How Perseus founded Mycenae is a myth. A fictional story with a purpose, trying to explain the world, and relationships with gods and goddesses, is a myth. Myths were a way of explaining things when there was no science to explain how things worked. Characters are supernatural heroes and heroines often performing extraordinary feats. There is no evidence that Perseus was a real person.

Mycenae, however, is not a myth. It is an archeological site approximately 56 miles southwest of Athens. The period of time of the city of Mycenae is known as the Mycenaean Period. The Mycenaeans lived from approximately 1600B.C. – 1200 B.C. Mycenae was a major center of Greek civilization. Mycenae was a short distance from the city of his grandfather. There is little known about Mycenae. There are no written records. What little is known has been discovered from archeological findings in Mycenae, and from Homer’s epics, “Iliad” and “Odyssey”. The “Iliad” is about how the Mycenaeans fought against Troy.

In Greek mythology, Perseus was the son of Zues. His mother, Danae, was the youngest daughter of Acrisius, King of Argos. Perseus went on a voyage and returned with the head of Medussa. While attending funeral games held in honor of King Teutamides, King of Larissa, Perseus was showing his skill in throwing a discus. A breeze caused the discus to go off course and it hit King Acrisius, killing him. Perseus could not accept the throne of Argos and gave Argos to his half-brother, Megapenthes.

Perseus located the ruins of Mycenae, which was named for Mycene. Mycene was the daughter of the river god, Inachos, his ancestor. Perseus took up official residence in Mycenae with Andromeda. Agamemnon, leader of the combined Greek forces during the Trojan War, was the king of Mycenae.

There are two main sources, “Pausanias” and the “Bibliotheca”, which told about the legendary life of Perseus. To the Greeks, Perseus was an authentic historical figure. The belief that Perseus founded Mycenae is noted in Pausanias. He wrote about a shrine to Perseus on the road to Mycenae, and that there was a sacred fountain in Mycenae that was called “Persea”. He wrote that Atreus stored his treasures in an underground chamber in Mycenae.

The Bibliotheca was written by Diodorus Siculus, a Greek historian, who wrote historical accounts between 60 B.C. and 30 B.C. The Bibliotheca was written to recount traditional Greek mythology and of heroic legends. The Bibliotheca recounts the myth of Perseus.

In mythology, Perseus founded Mycenae, which was the center of the first great Greek civilization.