From 1800 BC until 1100 BC, the citadel of Mycenae was the center of a very powerful kingdom. It was the home of Atreus and Agamemnon (of Trojan War fame). The site was first occupied around 6000 BC and continued to be occupied well into the centuries after Christ. The Mycenaean kingdom rose to real prominence after 1500 BC, when the Minoan civilization collapsed. From then until the destruction of the citadel in 1100 BC, Mycenae was the major power in the Aegean world. In many ways, it was the parent of ancient Greece. Its power, its spoken and written languages, and its architecture were all direct ancestors of the Classical Greek world. Atop the citadel sat the royal palace, where Agamemnon (and many other kings) lived. At the base of the hill are the famous shaft graves excavated by Heinrich Schliemann, in which he found vast treasures (now housed in the National Museum in Athens). Among the treasures were the famous gold "death mask of Agamemnon." Most of the construction now visible at the site dates from 1300-1200 BC.