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The Residential Quarter of the Minoan PalaceAuthor(s): J. Walter GrahamSource: American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 63, No. 1 (Jan., 1959), pp. 47-52Published by: Archaeological Institute of AmericaStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/502107Accessed: 17-03-2015 10:39 UTC
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8/9/2019 The Residential Quarter of the Minoan Palace
2/11
T h e
esidential
Q u a r t e r
o f
t h e
i n o a n
P a l a c e
J.
WALTER
GRAHAM
PLATES
15-18
The
complex,
multi-roomed
Minoan
palaces,
seats
of
the
administration of the Minoan
realms,
were
surely
also
the residence
of their
rulers.' It was
reasonable therefore for
Sir
Arthur
Evans
to
iden-
tify
as the
"Domestic
Quarter"
a
suite
of rooms
whose
spaciousness
and
careful
decoration
pro-
claimed
them
to be
quite
different
from the
multi-
tude of
small
cult-rooms,
storage-rooms,
and work-
rooms
throughout
the rest
of
the
ground
floor of
the
palace,
yet
which were
located
so far from
the
principal
entrances
of the
building
and were so
insulated and self-contained as
clearly
not to
be
intended
for
important public
reception
rooms.
The
latter, indeed,
Evans located in
the
"Piano
Nobile,"
i.e. the first
storey
above
the
ground
floor in
the
area west
of the Central
Court;
and
surely
that
is
where
we are to look for similar state
apartments
n
the
other
palaces
at
Phaistos,
Mallia,
and
probably
at
Gournia.2
The two
lower
storeys
of
the
Knossos
Domestic
Quarter-or,
as
I
prefer
to term it
in order to avoid
any implication that it was intended for the "do-
mestics,"
the "Residential
Quarter"-were
set in
a
great
artificial
cutting
made to the
southeast of
the
Central Court.'
The lower
of
these
two
storeys,
whose
floor-level
lay
some
eight
to
nine
meters be-
low
that
of
the Central
Court,
was
remarkably
well
preserved,
thanks to the
slow settlement of
the
upper
storeys,
and has
been restored to a
semblance
of its
original
condition
(pl.
16,
fig.
2).
It is
reached
today,
as in
antiquity,
by
the
"Grand
Staircase"so
ingeniously
rebuilt
by
Evans. At
the foot of
these
stairs a corridor
passes
east
along
the north
side
of
the
light-well,
and from
this a door
opens
south
into the
"Hall
of
the Double
Axes."
On
the
right,
i.e.
west,
of
this
great
hall a two-columned
portico
opens
on
a
light-well.
Halfway
down
the room
is
a
"pier-and-door
partition"4
of
four
bays,
followed
by
another at the east
end of the
room,
and
one
of
three
bays
along
the
eastern
half of the
south
side;
beyond,
to
the east
and
south,
an
L-shaped
portico
or veranda
with six
columns
and
a
square
pier
at
the
angle
provides
a
view
over the
valley
and
hills
beyond.'
The floors
throughout
the
Hall
were
paved
with
slabs of
gypsum,
and
a
high
gypsum
dado
faced
the
lower
part
of
the
walls;
above
this
ran
a
painted
spiral
band
to
which
was
attached,
Evans
suggests,
a
series
of
figure-of-eight
shields,6
a
scheme
imitated with
painted
shields on
the
walls
of
the
Grand
Staircase.
Against
the
north
wall of
the
western
section of
the
Hall
traces of
a
formal
wooden
chair or thronos
were
found,
surmounted
by a canopy.7
Near
the
southwest corner
of
the
Hall
a
narrow
corridor,
with
a door
at
both
ends,
leads
by
two
right-angled
turns
into a
smaller
but
similar
cham-
ber called the
"Queen's
Megaron"
by
Evans
but
which,
to avoid
the term
"megaron"
in
a
Cretan
context,
we
shall
refer
to as
the
"Queen's
Hall."
A
series of
bays
on
the
west,
south,
and
east
sides of
the
room
open
on
a
bath and
two
light-wells;8
be-
tween
the
east
light-well
and
the
room
runs a nar-
*
The
author wishes to
thank
the American
Philosophical
Society and the University of Toronto for grants in aid of
research.
1
The Palace
at
Mari
on
the
Euphrates,
occupied
from
about
2000
to about
1700
B.C.,
is
a
similar
complex
of
"quarters"
used
for
storage,
artisans'
workrooms,
administrative
offices,
cult-rooms,
and
state
reception
rooms,
as
well
as for
the
royal
living-quarters
which have
been identified
in
the northwest
corner
of
the
vast
palace.
Parrot,
Une
ville
perdue
(I936);
Mari
(1953).
2
Cf.
"The
Phaistos
'Piano
Nobile,'
"
AJA
6o
(1956) 151-157;
and
"Windows,
Recesses,
and
the
Piano
Nobile,"
forthcoming.
3
Evans has
published
the
"Domestic
Quarter"
in
detail in
the Palace
of
Minos
III,
282-390.
A
storey
at
the
level
of
the
Central
Court,
and
at
least
one above
this,
may
also
have formed
part
of
the
royal
residential
quarters.
4 By "pier-and-doorpartitions" we mean the series of piers
with
double-doors
in each
opening
or
bay,
such
as
we find
very commonly in Minoan palace and house architecture;by
closing
the
doors
the
apartment
could
be
subdivided into
smaller
rooms,
or
a room could
be closed off from
an
open
portico
or
area
beyond;
cf.
Palace
of
Minos
III,
340.
In
a
previous
article
(AJA
6o
[1956]
51I,
note
4)
I
used
the term
"semi-partition"
for this
purpose,
but
the term
proposed here,
though
slightly
more
cumbrous,
is
certainly
less
ambiguous.
5
The existence of
doors in
the
north
and
south
walls
east
of
the
east row of
columns
does not
prove
that
the
east,
or
even
the
south,
terrace
walls
were
high enough
to
obstruct
the
view;
they
may
have
formed
a
parapet
two or
three feet
high,
or
have
been
higher
but
pierced by
broad
openings.
6
See
the
color
restoration
of
the
Hall
of
the
Double
Axes,
PM
III,
pl.
xxiv.
7PM
III,
333-338.
8
The scheme on the east and south sides somewhat resembles
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8/9/2019 The Residential Quarter of the Minoan Palace
3/11
48
J.
WALTER
GRAHAM
[AJA
63
row
corridor
whose
winding
route to the
terrace
and
verandas
t the east
of the Hall
of the
Double
Axes
was
guaranteed
against
intrusion
by
no
less
than
four
doors.
The
Queen's
Hall
was also
floored
with
gypsum
slabs,
and
Evans has
restored
paint-
ings of dancinggirlsand of dolphins n a seascape
as mural
decoration,
rom
the
evidence of
frag-
ments found
in
the
fill.
On the west
side
of the
Queen's
Hall
a
narrow
door
leads to
the familiar
Minoan
bathroom.
This
was
lighted
by
"borrowed"
light
from
the
hall
and
decorated
with
painted
spirals
above a
gypsum
dado.Remains
of
a
painted
erracotta
athtub
were
found
just
outside
the door of the
room.
On
the
south side
of the
bathroom
a
long
corridor
con-
nects with
even
more
private
apartments
which
include a
well-devised
oilet.
One
last
point
of
importance.
wo
sets
of
narrow
stairways,
one
leading
from
the
northeast
corner
of
the
Queen's
Hall
and the
other n
the
northwest
part
of the
Domestic
Quarter
and
reached
both
by
way
of the
room
of
the
Queen's
oilet
and
by
a
door
from
the
"Hall of
the
Colonnades"
t the
foot
of
the Grand
Staircase,
onnect
with
the
storey
above.
This
storey,
as
restored
by
Evans,
was
similar
in
plan
to
the
one
below
it,
and
no
doubt
formed
part
of
the
living
quarters
f
the
royal
amily.9
The
remarkable
similarity
f
the
various
Minoan
palacesin general plan and in many individual
features,
such
as
the
Central
Court,
the
Piano
Nobile,
and
the
details
of
the
west
fagade,"0
ould
lead
one
to
expect
analogous
Residential
Quarters
in
the
other
palaces,
ut it is
not,
I
think,
adequately
realized
that
these
do in
fact
exist,
and
that
the
mutual
resemblance
n
detail
s
rather
extraordinary.
This
paper
will
describe
our
such
sets
of
apart-
ments
other
than
the
familiar
one at
Knossos,
and
will
attempt
o
generalize
he
features
which
they
exhibit
in
common.
Let uslookfirstatPhaistos(pl.15, ig.i). The en-
tire
series
of
rooms
along
the
west
fagade
on
the
ground
loor
eems
o
have
served,
asat
Knossos,
or
storage
and
for
cult
purposes,
with
the
Piano
Nobile
above
and reached
by
a broad
stairway
north
of
the
Grand
Propylon,
the
main entrance
of the
palace."
From
a lower
landing
of this
stairway
a
corridor
leads
into
a
rather
large
square
peristyle-court,
and
from
its
northeast
corner
a
flight
of
steps descends
to a landing from which it continues in a longer
flight
(76)
to
the
east.
The
complex
of rooms
served
by
this
stairway
(pl.
17,
fig. 5; pl.
I8,
fig.
7),
rooms
50
and
77-86,
was
set on
a
great
artificial
terrace
cut
along
the
north
edge
of the
hill
on
which
the
palace
was
built,
and
seems
to
have
been
accessible
from
no
other
direction.12
Certainly
there
is
no
entrance
to
it from
court
48,
south
of
50,
nor
from
the
long
passage
87
leading
north
from
this
court
to
a
north-
east entrance
to the
palace.
Its isolation
is
therefore
comparable to that of the Knossos Residential
Quarter and in the official
Italian
publication these
rooms
are described
as the
quartiere
signorile;"3 n-
deed
an
examination
of these
apartments
will
reveal
many
analogies
with those
at
Knossos.
From a
corridor
at
the foot
of the
"grand
stair-
way,"
76,
a door
opens
north
into
one
end of
a
spacious
hall,
77-79.
At the
right
a
two-columned
portico
opens
on
a
light-well,
78.
Across
the
middle
of
the room
extends
a
pier-and-door
partition of
four
bays,
while
along
the whole
north
side
of
79
and
77
another
of
six
bays
opens
on a
columned
portico,
possibly
originally
L-shaped,
with
a
mag-
nificent
view
across
the
plain
toward
the
range
of
Ida
on
the
north.
Both
floors
and
walls
were
cov-
ered
with
gypsum
slabs.
At
the
southwest
corner
of the Men's
Hall,
79,
a
narrow
corridor
leads
by
two
right-angled
turns,
with
a
door
at both
ends,
into
a
smaller
chamber,
8i.
This
clearly
formed
the
main room
of
a
suite
of rooms
secondary
to
79-77-
Its floor
was
laid
in
a
regular
pattern
of
gypsum
slabs
(like
79)
and
its
walls
were faced
partly
with
gypsum,
partly
with
stucco painted with designs among which vegetable
motifs
can
be
recognized.
From
8i
a few
steps
led
down
to the usual
Minoan
type
of
bathroom,
83,
no
doubt
illumina'ed
by
borrowed
light
from
8i;
its
the
pier-and-door
partition,
but
only
at
the
north
end
of
the
east
side is
there a
door;
the
other
pillars
are
set on
a
low
parapet
which
forms
a
series of
seats
in
the
bays;
PM
III,
367-
369
and
frontispiece.
9
PM
III,
290ff,
354.
10
See
"Windows,
Recesses,
and
the
Piano
Nobile,"
forth-
coming,
and
"The
Central
Court
as
the
Minoan
Bull-ring,"
AJA
61
(1957)
255-62.
x
"The
Phaistos
'Piano
Nobile,'"
AJA
60
(1956)
15I-157.
12
In
arguing
that
this
complex
of
rooms
did
not
form
"
'il
gineceo,'
"
as it was
at first termed
in the
preliminary
reports,
Miss
Banti
says
that
the north
portico
was
easily
accessible
rom
the north,
but
this
is far from
clear
to
me
from
the
remains;
enclosing
porticoes
may
have
extended
northward
on
one
or
both
sides,
Festrbs
I,
255.
13
ibid.
479.
And
so
recognized
by
Dinsmoor,
Architecture
of
Ancient
Greece
(1950) 15.
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8/9/2019 The Residential Quarter of the Minoan Palace
4/11
1959]
RESIDENTIAL
QUARTER
OF THE MINOAN
PALACE
49
walls
were
aced
partly
with
gypsum,
artly
with
colored
tucco.
A
door n
thewest
wall
of 81
opened
into still
more
private uarters
eyond.
Of
these
82
had a floorof
painted laster;
whilethe
westside
of
the
unnumbered
oom o the
northof
this,
un-
fortunatelyncompleten the north,was paved
with
slabs
of
gypsum
at the
northwest orner
f
which another
gypsum
slab,
a few centimeters
higher
hanthe
general
loor-level,
s
pierced
with
a
rectangular
ole
connecting
itha
drain
unning
northward,
learly
he remains
f a latrine
Festas
II,
fig.
184).
Another oor n the northeastorner
of the
main
room,
8i,
would
communicate
ith
the
porticoes
orthof the
Men's
Hall.
Surely
his
suite
of rooms
an,
on the
analogy
f
the
similar
suite
in
the
Residential
Quarter
t
Knossos,
be
identifiedstheQueen'sApartments.
The
suite
of
roomsnumbered
0
on
the Italian
plan,
and also entered rom
stairway 6, clearly
formed
part
of
the residential
uarter.
ts
light-
well,14
n
the
center,
opened
to
east and
west
through
wo-columned
orticoes,
nd the room
o
the westhad a
gypsum-flagged
loor
and
veneered
walls around
he
baseof which s a
low
gypsum
bench."
A further
nalogy
with the
Knossos
lan
is
the
flight
of
stairs
eading
rom the
northwest
corner
f
50
directly
o
therooms
bove,
which
may
have beenbedrooms.
The
northern,
nstead f
eastern,
rientationf
the
Phaistos
Residential
Quarter
s
quite
under-
standable,
ither
because
f
the
superior
iewfrom
this direction-theMinoan
ove of
natural
eauty
is obvious romtheir
wall-paintings;"6
r
because
of the
heat,
or the
summer un
at
Phaistos,
s
I
can
say
rom
xperience,
s
something
o be
avoided
But
what
of
thecoolerwinter
months
The
rulers
of
Phaistos ad taken
hat into
their
calculations
too and
provided
hemselves ith
a
secondary,
ess
sumptuous,
esidential
uarter
n
the
same
posi-tion
as at
Knossos,
the
southeastern
part
of the
palace pl.
15,
fig.
I)*1
Entered
nly
through
a
small
dooroff
the east
portico
f the Central
ourt,
a
few
steps
ead
up
to the
evel
of therooms.
Again
we note
the same
general
cheme
pl.
16,
fig.
4).
The
main
room,
63,
with
perhaps
light-well,
marked y a cement loorprovidedwith a drain,
in
its southeast
corner;
and
a
pier-and-door
parti-
tion
of three
bays
unning
crosshemiddle
f
the
room,
while
another,
lso
of
three
bays, pens
o
the
east
on
a
columned,
-shaped
ortico
r
veranda
with
a
fine
view
o eastandsouth.
The
higher
evel
of
the
native
rock
surface
beyond
he
cement-
floored
rea
between
he two
porticoes,
makes t
perfectly
lear
hat
this
was
not
a
peristyle.18
he
remains
f
three tone
steps
beyond
he southeast
corner
f the court
uggests
smaller
errace t
a
lowerlevel;we mightwell think of a terraced
garden.
At the northwest
orner f the
main
room,
3,
a
door
opens
ntoa narrow
pace
which
wouldbe of
very
ittleuse
as a
closet;
athert
suggests
small
flight
of
steps
o
rooms
above,
nd the
analogy
f
the
stairs
eading
rom
50
in
the
northResidential
Quarter
s so
closeas to
make his
interpretation
almost
a
certainty."
Another
door from the southeast
ornerof
63
opens
nto
63b,
whose
position
elativeo
the
main
room,
combined
with
the
presence
f
a bathroom
reached
y
a few
steps
down rom
t,
anda
couple
of
more
private
ooms
eyond one
witha toilet -
note
drain
n southeast
orner), ompletes
heResi-
dential
Quarter,
s
we havecome
o
know
t
from
the two
preceding
xamples,
with the
"Queen's
Apartments."
The
nearby
summer-palace"
r
"villa" f
Hagia
Triada
differs
rom he standard
lan
of the
three
great
palaces
n
many
respects,
ut
most
of the
characteristicsf the
Residential
uarter
ppear
n
a
suite
of
rooms
at the
northwest ornerof
the
palace
(pl.
i6,
fig.
3)*20
A broad
flight
of fourteen
14
This is
certainly
a
long,
narrow
light-well
of
the normal
type, though
it
supplies
light
in
two
directions
like the one
in
the Residential
Quarters
at
Hagia
Triada
(pl.
I6,
fig.
3),
and
not a
square
peristyle-court
anticipating
the
scheme of
the
Tuscan
Atrium,
as stated in Pernier and
Banti,
Guida
degli
Scavi Italiani in
Creta
(I947)
6i,
and
hesitatingly
reaffirmed n
Festobs
I,
471;
this
is
indicated
by
the
fact
that the
stylobates
on
both
the
east
and
west sides continue
through
to
the
north
and
south
walls where there are
pilasters
to
receive
the
ends of
the beams
of
the
epistyle.
15
Gypsum
was
used in abundance at Phaistos thanks to the
nearby
quarries
at
Hagia
Triada which
are
again
being
used
by
the
Italians in their
restorationwork at both Phaistos and
Hagia
Triada.
16
Snijder's
contention that the
Minoans
had
no
feeling
for
beauty
of
landscape
and did not
construct their
palaces
with
reference
to
it
is
rightly
denied in
Festbs
II,
478.
17
This is also
recognized
in
Festbs
II,
478.
18
Although
so
stated
by
Dinsmoor,
loc.cit.
19
Festbs
II,
169
suggests,
on
the basis
of
a
not
very
compelling
analogy,
that
the
space
was
used as a
sleeping-room,
and that
the
original
idea
that
a
flight
of
steps
was
located here
ought
to be
abandoned;
however
no reasons are
given
why
the
original
view
is
impossible.
20
See Pernier
and
Banti,
Guida
30-32.
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8/9/2019 The Residential Quarter of the Minoan Palace
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50
J.
WALTER GRAHAM
[AJA
63
steps
leads
down from
a
higher
level
to
the
east to
a
point
opposite
a door
opening,
as
before,
into one
of the
long
sides of the
main
room
3,
12.
Again
we
have the
light-well
to
the
right
with two-columned
porticoes
to
east
and
west,
resembling
the
arrange-
ment of 50 of the north Residential Quarter of
Phaistos
(pl. 17, fig. 5),
and
like that
too there
is
a
room
beyond
(4)
with
gypsum-flagged
floor,
gyp-
sum-veneered
walls,
and a continuous
gypsum
bench
around the walls. The room to the north of
4
has a
large
flat
slab of
gypsum
in one corner and
the
suggestion
is
made
in
the Guida that this
was
a
bedroom.2"
Returning
to
the
main room
we find
the
usual
pier-and-door
partition
with four
bays
dividing
it
into
an
eastern and
larger
western
section
(12
and
3).
Another
with
six
bays along
the
north side
of
3
opens
on an
L-shaped
veranda
with
a
corner
pillar
(compare
Knossos)
and two
columns
preserved
(pl.
i8,
fig.
9).
The
terrace,
on
which
the
verandas
face
and which has been
artificially
extended
and
supported
by
a
retaining
wall,
affords the
finest
view
from
the
site: north to the
range
of
Ida,
and
west over the fertile
plain
of the
Geropotamos
to
the
blue waters of the
Gulf
of
Mesara
beyond
(fig. 9).
A
door
at the
northeast
corner
of 12
opens
into
a
corridor,
at the
west
end
of which
another door
turns north into
13.22
By analogy, then, room 13
should be
the
Queen's
Hall. Can
14,
to
the
east and
entered from
13 by
a
door,
be
an
unrecognized
bathroom? A
pier-and-door
partition
leads into
a
destroyed
room
to
the
north,
and at the
northeast
corner a half
dozen
steps
descend to
a
door into a
tiny open
court
and
to a
stairway
leading
to an
upper
storey.
The
main rooms and
the
porticoes
of
the
court all
seem
to have
had
gypsum-paved
floors,
and some
rooms,
such
as
4,
had
gypsum
dadoes on
the
walls,
while in 14 were found the fragments of the well-
known
"Cat-and-Bird"
mural.
Last
we
turn
to Mallia where we are somewhat
handicapped,
as
at
Hagia
Triada,
by
the fact that
the
palace
has
not
yet
received
its final
publication.23
In
general plan
the
palace
is
strikingly
like
Knossos
and
Phaistos,
but
since
it was built on a
nearly
level
site we have no terrace at a lower level to mark the
position
of the
Residential
Quarter.
In
the
northwest
corner of the
palace,
however,
we
find
a
suite
of rooms accessible from the rest of
the
building only
by
one or two doors reached in
round-about
ways
(pl.
17,
fig.
6;
pl.
18,
fig.
Io).24
One
of
these,
via IV
6,
opens
into a
long
side of
the
familiar
"main
room,"
1117,
on the left
(south)
of
which is the
usual
two-columned
light-well.
Again
the
room
is divided
transversely by
a
pier-
and-door
partition
with four
bays.25
Beyond
this
the section
of
the
room
to
the
north
has,
like the
Hall
of the Double
Axes,
pier-and-door
partitions
in front
(north)
and on
one
side
(east).
The east
partition
with
three
bays opens
into a room
with
a central
pillar.
The
north
partition,
with three
bays,
opens
into the
usual
columned
portico
facing
north.
Other
columns were
found for a
portico
facing
west,
and
although
the
French
thought
that
these
belonged
to
some
earlier constructions
be-
cause
they
are at a
slightly
lower
level,
their
regular
relationship
to the
other
portico,
and the
analogy
of the
L-shaped
porticoes
at
Knossos,
Phaistos,
and
Hagia Triada, suggest that they form part of the
same
ensemble.26
The
French
searched
diligently
for some
sign
of
rooms in
the area
north of this
and
were
surprised
to
find
nothing
but
a few low
strag-
gling
walls of
uncertain
period.27
And
surely
for
good
reason:
for
again
we have
royal
residential
verandas
facing
the
view over
the sea and the cool-
ing
breezes
blowing
from
it.
Nor are
the
"Queen's
Apartments"
missing.
A
door near the southwest corner of
the
main room
opens
into
a
paved
corridor
at
the
north
end of
which another door opens into a smaller paved
room,
III
I,
with
a door
at its
northeast corner on
21
ibid.
31;
cf.
Festbs
II,
169.
22
The
corridor
was
probably
not
open
at
its
east end as it
appears
on
the
plan,
but for
this and
other details
we
must
wait
for Miss
Banti's
promised publication
of
the
site.
23Preliminary
accounts
have
appeared
in
Chapouthier
and
Charbonneaux, Fouilles
exdcutces
a
Mallia,
premier
rapport
(1928);
Chapouthier
and
Joly,
Fouilles
. .
Mallia,
deuxisme
rapport (1936);
Chapouthier
and
Demargne, Mallia, troisirme
rapport
(1942);
also
numerous
reports
in
the BCH and
an
article
by
Charbonneaux,
BCH
52 (1928)
347-363.
24
A
group
of
rooms
labeled
"VI"
is
described
as
a
probable
domestic
quarter
in
Mallia
I,
19-26,
but
it is
certainly
not a
royal
residential
quarter.
25
The
existence
of this
pier-and-door
partition,
and of
those
noted
below,
has not
been
recognized
in
the French
publica-
tions,
yet
is
perfectly
clear at
the
site
(fig.
io).
The
position
of
the
piers
is
marked
by
rectangular
gaps
in
the
stone
sty-
lobate,
for
there
are
no
remains
of
the
dressed-stone
bases
regular
elsewhere--even
at Mallia
in
several
of
the
private
houses. This
was
first
recognized
by
Platon as a
result
of
some
repairs,
Kpfr7tK&r
XpoVLKd
I
(1947)
635f;
cf.
Demargne
and
Santerre,
1tudes
Critoises
IX,
I05,
and
further
references
there.
26
Mallia
III,
figs.
6f.
27
ibid.
26-31.
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8/9/2019 The Residential Quarter of the Minoan Palace
6/11
1959]
RESIDENTIAL
QUARTER
OF
THE MINOAN
PALACE
51
the north
portico,
nd
one
at
its southwest orner
which
by
a few
steps
down leads
to the
usual
bathroom,
114;
still
anotherdoor
opens
into a
roomon
the
west.The
whole
arrangement
f
the
Queen's
Apartments
s
astonishingly
imilaro
that
of thenorthResidentialuartert Phaistospl.17,
fig.
5).
Finally,
he
private tairway
o the
floor
above
has
been
recognizedby
the French
excavators
to the southof the bathroomt IIIb.
It
could
have
been
reachedither rom
he
southend of the
cor-
ridor
eading
o the
Queen's
Hall,
or
through
he
light-well
t the south
nd
of the main
room.
Thus
virtually
all the
typical
elementsof
the
Residential
uarter
reto
be
seen n this
complex
of
rooms. f the stonebases or
the
piers
of
the
pier-and-doorartitions
re
lacking;
f the floors
aremore
rregularlyaved
with
slabs f
limestone;
and
f
the
wallsarecovered
nly
withstucco r
thin
slabs
f slate
?),
this
only
reflects
he
more
modest
quality
f
the
palace
s a whole.
We
may
sum
up
then
by simply
iving
a
generic
description
f theResidential
uarter
f
the
Minoan
palace, description
hich,
with the
specified
x-
ceptions,
pplies
o
all
five
known
examples.
The
Royal
Residential
uarters
n
the Minoan
palaces
onsisted f a
suiteof roomsocated
long
the northor
east
exterior
ide
of the
building
n
a
positionelected n thebasisof viewandclimatic
conditions.
ince
t therefore
ormally ccupied
position
long
one
edge
of the hill on
whichmost
palaces
werebuilt
(except
Mallia),
t was
usually
set n
a
terracen
wholeor
n
part
artificially
reated
by
scarping,
xcavating,
nd
extending.
he
com-
plex
was
well
segregated
rom
he
rest
of the
palace
and
normally
eached
nly by
a
single
entrance.
The main
oom
"Men's
Hall"
or
"General
iving-
room")
was
an
oblong
room
entered
by
a
door
placed
ear
one end
of one
of
its
long
sides,
with
a
light-well,lanked y twocolumns, t oneend;it
was
divided
nto two
usually
nequal
ections,
he
smaller
ontaining
he
entrance,
y
a
pier-and-door
partition
f four
bays;28
ne
or
two of
the
other
sides
of the
larger
ection29
avesimilar
artitions
which
open
on
columned
porticoes.
These columned
porticoes
are
L-shapedso
with
the
corner
support,
except
at
Phaistos,
a
square pier,
and
they
face out
on an
open
terrace.
A
secondary
and more
private
suite
of
rooms,
presumably
the
queen's,
is
reached
by
a narrow corridor
with doors
at both ends.
Off
this room one
door leads down
a few
steps
to
a
bathroom,
another
to more
private
rooms
beyond,
and a third connects with the terrace and its por-
ticoes.
Narrow
stairways
lead
directly
to the
rooms
above,
which
presumably
form
part
of the
same
system.
The Men's
Hall,
the
Queen's
Hall,
and
the
bathroom
have the lower
parts
of the walls
and
the
floor covered with
stone,
which with
the
exception
of Mallia
is
gypsum;
the
upper
walls are
sometimes
plastered
and
painted
with
designs,
particularly
at
Knossos and
Hagia
Triada,
but also at
Phaistos.-"
The
general
quality
of the
principal
rooms
both
in
regard
to size
and decoration
distinguishes
them
from the
ordinary
rooms
of the
palace.
One more
question
would seem worth
attempting
to
answer.
The ceremonial
rooms or
state
reception
rooms
were located-for
reasons we
have tried
to
suggest
elsewheres2-well
above
the
ground
floor
(in
the
"Piano
Nobile"). Why
then
was
the
lowest-and
this was
probably
the
principal-storey
of the
Residential
Quarter
placed
at the
ground
level,
in
fact often
considerably
below
the
general
ground
level of
the
palace?
And this
in
spite
of
the
fact that most
of the
area
at this
level was
given
over
to "service"
uses:
workrooms,
storage-rooms,
and
small cult rooms The explanation will, I think, be
plain
to
many
a man
who
today
prefers
his little
house
in the suburbs where
he can
step
out into
his small
back
garden
to
being
immured
in a
lofty
modern
apartment-house.
The halls
of the
Minoan
Residential
Quarter
could be
opened
wide,
as
we
have
seen,
on to
spacious
and
well-shaded
porticoes,
and from
these one
could
pass
into a
pleasant
open
court
or
garden,
sometimes
provided,
it
may
be,
with
descending
terraces,
and
commanding
a fine
panorama
over
the sea and
the
mountains. The
garden with its pools of water and formal plantings
of
flowers,
shrubs,
and
trees was a
familiar feature
of
the
home
of
the
Egyptian
noble of
the
second
millennium
B.c.
Appreciation
of the
delights
of
nature is
not a
discovery
of
modern
man 33
UNIVERSITY
OF
TORONTO
ROYAL
ONTARIO
MUSEUM
28
Only 3
bays
n
the
east
Residential
Quarter
t
Phaistos.
29
One side
at
Hagia
Triada
and both
examples
t
Phaistos;
two
at Malliaand
Knossos.
30
This
is
uncertain or
the north
Phaistos
xample.
81
Festbs
II,
295,
pl.
XL.
82AJA
6o
(1956) 151ff.
3S
Suites of
rooms
similar to
those
studied in
this
article
are
also to be
found
in
several
Minoan
houses.
Perhaps
the
clearest
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8/9/2019 The Residential Quarter of the Minoan Palace
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52
J.
WALTER
GRAHAM
[AJA
63
instance is
House A
a
at Mallia
(Demargne
and
Santerre,
•tudes
CrItoises
IX,
pls. 63, 66).
It
includes
a
large
"Men's
Hall"
(3) paved
with
irregular flagstones,
which
has a trans-
verse
four-bayed
pier-and-door
partition
and a
single-columned
light-well.
Reached
from
it
by
a narrow corridor
(5)
is
a
"Wom-
en's
Hall"
(6)
with
a
similar
floor;
the usual sunken bathroom
(7) opens off one side, while at the far end is a space enclosed
with
a thin
adobe-brick
wall,
probably
a
latrine. House
Z
a
at Mallia
(ibid.
pls.
65,
66)
is
similar
in
its
arrangement:
a
Men's Hall
(12)
and
a
Women's Hall
(5)-both
with
trans-
verse
partitions-with
a
latrine at
the
far
end;
a bathroom
(11)
opens
off a corridor
(14)
serving
both halls. Other
probable
examples
may
be seen in the
Royal
Villa,
Rooms
E, F, G,
H
(Palace of
Minos
II,
fig.
227);
the
House of the Chancel
Screen,
Rooms
4,
5,
6
(ibid.
fig. 224);
Nirou
Khani,
Rooms 2-10
(ibid.
fig.
167);
House B at
Palaikastro,
Rooms
2,
3,
6
(ibid. fig.
354);
Houses A and C at Tylissos (Hazzidakis, Tylissos, pl. 33);
and
perhaps
in the Little Palace
at Knossos
(Palace
of
Minos
II,
fig.
3I8).
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8/9/2019 The Residential Quarter of the Minoan Palace
8/11
GRAHAM
PLATE
15
•,','?,•,.
isi
.....
........11At
O
[J...j..iILIlERtv
Fig.
1.
Plan
of the
last
palace
at Phaistos
(adapted
from Festbs
I,
pl.
ii)
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8/9/2019 The Residential Quarter of the Minoan Palace
9/11
PLATE
I6
GRAHAM
Cr,8AIVP
r4, AtCA E
i l l
111111
Weii
A
Isd
r 7 7 7 Z
40L
W-
Fig.
2. Plan of Knossos
Residential
Quarter
.
,
-
..CI
,,
i,
,,,
,,,,,,,•,
M t
16
I
.
.
.•
•<
Fig. 3.
Plan of
Hagia
Triada
Residential
Quarter
"1t
6?e
i
63
~i C-.1I.C"t?? .4,f
~= -?i
VI .,
I r
.( t C
77~
,.."i
:33 I
?s
r;*
Z ''
-cV~ ~?,.
z .~:.?c?.~c~--~
i-r r
i
7.:
1LtS) : r,:
I r :
_. t?
r
;.:?:?;??
rsL-
7,,
.~
I? '
I'
---?c:,'~L?
i
~j
6,c76
i
\1
r~
3
ij
vr"fW ~,I Y/rl i /~C
i r
cu~br, 9'
r" ~ ?t
M-
r L I:_
P"ilome
f'~
i
r
1
Fig. 4.
Plan of
Phaistos
southeast
Residential
Quarter
North
at
top
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8/9/2019 The Residential Quarter of the Minoan Palace
10/11
GRAHAM PLATE
17
at
L.
16
...
i
L...~~~ h om.)
Fig.
5.
Plan
of
Phaistos
north
Residential
Quarter
i
\
~7-"
?
-,
"I
"
l
Ilf,
...
.~ .
--
-,
..
h i
..-
t
V~~?
(~j
~ ,om.~
JCffrd
Fig.
6.
Plan
of
Mallia Residential
Quarter
North
at
top
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8/9/2019 The Residential Quarter of the Minoan Palace
11/11
Fig. 7. Phaistos north Residential Quarter
from east
Fig. io. Mallia Residen
from south
Fig.
8.
Phaistos
southeast
Residential
Quarter
from southwest
Fig.
9.
Hagia
Triada
Resi
and
view
from so