Discovered in 1876 by Heinrich Schliemann, the 'Mask of Agamemnon' is a funeral mask crafted from hammered gold, found in a burial shaft at Mycenae. While modern archaeology suggests the mask actually predates the legendary Trojan War by several centuries, it remains the most iconic artifact of the Mycenaean civilization. The Mycenaeans were the first Greeks to speak the Greek language and were a warrior-elite society that dominated the Aegean after the decline of the Minoans. They built massive 'Cyclopean' walls—so named because later Greeks believed only the giant Cyclopes could have moved such enormous stones—and developed Linear B, the earliest form of written Greek. Their culture, centered around fortified palace complexes, provided the historical inspiration for Homer's 'Iliad' and 'Odyssey,' forming the mythological bedrock of Western literature.