DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9804#0055
30 THE ITALIAN EXCAVATIONS
on the other hand, and the Zafer Papoura cemetery,
show that in Crete the elaborate chamber tombs of the
great palace periods, from Middle Minoan III. onward,
had a ground plan that was not circular, but rectangular
and almost square.1 Whether these square tombs are
a modification of an originally round type, or an inde-
pendent development from the Neolithic rock-shelter,
the vaulted roof is a point that they have in common
with the Tholos tombs. The horizontal courses of the
side walls are laid so that they project inwards one
above the other, and finally meet at the top ;2 just
as in the circular Treasury of Atreus the courses get
gradually smaller in diameter, and are cut to give the
appearance of a springing vault with an undisturbed flow
of line from floor to apex. In neither, it may be noticed,
have we the principle of the true arch, in which the stones
are laid in wedges that converge towards a keystone.3
The true arch had already been used in Mesopotamia,
where there has been found, in the pre-Sargonic stratum
at Nippur, an arched passage that is formed of radiating
bricks and has a keystone of wedge-shaped joints of
clay mortar.4 In the /Egean area, except, oddly enough,
in the out-of-the-way district of Acarnania,5 it was
avoided until Roman times, on the Hindoo principle,
perhaps, that " an arch never sleeps."
The hill of Hagia Triada, however, was used for some-
thing more important than an ossuary. It lies above
the river Electra, and overlooks the sea ; three thousand
1 P.T. pp. 3, 4, fig. i, p. 5 ; Fyfe in ibid. p. 163, and
riate XCIV. See below, pp. 65, 168-9.
2 P.T. fig. 145, p. 162.
' Perrot et Chipiez, vol. vi. Plate VII. p. 635 ; Frazer, Pausanias,
vol. iii. fig. 23, p. 124.
' Hilprccht, E.B.L. p. 399. The passage was over the drain,
mentioned on p. 9 of the present work.
s See the interesting article by B. Powell on 1hc Arches of
(Eniadac, etc., in A.J.A. 1904, figs. 3 and 7, pp. 149, 154. For
other slight exceptions see Walters, A.G. 1906, p. 33.
on the other hand, and the Zafer Papoura cemetery,
show that in Crete the elaborate chamber tombs of the
great palace periods, from Middle Minoan III. onward,
had a ground plan that was not circular, but rectangular
and almost square.1 Whether these square tombs are
a modification of an originally round type, or an inde-
pendent development from the Neolithic rock-shelter,
the vaulted roof is a point that they have in common
with the Tholos tombs. The horizontal courses of the
side walls are laid so that they project inwards one
above the other, and finally meet at the top ;2 just
as in the circular Treasury of Atreus the courses get
gradually smaller in diameter, and are cut to give the
appearance of a springing vault with an undisturbed flow
of line from floor to apex. In neither, it may be noticed,
have we the principle of the true arch, in which the stones
are laid in wedges that converge towards a keystone.3
The true arch had already been used in Mesopotamia,
where there has been found, in the pre-Sargonic stratum
at Nippur, an arched passage that is formed of radiating
bricks and has a keystone of wedge-shaped joints of
clay mortar.4 In the /Egean area, except, oddly enough,
in the out-of-the-way district of Acarnania,5 it was
avoided until Roman times, on the Hindoo principle,
perhaps, that " an arch never sleeps."
The hill of Hagia Triada, however, was used for some-
thing more important than an ossuary. It lies above
the river Electra, and overlooks the sea ; three thousand
1 P.T. pp. 3, 4, fig. i, p. 5 ; Fyfe in ibid. p. 163, and
riate XCIV. See below, pp. 65, 168-9.
2 P.T. fig. 145, p. 162.
' Perrot et Chipiez, vol. vi. Plate VII. p. 635 ; Frazer, Pausanias,
vol. iii. fig. 23, p. 124.
' Hilprccht, E.B.L. p. 399. The passage was over the drain,
mentioned on p. 9 of the present work.
s See the interesting article by B. Powell on 1hc Arches of
(Eniadac, etc., in A.J.A. 1904, figs. 3 and 7, pp. 149, 154. For
other slight exceptions see Walters, A.G. 1906, p. 33.