Gardners Art through the Ages A Global History

age came to believe that the uncouth Cyclopes were responsible for

these massive but unsophisticated fortifications.

Would-be attackers at Tiryns were compelled to approach the

palace (FIG. 4-18) within the walls via a long ramp that forced the

(usually right-handed, as in FIG. 4-25) soldiers to expose their un-

shielded sides to the Mycenaean defenders above. Then—if they got

that far—they had to pass through a series of narrow gates that also

could be defended easily. Inside, at Tiryns as elsewhere, the most im-

portant element in the palace plan was the megaron,or reception

hall and throne room, of the king. The main room of the megaron

had a throne against the right wall and a central hearth bordered by

four Minoan-style wooden columns serving as supports for the roof.

A vestibule with a columnar facade preceded the throne room. A

variation of this plan later formed the core of some of the earliest

Greek temple plans (FIG. 5-6), suggesting some architectural conti-

nuity between the Mycenaean age and historical Greece.

LION GATE, MYCENAEThe severity of these fortress-

palaces was relieved by frescoes, as in the Cretan palaces, and, at

Agamemnon’s Mycenae at least, by monumental architectural sculp-

ture. The so-called Lion Gate (FIG. 4-19) is the outer gateway of the

stronghold at Mycenae. It is protected on the left by a wall built on a

natural rock outcropping and on the right by a projecting bastion of

large blocks. Any approaching enemies would have had to enter this

20-foot-wide channel and face Mycenaean defenders above them on

both sides. The gate itself consists of two great monoliths capped with

a huge lintel (FIG. 4-17a). Above the lintel, the masonry courses form a

corbeled arch (FIG. 4-17b), leaving an opening that lightens the weight

the lintel carries. Filling this relieving triangle(FIG. 4-1) is a great lime-

stone slab where two lions carved in high relief stand on the sides of a

Minoan-type column. The whole design admirably matches its trian-

gular space, harmonizing in dignity, strength, and scale with the mas-

4-18Plan of the palace and southern part of the citadel, Tiryns,

Greece, ca. 1400–1200 bce.

The king’s reception and throne room, or megaron, was the main

feature of Mycenaean palaces. Its plan, consisting of a hall with a

columnar porch, is similar to that of early Greek temples (FIG. 5-6).

N

0 755025 100 feet

02010 30 meters

Approach

ramp

Citadel

walls

Citadel

walls

Main

gate

Megaron

Outer

propylon

4-19Lion Gate, Mycenae, Greece, ca. 1300–1250 bce.Limestone, relief panel 9 6 high.
The largest sculpture in the prehistoric Aegean is the relief of confronting lions (FIG. 4-1) that fills the relieving triangle of Mycenae’s main gate.
The gate itself consists of two great monoliths and a huge lintel.

92 Chapter 4 THE PREHISTORIC AEGEAN

4-18AMegaron,

Palace of

Nestor, Pylos,

ca. 1300 BCE.