DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.810#0227
6oo
PROTOTYPES OF BUILDINGS AT MYCENAE
'Chequer'
work of
Egyptian
origin.
M.M. Ill
architec-
tural
features.
Mycenae
paintings
showing
ladies
looking
out.
The correspondences extend to such details as the chequer-work decoration,
the wide columnar openings, and the accentuated upward widening of the
shafts of the columns—which seems to have been a special M. M. III charac-
teristic. It will be seen, moreover, that the little Shrine of the 'Miniature
Fresco' (Fig. 371, above) stands in an inseparable connexion with the same
group.
One special feature, the ' chequer' work which recurs in each of these
groups, and, again, on the Miniature Terra-cotta Shrine of earlier date, is of
exceptional interest, since it is unquestionably taken over from a decorative
detail that is of constant recurrence in Egyptian facades from the days
of the Old Kingdom onwards. It has no real connexion—as might at
first sight be supposed—with masonry or brickwork, but is of purely
textile origin, and was taken over from ornamental hangings rather than
from any structural element. It must at the same time be observed that
in all other respects the type of construction shown in these Minoan
facades is altogether different from the Egyptian. It will be seen that
the fronts of buildings with their window openings, their rows of disks,
answering in their original intention to the rounded ends of beams,
and their higher central section, bear a general resemblance to some
of the facades of the faience ' house tablets ' described in the preceding
Volume.
The detailed correspondence of the buildings of the Mycenae group
with the structural forms preserved for us on the painted stucco fragments
from the Thirteenth Magazine is itself of considerable chronological value.
The remains there found beneath the more superficial cists are clearly
delimited as belonging to the Palace as it existed before the great Earth-
quake that took place towards the close of M. M. III.
Of their comparatively early date, moreover, there can be no question,
since according to the regular archaeological rule, while fragile objects like
faience and pottery are in such cases safely referred to the last epoch of
a deposit, fragments of fresco paintings derived from the walls often
go back to a distinctly earlier date, in this case probably to the earlier
phase—M. M. Ill a—of the Middle Palace. It looks as if the date of
the early Palace at Mycenae, to which the closely related facades belonged,
could not have been long posterior to this.
In one respect, indeed, the fresco remains found in the Megaron at
Mycenae differ from those of the cists: in that case there are no signs
of sacral horns on the roof lines or beside the shafts, nor of double-axe
blades stuck into the columns. This religious element is, however, supplied
PROTOTYPES OF BUILDINGS AT MYCENAE
'Chequer'
work of
Egyptian
origin.
M.M. Ill
architec-
tural
features.
Mycenae
paintings
showing
ladies
looking
out.
The correspondences extend to such details as the chequer-work decoration,
the wide columnar openings, and the accentuated upward widening of the
shafts of the columns—which seems to have been a special M. M. III charac-
teristic. It will be seen, moreover, that the little Shrine of the 'Miniature
Fresco' (Fig. 371, above) stands in an inseparable connexion with the same
group.
One special feature, the ' chequer' work which recurs in each of these
groups, and, again, on the Miniature Terra-cotta Shrine of earlier date, is of
exceptional interest, since it is unquestionably taken over from a decorative
detail that is of constant recurrence in Egyptian facades from the days
of the Old Kingdom onwards. It has no real connexion—as might at
first sight be supposed—with masonry or brickwork, but is of purely
textile origin, and was taken over from ornamental hangings rather than
from any structural element. It must at the same time be observed that
in all other respects the type of construction shown in these Minoan
facades is altogether different from the Egyptian. It will be seen that
the fronts of buildings with their window openings, their rows of disks,
answering in their original intention to the rounded ends of beams,
and their higher central section, bear a general resemblance to some
of the facades of the faience ' house tablets ' described in the preceding
Volume.
The detailed correspondence of the buildings of the Mycenae group
with the structural forms preserved for us on the painted stucco fragments
from the Thirteenth Magazine is itself of considerable chronological value.
The remains there found beneath the more superficial cists are clearly
delimited as belonging to the Palace as it existed before the great Earth-
quake that took place towards the close of M. M. III.
Of their comparatively early date, moreover, there can be no question,
since according to the regular archaeological rule, while fragile objects like
faience and pottery are in such cases safely referred to the last epoch of
a deposit, fragments of fresco paintings derived from the walls often
go back to a distinctly earlier date, in this case probably to the earlier
phase—M. M. Ill a—of the Middle Palace. It looks as if the date of
the early Palace at Mycenae, to which the closely related facades belonged,
could not have been long posterior to this.
In one respect, indeed, the fresco remains found in the Megaron at
Mycenae differ from those of the cists: in that case there are no signs
of sacral horns on the roof lines or beside the shafts, nor of double-axe
blades stuck into the columns. This religious element is, however, supplied