Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
settlement surrounding the main palace, which comprised the main buildings ar-
ranged around a large central courtyard (1250 sq metres). Over time the entire set-
tlement was rebuilt and extended. Long, raised causeways formed main corridors;
narrow labyrinthine chambers flanked the palace walls (this meandering floor plan,
together with the graphic ritual importance of bulls, inspired the myth of the
labyrinth and the Minotaur). The compound featured strategically placed interior
light wells, sophisticated ventilation systems, aqueducts, freshwater irrigation
wells, and bathrooms with extensive plumbing and drainage systems. The ground
levels consisted mostly of workshops, cylindrical grain silos and storage
magazines.
Thanks to its restoration, today's Knossos is one of the easiest ruins for your
imagination to take hold of.
Mycenaean Engineering
The Mycenaeans had a fierce reputation as builders of massive masonry. These war-mon-
gering people roamed southern mainland Greece, picking off the choice vantage points
for their austere palaces, fenced within formidable citadels. The citadels' fortified
Cyclopean-stone walls were on average an unbreachable 3m (10ft) to 7m (25ft) thick.
The immense royal beehive tomb of the Treasury of Atreus (aka Tomb of Agamemnon)
at Mycenae was constructed using tapered limestone blocks weighing up to 120 tonnes.
The palace at Tiryns has stupendous corbel-vaulted galleries and is riddled with secret
passageways; and the incredibly well-preserved Nestor's Palace, near modern Pylos, also
illustrates the Mycenaeans' structural expertise.
Classic Compositions
The classical age (5th to 4th centuries BC) is when most Greek architectural clichés con-
verge. This is when temples became characterised by the famous orders of columns, par-
ticularly the Doric, Ionic and Corinthian.
The mother of all Doric structures is the 5th-century-BC Parthenon, the ultimate in ar-
chitectural bling: a gleaming, solid marble crown. To this day, it's probably
the
most ob-
sessively photographed jewel in all of Greece.
In the meantime, the Greek colonies of the Asia Minor coast were creating their own
Ionic order, designing a column base in several tiers and adding more flutes. This more
graceful order's capital (the head) received an ornamented necking, and Iktinos fused
elements of its design in the Parthenon. This order is used on the Acropolis' Temple of
Athena Nike and the Erechtheion, where the famous Caryatids regally stand.
