DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.8755#0164
Knossos Excavations, 1903.
i53
immediately above that of the Megaron below, leading into the upper
Corridor, A 2. These upper storey-jambs, together with parts of the adjoin-
ing pavement, have been preserved in position with the help of brick piers.
It will be seen from Fig. 91 that it has been possible, as in the case
of the Domestic Quarter of the Palace, to recover practically the whole
plan of the first upper storey. It appears moreover that, just as the
evidence has been preserved of a large chamber with piers and columns
above the Hall of the Double Axes, so here too there seems to have existed
an upper hall divided into two sections by a similar line of door-jambs
above the principal Megaron or ' Basilica' of the Royal Villa.
A negative phenomenon noticed throughout this building deserves
mention. Unlike the generality of the Palace rooms, the remains here con-
tained hardly a vestige of burnt wood. There is no obvious sign of
destruction by fire, and the door-posts and beams which elsewhere have
been preserved in consequence of their carbonisation had here left no trace
beyond their empty sockets. It looks as if the Villa had been plundered
and perhaps partially ruined at the time of the great catastrophe and was
afterwards left to gradual decay, doubtless accelerated by flood waters and
landslips from the declivity above.
Arthur J. Evans.
Fig 92.—Painted Pottery from Royai. Villa belonging to the Period of Partial
Habitation.
i53
immediately above that of the Megaron below, leading into the upper
Corridor, A 2. These upper storey-jambs, together with parts of the adjoin-
ing pavement, have been preserved in position with the help of brick piers.
It will be seen from Fig. 91 that it has been possible, as in the case
of the Domestic Quarter of the Palace, to recover practically the whole
plan of the first upper storey. It appears moreover that, just as the
evidence has been preserved of a large chamber with piers and columns
above the Hall of the Double Axes, so here too there seems to have existed
an upper hall divided into two sections by a similar line of door-jambs
above the principal Megaron or ' Basilica' of the Royal Villa.
A negative phenomenon noticed throughout this building deserves
mention. Unlike the generality of the Palace rooms, the remains here con-
tained hardly a vestige of burnt wood. There is no obvious sign of
destruction by fire, and the door-posts and beams which elsewhere have
been preserved in consequence of their carbonisation had here left no trace
beyond their empty sockets. It looks as if the Villa had been plundered
and perhaps partially ruined at the time of the great catastrophe and was
afterwards left to gradual decay, doubtless accelerated by flood waters and
landslips from the declivity above.
Arthur J. Evans.
Fig 92.—Painted Pottery from Royai. Villa belonging to the Period of Partial
Habitation.