who had died in the afterlife. Since the later Middle Ages, Europeans made death masks to preserve the likeness of the person. In the 16th century they were sometimes used as models for carving a relief of the person on their tomb.
Who is the daughter of Agamemnon?
Electra , (Greek: “Bright One”) in Greek legend, the daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, who saved the life of her young brother Orestes by sending him away when their father was murdered. When he later returned, she helped him to slay their mother and their mother’s lover, Aegisthus.
Where is the City of Troy?
The site of Troy, in the northwest corner of modern-day Turkey , was first settled in the Early Bronze Age, from around 3000 BC. Over the four thousand years of its existence, countless generations have lived at Troy.
Where were the gold mask found?
Earlier this year, archaeologists were awed when they discovered the partial remains of a 3,000-year-old gold mask at the Sanxingdui dig in China’s Sichuan province . Weighing in at half a pound, the mask was considered unprecedented.
How did Greek art begin?
Greek art began in the Cycladic and Minoan civilization , and gave birth to Western classical art in the subsequent Geometric, Archaic and Classical periods (with further developments during the Hellenistic Period). ... Greek art is mainly five forms: architecture, sculpture, painting, pottery and jewelry making.
Is Agamemnon real?
A hero from Greek mythology, there are no historical records of a Mycenaean king of that name, but the city was a prosperous one in the Bronze Age, and there perhaps was a real , albeit much shorter, Greek-led attack on Troy.
Who was Achilles in Troy?
Achilles, in Greek mythology, son of the mortal Peleus , king of the Myrmidons, and the Nereid, or sea nymph, Thetis. Achilles was the bravest, handsomest, and greatest warrior of the army of Agamemnon in the Trojan War.
What were the purpose of death masks?
commemoration of the dead
Funerary masks were frequently used to cover the face of the deceased. Generally their purpose was to represent the features of the deceased , both to honour them and to establish a relationship through the mask with the spirit world.
How were gold death masks made?
Death mask were made in the likeness of the deceased and from the different materials. Early masks were made from wood , in two pieces and connected with pegs. After that Egyptians used, so called, cartonnage, a material made from papyrus or linen and soaked in plaster and then molded on a wooden mold.
Who was king after Agamemnon?
Orestes the son of Agamemnon then marries Hermione, Menelaus’ daughter and so the two cities of Mycenae and Sparta were united under a single king. When Menelaus left this earth, he was succeeded as king of Sparta by Orestes.
