<p>This wooden hexagonal pyxis (Greek for box) decorated with repoussé gold plate depicting lions chasing a deer was discovered in Shaft Grave V, Grave Circle A, Mycenae and dated to 1600-1500 BC . It is today part of the collection of the National Archaeological Museum, Athens.
</p><p>Once part of a large cemetery outside the acropolis walls, Grave Circle A was discovered within the Mycenaean citadel by Heinrich Schliemann in 1876 under the supervision of the Greek Ephor of Antiquities Panagiotis Stamatakis.   
The amazing wealth of the grave gifts reveals both the high social rank and the martial spirit of the deceased: gold jewelry and vases, a large number of decorated swords and other bronze objects, and artefacts made of imported materials, such as amber, lapis lazuli, faience and ostrich eggs. All of these, together with a small but characteristic group of pottery vessels, confirm Mycenae's importance during this period, and justify Homer's designation of Mycenae as 'rich in gold.'
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Shaft Grave V contained three male burials. Two of the deceased wore gold death-masks, one of which is known as the "Mask of Agamemnon". The grave gifts included gold breastplates, elaborate bronze swords and daggers, gold and silver vessels, an ostrich egg rhyton and a wooden pyxis. There was less gold jewelry that in the female graves, but a great number of amber beads.
<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.flickr.com/people/rosemania/">Xuan Che (rosemania)</a>
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