DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.807#0234
M. M. II: CONSOLIDATION OF KNOSSIAN PALACE 207
In the middle of the Northern boundary of the Central Court at Phaestos
is seen the opening of the Northern Avenue of approach on that side.1
Opposite this was, originally, its main entrance passage.
Too much must not be made of the Roman parallels, or those of the still Reserva-
earlier folk of the Terremare, that may suggest themselves in these geo- tlons'
metrical arrangements. Certain divergences in the Italic schemes are at
once perceptible, as for instance, in the position of the Praetorium and in the
exclusion of the Forum, as at Pompeii,Timgad, or Silchester, from the crossing-
lines of traffic.2 In the root conception of the Cretan Palaces we have rather
to do with a natural method of laying out new foundations and settlements, Parallels
independently adopted in many countries and in very different ages. Four n"
quarters grouped round a central square was essentially the plan followed plan-
by Frederick ' Stupor Mundi' and our Edward I in their new civic founda-
tions from the Sicilian Terranova to Winchelsea and Flint.
The individual ' insulae ' here grouped round the Central Court may in
some cases have originally represented separate house plans. Of this we see
clear traces in the S.E. ' Insula' and in the later Throne Room system.
In both Palaces the early features of the West Court and its confines
show remarkable points of agreement. The platform to the North at Corre-
Phaestos, approached by a raised causeway and broad lines of steps ^Pnce in
(Suppl. PI. II), answers—on a larger scale—to the later ' Theatral Area' at Plans at
the head of the ancient road of approach to the Knossian Palace, mainly used, and
perhaps, for ceremonial receptions.3 Phaestos.
Both at Knossos and Phaestos there were found, on the borders of Walled
these outer Courts and areas, beneath the Late Minoan pavements, circular pjUts> ls
walled pits containing quantities of potsherds, fragments of movable
hearths of clay and stucco, and other broken objects. These walled pits,
which date back to the earliest days of the Palaces, seem to have been
1 See Mon. Ant., xiv, Pis. XXVII, XXXI, 2.
2 See the late Professor Haverfield's sum-
mary of the evidence in Ancient Town-planning
(Oxford, 1913).
3 In its present form the construction of the
' Theatral Area' at Knossos seems to be L. M. I,
but there was an earlier paved construction
below it. A terminus a quo for the date of the
paved square in front was obtained by a test
excavation carried out in 1913 beneath the
floor of its North-West angle. The seg-
ment of a circular walled pit (part of which
had been already explored outside its North
wall at this point) was found to contain pottery,
the last elements of which were M. M. II.
In that at Phaestos, as in the undisturbed
part of the walled pit to the North-West of the
Theatral Area at Knossos, the latest sherds were
of the M. M. II Period. In the round walled
pit—known to the natives as ' kouloura'—
beneath the later pavement of the West Court
of Knossos, the last elements were M. M. III.
It seems probable that these receptacles were
cleared out at intervals.
In the middle of the Northern boundary of the Central Court at Phaestos
is seen the opening of the Northern Avenue of approach on that side.1
Opposite this was, originally, its main entrance passage.
Too much must not be made of the Roman parallels, or those of the still Reserva-
earlier folk of the Terremare, that may suggest themselves in these geo- tlons'
metrical arrangements. Certain divergences in the Italic schemes are at
once perceptible, as for instance, in the position of the Praetorium and in the
exclusion of the Forum, as at Pompeii,Timgad, or Silchester, from the crossing-
lines of traffic.2 In the root conception of the Cretan Palaces we have rather
to do with a natural method of laying out new foundations and settlements, Parallels
independently adopted in many countries and in very different ages. Four n"
quarters grouped round a central square was essentially the plan followed plan-
by Frederick ' Stupor Mundi' and our Edward I in their new civic founda-
tions from the Sicilian Terranova to Winchelsea and Flint.
The individual ' insulae ' here grouped round the Central Court may in
some cases have originally represented separate house plans. Of this we see
clear traces in the S.E. ' Insula' and in the later Throne Room system.
In both Palaces the early features of the West Court and its confines
show remarkable points of agreement. The platform to the North at Corre-
Phaestos, approached by a raised causeway and broad lines of steps ^Pnce in
(Suppl. PI. II), answers—on a larger scale—to the later ' Theatral Area' at Plans at
the head of the ancient road of approach to the Knossian Palace, mainly used, and
perhaps, for ceremonial receptions.3 Phaestos.
Both at Knossos and Phaestos there were found, on the borders of Walled
these outer Courts and areas, beneath the Late Minoan pavements, circular pjUts> ls
walled pits containing quantities of potsherds, fragments of movable
hearths of clay and stucco, and other broken objects. These walled pits,
which date back to the earliest days of the Palaces, seem to have been
1 See Mon. Ant., xiv, Pis. XXVII, XXXI, 2.
2 See the late Professor Haverfield's sum-
mary of the evidence in Ancient Town-planning
(Oxford, 1913).
3 In its present form the construction of the
' Theatral Area' at Knossos seems to be L. M. I,
but there was an earlier paved construction
below it. A terminus a quo for the date of the
paved square in front was obtained by a test
excavation carried out in 1913 beneath the
floor of its North-West angle. The seg-
ment of a circular walled pit (part of which
had been already explored outside its North
wall at this point) was found to contain pottery,
the last elements of which were M. M. II.
In that at Phaestos, as in the undisturbed
part of the walled pit to the North-West of the
Theatral Area at Knossos, the latest sherds were
of the M. M. II Period. In the round walled
pit—known to the natives as ' kouloura'—
beneath the later pavement of the West Court
of Knossos, the last elements were M. M. III.
It seems probable that these receptacles were
cleared out at intervals.