DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9184#0169
Chap, v.] Recent Discoveries and the Homeric Poems. 147
the other, the upper being approached by a ladder. But
the ordinary custom in wealthy houses of the later age
was to assign to the men and the women of a family
separate courts with a passage between, around which
courts were grouped the living-rooms and the bed-rooms
of the family.
The house of Odysseus does not coincide entirely with
any of these arrangements. Its general plan agrees nearly
with that of the wealthy historic house. Yet there are a
number of details in which the agreement with the Tiryn-
thian palace is singularly close : some of these agreements
we will briefly indicate.
(1.) At Tiryns, before the door of the main hall, lies a
court surrounded by arcades and fenced with walls, the
entrance being through the folding doors of a propylaeum.
With this we may compare Od. 17, 264. "Eumaeus,
verily this is the fair house of Odysseus, and right easily
might it be known even if seen among many : there is
building upon building ; and the court of the house is
cunningly wrought with wall and frieze, and well fenced
are the folding doors ; a man could not easily storm it."
Again in Od. 16, 343, " The wooers came forth from the
hall, past the great wall of the court, and there before the
gates they sat them down."
(2.) At Tiryns there is a porch in front of the hall, which
well corresponds to the echoing porch of the Odyssey.
' (3.) In the court at Tiryns was an altar with a trench'
evidently intended for sacrifices : in the house of Odysseus
the altar of Zeus Herceius is situate in the court before
the hall.
(4.) At Tiryns the hearth stands in the middle of the
hall, the smoke rising through a hole in the roof: in the
Odyssey the fire in the hall is frequently mentioned, it stood
in the midst, and was used for cooking food.
(5.) At Tiryns a passage led from the hall to a bath-room
L 2
the other, the upper being approached by a ladder. But
the ordinary custom in wealthy houses of the later age
was to assign to the men and the women of a family
separate courts with a passage between, around which
courts were grouped the living-rooms and the bed-rooms
of the family.
The house of Odysseus does not coincide entirely with
any of these arrangements. Its general plan agrees nearly
with that of the wealthy historic house. Yet there are a
number of details in which the agreement with the Tiryn-
thian palace is singularly close : some of these agreements
we will briefly indicate.
(1.) At Tiryns, before the door of the main hall, lies a
court surrounded by arcades and fenced with walls, the
entrance being through the folding doors of a propylaeum.
With this we may compare Od. 17, 264. "Eumaeus,
verily this is the fair house of Odysseus, and right easily
might it be known even if seen among many : there is
building upon building ; and the court of the house is
cunningly wrought with wall and frieze, and well fenced
are the folding doors ; a man could not easily storm it."
Again in Od. 16, 343, " The wooers came forth from the
hall, past the great wall of the court, and there before the
gates they sat them down."
(2.) At Tiryns there is a porch in front of the hall, which
well corresponds to the echoing porch of the Odyssey.
' (3.) In the court at Tiryns was an altar with a trench'
evidently intended for sacrifices : in the house of Odysseus
the altar of Zeus Herceius is situate in the court before
the hall.
(4.) At Tiryns the hearth stands in the middle of the
hall, the smoke rising through a hole in the roof: in the
Odyssey the fire in the hall is frequently mentioned, it stood
in the midst, and was used for cooking food.
(5.) At Tiryns a passage led from the hall to a bath-room
L 2