DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7518#0073
THE DEPENDENCIES OF THE PALACE
59
stately suite of reception rooms which the Palace itself cannot
rival.
From the entrance hall four shallow nights of stairs lead up
into the ' Hall of the Peristyle' beyond which was the Great
Mcgaron. These rooms were bordered to the east by a corridor
whose outer border consisted of two groups of columns
between square piers. "Whether there were further buildings to
the east, or whether they stood on the edge of a terrace, it is
impossible to say.
Off the north-west corner of the Great Megaron opens a
paved lavatory with a stone sink. West of the Hall of the Peri-
style is the stairway, two flights of which still remain. West
again is a doorway whose jambs, instead of being constructed
of wood resting on gypsum bases, are of gypsum the whole
height, a symptom perhaps of the gradual deforestation of the
island which seems to have begun about the period the Little
Palace was being built (M.M. Ill b - L.M. I a).
North of this, part of the building has been roofed over,
and is entered from the west. There is a step on which to stand
in order to look into the Lustral Area. On the destruction of
Knossos generally, at the end of Late Minoan II, the Little
Palace was reoccupied by 'squatters'. They divided up the
larger rooms by building partition walls, and in this case they
walled up the space between the columns of the east balustrade.
The wooden columns have perished, but their impressions
remain and can be seen. It is from these column impressions
with their convex fluting that the column in the bathroom of
the Queen's Megaron was taken (see page 51). At the same
time, the Lustral Area did not lose its sanctity, for it was used
as a shrine, and on the stone balustrade were placed the ' fetish'
figures of natural stone, the objects of adoration in the period
of reoccupation (L.M. III).
Across the whole southern end of the building run a series
of Pillar Crypts. The two most easterly lie at a lower level;
between the pillars are the stone vats. The south-westerly
59
stately suite of reception rooms which the Palace itself cannot
rival.
From the entrance hall four shallow nights of stairs lead up
into the ' Hall of the Peristyle' beyond which was the Great
Mcgaron. These rooms were bordered to the east by a corridor
whose outer border consisted of two groups of columns
between square piers. "Whether there were further buildings to
the east, or whether they stood on the edge of a terrace, it is
impossible to say.
Off the north-west corner of the Great Megaron opens a
paved lavatory with a stone sink. West of the Hall of the Peri-
style is the stairway, two flights of which still remain. West
again is a doorway whose jambs, instead of being constructed
of wood resting on gypsum bases, are of gypsum the whole
height, a symptom perhaps of the gradual deforestation of the
island which seems to have begun about the period the Little
Palace was being built (M.M. Ill b - L.M. I a).
North of this, part of the building has been roofed over,
and is entered from the west. There is a step on which to stand
in order to look into the Lustral Area. On the destruction of
Knossos generally, at the end of Late Minoan II, the Little
Palace was reoccupied by 'squatters'. They divided up the
larger rooms by building partition walls, and in this case they
walled up the space between the columns of the east balustrade.
The wooden columns have perished, but their impressions
remain and can be seen. It is from these column impressions
with their convex fluting that the column in the bathroom of
the Queen's Megaron was taken (see page 51). At the same
time, the Lustral Area did not lose its sanctity, for it was used
as a shrine, and on the stone balustrade were placed the ' fetish'
figures of natural stone, the objects of adoration in the period
of reoccupation (L.M. III).
Across the whole southern end of the building run a series
of Pillar Crypts. The two most easterly lie at a lower level;
between the pillars are the stone vats. The south-westerly