DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7518#0036
30 HANDBOOK TO THE PALACE OF MINOS
this period that the mam features of the present facade with its
gypsum orthostates belongs, the early entrance direct to the
Central Court being blocked. To this period, also, belongs the
terrace walling of the South Front. But most important of all
is the magnificent southern approach of the road which ran
across the island from the south coast. This approach was re-
modelled in Middle Minoan III, but in its essential lines it is an
M.M. I b construction. First the road is carried on a great
Viaduct, which takes two short half turns to cross the Vlychia
ravine; then it divides into three, one part to run towards the
Harbour Town to the north, another to the West Court,
while the remainder as a great Stepped Portico entered the
Palace at its south-west angle by some gateway now lost.
The importance of this regularization of an old trade route
can hardly be over-estimated. It clearly demonstrates the
traffic which ran across the island and foreshadows the close
connexions with Egypt which are a feature of the next period.
A particular characteristic of the Palace at this period was its
elaborate drainage system. The pipes in particular show an
advance on quite modern efforts which it is hard to beheve.
They are elaborately made, tapering towards one end so as to
enable a greater head of water to drive through any obstruction,
and neatly fitting one into the next. It is even possible that
under the South Porch they may have run uphill, demon-
strating that the Minoan engineers at this period had discovered
the principle that water finds its own level. The incline of the
section of piping that lies above the area which was occupied
by the early underground vault cannot itself be regarded as
evidence of this; but any conceivable access from springs in the
hills around involves an ascent of the water.
MIDDLE MINOAN II
The Middle Minoan II Period is that of the consolidation of the
Palace. The earher Insulae were linked up and for the first, and in-
deed the only, time the Palace was a homogeneous whole (Plan 2).
this period that the mam features of the present facade with its
gypsum orthostates belongs, the early entrance direct to the
Central Court being blocked. To this period, also, belongs the
terrace walling of the South Front. But most important of all
is the magnificent southern approach of the road which ran
across the island from the south coast. This approach was re-
modelled in Middle Minoan III, but in its essential lines it is an
M.M. I b construction. First the road is carried on a great
Viaduct, which takes two short half turns to cross the Vlychia
ravine; then it divides into three, one part to run towards the
Harbour Town to the north, another to the West Court,
while the remainder as a great Stepped Portico entered the
Palace at its south-west angle by some gateway now lost.
The importance of this regularization of an old trade route
can hardly be over-estimated. It clearly demonstrates the
traffic which ran across the island and foreshadows the close
connexions with Egypt which are a feature of the next period.
A particular characteristic of the Palace at this period was its
elaborate drainage system. The pipes in particular show an
advance on quite modern efforts which it is hard to beheve.
They are elaborately made, tapering towards one end so as to
enable a greater head of water to drive through any obstruction,
and neatly fitting one into the next. It is even possible that
under the South Porch they may have run uphill, demon-
strating that the Minoan engineers at this period had discovered
the principle that water finds its own level. The incline of the
section of piping that lies above the area which was occupied
by the early underground vault cannot itself be regarded as
evidence of this; but any conceivable access from springs in the
hills around involves an ascent of the water.
MIDDLE MINOAN II
The Middle Minoan II Period is that of the consolidation of the
Palace. The earher Insulae were linked up and for the first, and in-
deed the only, time the Palace was a homogeneous whole (Plan 2).