DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9184#0131
Chap. IV.]
The Palace at Tiryns.
palace nearly resembling in ground-plan that of Tiryns.
These foundations, ill-preserved as they are, afford us
valuable indications of date. Above them and covering
them were the foundations of a Greek temple of the Doric
order, a fact which proves beyond all dispute their pre-
historic character. About the palace were found fragments
of pottery of the Mycenaean class, and fragmentary fresco
paintings which seem once to have decorated the walls.
We learn that at Cnossus also have been found in con-
junction one with the other, a palace of the Tirynthian
class and Mycenaean pottery. We have thus to do, not
with an isolated phenomenon, but with one of a class.
We must suppose that if trial were made on the acropolis
hills of Greece we should, in the pre-historic strata, find
parallels to what has been found at Tiryns. We must
therefore regard it as proved that in the pre-historic Greek
palace, the men's apartments and the women's stood apart,
though side by side, each with its own fore-court, vesti-
bule and hall. The obvious means of communication at
Tiryns is by making a long circuit, which takes us almost
to the gate of the citadel. It also appears that it is
possible to find a way from the bath-room to the women's
court. It is, however, evidently absurd to suppose that
the chief, when he wished to visit the apartments of his
wife, would make a long excursion through the town,
and not likely that the usual route would be by the
bath-room. There must have been some closer means
of communication, and since we possess knowledge as
to the foundations only, it is reasonable to suppose
that there was a communicating doorway above the
foundations, an opaoOvpr] such as that mentioned in the
Odyssey, as leading out of the men's hall towards the
women's apartments. This separation of men and women
at Tiryns and Mycenae has been the ground of much
controversy, because it appears to be inconsistent with the
The Palace at Tiryns.
palace nearly resembling in ground-plan that of Tiryns.
These foundations, ill-preserved as they are, afford us
valuable indications of date. Above them and covering
them were the foundations of a Greek temple of the Doric
order, a fact which proves beyond all dispute their pre-
historic character. About the palace were found fragments
of pottery of the Mycenaean class, and fragmentary fresco
paintings which seem once to have decorated the walls.
We learn that at Cnossus also have been found in con-
junction one with the other, a palace of the Tirynthian
class and Mycenaean pottery. We have thus to do, not
with an isolated phenomenon, but with one of a class.
We must suppose that if trial were made on the acropolis
hills of Greece we should, in the pre-historic strata, find
parallels to what has been found at Tiryns. We must
therefore regard it as proved that in the pre-historic Greek
palace, the men's apartments and the women's stood apart,
though side by side, each with its own fore-court, vesti-
bule and hall. The obvious means of communication at
Tiryns is by making a long circuit, which takes us almost
to the gate of the citadel. It also appears that it is
possible to find a way from the bath-room to the women's
court. It is, however, evidently absurd to suppose that
the chief, when he wished to visit the apartments of his
wife, would make a long excursion through the town,
and not likely that the usual route would be by the
bath-room. There must have been some closer means
of communication, and since we possess knowledge as
to the foundations only, it is reasonable to suppose
that there was a communicating doorway above the
foundations, an opaoOvpr] such as that mentioned in the
Odyssey, as leading out of the men's hall towards the
women's apartments. This separation of men and women
at Tiryns and Mycenae has been the ground of much
controversy, because it appears to be inconsistent with the