DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.811#0566
MINOAN PALM COLUMNS
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geometrical aspect, so characteristic of the M. M. Ill Period. This type of
capital as restored in Fig. 358,1 itself represents a version of that of the
Egyptian palm column, of specially frequent occurrence during the Middle Palm
Empire, and the leaves of which, with their central stem, are derived from
those of the date palm.2
That we have to deal with a capital of this kind in the case of the
Griffin friezes at the same time affords an
interesting clue to the character of the
columns that formed the central peristyle
of the Hall itself. The marked Minoan
taste for unity of style makes it reasonable
to suppose that these, too, had palm capitals
of the same class. Taking the mean dia-
meter of the column-bases in the great
Propylaeum Hall of the West section of the
Palace—c. 92 centimetres3—as our best
guide in the present case, the columns
themselves, following the usual proportion
of five times the breadth of the base of the
shaft, would, as in the former case, have Fig. 358.
been about 4-50 metres high.
The attitude of the Griffins finds an exact parallel on a lentoid intaglio
from the Vapheio Tomb. The lower part of the foreleg preserved stands
free from the background and rests on a base or cornice formed of three
rectangular gradations,4 the central of which bears a painted, barred decora-
tion (Fig. 359).
Something has already been said as to the important part played by Cornice
this triple gradation in Minoan architecture and architectonic decoration. trjpie
A section of the cornice of the Palace itself fronting: the West Court shows g,ada-
=> tions
this feature.5 As a support of friezes, evidently presenting painted plaster beneath
compositions in relief, on interior walls, it explains the appearance of similar frjeze-
gradations beneath the zones of reliefs on steatite ' rhytons' and forming the
Capita:, of Minoan Palm
Column, restored.
1 This has been taken as a model for the
restoration of the capital of the balustrade
column in the ' Queen's Megaron'.
2 On these, see especially L. Borchardt,
Die agyptische Pflanzensaide, p. 44 seqq.
3 See P. of M., ii, Pt. II, pp. 688, 689.
4 Some smaller cornices or consoles of this
III.
three-stepped form also occurred. These had
served as brackets to support some separate
object. A complete specimen is illustrated
in P. of M,, i, p. 688, Fig. 506.
6 P. of M., ii, Pt. II, p. 815, Fig. 533.
(See, too, Mr. F. G. Newton's restored Palace
facade, ibid., Fig. 532, facing p. 814.)
1.1
5i3
?—
w
geometrical aspect, so characteristic of the M. M. Ill Period. This type of
capital as restored in Fig. 358,1 itself represents a version of that of the
Egyptian palm column, of specially frequent occurrence during the Middle Palm
Empire, and the leaves of which, with their central stem, are derived from
those of the date palm.2
That we have to deal with a capital of this kind in the case of the
Griffin friezes at the same time affords an
interesting clue to the character of the
columns that formed the central peristyle
of the Hall itself. The marked Minoan
taste for unity of style makes it reasonable
to suppose that these, too, had palm capitals
of the same class. Taking the mean dia-
meter of the column-bases in the great
Propylaeum Hall of the West section of the
Palace—c. 92 centimetres3—as our best
guide in the present case, the columns
themselves, following the usual proportion
of five times the breadth of the base of the
shaft, would, as in the former case, have Fig. 358.
been about 4-50 metres high.
The attitude of the Griffins finds an exact parallel on a lentoid intaglio
from the Vapheio Tomb. The lower part of the foreleg preserved stands
free from the background and rests on a base or cornice formed of three
rectangular gradations,4 the central of which bears a painted, barred decora-
tion (Fig. 359).
Something has already been said as to the important part played by Cornice
this triple gradation in Minoan architecture and architectonic decoration. trjpie
A section of the cornice of the Palace itself fronting: the West Court shows g,ada-
=> tions
this feature.5 As a support of friezes, evidently presenting painted plaster beneath
compositions in relief, on interior walls, it explains the appearance of similar frjeze-
gradations beneath the zones of reliefs on steatite ' rhytons' and forming the
Capita:, of Minoan Palm
Column, restored.
1 This has been taken as a model for the
restoration of the capital of the balustrade
column in the ' Queen's Megaron'.
2 On these, see especially L. Borchardt,
Die agyptische Pflanzensaide, p. 44 seqq.
3 See P. of M., ii, Pt. II, pp. 688, 689.
4 Some smaller cornices or consoles of this
III.
three-stepped form also occurred. These had
served as brackets to support some separate
object. A complete specimen is illustrated
in P. of M,, i, p. 688, Fig. 506.
6 P. of M., ii, Pt. II, p. 815, Fig. 533.
(See, too, Mr. F. G. Newton's restored Palace
facade, ibid., Fig. 532, facing p. 814.)
1.1