One of the most remarkable aspects of a settlement from the Mycenaean period (1600 - 1200 B.C.) are the walls around the Acropolis. The first inhabitants did not only choose places like this because they could collect food there, or grow their own crop, but also because a settlement situated on the top of a rock provides excellent defense against possible aggressive forces in the surroundings. That is why all early settlements were situated on top, or in the neighbourhood, of a natural defence barrier.

Often the inhabitants of the Mycean settlements helped nature a little by building huge walls around their properties, which had to scare off enemies. In those ancient times people often could not believe that this all was constructed by human beings, so they called them "Cyclopean Walls" , after the Cyclops from the Greek mythology, who were one-eyed giants. When you are near one of those huge Mycenaean constructions you will probably understand why people thought that. Of course we now know that they were built by humans, but it is imaginable that people believed in supernatural forces when they faced these fortresses.

We know very little about the first inhabitants of the Acropolis. What is certain is that around 3500 B.C. people lived in the neighbourhood, who kept themselves alive by building their own crop. Archaeologists found traces of a Mycean palace that dated from about 1500 B.C. Although we know almost nothing about this Athean palace we could sort of reconstruct it thanks to the much better preserved palaces of Pylos, Tiryns and Mycene.

This royal palace was also protected by Cyclopean walls. On the plateau several rooms have been found, with each its own function. In some of them the king and his trusted people lived, in others the Gods were worshipped and others were used as storage place for the goods that were brought to the palace from the surroundings. The palace was not only the impressive house of the king, but also the centre of a centralised economy. Servants kept an administration of all the seeds that were used on the acres, and of the crops that were harvested later on. For this administration they used clay tablets on which they wrote down the receipts and expenditures in the so-called Linear-B writing, an early form of Greek. None of these tablets have been found in the remains of the palace in Athens, but it is pretty sure that they too had an administration like this, which was used in the palaces of Tiryns, Pylos and Mycene.

Not much is left of this royal Mycenaean palace and the surrounding houses of the local nobility: only parts of the walls can be seen today. These remains date from several different era's which proves that the palace had a long history which was influenced by many legendary kings of Attica. Here myths and reality become one. It is certainly not without a reason that the Greek chronology starts around 1550 BC which is also the time of the Mycenaean civilisation.

Myths and reality become one.

The founder of the first Attic kingdom was Cecrops, son of the earthgoddess Gaia, and because of that sometimes displayed as half human and half snake. He was very skilled when it came to building cities and he taught the Atheneans how to bury their dead. During his leadership the famous battle between Pallas Athena and Poseidon took place. Tradition has it that these two gods had a disagreement about the name of the city. Finally it was decided that he who gave the most useful gift to the humans had the right to decide the name of the city. Poseidon thrusted his trident into a rock and created a well, but Athena touched the rock with her spear and created the olivetree. Since then is the city known as Athens.

The myths tell us that there have been several intense relationships between gods and important people of Athens. Athena played a significant role in the life of Erechtonius, the fourth king of Athens, and son of Gaia and Hephaistos. He wanted to make Athena his with brute force, but she while she parried his attack he fell and spilled his sperm over the ground. From then on the mortal Erechtonius was seen as the symbol of the fertility of the earth. However, Athena fellt sorry for him and she gave him the daughters of Cecrops. The grateful Erechtonius gave the wooden statue of Pallas Athena which had fallen from the sky a special place on the Acropolis and started the Panathenaea, the celebration of the unification of the citizens of Athens under the patronage of Athena. Furthermore he started the Eleusinia, mysteria which were celebrated in Eleusis to the west of Athens, and the annual race with four-in-hands.

The fate of Erechtonius is closely linked with Agraulus, the wife of Cecrops, and their three daughters Aglaurus, Herse and Pandrosus who had recieved the son of Hephaistos in a closed basket. Athena had forbid them to open the basket, but of course they could not resist their curiousity. They became insane when they opened the basket and saw the young Erechtonius who had the body of a snake as he was the son of the earthgoddess Gaia. Aglaurus threw herself from the Acropolis to protect Athens from this sign of the Gods.

Another famous hero of Athens was Erechteus who was the sixth king of Attica and after whom the Erechteum was named. He was protected by Athena but she could not prevent the vengeance of Poseidon who killed him because he had kidnapped his son Eumolpus in a war between Athens and Eleusis. The descendants of Butes, the son of Erechteus, became priests of Poseidon in an attempt to please the god of the seas again.

Erechtonius also plays a role in the life of Pandion, the fifth king of Athens and his either son or nephew. He introduced the feast of jars as part of the festivities to honour Dionysos, god of wine, after Orestes had arived in Attica to clean himself from the murder on his mother Clytaemnestra. Later on Pandion was banished by his kin, the Metionids. Daedalus, the father of arts and creator of the labyrinth on Crete was one of these Metionids.

Of course we should not forget the biggest of all heroes of Attica and the wisest king of Athens: Theseus. He was the son of Aegeus and Aethra, and a descendant of Erechteus, and made many heroic deeds like killing the minotaurus in the labyrinth of Crete. Many believe that he was the one who expanded Athens by starting a synoiskismos with the surrounding villages.

The sanctuaries.

There are traces of the legendary royal families all through the Mycenaean palace, where Pericles later on ordered to built the Erechteum, most likely on the fundaments of an even older temple. In the western part stood the altar of Poseidon which was also used to honour Erechteus. Here you can also find the remains of altars for Hephaistos and Butes. The first king of Athens, Cecrops, is buried under the hall of Caryatids. The Pandroseion, dedicated to Pandrous, could be found close to the Erechteum.

A giant holy snake guarded the Acropolis and lived inside the Erechteum, most likely as a personification of Erechtonius. Herodotus tells us that the Atheneans left their loved city on the eve of the battle of Salamis because the food which was daily fed to the snake remained untouched. The citizens of Athens believed that their patron goddess had left their city, and thus that there was no hope left for Athens.

But there are more locations with holy places dedicated to the heroic children of Attica. In the eastern part was the Pandionion which was dedicated to Pandion, while on the north side the Aglauros sanctuary and the altar of Gaea, the Kurotrophus, were situated. On the southern side was the grave of Talus who was murdered in a moment of jealousy by his teacher and uncle Daedalus because he had invented the saw and the compasses. Close to this grave was also the Aesculapiustemple dedicated to medicine, and the grave of Halirrhothius, a son of Poseidon, which was murdered by the god of war Ares as he had attempted to rape his daughter Alcippe. Other graves where those of the son and father of Theseus, Hippolytus and Aegeus. Theseus had promised his father that he would replace the black sails of his vessle with white sails once he had killed the minotaurus. Unfortunately he was so in love with Ariadne that he completly forgot about his oath. When he returned his father saw the black sails and threw himself from the rocks as he believed that his son had died.

The intense connection between several gods of the Olympus and the heroic founding fathers of Athens seems to prove that the cultus on the Acropolis goes way back into the Mycenaean era. The cultus of Zeus, the highest god, also seems to have a Mycenaea origin. He was worshipped under several names on the Acropolis.