DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1118#0660
ROOF TERRACE DECKED WITH FLOWERS
The roof
terrace a
vantage
ground
for spec-
tators.
Flower-
pot vases
placed
on roof
terrace.
Glimpses
of formal
Minoan
flower
garden
on fres-
coes from
Eastern
harbour
town.
Dis-
coveries
of Dr.
Mari-
natos.
well as that of the Pavilion itself and the platform, supplied the 'bridge' of
approach to it North of the Court. The bastion-like projections of the
flat basement roof with its green-schist paving were specially favourable to
spectators, and in some respects recall the bastion overlooking did ' Theatral
Area' of the Palace. A general idea of these terrace-levels surrounding
the little Court may be gathered from the bird's-eye view already given
(Fig. 949).
Of the manner in which this basement terrace was decked out in the
early phase of the building, some interesting indications came to light.
Principally on the border near the 'entrance platform' there appeared
remains of a series of painted vessels of the ' flower-pot ' class with per-
forations to their bases, and around them clumps of reeds or grasses in the
L. M. I a style. Here, then, on the terrace-level—in front of the sanctuary
chamber approached by it—bright flowers such as we see depicted in the
frescoes were.set out in the same manner as in the light-wells of the Palace
itself.
Thanks to the fruitful researches of Dr. Marinatos in some fine
mansions belonging to Amnisos, the Eastern haven of Minoan Knossos1—
below the Cave Sanctuary of Eileithyia—the fact is now well established
that, by the M. M. Ill Period, broad flower stands on a much larger scale
were employed for similar garden decoration. Those in the restored
drawings, given, through his courtesy, in Suppl. PI. LXVII a, recall and
explain the stands resembling" altar-bases, out of which the nursling palms
spring in the inlaid design on a Vapheio Cup, and which, to a Minoan,
would have had a sacral association. The companion piece, Suppl.
PI. LXVII i, shows a tall Madonna lily rising against what might be taken
to be part of the polygonal plan of the borders of an artificial basin.
Together with the conventional architectonic setting" and the fountain-like
shoots of the reeds and lily spray, they might suggest reminiscences of the
gardens of Versailles.
Evidences of a Later Burial within the Rock-cut Vault: Shallow Pit
with Funereal Relics.
In the second stage in the history of the 'Temple Tomb' that opens
with its restoration after the Great Catastrophe of L. M. I a, its former
Crypt, owing to the partition walls now built between the pillars, was reduced
to a simple passage-way. It could no longer be convenient as a place
1 Strabo, 1. x, c. 4, 8 : MiVco Se <£ao-u< eVti'ei'w xpycraadcu to 'A/mo-w, u-ov to tt/s EtXei&jtas Upov.
The roof
terrace a
vantage
ground
for spec-
tators.
Flower-
pot vases
placed
on roof
terrace.
Glimpses
of formal
Minoan
flower
garden
on fres-
coes from
Eastern
harbour
town.
Dis-
coveries
of Dr.
Mari-
natos.
well as that of the Pavilion itself and the platform, supplied the 'bridge' of
approach to it North of the Court. The bastion-like projections of the
flat basement roof with its green-schist paving were specially favourable to
spectators, and in some respects recall the bastion overlooking did ' Theatral
Area' of the Palace. A general idea of these terrace-levels surrounding
the little Court may be gathered from the bird's-eye view already given
(Fig. 949).
Of the manner in which this basement terrace was decked out in the
early phase of the building, some interesting indications came to light.
Principally on the border near the 'entrance platform' there appeared
remains of a series of painted vessels of the ' flower-pot ' class with per-
forations to their bases, and around them clumps of reeds or grasses in the
L. M. I a style. Here, then, on the terrace-level—in front of the sanctuary
chamber approached by it—bright flowers such as we see depicted in the
frescoes were.set out in the same manner as in the light-wells of the Palace
itself.
Thanks to the fruitful researches of Dr. Marinatos in some fine
mansions belonging to Amnisos, the Eastern haven of Minoan Knossos1—
below the Cave Sanctuary of Eileithyia—the fact is now well established
that, by the M. M. Ill Period, broad flower stands on a much larger scale
were employed for similar garden decoration. Those in the restored
drawings, given, through his courtesy, in Suppl. PI. LXVII a, recall and
explain the stands resembling" altar-bases, out of which the nursling palms
spring in the inlaid design on a Vapheio Cup, and which, to a Minoan,
would have had a sacral association. The companion piece, Suppl.
PI. LXVII i, shows a tall Madonna lily rising against what might be taken
to be part of the polygonal plan of the borders of an artificial basin.
Together with the conventional architectonic setting" and the fountain-like
shoots of the reeds and lily spray, they might suggest reminiscences of the
gardens of Versailles.
Evidences of a Later Burial within the Rock-cut Vault: Shallow Pit
with Funereal Relics.
In the second stage in the history of the 'Temple Tomb' that opens
with its restoration after the Great Catastrophe of L. M. I a, its former
Crypt, owing to the partition walls now built between the pillars, was reduced
to a simple passage-way. It could no longer be convenient as a place
1 Strabo, 1. x, c. 4, 8 : MiVco Se <£ao-u< eVti'ei'w xpycraadcu to 'A/mo-w, u-ov to tt/s EtXei&jtas Upov.