DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.810#0233
6o6
TRIGLYPHS AND HALF-ROSETTES
was the feature shown hatched, and not the longer one shown~dotted, which was the germ of
the idea, and as the vertical members were undoubtedly based on a constructive wooden
origin, this is consistent with structural fact. The limit of division is XX and not YY
(see Fig. 379).
The term ' elongated half-rosette ' may seem clumsy, but it is reasonably exact. The form
might have been devised like Fig. 378, b, but it is actually executed like a.
The 'eyes' of these pseudo-half-rosettes have the bead moulding surrounding them, which
is characteristic of the rosette eye: the vertical decoration of the remainder is of a form which
would be obvious in paint, and may have been borrowed from that technique.
Fig. 379. Diagrammatic Figure of Band showing Triglvphs and Elongated
Half-rosettes.
Lastly, the term ' triglyph ' may require some explanation. Bell, following Diirm, ques-
tions a justification for the term. It is true that there are no glyphs, but that again is merely
a question of acceptance by the Greek of a different decorative use for a similar structural
feature. There is abundant evidence from frescoes that the vertical members of the Minoan
triglyph band were of wooden origin as constructive members, just as there is the same
evidence for the Greek triglyph. I think, therefore, that the term can be accepted on this
broad basis as conveniently having a real justification from the constructive standpoint.
From the decoration of a stone seat front at Phaestos, it can be seen that there was a stone
parallel, as well as a wooden one, to the triglyph and metope of the Greek frieze. The project-
ing panels are decorated vertically, and the recessed ones horizontally.
It is clear that the slabs and bands were cut out with bronze saws and then finely dressed
on their exposed surfaces. Their material is of two separate and distinct kinds : (a)—as in the
rosette, the spiral, and the slab fragments,—a light greyish purple with a distinct granular texture,
taking a perfect rubbed surface but not a polished one. The sharpness of the carving proves
the hardness and great durability of this stone. Without a chemical test it is difficult to say
whether this is a sandstone or a limestone. It resembles Forest of Dean as much as any other
building stone, being slightly more open in texture than Craigleith, but it is probably as hard as
the best Yorkshire stone ; (i) a bluish-grey, dense, slaty stone, as in the triglyph band frag-
ments. This stone has much in common with the purplish ' porphyry' stones of the triglyph
bands at Mycenae. Though closer in texture than (a) it was probably not so suitable for
sharply defined carving or deep undercutting. It is apparently capable of taking a certain
degree of polish.
TRIGLYPHS AND HALF-ROSETTES
was the feature shown hatched, and not the longer one shown~dotted, which was the germ of
the idea, and as the vertical members were undoubtedly based on a constructive wooden
origin, this is consistent with structural fact. The limit of division is XX and not YY
(see Fig. 379).
The term ' elongated half-rosette ' may seem clumsy, but it is reasonably exact. The form
might have been devised like Fig. 378, b, but it is actually executed like a.
The 'eyes' of these pseudo-half-rosettes have the bead moulding surrounding them, which
is characteristic of the rosette eye: the vertical decoration of the remainder is of a form which
would be obvious in paint, and may have been borrowed from that technique.
Fig. 379. Diagrammatic Figure of Band showing Triglvphs and Elongated
Half-rosettes.
Lastly, the term ' triglyph ' may require some explanation. Bell, following Diirm, ques-
tions a justification for the term. It is true that there are no glyphs, but that again is merely
a question of acceptance by the Greek of a different decorative use for a similar structural
feature. There is abundant evidence from frescoes that the vertical members of the Minoan
triglyph band were of wooden origin as constructive members, just as there is the same
evidence for the Greek triglyph. I think, therefore, that the term can be accepted on this
broad basis as conveniently having a real justification from the constructive standpoint.
From the decoration of a stone seat front at Phaestos, it can be seen that there was a stone
parallel, as well as a wooden one, to the triglyph and metope of the Greek frieze. The project-
ing panels are decorated vertically, and the recessed ones horizontally.
It is clear that the slabs and bands were cut out with bronze saws and then finely dressed
on their exposed surfaces. Their material is of two separate and distinct kinds : (a)—as in the
rosette, the spiral, and the slab fragments,—a light greyish purple with a distinct granular texture,
taking a perfect rubbed surface but not a polished one. The sharpness of the carving proves
the hardness and great durability of this stone. Without a chemical test it is difficult to say
whether this is a sandstone or a limestone. It resembles Forest of Dean as much as any other
building stone, being slightly more open in texture than Craigleith, but it is probably as hard as
the best Yorkshire stone ; (i) a bluish-grey, dense, slaty stone, as in the triglyph band frag-
ments. This stone has much in common with the purplish ' porphyry' stones of the triglyph
bands at Mycenae. Though closer in texture than (a) it was probably not so suitable for
sharply defined carving or deep undercutting. It is apparently capable of taking a certain
degree of polish.