DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7519#0185
150 THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF CRETE
to the main lines of the older buildings, no doubt because the
thick walls which contained them had resisted the earthquake,
but in detail they made great alterations.
At the beginning of M.M.nia at Knossos the West Court
was extended over the older houses which were now pulled
down or rather razed to a level where the court could run over
them. The two westernmost ' koulouras ' were paved over
though the eastern one was cleaned out and kept open.1 The
West Porch seems to have been retained in its old form. In
the ' Theatral Area ', North-West of the palace, the eastern
flight of steps was added about half-way along the old paved
court, and a kind of Royal box or bastion was inserted by the
angle they make with the steps running South (PI. XXIII, i).
Beside the steps runs a gutter to drain off the rainwater ; this
gutter is on the system of the parabolic curve which automati-
cally checks the flow of water by leading it down in a series of
waterfalls.2
The Domestic Quarter in the great cutting on the East slope
was remodelled on the plan, which, with few superficial altera-
tions, remained till the end. The Grand Staircase, descending
two stories below the Central Court and ascending at least one
above it, was constructed. It remains one of the greatest
monuments of antiquity, with its broad shallow treads flanked
by low parapets on which stood columns to support the upper
flights. The two stories which it serves below the level of the
court are practically identical in pattern and are also connected
by smaller staircases. In order to light the interior rooms of
this large area, one side of which was up against a wall of earth,
a number of light-wells were constructed. This feature of
Minoan architecture has already been noticed, but until the
present building it had never been elaborated into so consistent
a scheme. Every group of rooms had one and a small colonnade
looking on to it. The Hall of the Double Axes had no less
than three, and the room round which they were grouped could
be opened to the air by a continuous series of doors on all three
sides. The quarter is divided into two. The more intimate
part to the South, which contains a toilet-room and latrine as
well as—at a later date at any rate—a bathroom, is reached
only by a series of winding passages and may well have been
1 This seems the most probable interpretation of the evidence.
P. of M., IV, 64.
2 P. of M., Ill, 247. For later and more elaborate example at the
East Bastion see below and ibid., 240 ff.
to the main lines of the older buildings, no doubt because the
thick walls which contained them had resisted the earthquake,
but in detail they made great alterations.
At the beginning of M.M.nia at Knossos the West Court
was extended over the older houses which were now pulled
down or rather razed to a level where the court could run over
them. The two westernmost ' koulouras ' were paved over
though the eastern one was cleaned out and kept open.1 The
West Porch seems to have been retained in its old form. In
the ' Theatral Area ', North-West of the palace, the eastern
flight of steps was added about half-way along the old paved
court, and a kind of Royal box or bastion was inserted by the
angle they make with the steps running South (PI. XXIII, i).
Beside the steps runs a gutter to drain off the rainwater ; this
gutter is on the system of the parabolic curve which automati-
cally checks the flow of water by leading it down in a series of
waterfalls.2
The Domestic Quarter in the great cutting on the East slope
was remodelled on the plan, which, with few superficial altera-
tions, remained till the end. The Grand Staircase, descending
two stories below the Central Court and ascending at least one
above it, was constructed. It remains one of the greatest
monuments of antiquity, with its broad shallow treads flanked
by low parapets on which stood columns to support the upper
flights. The two stories which it serves below the level of the
court are practically identical in pattern and are also connected
by smaller staircases. In order to light the interior rooms of
this large area, one side of which was up against a wall of earth,
a number of light-wells were constructed. This feature of
Minoan architecture has already been noticed, but until the
present building it had never been elaborated into so consistent
a scheme. Every group of rooms had one and a small colonnade
looking on to it. The Hall of the Double Axes had no less
than three, and the room round which they were grouped could
be opened to the air by a continuous series of doors on all three
sides. The quarter is divided into two. The more intimate
part to the South, which contains a toilet-room and latrine as
well as—at a later date at any rate—a bathroom, is reached
only by a series of winding passages and may well have been
1 This seems the most probable interpretation of the evidence.
P. of M., IV, 64.
2 P. of M., Ill, 247. For later and more elaborate example at the
East Bastion see below and ibid., 240 ff.