DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.8944#0096
194
ARTHUR J. EVANS
in its entirety (Fig. 66). The building rests on a base consisting of large
white blocks, which apparently continue beyond it. As to the character of
these the existing remains of the Palace supply a sufficient indication. The}'
are the great gypsum blocks, such as in large parts of the building, and
notably along its western side, form the lower part of the walls, which above
this massive layer seem largely to have consisted of clay strengthened by a
wooden framework, and coated with plaster often brilliantly painted with
polychrome designs. Analogy, as well as the varied colouring on the face of
the building, would lead us to suppose that the same structural method had
also been largely resorted to in the shrine reproduced in the fresco. The
mortise and tenon motive of the upright posts which divide the cells and
mark the outer walls of the building are certainly taken from woodwork,
and seem to imply a succession of vertical and horizontal beams.
There can, of course, be no doubt that the white and black chequer-work
is taken from stone-work construction, though the builders of the Palace—who
were surprisingly modern in some of their procedures—were quite capable of
producing stucco imitation of masonry. In the south-west porch of the
building is a clay and rubble wall faced with painted plaster, the lower part
of which imitates blocks of variously coloured marble. As in the case of the
Temple this chequer work is apparently contained in a wooden framework, it
is safer to regard it too as painted plaster. The white and black chequering is
a favourite decoration of Egyptian architectural painting,1 and it is probable
that this feature, as undoubtedly a characteristic detail, to bo noticed below,
in the formation of the capitals of the columns, was borrowed from this source.
Of peculiar interest is the appearance, immediately below the central
opening, of two elongated half rosettes, separated by a threefold division,
which present a most striking analogy to the frieze2 found in the vestibule of
the Palace at Tiryns. The white and the blue of the side slabs here answer
to the alabaster material and blue glass (/cvavos %fTo<;) inlaying of the
Tirynthian example, while the red streaks show that the half rosettes were in
this case still further coloured. The parallelism here is of such a kind as to
induce the belief that what is seen on the facade of the Knossian shrine also
represents actual slabs of inlaid alabaster. But there is a further detail in
the present case which confirms the conclusion that these are not merely
spaces filled with painted stucco. The alabaster slabs, with the similar
foliated designs, from the Palace of Tiryns are linked by smaller pieces in
the same material, the threefold division of which has been recognised as
supplying the prototype of the Doric triglyph.:i These Mycenaean triglyphs
stand forward somewhat beyond the plane of the ' metopes,' and secure them
by overlapping their edges. At Tiryns the triglyphs are of alabaster, like
the intervening slabs. But on the Knossian shrine the outer posts of these,
1 Compare for instance the chequer decora-
tion over a house from a Sixth Dynasty Tomb.
(Maspero, Man. of Egypt. Arch., Engl.
Edition, p. 21).
' See Dorpfeld in Schliemann's Tiryns, p.
284 seqq. and PI. IV. and Perrot ct Chipiez,
L'Art, etc. vL p. 698 neqq.
3 Dorpfeld, in Schliemann's Tiryns, p. 284.
Perrot et Chipiez, L'Art, etc., vi. p. 710 neqq.
ARTHUR J. EVANS
in its entirety (Fig. 66). The building rests on a base consisting of large
white blocks, which apparently continue beyond it. As to the character of
these the existing remains of the Palace supply a sufficient indication. The}'
are the great gypsum blocks, such as in large parts of the building, and
notably along its western side, form the lower part of the walls, which above
this massive layer seem largely to have consisted of clay strengthened by a
wooden framework, and coated with plaster often brilliantly painted with
polychrome designs. Analogy, as well as the varied colouring on the face of
the building, would lead us to suppose that the same structural method had
also been largely resorted to in the shrine reproduced in the fresco. The
mortise and tenon motive of the upright posts which divide the cells and
mark the outer walls of the building are certainly taken from woodwork,
and seem to imply a succession of vertical and horizontal beams.
There can, of course, be no doubt that the white and black chequer-work
is taken from stone-work construction, though the builders of the Palace—who
were surprisingly modern in some of their procedures—were quite capable of
producing stucco imitation of masonry. In the south-west porch of the
building is a clay and rubble wall faced with painted plaster, the lower part
of which imitates blocks of variously coloured marble. As in the case of the
Temple this chequer work is apparently contained in a wooden framework, it
is safer to regard it too as painted plaster. The white and black chequering is
a favourite decoration of Egyptian architectural painting,1 and it is probable
that this feature, as undoubtedly a characteristic detail, to bo noticed below,
in the formation of the capitals of the columns, was borrowed from this source.
Of peculiar interest is the appearance, immediately below the central
opening, of two elongated half rosettes, separated by a threefold division,
which present a most striking analogy to the frieze2 found in the vestibule of
the Palace at Tiryns. The white and the blue of the side slabs here answer
to the alabaster material and blue glass (/cvavos %fTo<;) inlaying of the
Tirynthian example, while the red streaks show that the half rosettes were in
this case still further coloured. The parallelism here is of such a kind as to
induce the belief that what is seen on the facade of the Knossian shrine also
represents actual slabs of inlaid alabaster. But there is a further detail in
the present case which confirms the conclusion that these are not merely
spaces filled with painted stucco. The alabaster slabs, with the similar
foliated designs, from the Palace of Tiryns are linked by smaller pieces in
the same material, the threefold division of which has been recognised as
supplying the prototype of the Doric triglyph.:i These Mycenaean triglyphs
stand forward somewhat beyond the plane of the ' metopes,' and secure them
by overlapping their edges. At Tiryns the triglyphs are of alabaster, like
the intervening slabs. But on the Knossian shrine the outer posts of these,
1 Compare for instance the chequer decora-
tion over a house from a Sixth Dynasty Tomb.
(Maspero, Man. of Egypt. Arch., Engl.
Edition, p. 21).
' See Dorpfeld in Schliemann's Tiryns, p.
284 seqq. and PI. IV. and Perrot ct Chipiez,
L'Art, etc. vL p. 698 neqq.
3 Dorpfeld, in Schliemann's Tiryns, p. 284.
Perrot et Chipiez, L'Art, etc., vi. p. 710 neqq.