Page:History of Art in Primitive Greece - Mycenian Art Vol 1.djvu/498

Mode of Construction. 471 was then changed to improve the radius of the precinct/ and made to curve round the Lions Gate ; and this is one of the sections where polygonal masonry crops up. Owing to the excavated earth heaped up by Schliemann against the wall, it is impossible to ascertain how far this subsequent erection stretched ; but it begins northward of the curve and disappears under accumulations of rubbish. Finally, there is no trace of polygonal construction in the tombs of the lower town, where its place, one would think, was marked to sustain the heavy earthen weight which the walls of the dromos had to bear. These observations tend to prove that polygonal masonry did not come in until the historical age,^ when it was employed in the circuit and sustaining walls, wherever exceptional solidity was needed. It is this quality inherent to the system which induces the modern architect to frequently introduce it into his work. We are unable to assign a date to the several rebuildings in question, save that they belong to the latter days of the Mycenian period : they may coincide, perhaps, with the return of the Heraclids, and the erection of the Doric temple. At that time Mycenae, though menaced by the growing power of its formidable neigh- bour, Argos, still held its own, and must more than once have had grave reasons for repairing and strengthening her defences. Who knows whether these reconstructions should not be placed in the fifth century B.C., on the eve of the fateful struggle which was to bring about her downfall ? As we have already remarked, the total length of the Mycenian wall is 925 metres; of these, 130 metres are built with quadrangular blocks, 70 with polygons, whilst 66 metres lie hidden behind excavated earth. In all these structures, let the style of the masonry be what it will, by far the largest place is held by Cyclopaean construction, which constitutes throughout the body of the rampart. Behind dressed stretchers and finely-jointed polygons, which form but a thin cuirass to the wall surface, we always find a core made up of large blocks hardly touched with the tool. The ruling idea of the mason of that epoch was to build in Cyclopaean style, ^ Steffen, Karten, 2 M. Heuzey was among the first to point out that the circuit-walls of Acamania, for which no great antiquity is claimed, show the two modes of construction side by side, /. e. regular and polygonal masonry ; the latter often reposing upon horizontal courses. It