Page:History of Art in Primitive Greece - Mycenian Art Vol 1.djvu/212

 Troy. 189 by Schliemann, offers a striking resemblance to the doorway on the south-west side, such as it appears to-day, after its many rehandlings and additions. The former was probably built when the passage running inside the great southern tower became obstructed (PL I.). Both entrances have double folding-doors, a recess, and thresholds, and a body of masonry at the back turned to the esplanade. The only difference is this : the south-eastern portal is statelier, its side-walls are thicker, and the path leading to it broader. If the gate fo passed through a primitive and simpler state, it cannot now be made out. The fortifications we have just described belong to the heyday of the life of the city. Confused vestiges of later erections, of flanking towers and walls, are also noticeable, raised, it would appear, in front of the gateway and extending on one side along the rampart, and on the other towards the opening, so as to contract it. These defensive works suggest the idea of having been hastily run up under pressure of imminent danger, or at the beginning of a siege.^ Apart from these great gateways, were smaller ones, which might be used for a sortie, when prudence counselled to have the others barred and bolted. Of these one is still found hidden away in a re-entering angle of the wall, close to the old western gate (fk, pi. I.). The bed of ruin and silt with which it was covered accounts for its marvellous state of preservation (Fig. 45) ; in the wall is seen the hole for the bar which served to close the doorway. Pierced in the rampart of the second period, this gate was furnished with a lintel and wooden jambs. As the workmen uncovered it, they found in place large carbonized pieces of the frame, which M. Dorpfeld had removed and replaced by iron girders to prevent the masonry from giving way. The door opened into a narrow, sloping corridor, which debouched into the upper portion of the passage f l. When this was blocked up, a flight of steps connected the postern with the topmost esplanade. No gates have as yet been reported from the north and east faces ; but from the fact that a ramp akin to the incline of the south-western side (bc, PI. I.) has been recognized towards is indicated on the plan by broken, parallel strokes. The city never ceased to have here one of its main entrances ; near and above the excavated gateway are the remains of two propylsea, dating from the Greek and Roman period respectively.
 * Dorpfeld, Bericht^ 1891. What remains of these hurried constructions