DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.810#0188
THE ' RESIDENTIAL ' QUARTER OF KNOSSOS 561
been explored at Gournia and Palaikastro, where the block system prevails, Block
i-i • • 1 r • \\r system of
groups of houses, only, being isolated from similar groups. We may well provin-
believe that at the principal seat of the Priest-Kings the free-standing tc^ns
arrangement of each individual house—such as we see in our Garden Better
Cities—had been enforced by severe legislation from a very early period. Knossos
It would not be surprising, indeed, if there had also been provisions regard- s'1" ,
1 ° i o closely
ing ' ancient lights'. set.
It may be said that in every case where there has been occasion
to explore beyond the boundaries of an excavated house, another house-
wall has been struck in close proximity to it. In places, as in the case of the
' House of the Frescoes' and of the back wall of the ' Little Palace ', only
the width of the drain or water-channel separates one building from another.
Like the Middle Minoan houses that had preceded them, those of the New
Era, though somewhat larger in dimensions, seem to have been as closely
packed together, bordered by narrow lanes, and sometimes by spaces
through which a human being could hardly squeeze.
Three of the typical Knossian private houses, the ■ South House', the Esti-
' Royal Villa ', and the ' House of the Chancel Screen ', the plans of which house
have been recovered practically in their entirely,—and to these may be added d.imen-
the ' House A ',—cover an almost identical area of about 2 20 square metres.
The ' House of the Frescoes', on the other hand, works out at only 130, and
the houses that surround it seem to belong to the same scale. For the
ordinary town-houses of well-to-do citizens we may take perhaps a mean of
200 square metres, and add another 50 for the share of the individual
building in the rather narrow surrounding space. The greater dimensions of
the North-East House, which seems to have been largely a store-house, and
of the ' Little Palace ',' about a third of which was occupied by sanctuaries,
may be explained by their special character. The spacious frontage of
the ' Unexplored Mansion', indeed, behind the latter building still, however,
suggests that the Western slope that included the plateau of Hellenika was
the site of a specially sumptuous quarter.
Apart from this favoured quarter we have thus, so far as the results of Were the
excavation go, to deal with two main classes of habitation in the area h!^ge°s
immediately surrounding the Palace at the opening of the New Era. legally
A series of houses conforms so nearly to the dimensions of 220 metres apiece
that it looks as if there had been some legal enactment of a sumptuary
1 The entrance system is wanting in the ' Little Palace', but, apart from that, the super-
ficies amounts to about 975 square metres.
II. P p
been explored at Gournia and Palaikastro, where the block system prevails, Block
i-i • • 1 r • \\r system of
groups of houses, only, being isolated from similar groups. We may well provin-
believe that at the principal seat of the Priest-Kings the free-standing tc^ns
arrangement of each individual house—such as we see in our Garden Better
Cities—had been enforced by severe legislation from a very early period. Knossos
It would not be surprising, indeed, if there had also been provisions regard- s'1" ,
1 ° i o closely
ing ' ancient lights'. set.
It may be said that in every case where there has been occasion
to explore beyond the boundaries of an excavated house, another house-
wall has been struck in close proximity to it. In places, as in the case of the
' House of the Frescoes' and of the back wall of the ' Little Palace ', only
the width of the drain or water-channel separates one building from another.
Like the Middle Minoan houses that had preceded them, those of the New
Era, though somewhat larger in dimensions, seem to have been as closely
packed together, bordered by narrow lanes, and sometimes by spaces
through which a human being could hardly squeeze.
Three of the typical Knossian private houses, the ■ South House', the Esti-
' Royal Villa ', and the ' House of the Chancel Screen ', the plans of which house
have been recovered practically in their entirely,—and to these may be added d.imen-
the ' House A ',—cover an almost identical area of about 2 20 square metres.
The ' House of the Frescoes', on the other hand, works out at only 130, and
the houses that surround it seem to belong to the same scale. For the
ordinary town-houses of well-to-do citizens we may take perhaps a mean of
200 square metres, and add another 50 for the share of the individual
building in the rather narrow surrounding space. The greater dimensions of
the North-East House, which seems to have been largely a store-house, and
of the ' Little Palace ',' about a third of which was occupied by sanctuaries,
may be explained by their special character. The spacious frontage of
the ' Unexplored Mansion', indeed, behind the latter building still, however,
suggests that the Western slope that included the plateau of Hellenika was
the site of a specially sumptuous quarter.
Apart from this favoured quarter we have thus, so far as the results of Were the
excavation go, to deal with two main classes of habitation in the area h!^ge°s
immediately surrounding the Palace at the opening of the New Era. legally
A series of houses conforms so nearly to the dimensions of 220 metres apiece
that it looks as if there had been some legal enactment of a sumptuary
1 The entrance system is wanting in the ' Little Palace', but, apart from that, the super-
ficies amounts to about 975 square metres.
II. P p