DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1066#0114
CRETE, FORERUNNER OF GREECE
backed by a blank wall, once led, we believe, to the
original threshold of the manor-house, whence
there was direct access to the Central Hall; but
after the remodelling, entrance was by way of
steps at right angles to the old flight and along
a crooked corridor, like the devious passages of
Knossos. Provincial ambition was unable to com-
pass the spacious Central Court of the larger
palaces, and the old Hall of the manor-house was
therefore retained. It is about thirty feet square,
with two rows of alternating square pillars and
round columns on the west side, and in the south-
east corner is a small alcove with a plastered
bench on three sides and a single column midway
on the open side. In this recess the prince could
hold private audience; larders were at hand to
provide for his guests and retainers, and he could
retire by a private staircase from the north-east
corner of the Hall to the domestic apartments.
In the general conflagration that destroyed the
town, fire raged through the central part of the
palace, and we found the Hall choked with burned
timbers and slabs fallen from an upper flooring.
There is no indication of a light-well at Gournia,
and we conclude that light was introduced through
spaces between roofs of different heights, as Dr.
Pernier believes to have been true in the Hall of
State at Phaestos. In that case the roof of the
double colonnade must have been lower than the
ceiling of the Hall.
The palace was built on three rock terraces,
rising from west to east. Above the magazines
on the west side were one or possibly two storeys ;
above the Central Hall one storey; but above
backed by a blank wall, once led, we believe, to the
original threshold of the manor-house, whence
there was direct access to the Central Hall; but
after the remodelling, entrance was by way of
steps at right angles to the old flight and along
a crooked corridor, like the devious passages of
Knossos. Provincial ambition was unable to com-
pass the spacious Central Court of the larger
palaces, and the old Hall of the manor-house was
therefore retained. It is about thirty feet square,
with two rows of alternating square pillars and
round columns on the west side, and in the south-
east corner is a small alcove with a plastered
bench on three sides and a single column midway
on the open side. In this recess the prince could
hold private audience; larders were at hand to
provide for his guests and retainers, and he could
retire by a private staircase from the north-east
corner of the Hall to the domestic apartments.
In the general conflagration that destroyed the
town, fire raged through the central part of the
palace, and we found the Hall choked with burned
timbers and slabs fallen from an upper flooring.
There is no indication of a light-well at Gournia,
and we conclude that light was introduced through
spaces between roofs of different heights, as Dr.
Pernier believes to have been true in the Hall of
State at Phaestos. In that case the roof of the
double colonnade must have been lower than the
ceiling of the Hall.
The palace was built on three rock terraces,
rising from west to east. Above the magazines
on the west side were one or possibly two storeys ;
above the Central Hall one storey; but above