DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.8755#0115
104
a. J. Evans
Eastern flight was of the most satisfactory nature. The extent preserved
of the lowermost step was in fact found to correspond with a line of wall
of which the foundation courses were visible for a considerable extent,
answering to the original supporting wall on the North. From this it ap-
peared that the distance of 10 metres for which the lowermost step was
preserved really answered to its original extent and gave the width of the
whole flight. A continuation moreover of the lower courses of the sup-
porting wall was found running Westward and forming the original bound-
ary of the paved area on that side.1 It ran exactly where theoretically it
should have been looked for, parallel to the paved path that traverses this
area from West to East, and at a distance to the North of it equal to that
which on the other side separates this path from the Southern flight of steps.
The symmetry of the whole construction thus thoroughly asserts itself and
the paved path from the West is seen to run to the very centre of the
Eastern flight of steps.
In the circumstances I did not hesitate to secure the remains of this
unique monument of the Minoan world from further collapse and disin-
tegration by undertaking the considerable task of rebuilding the North
supporting wall to what was probably its original height and by restoring
the missing slabs of the North-East section of the Southern flight of
steps. Several of the sunken slabs were also partially raised and the
remaining parts were carefully preserved in their original context. The
result as will be seen from Fig. 69 has been to a considerable extent to
reproduce what may have been the original effect of this part of the
building.2
The eighteen steps of the Southern flight, as originally constituted,
occupied a rectangle 10 metres broad by 11-40 deep. The depth of the
steps varies. In the first eleven steps it is 67 centimetres, but from the twelfth
step onwards it' is reduced to 57, the tread of the steps being corre-
spondingly lowered from 12 centimetres to 10. That these steps were
not simply the approach to some large Megaron is shown not only by the
absence, beyond, of any remains of such, but by the fact that the branch
line of paved path which starts from the other near the South-East corner
of the bastion, proceeding in the direction of the North Pillar Hall,
1 The Eastern section of the part preserved of this supporting wall is 6 metres in length ;
there is then a gap of about 10 metres, after which from a point under the fourth step it is continued
for another 13 metres.
2 The restored parts are indicated by dotted lines in Mr. Fyfe's plan (Fig. 6S).
a. J. Evans
Eastern flight was of the most satisfactory nature. The extent preserved
of the lowermost step was in fact found to correspond with a line of wall
of which the foundation courses were visible for a considerable extent,
answering to the original supporting wall on the North. From this it ap-
peared that the distance of 10 metres for which the lowermost step was
preserved really answered to its original extent and gave the width of the
whole flight. A continuation moreover of the lower courses of the sup-
porting wall was found running Westward and forming the original bound-
ary of the paved area on that side.1 It ran exactly where theoretically it
should have been looked for, parallel to the paved path that traverses this
area from West to East, and at a distance to the North of it equal to that
which on the other side separates this path from the Southern flight of steps.
The symmetry of the whole construction thus thoroughly asserts itself and
the paved path from the West is seen to run to the very centre of the
Eastern flight of steps.
In the circumstances I did not hesitate to secure the remains of this
unique monument of the Minoan world from further collapse and disin-
tegration by undertaking the considerable task of rebuilding the North
supporting wall to what was probably its original height and by restoring
the missing slabs of the North-East section of the Southern flight of
steps. Several of the sunken slabs were also partially raised and the
remaining parts were carefully preserved in their original context. The
result as will be seen from Fig. 69 has been to a considerable extent to
reproduce what may have been the original effect of this part of the
building.2
The eighteen steps of the Southern flight, as originally constituted,
occupied a rectangle 10 metres broad by 11-40 deep. The depth of the
steps varies. In the first eleven steps it is 67 centimetres, but from the twelfth
step onwards it' is reduced to 57, the tread of the steps being corre-
spondingly lowered from 12 centimetres to 10. That these steps were
not simply the approach to some large Megaron is shown not only by the
absence, beyond, of any remains of such, but by the fact that the branch
line of paved path which starts from the other near the South-East corner
of the bastion, proceeding in the direction of the North Pillar Hall,
1 The Eastern section of the part preserved of this supporting wall is 6 metres in length ;
there is then a gap of about 10 metres, after which from a point under the fourth step it is continued
for another 13 metres.
2 The restored parts are indicated by dotted lines in Mr. Fyfe's plan (Fig. 6S).