THEME: Ancient luxury THEME POWER AND WEALTH IN THE MYCENAEAN WORLD
Early (3000–1600 BC) fortifications in the Aegean Bronze Age world were fairly simple structures. They were thick walls surrounding settlements, made from rubble or mudbrick on stone foundations. Horseshoe-shaped or rectangular towers reinforced the walls and protected the gates, while a low rubble wall (breastwork) was occasionally built to increase difficulty of access.
The fortifications of the Late Bronze Age (1600–1200 BC) Mycenaean citadels, however, were very different both in masonry and size. The characteristic of their masonry is the use of very large, undressed, irregular-shaped limestone boulders, averaging 0.6–1.0 m in height by 0.7–1.5 m in length and 0.8–1.0 m in thickness. Their weight averaged between 500 kilos and two tons. At distinctive and highly visible sections, however, such as the façades of the main gates at Mycenae, conglomerate ashlar blocks were used instead. These conglomerate boulders weighed even more and were more difficult to extract. The width of
