Mask of Agamemnon

Mask of Agamemnon is the name given to a gold funeral mask discovered at the ancient Greek site of Mycenae. The mask, displayed in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens, has been described by Cathy Gere as the "Mona Lisa of prehistory". German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann, who discovered the artifact in 1876, believed that he had found the body of the Mycenaean king Agamemnon, leader of the Achaeans in Homer's epic of the Trojan War, the Iliad, but modern archaeological research suggests that the mask dates to about the 16th century BC, pre-dating the period of the legendary Trojan War by 300–400 years. Schliemann found the gold funeral mask in 1876, in a shaft tomb designated Grave V, at the site Grave Circle A, Mycenae. A total of eight men were discovered in Grave Circle A, all of whom had weapons in their graves, but only five had masks; those were in Grave IV and Grave V. The quantities of gold and carefully worked artifacts indicate honor, wealth and status. The Mask of Agamemnon was named by Schliemann after the legendary Greek king Agamemnon of Homer's Iliad. Schliemann took this as evidence the Trojan War was a real historical event. The Mask of Agamemnon was created from a single thick gold sheet, heated and hammered against a wooden background with the details chased on later with a sharp tool. Following his discoveries at the site, Schliemann notified King George of Greece. He is supposed to have told the king in a telegraph, "I have gazed upon the face of Agamemnon". Schliemann later named his son after the legendary king. Close to the end of his life, the archaeologist accepted doubts as to the mask's true owner and is quoted as saying, "So this is not Agamemnon ... these are not his ornaments? All right, let's call him Schulze." In the latter half of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century, the authenticity of the mask has been formally questioned, primarily by William Calder III and David Traill. Archaeology magazine has run a series of articles presenting both sides of the debate.