Mycenaean Cult Of The Dead And Burial Architecture
Tholos and the grave circles in the ancient citadel of Mycenae, located on a small hill, nestled between two larger hills on the fertile Argolid plain in the Peloponnese, Greece, exemplify a synergy of Bronze Age intellectual and artistic talents, invested in contemplating the nature of death and the possibilities of an Afterlife. The awareness of the finality of life and the attempts of people to grasp the meaning of death via belief systems are mirrored in the construction of burial places, the use of imagery to symbolize regeneration, transcendence, and spiritual immortality.
The Treasury of Atreus or Tomb of Agamemnon is a large tholos or beehive tomb on Panagitsa Hill at Mycenae, Greece, constructed during the Bronze Age around 1250 BC (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Mycenaean Death-Priestesses-And-Priestly-Caste
The existence of religious specialists, such as priests, priestesses, shamans or holy men and women who are responsible for performing ritual acts, is universal and it is their duty to act as a bridge or intermediary between humans and the divine. Religion or belief systems have existed in all societies, whether ‘simple’ or ‘complex’, suggesting that the need to believe in a supreme power has a psychological origin.
