DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.811#0378
;28 SOUTHERN LIGHT-AREA AND ITS COMMUNICATIONS
E. wall
and S.E.
corner of
Hall.
Dis-
covery of
descend-
ing stairs
by S.E.
doorway.
Access
thus
gained to
' Corridor
of Laby-
rinth
Fresco'.
Supplementary researches carried out by me in 1928 first made it
possible to trace the foundations of the wall in this corner of the Hall,
which, at this point, crossed a large stone-built drain and thence closely
followed its Southern course. By the South-East angle it was built over
the emissary formed by three united channels of the elaborate drainage
system of this Quarter.1 Along this line the upper structures of the wall—
now restored in part to the height of the floor above—had fallen away, owing
to the fact that it stood on a terrace edge. Considerable remains of the
foundations, moreover, came to light near the S.E. corner, first methodically
explored in 1929, and have afforded a secure base for the reconstitution of
the lower courses of the wall as it turned West. The greater part of this
Southern wall of the light-area had been preserved above ground, but, being
an interior construction, it was of lesser thickness than that to the East,
c. 80 centimetres as compared with nearly a metre. Owing to the difficulties
experienced in passing over the confluence of two great drains on that
side, this wall had been slightly deflected from its course. (See Plan,
Fig. 218.)
From near the doorway at the South-East angle of this Section
a specially fine view opens of the Eastern and Southern Porticoes of the
Hall as now restored (Fig. 219).
Two conclusive finds, moreover, made in 1929 have established the
fact that, as in the case of the opposite doorway on the side of the
' East Portico' already described, the entrance on this side stood in direct
connexion with a staircase descending Eastwards to the terrace level
immediately below. One of these was the emergence in situ of a limestone
base-stone with the usual cutting for a step, probably of gypsum, as in the case
of the corresponding stairs South of the Hall. The other suggestive pheno-
menon was the appearance—actually jutting out from the outer wall-line—
of part of the coping of what had clearly been a balustrade. This probably
marked a turn of the staircase in a Southern direction. (See Plan, Fig. 218.)
On the terrace level thus reached the ' Labyrinth Fresco'—so interest-
ing in relation to local tradition—had been previously discovered,2 together
with the painted stucco dado with a veined decoration imitating that of
alabaster or fine gypsum. The passage-way to which this belongs, which would
also have served the staircase South of this, may well have led, as already
suggested, in the other direction to a ' Water Gate' at the South-East angle
of the Palace. We hardly need to recall the great suggestive interest of the
1 See P. o/M., i, Plan, Fig. 171 a.
2 Ibid., i, p. 350 seqq., and Figs. 255, 256.
E. wall
and S.E.
corner of
Hall.
Dis-
covery of
descend-
ing stairs
by S.E.
doorway.
Access
thus
gained to
' Corridor
of Laby-
rinth
Fresco'.
Supplementary researches carried out by me in 1928 first made it
possible to trace the foundations of the wall in this corner of the Hall,
which, at this point, crossed a large stone-built drain and thence closely
followed its Southern course. By the South-East angle it was built over
the emissary formed by three united channels of the elaborate drainage
system of this Quarter.1 Along this line the upper structures of the wall—
now restored in part to the height of the floor above—had fallen away, owing
to the fact that it stood on a terrace edge. Considerable remains of the
foundations, moreover, came to light near the S.E. corner, first methodically
explored in 1929, and have afforded a secure base for the reconstitution of
the lower courses of the wall as it turned West. The greater part of this
Southern wall of the light-area had been preserved above ground, but, being
an interior construction, it was of lesser thickness than that to the East,
c. 80 centimetres as compared with nearly a metre. Owing to the difficulties
experienced in passing over the confluence of two great drains on that
side, this wall had been slightly deflected from its course. (See Plan,
Fig. 218.)
From near the doorway at the South-East angle of this Section
a specially fine view opens of the Eastern and Southern Porticoes of the
Hall as now restored (Fig. 219).
Two conclusive finds, moreover, made in 1929 have established the
fact that, as in the case of the opposite doorway on the side of the
' East Portico' already described, the entrance on this side stood in direct
connexion with a staircase descending Eastwards to the terrace level
immediately below. One of these was the emergence in situ of a limestone
base-stone with the usual cutting for a step, probably of gypsum, as in the case
of the corresponding stairs South of the Hall. The other suggestive pheno-
menon was the appearance—actually jutting out from the outer wall-line—
of part of the coping of what had clearly been a balustrade. This probably
marked a turn of the staircase in a Southern direction. (See Plan, Fig. 218.)
On the terrace level thus reached the ' Labyrinth Fresco'—so interest-
ing in relation to local tradition—had been previously discovered,2 together
with the painted stucco dado with a veined decoration imitating that of
alabaster or fine gypsum. The passage-way to which this belongs, which would
also have served the staircase South of this, may well have led, as already
suggested, in the other direction to a ' Water Gate' at the South-East angle
of the Palace. We hardly need to recall the great suggestive interest of the
1 See P. o/M., i, Plan, Fig. 171 a.
2 Ibid., i, p. 350 seqq., and Figs. 255, 256.