Mycenae

 

• The art of Mycenae reminds me of the visit my brother and I made to this wind-swept ruin half a century ago:

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•  "The rough city ascends over mounds, beginning at the Lions' Gate, a monolith of rock boulders worthy of Hercules or the Cyclops. Desolation is blown over this city by timeless winds that whip at the entrances to tombs, court ways, and the remains of grand palace rooms. I sense the spirits of kings watching the spectacle of terrain stretching toward Argos..."
• The Journal goes on to compare my experience of Mycenae with that of Henry Miller:
•  " Like Miller, I also entered the Treasury of Atreus-- Atreus who served his foe his children for dinner. Atreus received thereby the curse that brought horror to his own children. It was in this vast, domed room that Miller had a revelation; he grew aware of the value of a living spirit, of the sanctity of Nature and Humanity. It was the brutality and cruelty of the kings of Mycenae, that led him to discard materialism, the lust for power and possessions. It was the loss of wisdom and of the psyche that were the true curse upon Atreus and his descendants." 

Treasury of Atreus:

https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ancient-art-civilizations/aegean-art1/mycenaean/v/treasury-of-atreus