DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.810#0187
560
TOWN AREA OF MINOAN KNOSSOS
Inner
' residen-
tial'
area.
Poorer
outer
zone.
Three-
fold com-
position
of Knos-
wherever excavation has been carried out or deep soundings taken, well-
built and free-standing houses have been struck, closely set beside each
other, that had evidently belonged to a prosperous burgher class. On the
North side of the Palace and the ' Royal Road' to be described below,
beyond a succession of nearer buildings, there are indications of similar con-
ditions, though here the evidence has been obscured by the structures of the
Greco Roman town. The village of Makryteichos has also interfered with
exploration, but good house remains, including traces of houses North of the
' Royal Villa', extend along the valley to a point South-East of Houses A
and B. We have seen that on the opposite terraces beyond the stream we
have evidence of similar architectural activity.
Beyond the zone thus approximately indicated, however, and tentatively
marked by a lilac band in the Plan, though Minoan traces still extend in
every direction, the evidence points more to humbler dwellings of rubble
construction, good ashlar blocks being of rare occurrence. We are thus led
to the conclusion that there existed around the Palace two distinct zones
of habitation. The inner of these was the true Minoan ' City '. The outer
was of a more suburban nature, and inhabited by a poorer class, such as we
find represented in a series of the Zafer Papoura tombs.
Knossos would then have been of threefold composition, the Palace,
the City proper—the Greek darv—and the suburbs or wpodvTeiov. The best
comparisons for the latter should unquestionably be sought in the plans of
country towns that have been recovered by the excavations of Gournia and
Palaikastro, where the block system was everywhere prevalent. But the
central civic area of Knossos was constructed on different principles.
Houses
of resi-
dential
quarter
free-
standing.
Inner Residential Quarter: the City.
Except in the Later Neolithic building in the Central Court, where we
find an agglomeration of more than one house, it is clear that at Knossos
the rule in the ' residential ' quarter was to have interspaces between the
individual buildings. Even in the case of the small Middle Minoan houses
by the South-East Palace Angle, and again those in the area North-West
of the ' House of the Frescoes', the outer walls were separated from their
neichbour's dwellings. All the evidence re^ardine the houses built at the
beginning of the New Era is consistent as to this point. In the whole
series of excavated examples, we see that in every instance the house was
isolated by at least a small intervening space from those around it.
This practice contrasts with that of the small provincial towns that have
TOWN AREA OF MINOAN KNOSSOS
Inner
' residen-
tial'
area.
Poorer
outer
zone.
Three-
fold com-
position
of Knos-
wherever excavation has been carried out or deep soundings taken, well-
built and free-standing houses have been struck, closely set beside each
other, that had evidently belonged to a prosperous burgher class. On the
North side of the Palace and the ' Royal Road' to be described below,
beyond a succession of nearer buildings, there are indications of similar con-
ditions, though here the evidence has been obscured by the structures of the
Greco Roman town. The village of Makryteichos has also interfered with
exploration, but good house remains, including traces of houses North of the
' Royal Villa', extend along the valley to a point South-East of Houses A
and B. We have seen that on the opposite terraces beyond the stream we
have evidence of similar architectural activity.
Beyond the zone thus approximately indicated, however, and tentatively
marked by a lilac band in the Plan, though Minoan traces still extend in
every direction, the evidence points more to humbler dwellings of rubble
construction, good ashlar blocks being of rare occurrence. We are thus led
to the conclusion that there existed around the Palace two distinct zones
of habitation. The inner of these was the true Minoan ' City '. The outer
was of a more suburban nature, and inhabited by a poorer class, such as we
find represented in a series of the Zafer Papoura tombs.
Knossos would then have been of threefold composition, the Palace,
the City proper—the Greek darv—and the suburbs or wpodvTeiov. The best
comparisons for the latter should unquestionably be sought in the plans of
country towns that have been recovered by the excavations of Gournia and
Palaikastro, where the block system was everywhere prevalent. But the
central civic area of Knossos was constructed on different principles.
Houses
of resi-
dential
quarter
free-
standing.
Inner Residential Quarter: the City.
Except in the Later Neolithic building in the Central Court, where we
find an agglomeration of more than one house, it is clear that at Knossos
the rule in the ' residential ' quarter was to have interspaces between the
individual buildings. Even in the case of the small Middle Minoan houses
by the South-East Palace Angle, and again those in the area North-West
of the ' House of the Frescoes', the outer walls were separated from their
neichbour's dwellings. All the evidence re^ardine the houses built at the
beginning of the New Era is consistent as to this point. In the whole
series of excavated examples, we see that in every instance the house was
isolated by at least a small intervening space from those around it.
This practice contrasts with that of the small provincial towns that have