Page:History of Art in Primitive Greece - Mycenian Art Vol 1.djvu/533

 5o6 Primitive Greece: Mycenian Art. in situ^ which once carried timbered beams. The upper face of some of these blocks shows that they were never intended to carry a second stone (Fig. 84) ; but these are exceptional cases: almost all the blocks could have lent themselves to such a superimposition, but as they have dowel-holes on the surface they must have borne wooden pieces. This applies to bases with smooth fields. Thus, the adjoining walls of quarry-stone are preserved to a height of one metre, whilst antae are every- where represented by a single huge block, half-a-metre high. Given their dimensions, these blocks ran less risk of being carried away and re-used or destroyed than smaller building materials. Hence we have no hesitation in asserting that no matter the con- dition of their surface, these blocks were never followed by a second or third course ; they are no more than a stone basement, a plinth whose function was the same as that of the pillar base. The Mycenian constructor, then, knew how to utilize enormous masses of stone in the erection of his citadel-walls ; he showed himself an adept when he shaped out his units in unending variety, which he used for gateways, frontispieces, and royal tombs. But when he was required to build habitations that should be worthy of the powerful and wealthy princes for whom they were intended, he still clung to wood as to a friend of long standing, who could not well be given too big a place. From timber, accordingly, were derived the masterpieces of his edifice, its springs as it were, and on these he counted for carrying the very considerable weight of the flat roof. Mouldings. A stone architecture, as soon as it has constituted itself, possesses distinct mouldings of its own ; and these are not among the least elements that contribute to its originality. This is the case with the architecture of both Egypt and Greece. Mycenian construction, compounded with rubble and wood, was not calcu- lated to foster variety or great expansion of mouldings. Besides, the upper parts of the palace, where all the resources of the builder's art would have been lavished, are gone, and all we ^ Stone bases, with bits of wood still adhering to them, have been found in the Mycenian palace as well.