Tiryns

Tiryns is a Mycenaean archaeological site in Argolis in the Peloponnese [1]. Tiryns was a hill fort with occupation ranging back seven thousand years, from before the beginning of the Bronze Age [1]. It reached its height of importance between 1400 and 1200 BC, when it became one of the most important centers of the Mycenaean world, and in particular in Argolis [1]. Its most notable features were its palace, its Cyclopean tunnels and especially its walls, which gave the city its Homeric epithet of "mighty walled Tiryns" [1]. In c. 1300 BC, the citadel and lower town had a population of 10,000 people covering 20–25 hectares [1]. Despite the destruction of the palace in c. 1200 BC, the city population continued to increase and by 1150 BC it had a population of 15,000 people [1]. In the post-palatial LH IIIC period (c. 1180 BC), an extensive deposit of precious items, including gold and silver objects and a fifteenth-century BC Minoan signet ring, was made in a cauldron in Tiryns's lower town [1].