DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45583#0053
256
Division II Section A Part 4
which point one of my photographs (Ill. 228) was taken. This picture, although not
very good as a photograph, may serve to show that a considerable part of the ancient
structure is still preserved, and to illustrate the crowded condition of the village about
it. There are seven families living in the compartments of the Palace, and in crude
hovels built within its court; while many sheep, goats, and cattle are stabled in its
lower chambers, and other rooms serve for the storing of fodder. It will be observed
that the task of extricating the plan of the ancient building from the mass of modern
structures is not an easy one.
The Palace, as it stands, occupies a rectangle of 50 by 33 metres (Ill. 229), its
longer axis lies north and south, its entrance was on the west, the side of the building
which is least well preserved. The building was constructed throughout of highly
finished quadrated blocks of basalt laid dry. The apartments were grouped on the
north and south sides of a large open court, the east side of which was closed by a
heavy, unbroken, wall within which was a narrow passage. The west side appears to
have consisted of another heavy wall in which the entrance must have been ; for no
entrance is visible elsewhere. Colonnades of two storeys were placed upon the north
and south sides of the court, and an arcade carried by piers, with a colonnade above
it, occupied the east side of the open quadrangle which measured 22 by 16 metres.
The residential portions of this great edifice consisted of two, three, and four storeys;
for there are many cases in which two corbelled storeys are together equal in height
to one arched storey; and there appear to have been angle towers that were carried
up in a fifth storey. The larger and more important rooms were those on the south
side of the court, but the north side contained chambers of dignity and high interior
finish. Almost all of the apartments of the ground floor are in a perfect state of
preservation, many of them are inhabited, others serve as stables or granaries. Many
of the rooms of the intermediate and upper floors are likewise inhabited, and rooms
in the fourth floor are to be seen in ruins. In the northeast angle a fragment of wall
with a window in it suggests a fifth storey in a tower at each angle of the building.
Three columns and two half columns engaged with piers are standing on the north
side of the court, four of the piers of the arcade on the east side are in place, and
the details of the lower colonnade on the south side, and remains of the upper colon-
nades on all three sides, are to be found in the ruins. With all this material at our
disposal it is not difficult to reconstruct the major part of the building.
In Ill. 229 I have given a plan which shows the lower floor of the northern half
of the Palace and the upper floor of the southern half. This is partly the result of
the fact that some of the apartments could not be satisfactorily measured, the upper
rooms on the north side being occupied by women, and the lower chambers on the
south side being dark and inaccessible, and filled with cattle or straw. But, the upper
floor on the one side, or the lower floor on the other, can not be very different in
plan from the floor below or above it in either case. Let us begin our survey of the
Palace at the northwest angle where a group of four small rooms lies in a mass of
ruins. A piece of wall with an engaged column at one end stands in front of these
ruins, and the row of columns extending eastward from it is represented by three shafts
and four bases and another half column engaged with a pier. The first complete
apartment (K) on this side is well preserved in two storeys and is inhabited. On the
ground floor it has two divisions separated by a moulded arch. The outer division
Division II Section A Part 4
which point one of my photographs (Ill. 228) was taken. This picture, although not
very good as a photograph, may serve to show that a considerable part of the ancient
structure is still preserved, and to illustrate the crowded condition of the village about
it. There are seven families living in the compartments of the Palace, and in crude
hovels built within its court; while many sheep, goats, and cattle are stabled in its
lower chambers, and other rooms serve for the storing of fodder. It will be observed
that the task of extricating the plan of the ancient building from the mass of modern
structures is not an easy one.
The Palace, as it stands, occupies a rectangle of 50 by 33 metres (Ill. 229), its
longer axis lies north and south, its entrance was on the west, the side of the building
which is least well preserved. The building was constructed throughout of highly
finished quadrated blocks of basalt laid dry. The apartments were grouped on the
north and south sides of a large open court, the east side of which was closed by a
heavy, unbroken, wall within which was a narrow passage. The west side appears to
have consisted of another heavy wall in which the entrance must have been ; for no
entrance is visible elsewhere. Colonnades of two storeys were placed upon the north
and south sides of the court, and an arcade carried by piers, with a colonnade above
it, occupied the east side of the open quadrangle which measured 22 by 16 metres.
The residential portions of this great edifice consisted of two, three, and four storeys;
for there are many cases in which two corbelled storeys are together equal in height
to one arched storey; and there appear to have been angle towers that were carried
up in a fifth storey. The larger and more important rooms were those on the south
side of the court, but the north side contained chambers of dignity and high interior
finish. Almost all of the apartments of the ground floor are in a perfect state of
preservation, many of them are inhabited, others serve as stables or granaries. Many
of the rooms of the intermediate and upper floors are likewise inhabited, and rooms
in the fourth floor are to be seen in ruins. In the northeast angle a fragment of wall
with a window in it suggests a fifth storey in a tower at each angle of the building.
Three columns and two half columns engaged with piers are standing on the north
side of the court, four of the piers of the arcade on the east side are in place, and
the details of the lower colonnade on the south side, and remains of the upper colon-
nades on all three sides, are to be found in the ruins. With all this material at our
disposal it is not difficult to reconstruct the major part of the building.
In Ill. 229 I have given a plan which shows the lower floor of the northern half
of the Palace and the upper floor of the southern half. This is partly the result of
the fact that some of the apartments could not be satisfactorily measured, the upper
rooms on the north side being occupied by women, and the lower chambers on the
south side being dark and inaccessible, and filled with cattle or straw. But, the upper
floor on the one side, or the lower floor on the other, can not be very different in
plan from the floor below or above it in either case. Let us begin our survey of the
Palace at the northwest angle where a group of four small rooms lies in a mass of
ruins. A piece of wall with an engaged column at one end stands in front of these
ruins, and the row of columns extending eastward from it is represented by three shafts
and four bases and another half column engaged with a pier. The first complete
apartment (K) on this side is well preserved in two storeys and is inhabited. On the
ground floor it has two divisions separated by a moulded arch. The outer division