Soon after 1900 BC the first Greek tribes established in the Greek mainland. There they build some principalities like Mycenae, Tiryns, Malthi, Peristeria and Bauron. Other settlements like Messenien, Attica, Boeotia or the coast of Thessaly observed a high density of population. According to the many remains that were found, these towns had an important influence from the Minoan culture, and it is even possible that Hellas was then subject to Cretan tributes.

At the end of the 16th century BC, appeared in all the Mycenaean regions new forms of burial: the funeral chambers and later the domed tombs. These new constructions reached their peak around 1300 BC. The idea behind them is without a doubt Minoan, but the Mycenaean improved the style. Again, in the tombs there were found many Minoan works of art as gifts. On the one hand, this proves once more the influence of that culture; on the other, it can be understood as a proof of the supremacy exchange between Crete and Mycenae.

All this happened during the early Mycenaean period around 1600 and 1500 BC. During this time, no palaces were built, but groups like Pylos, Mycenae and Tirnys developed meeting centers. Later, during the middle Mycenaean period (1500 – 1400 BC), there was an important general upturn of the principalities, although there is not much information left about this.

About the later Mycenaean period (1400 – 1200 BC), however, there is more information available thanks to the numerous written clay tablets found in the ruins of the palaces. It was during this period that the Mycenaean culture reached its highest point. They then built an organized city state, big and strong fortifications, and a castle resembling a palace. All this shows the rivalry with the neighboring areas, their eagerness to show their power, and the constant threatening of an invasion. An considerable difference with Knossos was the construction of their castle, which was not so thick and not so high and hat the workshops outside the walls of the castle.

In fact, there is no proof that the Mycenaean Empire ruled over the Greeks, but it can be assumed thanks to different factors. The first one, because of the overpowering constructions of the time. The second one, because of the mythological story of the Trojan war, in which the Mycenaean king Agamemnon appears as a leader of the Greek army. Apparently, the Trojan war weakened the Mycenaean and their relatives so badly that resulted in the end and the invasion of their civilization. The Mycenaean culture finally got to an end around the year 1200 BC, likewise almost all the rules of the time. Natural phenomena, fights, rebellions and invasions (of the Philistines) seem to be some of the reasons for all these downfalls.

The Mycenaean Empire, although it needed more than a simple blow to disappear, could never stand out again.