Mycenae's imposing Lion's Gate entrance

Myth, murder and mystery shroud the ancient city of Mycenae and a never-ending stream of intrigued tourists flock here to gawk at its World Heritage-listed ruins.

Situated in the Peloponnese some 12km north of Argos and 2km north of modern-day Mycenae, for 400 years between the 16th and 12th century BC, this ancient kingdom lorded it over the rest of Greece.

Its greatness was noted by Homer in his Iliad and Odyssey ("well-built Mycenae, rich in gold"). But it wasn't until 1874 when German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann came ferreting around in the dirt here, that any solid proof arose of the kingdom's existence.

The ancient ruins are today dominated by a fortified citadel with its imposing Lion's Gate entrance. The site contains a royal palace, a collection of houses and a number of royal cemeteries, one of which Schliemann believed contained the body of famed King Agamemnon, who led Greece to victory in the Trojan War only to be murdered by his wife and her lover upon his return to Mycenae.

Mycenae's on-site museum contains a good collection of excavated artifacts, including a glut of gold jewellery as well as clay tablets etched with early forms of writing. There is also a copy of the gold funeral mask once thought to belong to King Agamemnon; the original is now on display at the National Archaeological Museum in Athens.

Buses link Mycenae will Nafplio and Argos.