DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1021#0062
THE FORTRESS-CITY. 25
tion of 912 feet above the sea, is buttressed on the north-
east by Mt. St. Elias (2,640 feet high), and on the southeast
by Mt. Zara (2,160 feet). Their spurs fall together east
of the acropolis and are separated from it only by a slight
depression. Between Mycenae and Mt. Zara a deep nar-
row gorge, the Chavos, like a mighty moat guards the
fortress. On the north the castle rock is less precipitous,
but hardly less secure, being severed from the base of St.
Elias by another natural moat, the ravine Kokoretsa.
On the east the access is easy; while in front lies a depres-
sion defined on the west by a long ridge — the main street
of the lower town — which bears, in the main, from south
to north, and then bends a Utile to the east, where it meets
the north-west corner of the acropolis.
The acropolis is inclosed by a strong wall, following the
natural configuration of the ground and so approximating
the form of an equilateral triangle. This wall is portress
preserved more or less completely in its entire waU
circuit, save only where a landslip has swept away a sec-
tion of the line above the Chavos.
In its construction we distinguish three orders of masonry
— not all of them contemporaneous, but obviously due in
part to alterations and repairs made at different ,nMa
dates. Far the greater part of the circuit is J^.
built, like the entire wall of Tiryns, in the so- c>'cloPea"
• called Cyclopean masonry, though the blocks here are less
massive as a rule than at the older fort.
The second order is the rectangular or ashlar masonry,
which prevails in later Greek architecture. It employs
great hewn stones, placed one upon another in „ ,
Y . . Regular
horizontal courses, so disposed that the vertical
joints of one course shall not coincide with those of the
course immediately above or beneath. Such is the masonry
tion of 912 feet above the sea, is buttressed on the north-
east by Mt. St. Elias (2,640 feet high), and on the southeast
by Mt. Zara (2,160 feet). Their spurs fall together east
of the acropolis and are separated from it only by a slight
depression. Between Mycenae and Mt. Zara a deep nar-
row gorge, the Chavos, like a mighty moat guards the
fortress. On the north the castle rock is less precipitous,
but hardly less secure, being severed from the base of St.
Elias by another natural moat, the ravine Kokoretsa.
On the east the access is easy; while in front lies a depres-
sion defined on the west by a long ridge — the main street
of the lower town — which bears, in the main, from south
to north, and then bends a Utile to the east, where it meets
the north-west corner of the acropolis.
The acropolis is inclosed by a strong wall, following the
natural configuration of the ground and so approximating
the form of an equilateral triangle. This wall is portress
preserved more or less completely in its entire waU
circuit, save only where a landslip has swept away a sec-
tion of the line above the Chavos.
In its construction we distinguish three orders of masonry
— not all of them contemporaneous, but obviously due in
part to alterations and repairs made at different ,nMa
dates. Far the greater part of the circuit is J^.
built, like the entire wall of Tiryns, in the so- c>'cloPea"
• called Cyclopean masonry, though the blocks here are less
massive as a rule than at the older fort.
The second order is the rectangular or ashlar masonry,
which prevails in later Greek architecture. It employs
great hewn stones, placed one upon another in „ ,
Y . . Regular
horizontal courses, so disposed that the vertical
joints of one course shall not coincide with those of the
course immediately above or beneath. Such is the masonry