Page:History of Art in Primitive Greece - Mycenian Art Vol 1.djvu/370

MvcEN^K. 343 store-rooms. The two wings of the edifice, east and west, were connected by a passage running between them (i), which about the middle of its course disappears under the foundations of the temple ; but it must have led to the exterior gate opening in the circuit- wall, opposite and close to the terminus of the path that came from the Lions Gate. The portal in question and the wall in which it was pierced have disappeared ; but to the left of the passage, still preserved, a threshold with hinge- hole for a single door marks the site of a second or inner door- way. Through this gate communications between the two sides of the building could be kept up or broken off at will. The left section, though in a much poorer state than the one just described, can be made out with certainty ; it differed from the right division in this, that its apartments were larger and fewer. The main room (e), six metres twenty centimetres by five metres forty-five centimetres, facing the megaron, is not in direct communication with the court, but is approached through a fore-chamber (cl), whence a second door, opening into a room next to it, led to other apartments, which must have leant against the boundary-wall. Neither entrance had a door- way, but the bay opening on the court, with its back to the fore-room, was closed by a single door. Against the north wall of room ^ is a hearth built with mud, not round as in the megaron, but square. It is five centimetres above the floor, eighty centimetres wide, and one metre five centimetres deep. Under the concrete floor was a conduit built with glazed tiles ; it dipped to the west and served to drain off used water. To the north of this hall a passage (/) connected the court with the back division of the palace o ; the site is now empty, yet buildings must formerly have stood here. At the entrance of the passage, on the right (/), the walls of which have been cleared, are three stone steps, forming the lower portion of a staircase which led to the upper storey ; the third is larger^ and constituted a landing, whence the stairs turned to the left and were continued in wood (r). This storey carried the hall (e), and the two passages {/ and t) just described. On the north, the last-named corridor led to further apartments, of which the ground-sills and jets of walls are still visible. The plan and details, however, have been obscured by the weather ; all we can make out is a great chamber (/r), the floor of which