Tholos Tomb of Minyas

The Tholos Tomb of Minyas, near Orchomenos in Boeotia, is one of the largest and most important Mycenaean beehive tombs, dating from around 1250 BC. Built for the royal family of the mythical king Minyas, the monument was plundered in antiquity but remained visible for centuries, becoming a place of worship in the Hellenistic period and a noted landmark when Pausanias described it in the second century AD. The tomb stands at ground level, approached by a dromos thirty metres long. Its limestone entrance, 5.46 metres high and narrowing from 2.70 to 2.43 metres wide, retains its original lintel, six metres long and weighing several tons. The circular chamber is fourteen metres in diameter, with a corbelled vault and a keystone at the apex. On the northeast side, a 2.12-metre-high door leads to a small side chamber, a feature shared with the Treasury of Atreus at Mycenae.