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Name : Mask of Agamemnon
What it is : A gold funerary mask of a man ’s cheek
A gold death mask that was initially thought to belong to the mythical king Agamemnon.
Where it is from : Mycenae , an archeological site in southern Greece
When it was made : Circa 1500 B.C.
Related : Phaistos Disk : 3,000 - year - old inscriptions from Crete that have never been deciphered
What it enjoin us about the past tense :
This Au death mask was found by German archaeologistHeinrich Schliemannin 1876 during excavations of a Bronze Age grave at the Mycenae archeologic site in southern Greece .
Schliemann believed he had find the body of the mythical king Agamemnon , who led theAchaean ( Greek ) siege of Troy in Homer ’s " Iliad ” ( he is also mentioned in Homer ’s " Odyssey " and feature film in some ancient Hellenic plays . ) accord to Homer , Agamemnon ruled at Mycenae , and the artifact has been know as the " Mask of Agamemnon " ever since .
But the artistic style of the artifact and subsequent studies of the archaeological site on the Peloponnese Peninsula suggest themask was made in about 1500 B.C. — century of years before Agamemnon might have lived — and some suggest it was made even originally .
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The mask is form from a thin plane of atomic number 79 and would have been made in the living likeness of the deceased . The majestic tomb where it was constitute check the remains of eight masses . All of them had weapons , but only five wear down golden death masque , which archaeologist guess indicated condition .
The Mycenaeanswere a Bronze Age people who lived throughout southern Greece after about 1750 B.C. They speak an former manikin of Greek , and their civilization was greatly influence by the Minoan civilisation of Crete .
Schliemann thought the Mycenaeans were the Achaeans of the " Iliad " and believed their remains showed the historic reality of the TrojanWar . Although some Mycenaean sites match to Achaean kingdoms in the " Iliad , " archaeologists now recollect the Mycenaean civilisation ended in about 1200 B.C. , during the " later Bronze Age collapse , " while the Trojan War may have happenedhundreds of long time by and by .
