DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1021#0084
CHAPTER III
THE PALACE
Thus far we have recovered in various stages of preser-
vation at least three Mycenaean palaces, viz., at Tiryns,
Mycenae, and Gha (or Arne), not to mention the scanty
remains on the Athenian acropolis or the palace of the
second city on the hill of Hissarlik (Troy) which is now
known to be indefinitely earlier than the Mycenaean age.
Of all these the palace at Tiryns is far the best preserved
and most certain in its ground-plan. We shall therefore
study it in detail before proceeding to the palace at My-
cenae, with which Time and the destroyer have dealt more
ruthlessly.1
The palace of Tiryns, brought to light by Dr. Schliemann
in 1884, occupies the highest of the three plateaus compos-
ing the acropolis. To reach it you ascend the great ramp
under the eastern wall, pass through the open entrance,
traverse the high-walled approach and enter the inner for-
tress by the great gate (0). Prom this the road leads up to
a large court, closed on the east by the circuit wall which
here bears a covered colonnade opening on the interior of
0nter the fortress. Over against this colonnade is the
Gateway outer gate of the palace (H). It is a spacious
and stately portal — about 46 feet wide — composed of a
1 Of other palaces we shall have occasion to speak only by the way, but that
recently discovered on the island of Goulas (or Gha) in Lake Copais will
claim more careful notice (Appendix B).
THE PALACE
Thus far we have recovered in various stages of preser-
vation at least three Mycenaean palaces, viz., at Tiryns,
Mycenae, and Gha (or Arne), not to mention the scanty
remains on the Athenian acropolis or the palace of the
second city on the hill of Hissarlik (Troy) which is now
known to be indefinitely earlier than the Mycenaean age.
Of all these the palace at Tiryns is far the best preserved
and most certain in its ground-plan. We shall therefore
study it in detail before proceeding to the palace at My-
cenae, with which Time and the destroyer have dealt more
ruthlessly.1
The palace of Tiryns, brought to light by Dr. Schliemann
in 1884, occupies the highest of the three plateaus compos-
ing the acropolis. To reach it you ascend the great ramp
under the eastern wall, pass through the open entrance,
traverse the high-walled approach and enter the inner for-
tress by the great gate (0). Prom this the road leads up to
a large court, closed on the east by the circuit wall which
here bears a covered colonnade opening on the interior of
0nter the fortress. Over against this colonnade is the
Gateway outer gate of the palace (H). It is a spacious
and stately portal — about 46 feet wide — composed of a
1 Of other palaces we shall have occasion to speak only by the way, but that
recently discovered on the island of Goulas (or Gha) in Lake Copais will
claim more careful notice (Appendix B).