ATHENS, Greece—A Greek archaeologist believes he has found a fragment of the lost throne of the rulers of Mycenae, famous from ancient myth and the story of the Trojan War.
Christofilis Maggidis, who heads excavations at the site in southern Greece, said Tuesday that the chunk of worked limestone was found two years ago, in a streambed under the imposing citadel.
He told a press conference in Athens that the royal throne was among sections of the hilltop palace that collapsed during an earthquake around 1200 B.C.
Greek Culture Ministry officials have distanced themselves from the identification, citing a separate study that ruled the chunk to be part of a stone basin.
But Maggidis said the find was unmistakably made for sitting on, and would have been no use for holding liquids as it is made of porous stone.
“In our opinion, this is one of the most emblematic and significant finds from the Mycenaean era,” he said.
Mycenae flourished from the mid-14th to the 12th century B.C. and was one of Greece’s most significant late bronze age centers. Its rulers are among the key figures of Greek myth, caught in a vicious cycle of parricide, incest and dynastic strife.
