Mycenae was the center of power in the Late Bronze age (1600-1100 BCE), and the excavated ruins that sculpt the top of the rocky hill protected the royal families inside the famous Cyclopean walls. Legend has it that Mycenae was founded by Perseus, and the entire culture of mainland Greece during the Bronze age was named Mycenaean during the late Hellenic period. With its legends, art, and ideas, Mycenaean culture reached its zenith from 1300 BCE until 1100 BCE. Mycenaean culture is the source of ancient epics and legends, told by the famous Greek poet Homer, such as the dynasty of Atreids, the labours of Hercules, the Trojan war, the Thyestian Feast, and Agamemnon's tragic life and death. The surrounding area of Argolis was dominated by many different citadels similar to Mycenae, and during the Bronze Age they took advantage of the geopolitical important location to accumulate considerable wealth and poser. The ruins of the Mycenaean Acropolis contain the awe inspiring "Lion Gates" (the earliest known piece of monumental sculpture in the European continent).