DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1118#0545
MAINLAND COMPARISONS WITH 'MARBLED' DADOES 895
I st presumably belonging to the latest redecoration towards the close of
L.M. li-
lt will be seen at once that the grained squares here present a close Painted
parallel to those that at Mycenae decorate the floor of the ' Megaron', ^Jjjj™ of
unrounding the hearth, and are also found in its prodomos, and, better still, squares of
in the North section of the adjoining Court.1 In the latter case, though gated
they show a greater variety and are arranged like a knight's move at chess,2 marbles-
there are some obvious correspondences in detail. The squares in the
hearth-room belong to the third of three plaster layers, and these, as in
the Court, date from the latest stage of the building. In a more decorative
form and with squares depicting octopods or pairs of dolphins this
painted stucco type of pavement recurs in the later Palace at Tiryns,3 here
ao-ain in the Megara containing the hearths.
The important point to observe about these ' marbled squares' is that,
whether seen on dadoes or floors, whether found in Crete or the ' Main-
land', they reflect the old Cretan taste for rockwork decoration. Already
early in the Middle Minoan Age this taste influenced the wall painter who
executed the 'Saffron Gatherer' fresco, and" in the conventional row of
rocks in painted relief beneath the charging bull of the North Portico we
recognize its architectonic application in a later phase of the same Age.
Part of the lower border of a large panel consisting of purple gypsum,4
with its upper edge cut into rock-work shape, actually occurred in the
'Domestic Quarter'. The panels of the "more or less contemporary fresco
depicting a miniature Pillar Shrine 5 are filled with black, white-spotted
slabs that may well represent the imported liparite, of which a large block
was quite recently found in the seaport of Knossos." Fragments of what
1 For the remains at Mycenae, see Tsountas, The earliest stucco pavement of the Megaron
HpaxTLKfi, 188 p. 59 seqq., G. Rodenwaldt, there probably belongs to the same date as
Jahrb. d. d'Areh. Ins/., 1919 (from notes taken the first layer round the hearth which shows
in 1914), and the fuller researches of Miss a plain undulating pattern (B.S.A., xxv,
Lamb., B. S. A., xxv (rg21-23). Dr. Roden- PI. <ir, I is) affiliated to a M. M. Ill b type,
waldt stresses the influence of Egyptian " W. Lamb, B. S. A., xxv, lot. til.
ceiling-patterns which, in cases, may be con- s Tiryns in Pis. XIX, XX, and p. 220 seqq.
sidered as a contributory element. But the main (R. Hackl, Die Fussbbden da- btiden Megara).
source is, clearly, the graining of cut stones. ' P. of M., hi, pp. 365, 366, Fig. 243.
For the zigzag and concentric arch patterns » P. of M., i, p. 446, Fig. 321.
{Jahrb., foe. at\ pp. roo, tor, Figs. 7, S) the ' The block" was found below a modern
prototypes must be sought in the veining of building within Candia itself. This informa-
alabaster and in the pebbles of conglomerate— tion is due to Dr. Sp. Marinatos.
'he latter specially appropriate to Mycenae.
I st presumably belonging to the latest redecoration towards the close of
L.M. li-
lt will be seen at once that the grained squares here present a close Painted
parallel to those that at Mycenae decorate the floor of the ' Megaron', ^Jjjj™ of
unrounding the hearth, and are also found in its prodomos, and, better still, squares of
in the North section of the adjoining Court.1 In the latter case, though gated
they show a greater variety and are arranged like a knight's move at chess,2 marbles-
there are some obvious correspondences in detail. The squares in the
hearth-room belong to the third of three plaster layers, and these, as in
the Court, date from the latest stage of the building. In a more decorative
form and with squares depicting octopods or pairs of dolphins this
painted stucco type of pavement recurs in the later Palace at Tiryns,3 here
ao-ain in the Megara containing the hearths.
The important point to observe about these ' marbled squares' is that,
whether seen on dadoes or floors, whether found in Crete or the ' Main-
land', they reflect the old Cretan taste for rockwork decoration. Already
early in the Middle Minoan Age this taste influenced the wall painter who
executed the 'Saffron Gatherer' fresco, and" in the conventional row of
rocks in painted relief beneath the charging bull of the North Portico we
recognize its architectonic application in a later phase of the same Age.
Part of the lower border of a large panel consisting of purple gypsum,4
with its upper edge cut into rock-work shape, actually occurred in the
'Domestic Quarter'. The panels of the "more or less contemporary fresco
depicting a miniature Pillar Shrine 5 are filled with black, white-spotted
slabs that may well represent the imported liparite, of which a large block
was quite recently found in the seaport of Knossos." Fragments of what
1 For the remains at Mycenae, see Tsountas, The earliest stucco pavement of the Megaron
HpaxTLKfi, 188 p. 59 seqq., G. Rodenwaldt, there probably belongs to the same date as
Jahrb. d. d'Areh. Ins/., 1919 (from notes taken the first layer round the hearth which shows
in 1914), and the fuller researches of Miss a plain undulating pattern (B.S.A., xxv,
Lamb., B. S. A., xxv (rg21-23). Dr. Roden- PI. <ir, I is) affiliated to a M. M. Ill b type,
waldt stresses the influence of Egyptian " W. Lamb, B. S. A., xxv, lot. til.
ceiling-patterns which, in cases, may be con- s Tiryns in Pis. XIX, XX, and p. 220 seqq.
sidered as a contributory element. But the main (R. Hackl, Die Fussbbden da- btiden Megara).
source is, clearly, the graining of cut stones. ' P. of M., hi, pp. 365, 366, Fig. 243.
For the zigzag and concentric arch patterns » P. of M., i, p. 446, Fig. 321.
{Jahrb., foe. at\ pp. roo, tor, Figs. 7, S) the ' The block" was found below a modern
prototypes must be sought in the veining of building within Candia itself. This informa-
alabaster and in the pebbles of conglomerate— tion is due to Dr. Sp. Marinatos.
'he latter specially appropriate to Mycenae.