The Treasury of Atreus, also known as the Tomb of Agamemnon, is the largest and the best preserved of the nine tholos found in Mycenae. It was constructed during the Bronze age, around 1250 BC.
The diameter of the tomb is almost 50 feet, and its height is slightly less. The intel stone above the doorway weighs 120 tons, with approximate dimensions 8.3 x 5.2 x 1.2 m. It is surmounted by a relieving triangle decorated with relief plaques.
This kind of tholos tombs are found all over Greece, they are about one hundred and nine of them are found in Mycenae.
The tomb of Agamemnon has no relationship with either Atreus or Agamemnon, because the sovereign buried there ruled at an earlier date than the two. It was named thus by Heinrich Schliemann and the name has been used ever since.
The tholos tomb was entered from an inclined uncovered hall of dromos, or ceremonial passageways, 36 meters long and with dry-stone walls. A short passage led from the tholos chamber to the actual burial chamber, which was dug out in a nearly cubical shape.
The tumulus which is the entrance portal was richly decorated. It has half-columns in green limestone with zigzag motifs on the shaft, a frieze with rosettes above the architrave of the door, and spiral decoration in bands of red marble that closed the triangular aperture above an architrave.
The capitals are influenced by ancient Egyptian architecture. Other decorative elements were inlaid with red porphyry and green alabaster, a surprising luxury for the Bronze Age.
The Treasury of Atreus, with its monumental shape and grandeur, is one of the most impressive monuments from Mycenaean Greece.