DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.807#0132
io6
THE PALACE OF MINOS, ETC.
Second
hypo-
gaeum
beneath
S.E.
corner of
Palace.
For what
purpose
were they
executed ?
S. Hypo-
gaeum
probably
guarded
entrance.
Idea of
a Store
Pit.
resembling- that of a railway cutting had first to be opened out from the
Southern foot of the hill, at a cost of great labour. Even then it was only
possible to explore a small part of the actual floor of the hypogaeum.
There are indications that a similar hypogaeum had been filled in at the
same time as the other, at the South Eastern Corner of the Palace. Here
the great basement slabs have partly sunk below their original level and on
one side part of the circular cutting in the rock has become exposed.
What purpose did these great underground vaults serve ? That the
hypogaeum explored could have been a cistern seems to be excluded by its
proximity to the slope of the hill and by the fact that no trace of any coating
of impervious cement was found in the interior. The suggestion that it was
in fact an underground pit for the extraction of material used for pottery
is hardly by itself sufficient. The potter's clay was doubtless a useful by-
product, but the apparent symmetry of the work and the carefully planned
winding staircase surely points to some more permanent purpose. The
staircase itself, in combination with the great bee-hive chamber, suggests
analogies with the spiral staircases enclosed in the walls of the Nuraghe of
Sardinia or of the Brochs of Scotland, but in these cases we have to do
with construction above the ground.
Being near the Southern steep of the hill, immediately under the later
Southern Entrance of the Palace, and on the natural line of approach from
the point where the torrent below was traditionally bridged over, a strong
probability arises that there was also an entrance on the ground floor. In that
case we would here have to do with a circular vaulted guard house, recalling
that of the Megalopolis gate at Messene, combined with the inner stairway.
That no trace however of such a lower entrance or sally-port was struck
by the actual course of the excavations may be explained by the fact that it
would have run somewhat to the West, as indicated on the Plan.
The idea of a tomb is excluded, though the mistaken belief that the bee-
hive vaults of Mycenae were ' treasure houses ' (OrjcravpoL) might be thought to
supply an alternative solution. The practice of excavating pits, more or less
domed over above as store-houses is indeed widespread. As receptacles for
corn they are common in Syria and they recur, perhaps owing to Arab agency,
in Southern Italy.1 They are found to-day in the island of Cos2, and else-
1 Foggia, originally Fodia, derives its name 2 Dr. Mackenzie informs me that he has seen
from such store-pits. Their position is marked exceptionally large examples at Antimachia in
by stone posts, giving the site the appearance Cos excavated in the chalk rock,
of a cemetery.
THE PALACE OF MINOS, ETC.
Second
hypo-
gaeum
beneath
S.E.
corner of
Palace.
For what
purpose
were they
executed ?
S. Hypo-
gaeum
probably
guarded
entrance.
Idea of
a Store
Pit.
resembling- that of a railway cutting had first to be opened out from the
Southern foot of the hill, at a cost of great labour. Even then it was only
possible to explore a small part of the actual floor of the hypogaeum.
There are indications that a similar hypogaeum had been filled in at the
same time as the other, at the South Eastern Corner of the Palace. Here
the great basement slabs have partly sunk below their original level and on
one side part of the circular cutting in the rock has become exposed.
What purpose did these great underground vaults serve ? That the
hypogaeum explored could have been a cistern seems to be excluded by its
proximity to the slope of the hill and by the fact that no trace of any coating
of impervious cement was found in the interior. The suggestion that it was
in fact an underground pit for the extraction of material used for pottery
is hardly by itself sufficient. The potter's clay was doubtless a useful by-
product, but the apparent symmetry of the work and the carefully planned
winding staircase surely points to some more permanent purpose. The
staircase itself, in combination with the great bee-hive chamber, suggests
analogies with the spiral staircases enclosed in the walls of the Nuraghe of
Sardinia or of the Brochs of Scotland, but in these cases we have to do
with construction above the ground.
Being near the Southern steep of the hill, immediately under the later
Southern Entrance of the Palace, and on the natural line of approach from
the point where the torrent below was traditionally bridged over, a strong
probability arises that there was also an entrance on the ground floor. In that
case we would here have to do with a circular vaulted guard house, recalling
that of the Megalopolis gate at Messene, combined with the inner stairway.
That no trace however of such a lower entrance or sally-port was struck
by the actual course of the excavations may be explained by the fact that it
would have run somewhat to the West, as indicated on the Plan.
The idea of a tomb is excluded, though the mistaken belief that the bee-
hive vaults of Mycenae were ' treasure houses ' (OrjcravpoL) might be thought to
supply an alternative solution. The practice of excavating pits, more or less
domed over above as store-houses is indeed widespread. As receptacles for
corn they are common in Syria and they recur, perhaps owing to Arab agency,
in Southern Italy.1 They are found to-day in the island of Cos2, and else-
1 Foggia, originally Fodia, derives its name 2 Dr. Mackenzie informs me that he has seen
from such store-pits. Their position is marked exceptionally large examples at Antimachia in
by stone posts, giving the site the appearance Cos excavated in the chalk rock,
of a cemetery.