Underground Cistern of Mycenae: Ingenious Water Supply for a Bronze-Age Siege

Introduction – Descending into the Underground Cistern of Mycenae

High walls and lion gates impress, yet a fortress falls if its wells run dry. To solve that problem the engineers of Late Helladic IIIB (c. 1250 BCE) carved the Underground Cistern of Mycenae deep inside the citadel rock.

A steep, torch-dark stair of 99 steps leads to a clay-lined reservoir once fed by an aqueduct from the Perseia spring. Step below ground and you grasp how Mycenae planned to outlast drought or siege.

Why Mycenae Needed a Hidden Cistern

• Strategic isolation: When new Cyclopean walls enclosed Grave Circle A, the builders cut off access to surface water.
• Summer droughts: The Argolid plain bakes from May to September; open wells would evaporate or be poisoned by enemies.
• Siege thinking: With 30 000 inhabitants at its height, the palace required a minimum ± 30 m³ reserve—roughly what the cistern could hold.

Architecture of the Secret Stairway

• Entrance: A miniature cousin of the Lion Gate—a triangular relieving gap over a squat lintel—marks the doorway beside the Postern Gate.
• Passage profile: A pointed vault of Cyclopean blocks narrows to ≈ 1 m width, 4–5 m height; dog-leg bends break line-of-sight for defenders.
• Steps: Rough treads vary from 20 to 30 cm; expect to duck on the lower flights. Archaeologists count 99, but reconstructions blur the original number.
• Lamp niches & soot: Shallow shelves every ten steps once held clay lamps; soot stains remain 3 200 years on.

Hydraulics & Reservoir Design

Feature	Detail
Water source	Perseia Fountain, 300 m north-east and 13 m higher than the acropolis.
Aqueduct	Terracotta pipes buried under clay carried flow to a settling tank outside the wall.
Inflow	An aperture at roof height near the stair’s end allowed gravity feed into the chamber.
Reservoir	Rectangular basin ≈ 4 × 3 m, double-coated with hydraulic lime plaster; capacity 30–40 m³.
Overflow	A stone channel beneath the floor diverted excess back toward fields—evidence of water-management savvy.

Daily Operation During Peace and War

Linear B tablets list ku-wa-te-ro—“water-carriers”—assigned to haul leather bladders up the stair. In peacetime they filled palace vats; in wartime they passed skins hand-to-hand while gate-watchers barred the Postern outside. Contemporary sling stones and bronze arrowheads recovered from guard niches hint at tense shift work in the torch-lit tunnel.

Excavation, Research & Conservation

• 1874: Heinrich Schliemann notes the stair but clears only loose rubble.
• 1939: Alan Wace maps full profile; calculates original capacity.
• 1990s: Laser survey confirms pointed vault stability; relieving-triangle stones reset.
• 2000-today: Greek Archaeological Service monitors humidity, seals minor cracks and limits group size to reduce CO₂ and algae.

Myth, Mystery and Modern Impressions

Legend says king Agamemnon drank from this hidden spring before marching to Troy. While unverifiable, the story underscores local memory of the Underground Cistern of Mycenae as lifeline and symbol.

Today, silence broken only by water-drips and visitor breaths conjures an atmosphere closer to cave than quarried tunnel—one reason many travellers rank the descent their most evocative Mycenae moment.

Why the Underground Cistern of Mycenae Endures

Walls and gates flaunted Mycenae’s might, but the Underground Cistern of Mycenae sustained it. Hidden engineering—vaulted stairs, clay-lined basin, gravity aqueduct—proved as decisive as any sword in ensuring the citadel could resist siege and drought.

Descend the 99 steps with torch in hand, and you walk the same path water-bearers trod 3 200 years ago—proof that in the ancient world, power flowed as much from smart hydraulics as from heroic kings.