Lion Gate of Mycenae belongs to the years before the Common Era — dated here to c. 1250 BCE at Mycenae, Greece. The date is a scholarly centre of gravity, not a foundation-stone timestamp.
A relieving triangle holds two confronted lions above a megalithic lintel — the coat of arms of a Late Bronze Age kingdom.
How it was made
Cyclopean walls of 20-tonne blocks. Homer’s “golden Mycenae” was a fortress that advertised in sculpture.
Why it still counts as a wonder
It never needed a Greek list to be a wonder: the labour, the alignment, or the survival is enough.
Schliemann’s graves made it treasure-famous. The gate is still the better monument.
On dating
BCE in this series means years before the traditional birth of Christ, counted backward. A monument listed as c. 1250 BCE may have been founded earlier, rebuilt later, or famous only in one phase. Where ancient writers disagree — as they do for Babylon’s gardens — we say so.
This is story 59 of 100 in The Trend Ledger’s illustrated desk on world wonders raised before the Common Era.