Pendlebury, John D.: The archaeology of Crete: an introduction (London, 1939)

THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF CRETE

however (Fig. 48), a certain number of alterations were carried
out in the castle on Kastro, and though the plan, from the
mere nature of the ground, is extremely haphazard, we can
at least see the great change since Minoan times in the entrance
being placed at the end instead of on one of the long sides of
the building. We have now a true Megaron type of house.

The most important excavation from an architectural point
of view is that of the temple at Dreros. This was a rectangular
building of small stones 10-90 X 7-20 metres in size. It was
entered from the North end. In front of the door were two
columns placed close together on either side.1 No tiles were
found and the roof was almost certainly flat. In the centre,

Fig. 48

however, is a square pit (cf. Fig. 51, below) or s.a%aqa between
two columns. The bases of these merely rested on the ground.
The columns, being of wood, had disappeared. Marinatos
believes this central portion to have been gabled over. In the
South-West corner was a bench of stone. Next to this was the
xsqcitcov, or ' altar of horns ', filled with horns of animals. On
this stood the bronze figures to be described below. In front
was an offering table. This, the oldest temple in Hellenic
Crete,2 the excavator has suggested is the Delphinion. The
plan is the ancestor of that found at Prinias (see below, p. 331),
which Pernier compares with L.H.m houses at Korakou and

1 Marinatos, B.C.H., LX, 214, aptly compares this arrangement to
that shown in the contemporary model from Perakhora. j.H.S., LIV,
191.

2 I feel that the shrine at Karphi was that of a refugee Minoan
population and cannot be reckoned as Hellenic.