Magalithic Acropolis of Tiryns

Tiryns, situated 20 km south-east of Mycenae on a low hill near the inlet of the Argolic Gulf, is another excellent example of the Mycenaean civilisation—imbued with many legends and mythological heroes. The Mycenaean acropolis of Tiryns, due to its excellent state of preservation, is a very fine example of Mycenaean palatial architecture and fortification. Tradition says that the citadel was founded by the prince of Argos, Proetus, who, pursued by his brother, Acrisius, fled to Lycia and returned bringing with him the Cyclops who constructed these enormous walls. The fortification of the hill, completed at the end of the 13th century BC, surrounds the citadel with a total perimeter of approximately 750 m. The impressive walls, built of stones even larger than those of Mycenae, are up to 8 metres thick and 13 m high. They can rightly be regarded as a creation that goes beyond the human scale, as reveals the word “cyclopean” – built by Cyclops, the mythical giants from Lycia.
Five kilometers east of the citadel, a unique technical achievement of antiquity has been located. In this area is an enormous embankment, originally lined with boulders at its ends – some boulders can still be seen today – built to divert the rainwater of the Manesis torrent that flowed towards Tiryns and caused floods in the Early Bronze Age. In parallel with the construction of the dam, a diversion channel was opened towards the southwest, which carried the waters south of Profitis Ilias hill into the bed of another torrent (Ramadani). The dam should be dated in the 13th century BC, that is the period of Tiryns’ heyday, and is comparable to the Mycenaeans’ large-scale drainage works in Lake Kopais, Boeotia.
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The Cyclopes (singular: Cyclops) were gigantic, one-eyed beings with enormous strength. Originally, there were three of them: Arges, Steropes, and Brontes; capable blacksmiths. However, at a later time, poets spoke of a different type of Cyclopes, a race of dim-witted and violent one-eyed shepherds dwelling in the caves of the island of Sicily (most likely not Sicily, but an island relatively close to the coast of North Africa). The most famous among them was Polyphemus, the Cyclops who fell in love with Galatea and was eventually blinded by Odysseus ( on one of the islands near the Tunis Carthage area). Perhaps some of the Cyclopes are descendants of the Canaanites from the Dead Sea area (descendants of survivors the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in 2024 BC - 2020 BC).
The word “cyclops” can be literally translated as “round-eyed,” but many authors feel that it is derived from a much older word which originally meant “sheep thief.” Both etymologies describe the Cyclopes suspiciously well, and, in fact, it’s entirely possible that the very name of the Cyclopes may have influenced and, slowly but surely, distorted their original portrayal. Even though they appear to have shared their most distinctive features between them, there seems to have been two very different types of Cyclopes in Ancient Greek mythology. Hesiod’s Cyclopes are three gigantic and divine blacksmiths, sons of Uranus and Gaea, residents of Olympus; Homer’s are a race of enormous and violent shepherds related to Poseidon and dwelling in the world of humans.
Hesiod mentions only three Cyclopes: Arges (Thunderer), Steropes (Lightner), and Brontes (Vivid). The sons of Uranus and Gaea, they are some of the earliest gods to ever spring into existence, born shortly after the Titans, and just before the Hecatoncheires – both of them their brothers.
Based on most descriptions, the divine Cyclopes were gigantic and immensely strong beings with a single eye in the middle of their foreheads. They had a knack for metalwork and handicraft and eventually ended up being the workmen of Hephaestus, whose workshop was supposed to be in the heart of the volcanic mountain Etna.
The Cyclopes were also believed to have built numerous monumental works all around Greece and Italy. Some of the most famous buildings attributed to them were the immense walls of Tiryns and the Lion Gate at Mycenae (and every megalithic cyclopean structure of the Bronze Age in Greece, in Italy, in Illyria, in Anatolia, etc.).
It seems that all three of these original Cyclopes met an untimely death at the hands of the Olympians. (official information from ancient Greek myths and legends)
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