DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7518#0024
SURVEY OF MTNOAN CIVILIZATION 17
Late Minoan I, when leadership passed from Crete to the
Greek mainland.
The earliest settlements arc very much like the mediaeval
and modern villages of Crete, close-packed groups of small
houses of one or two storeys opening on narrow lanes or along
the road to a port as at Palaikastro. Sometimes, as in the
Cyclades, houses face inwards on to a ring-way, but there is at
first no regular fortress-wall or protected entrance. But at
Gournia a main street like that at Palaikastro leads uphill to an
open space, levelled and widened by substructures, and on to
this space opens a portico with one or more steps, and smaller
rooms behind, evidently a place of assembly and administra-
tion. There are no areas of consecration or ritual, though there
are hill-top sanctuaries, as at Petsofa near Palaikastro, with
votive clay figures of men and animals.
At Knossos and Phaestos there has been so much rebuilding
that the earliest structures have been destroyed, and it is to the
smaller sites already mentioned that we must look for primitive
arrangements. On the other hand, at Hagia Triada and Mallia,
we have the 'great house' developed independently of the
primaeval village. In the maturer structures regular elements
are: a central court, surrounded by principal rooms, and
sometimes by colonnades and staircases; a main entrance
with vestibules and offices; a range of 'magazines' opening
on to a corridor and furnished with store-jars (this invariably
related to the central court and principal rooms); a western
court beyond the main block of buildings, with store-pits,
warehouses, and workshops; private apartments with in-
ternal passages and stairways, not directly communicating with
the central court. At Knossos and Phaestos, and probably
at Mallia, a great hall was built above the main block, and
served by a grand staircase: but these upper-works are only
traced by foundations. The throne-room at Knossos, with
its vestibule, store-room, and light well, is at present without
parallel; and there arc other rooms for special purposes,
B
Late Minoan I, when leadership passed from Crete to the
Greek mainland.
The earliest settlements arc very much like the mediaeval
and modern villages of Crete, close-packed groups of small
houses of one or two storeys opening on narrow lanes or along
the road to a port as at Palaikastro. Sometimes, as in the
Cyclades, houses face inwards on to a ring-way, but there is at
first no regular fortress-wall or protected entrance. But at
Gournia a main street like that at Palaikastro leads uphill to an
open space, levelled and widened by substructures, and on to
this space opens a portico with one or more steps, and smaller
rooms behind, evidently a place of assembly and administra-
tion. There are no areas of consecration or ritual, though there
are hill-top sanctuaries, as at Petsofa near Palaikastro, with
votive clay figures of men and animals.
At Knossos and Phaestos there has been so much rebuilding
that the earliest structures have been destroyed, and it is to the
smaller sites already mentioned that we must look for primitive
arrangements. On the other hand, at Hagia Triada and Mallia,
we have the 'great house' developed independently of the
primaeval village. In the maturer structures regular elements
are: a central court, surrounded by principal rooms, and
sometimes by colonnades and staircases; a main entrance
with vestibules and offices; a range of 'magazines' opening
on to a corridor and furnished with store-jars (this invariably
related to the central court and principal rooms); a western
court beyond the main block of buildings, with store-pits,
warehouses, and workshops; private apartments with in-
ternal passages and stairways, not directly communicating with
the central court. At Knossos and Phaestos, and probably
at Mallia, a great hall was built above the main block, and
served by a grand staircase: but these upper-works are only
traced by foundations. The throne-room at Knossos, with
its vestibule, store-room, and light well, is at present without
parallel; and there arc other rooms for special purposes,
B