DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.811#0029
SANCTUARY AREA W. OF CENTRAL COURT
Retro-
spect of
Sanctuary
Area to
West.
' Stepped
Porch'
built over
earlier
cists.
Intrusive
structural
block
N. of
Porch.
Including
' Room of
Throne'.
Propylaeum' and its stepped continuation above, through a Central Lobby.
At the South-East angle of this Hall opens, as described above, a small
chamber which, as its contents show,—including the finely carved ' rhytons'
in the shape of lions' and lionesses' heads—served as the Treasury of a
Sanctuary. Two of the columns of the Hall were in fact supported by the
stone pillars of corresponding crypts below, to which—in view of the vats for
the blood of victims, the double axes repeated on the pillars themselves, and
the numerous analogies now available—a sacral character must certainly be
assigned. These dark vaults, dedicated to the cult of the sacred weapon and
its associated divinity, led in turn on the Court side to a small columnar
shrine of the Minoan kind, in the North wing of which was found a whole
deposit of clay seal-impressions depicting the Minoan ' Rhea' herself on her
iion-guarded peak.
The adjoining ' Temple Repositories' of the preceding Palace sanc-
tuary, the date of which goes back within the borders of the earlier phase (a)
of M. M. Ill, had been paved over by the restored basement floors. At the
same time, too, the contemporary system of cists containing similar ceramic
remains that ran North from the Eastern Repository had been covered over
by the newly constructed ' Stepped Porch' which gave access from the
Court to the Central Staircase of this wing of the building. The steps of
this Porch also form a break in the double facade that runs South along
the whole border of this Section of the Central Court.1
The inner facade belonging to the earlier Palace and consisting of
gypsum orthostats on a limestone plinth can still be traced beneath the steps
of the Porch. Beyond this point, however, both it as well as the Northern
series of M. M. Ill Cists, and indeed the whole palatial unit to which the
Central Staircase belongs, are entirely broken off by an intrusive block of
somewhat later date and which in fact bears every evidence of dating from
the latest Palace period (L. M. II).
The principal chambers of this block are the ' Room of the Throne'
and its Ante-room, but, as the decoration and contents of these connect
themselves with the closing phase of the building, it has been thought better
to reserve a description of them to a later Section.2 Here it need only be
observed that this conglomeration of Chambers, following on to the earlier
remains of the sanctuary quarter of the Palace, presents itself a strong
religious character, as is clearly shown by the lustral area and small ' Con-
sistory ' hall round which it centres.
1 See P. of M., ii, Pt. II, p. 798 seqq., and Fig. 525, p. 803.
2 In the concluding volume of this work.
Retro-
spect of
Sanctuary
Area to
West.
' Stepped
Porch'
built over
earlier
cists.
Intrusive
structural
block
N. of
Porch.
Including
' Room of
Throne'.
Propylaeum' and its stepped continuation above, through a Central Lobby.
At the South-East angle of this Hall opens, as described above, a small
chamber which, as its contents show,—including the finely carved ' rhytons'
in the shape of lions' and lionesses' heads—served as the Treasury of a
Sanctuary. Two of the columns of the Hall were in fact supported by the
stone pillars of corresponding crypts below, to which—in view of the vats for
the blood of victims, the double axes repeated on the pillars themselves, and
the numerous analogies now available—a sacral character must certainly be
assigned. These dark vaults, dedicated to the cult of the sacred weapon and
its associated divinity, led in turn on the Court side to a small columnar
shrine of the Minoan kind, in the North wing of which was found a whole
deposit of clay seal-impressions depicting the Minoan ' Rhea' herself on her
iion-guarded peak.
The adjoining ' Temple Repositories' of the preceding Palace sanc-
tuary, the date of which goes back within the borders of the earlier phase (a)
of M. M. Ill, had been paved over by the restored basement floors. At the
same time, too, the contemporary system of cists containing similar ceramic
remains that ran North from the Eastern Repository had been covered over
by the newly constructed ' Stepped Porch' which gave access from the
Court to the Central Staircase of this wing of the building. The steps of
this Porch also form a break in the double facade that runs South along
the whole border of this Section of the Central Court.1
The inner facade belonging to the earlier Palace and consisting of
gypsum orthostats on a limestone plinth can still be traced beneath the steps
of the Porch. Beyond this point, however, both it as well as the Northern
series of M. M. Ill Cists, and indeed the whole palatial unit to which the
Central Staircase belongs, are entirely broken off by an intrusive block of
somewhat later date and which in fact bears every evidence of dating from
the latest Palace period (L. M. II).
The principal chambers of this block are the ' Room of the Throne'
and its Ante-room, but, as the decoration and contents of these connect
themselves with the closing phase of the building, it has been thought better
to reserve a description of them to a later Section.2 Here it need only be
observed that this conglomeration of Chambers, following on to the earlier
remains of the sanctuary quarter of the Palace, presents itself a strong
religious character, as is clearly shown by the lustral area and small ' Con-
sistory ' hall round which it centres.
1 See P. of M., ii, Pt. II, p. 798 seqq., and Fig. 525, p. 803.
2 In the concluding volume of this work.