Page:A history of architecture on the comparative method for the student, craftsman, and amateur.djvu/151

 GREEK ARCHITECTURE, 93 At Tiryns, situated by the sea coast to the south-west of Athens, and at Mycenae, remains have been discovered of recent years by Drs. SchHemann and Dorpfeld which are of the greatest interest in showing the general arrangement of other palaces (No. 15 f). At Mycenae, flights of steps lead to an outer courtyard, from which, by traversing a portico and vestibule, the megaron, or principal men's apartment, is reached. From this megaron, sur- rounded by a roof and open to the sky in the centre, were reached other chambers, whose uses are not defined. The women's chambers are considered by some authorities to be planned so as to afford the greatest seclusion, while others, notably Prof. Ernest Gardner, hold that little or no attempt was made at seclusion, and bring strong evidence to bear from literary authorities, principally from Homer. The plans of domestic buildings appear to have resembled, on a smaller scale, the general arrange- ment of the palaces as is seen in the remains at Athens, Delos, and Priene, dating from the Hellenic period. They appear to have been of one story only, and grouped around an internal courtyard or peristyle. Vitruvius (Book VI., chapter x.) refers to their general arrangement, when he says there was no atrium, but a peristylium with a portico on three sides, and chambers grouped around. It is generally held that the Graeco- Roman houses of Pompeii may be taken as typical examples (No. 65 a, b), and these may be referred to on page 162. PROPYL^A. Propyl^ea were erected as entrance gateways to many of the principal cities of Greece, and those at Athens, Epidauros, Sunium, Eleusis, and Priene are the best known. The Propylaea, Athens (No. 26), were erected under Pericles by the architect Mnesicles in b.c. 437. It is at the west end of the Acropolis (No. 17), being reached by a long flight of steps from the plain beneath. It has front and rear hexastyle Doric porticos at different levels, giving access to a great covered hall, having a wide central passage bounded by two rows of Ionic columns, and having at its eastern end a wall in which are five doorways of different heights. On either side of the western entrance portico are projecting wings having three smaller Doric columns, that to the north being used as a picture gallery, while that to the south was never completed. The general external appearance is well shown in the restored view (No. i). TOMBS. The most important from an architectural point of view are found in Asia Minor. The Harpy Tomb, Xanthos, in Lycia