DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.810#0305
678 CENTRAL RECEPTION AREA—EOR THRONE
on a series of Minoan intaglios bear the token of their religious character in
the ' sacral knot' that is inserted in the field.1
Stately This outer hall of the Porch led to a stately double entrance, with door-
portal, ways 2-95 metres wide, showing a broad central jamb, both it and those at the
sides bearing clear traces of the wood and plaster pillars that originally rose
above them. The portal on the left opened into the enlarged Corridor running
South. That on the right crave access to a larger chamber, and thence, as
we shall see, into a smaller room where probably a warder or porter lodged.
Interior Arrangements of Entrance System (see Plan, Fig. 427).
Interior Supplementary investigations undertaken in 1922 threw quite a new
ments of h'ght on the interior arrangements of this section of the West Porch. From
w.Porch. tne nrS(; j(- jlacj been a moot question whether there had not been an interior
division of the space West of the initial section of the adjoining Corridor,
the importance of which was brought into relief by the fact that it was pro-
vided with a portal equalling in dimensions that of the stately entrance
passage. A row of blocks, mostly gypsum, was here visible lying in
a tumbled position and resting on what proved to be an earth surface void
of foundations. The possibility, however, suggested itself that, as in other
cases, the tumbled gypsum blocks had been turned over by some later
builder in search of limestone material, and a trench dug along the Western
border confirmed this supposition. At about half a metre below the pave-
ment level, our foreman, Ali Baritakis,2 who had acquired special skill
in tracing out such vestiges, succeeded by careful knife-work in exposing
the bedding of a line of wall, 90 cm. in width running North and South,
Dis- parallel to the tumbled blocks, and proving the existence of an inner room
c o v c r v
of'Por- on this side. It was possible even, thanks to the shape and order of the
™d , gypsum blocks, after filling in the missing limestone substructure to replace
them on the pavement level in their probable order, with an opening 80 cm.
wide at the North end. The line of the North and South walls was
already ascertained and, as the result of an investigation similar to the pre-
ceding, the whole of its foundation bedding of the West wall was brought
to light a few centimetres East of the conjectural line assigned to it, and
with a width of 1-50 metres.
The dimensions of the inner room thus ascertained to exist were
4-35 m. N.-S. by 2 m. E.-W.3 (see Plan, Fig. 427). From its flanking
1 See A. E., Ring ofNestor, arc, pp. 5-7 and 3 The plan of the West Porch as given in
Figs. 3, 4, 5. P. of M., i, p. 214, Fig. 158, beside compara-
2 He died, to our lasting regret, in 1927. tive examples of porches from Phaestos (Figs.
on a series of Minoan intaglios bear the token of their religious character in
the ' sacral knot' that is inserted in the field.1
Stately This outer hall of the Porch led to a stately double entrance, with door-
portal, ways 2-95 metres wide, showing a broad central jamb, both it and those at the
sides bearing clear traces of the wood and plaster pillars that originally rose
above them. The portal on the left opened into the enlarged Corridor running
South. That on the right crave access to a larger chamber, and thence, as
we shall see, into a smaller room where probably a warder or porter lodged.
Interior Arrangements of Entrance System (see Plan, Fig. 427).
Interior Supplementary investigations undertaken in 1922 threw quite a new
ments of h'ght on the interior arrangements of this section of the West Porch. From
w.Porch. tne nrS(; j(- jlacj been a moot question whether there had not been an interior
division of the space West of the initial section of the adjoining Corridor,
the importance of which was brought into relief by the fact that it was pro-
vided with a portal equalling in dimensions that of the stately entrance
passage. A row of blocks, mostly gypsum, was here visible lying in
a tumbled position and resting on what proved to be an earth surface void
of foundations. The possibility, however, suggested itself that, as in other
cases, the tumbled gypsum blocks had been turned over by some later
builder in search of limestone material, and a trench dug along the Western
border confirmed this supposition. At about half a metre below the pave-
ment level, our foreman, Ali Baritakis,2 who had acquired special skill
in tracing out such vestiges, succeeded by careful knife-work in exposing
the bedding of a line of wall, 90 cm. in width running North and South,
Dis- parallel to the tumbled blocks, and proving the existence of an inner room
c o v c r v
of'Por- on this side. It was possible even, thanks to the shape and order of the
™d , gypsum blocks, after filling in the missing limestone substructure to replace
them on the pavement level in their probable order, with an opening 80 cm.
wide at the North end. The line of the North and South walls was
already ascertained and, as the result of an investigation similar to the pre-
ceding, the whole of its foundation bedding of the West wall was brought
to light a few centimetres East of the conjectural line assigned to it, and
with a width of 1-50 metres.
The dimensions of the inner room thus ascertained to exist were
4-35 m. N.-S. by 2 m. E.-W.3 (see Plan, Fig. 427). From its flanking
1 See A. E., Ring ofNestor, arc, pp. 5-7 and 3 The plan of the West Porch as given in
Figs. 3, 4, 5. P. of M., i, p. 214, Fig. 158, beside compara-
2 He died, to our lasting regret, in 1927. tive examples of porches from Phaestos (Figs.