Tiryns
A massive Bronze Age citadel in the Argolid, birthplace of Heracles, whose cyclopean walls were said to be built by giants.
The Story of Tiryns
Tiryns was one of the mightiest strongholds of the Bronze Age Aegean, its walls so thick and massive that Greek tradition attributed their construction to the Cyclopes — one-eyed giants from Lycia who alone had the strength to lift such stones. The walls' style came to be called "Cyclopean masonry." Heracles was born at Tiryns in some traditions (others give Thebes), and it was at Tiryns that the Perseid kings ruled the Argolid. After the Bronze Age collapse, the site remained inhabited but never regained its glory; Pausanias visited its ruins and expressed awe at the walls, comparing them to Egypt's pyramids.
Parents
{Perseus (Perseid dynasty)}
Children
{Heracles (born here in some traditions),Eurystheus (king here)}
Symbols
Fun Fact
The walls of Tiryns contain corridors with corbelled vaulting that are still intact — you can walk through them today, unchanged since the Bronze Age, more than 3,000 years ago.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
Explore Further
Ilium
🏛 placeGeography
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Panopeus
🏛 placegeography
A Phocian town whose rough-shaped stones were said to be leftovers from when the Titans made the giant Tityus.
Cyclopean
💭 conceptLanguage and architecture
An English adjective meaning immense or massive, particularly applied to ancient stonework of enormous blocks, named after the Cyclopes who were believed to have built the walls of Mycenae and Tiryns
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🏛 placegeography
The Argolid plain dominated by the city of Argos, one of the oldest and most mythologically saturated regions of Greece.
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Hyria
🏛 placegeography
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Mount Ossa
🏛 placemountain, Thessaly
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Meroe
🏛 placegeography
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