My̆cēnæ

, a town of Argolis, in Peloponnesus, built by Perseus son of Danae. It was situate on a small river at the east of the Inachus, about 50 stadia from Argos, and received its name from Mycene, a nymph of Laconia. It was once the capital of a kingdom, whose monarchs reigned in the following order: Acrisius, 1344 B.C.; Perseus, Electryon, Mæstor, and Sthenelus, and Sthenelus alone for eight years; Atreus and Thyestes, Agamemnon, Ægysthus, Orestes, Æpytus, who was dispo e ed 1104 B.C., on the return of the Heraclidæ. The town of Mycenæ was taken and laid in ruins by the Argives, B.C. 568; and it was almost unknown where it stood in the age of the geographer Strabo. Pausanias , bk. 2 , ch. 16 .— Strabo , bk. 8 .— Virgil , Æneid , bk. 6 , li. 839 .— Mela , bk. 2 , ch. 3 . The word Mycenæus is used for Agamemnon, as he was one of the kings of Mycenæ.