This so-called mask of Agamemnon is the best known of Schliemann’s finds from the royal tombs at Mycenae. The graves are certainly royal. The faces of the men are not all covered with masks. That they are men, and warriors, is indicated by the weapons in their graves. The quantities of gold and carefully worked artifacts surely denote honor, wealth and status.
A death-mask, it was made from a thick sheet of metal hammered against a wooden background, with the details chased on later with a sharp tool. It illustrates the dignified image of a man with an oblong face, wide forehead, long fine nose and tightly closed thin lips. The eyebrows, mustache and beard are indicated with parallel lines. Two holes near the ears were used to hold the mask in place with twine over the deceased’s face. The five gold masks discovered in Mycenae’s Grave Circle A were probably made for rulers. This one, the only mask showing a bearded man, stands out for its elegance and the intensity of the facial characteristics.
