Tiryns
Tiryns is an ancient town located on a rocky hill in the southeast section of the plain of Argos, approximately one mile from the sea. It played a crucial role during the Bronze Age, especially in relation to the nearby city of Mycenae, beginning around 1400 BCE. Notable for its impressive Cyclopean masonry, the town is steeped in Greek mythology; according to Homer, its mighty walls were constructed by Cyclopes under the direction of King Proetus. Mythologically, Tiryns is significant as the origin point of heros like Heracles, who undertook his Twelve Labors from this locale. The town continued to exist into the Iron Age and classical period, even contributing forces to the Greek defense in the Battle of Plataea against the Persians in 479 BCE. However, Tiryns faced destruction by the Argives shortly thereafter, leading many residents to migrate to Halieis, where they minted their own coins under the name Tirynthians in the subsequent century. By the time of later historians like Strabo and Pausanias, Tiryns had become a deserted site.
Subject Terms
Tiryns
A town on a rocky hill in the southeast section of the plain of Argos, one mile from the sea
Tiryns had fulfilled an enormously important role in the Bronze Age, displaying massive strength and imposing palatial form during the epoch of adjacent Mycenae from c 1400 onward. A lower town, too, has been the scene of significant recent Bronze Age excavations. In Greek mythology, the formidable walls of Tiryns, mentioned by Homer, were said to have been built by the Cyclopes—brought in by the city's monarch Proetus, at war with his brother Acrisius of Mycenae, the grandfather of Perseus. Perseus, too, was believed to have been a Tirynthian king. Moreover, it was from Tiryns that Heracles, himself traditionally believed to have originated from the place, was said to have set out to perform the Twelve Labors for King Eurystheus. Tiryns survived into the Iron Age and classical period, and dispatched a contingent to fight the Persians at the Battle of Plataea (479). But the town was destroyed by the Argives about a decade later, whereupon the survivors emigrated to Halieis (Porto Cheli), where they issued coins in the following century under the name of Tirynthians. By the times of Strabo and Pausanias the site of Tiryns itself was deserted.