DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.810#0186
§ $6. The 'Broad Knossos' of Homeric Tradition: Golden Age
of Minoan Crete.
Great extension of Minoan Town of Knossos; Inner 'Residential' area ;
Poorer outer zone; Threefold composition of Knossos • Houses of' Residential'
Quarter, free-standing ; Block system of Provincial Towns ; Estimates of house
dimensions—Were they legally graded? Estimate of number of 'residential
houses' and of burgher population ; Poorer Quarters compared zvith Provincial
agglomerations in blocks ; Great preponderance of poor interments in Zafcr
Papoura Cemetery ; Estimated population of Minoan Knossos—Unique centre
of human habitation ; Primitive Mainland centres, like Dimini, compared ;
Variety and originality of Kuossiau houses—cultured taste of occupants ;
Diminished use of timber construction—symptom of deforestation; Epic
tradition of' broad Knossos' verified ; Great crowds on grand stands of frescoes ;
Already populous site in remote Neolithic times; General contemporary out-
burst of building activity at beginning of New Era—Mansions of Tylissos and
Niru Kha7ii—similar phenomena at Zakro and Palaikastro; Mycenaean
' megaron' plan of four cohimns round central square ; Great diffusion of
wealth—Bronze hoards of H. Triada, Tylissos, Pseira, and Knossos; Uni-
formity of architectural and culttiral types ; Indications of Central Control;
The Golden Age of Minoan Crete—Compared with Pax Romana.
Estimated Town Area of Minoan Knossos.
From what has been said in the preceding Section it will be seen Great ex-
that the town of Knossos must have covered a very considerable area.- Mtooan0
The traces may be said to extend over a length of about a kilometre and t°wn of
a half from North to South, and, at its widest, including a strip beyond the
stream, about the same distance from the Eastern borders to the farther
slope of the later Acropolis on the West, where Minoan relics continue to
abound (see Plan, facing p. 547).
Assuming some such extension of the remains as that indicated in
the Plan referred to, we may perhaps estimate for the urban settlement a
mean breadth of some 750 metres, which, taking the length from North to
South as about 1,500 metres, would give a total superficies of 1,125,000
square metres.
In considering the bearings of this result on the question of the ancient
population we must at the outset allow for different regional conditions
within the town area.
South and West of the Palace, within a radius of about 400 metres
of Minoan Crete.
Great extension of Minoan Town of Knossos; Inner 'Residential' area ;
Poorer outer zone; Threefold composition of Knossos • Houses of' Residential'
Quarter, free-standing ; Block system of Provincial Towns ; Estimates of house
dimensions—Were they legally graded? Estimate of number of 'residential
houses' and of burgher population ; Poorer Quarters compared zvith Provincial
agglomerations in blocks ; Great preponderance of poor interments in Zafcr
Papoura Cemetery ; Estimated population of Minoan Knossos—Unique centre
of human habitation ; Primitive Mainland centres, like Dimini, compared ;
Variety and originality of Kuossiau houses—cultured taste of occupants ;
Diminished use of timber construction—symptom of deforestation; Epic
tradition of' broad Knossos' verified ; Great crowds on grand stands of frescoes ;
Already populous site in remote Neolithic times; General contemporary out-
burst of building activity at beginning of New Era—Mansions of Tylissos and
Niru Kha7ii—similar phenomena at Zakro and Palaikastro; Mycenaean
' megaron' plan of four cohimns round central square ; Great diffusion of
wealth—Bronze hoards of H. Triada, Tylissos, Pseira, and Knossos; Uni-
formity of architectural and culttiral types ; Indications of Central Control;
The Golden Age of Minoan Crete—Compared with Pax Romana.
Estimated Town Area of Minoan Knossos.
From what has been said in the preceding Section it will be seen Great ex-
that the town of Knossos must have covered a very considerable area.- Mtooan0
The traces may be said to extend over a length of about a kilometre and t°wn of
a half from North to South, and, at its widest, including a strip beyond the
stream, about the same distance from the Eastern borders to the farther
slope of the later Acropolis on the West, where Minoan relics continue to
abound (see Plan, facing p. 547).
Assuming some such extension of the remains as that indicated in
the Plan referred to, we may perhaps estimate for the urban settlement a
mean breadth of some 750 metres, which, taking the length from North to
South as about 1,500 metres, would give a total superficies of 1,125,000
square metres.
In considering the bearings of this result on the question of the ancient
population we must at the outset allow for different regional conditions
within the town area.
South and West of the Palace, within a radius of about 400 metres