Page:History of Art in Primitive Greece - Mycenian Art Vol 2.djvu/147

 1 12 Primitive Greece: Mycenian Art. If he succeeded in breaking down the first, he found himself in the inner chamber of the structure, with a second barrier in front of him. The Argolic citadels were similarly planned. Thus at Tiryns, the enemy, after successfully scaling the ramp (PI. II. A A) and crossing the narrow corridor pierced in the eastern wall, was far from being master of the situation ; he had to continue his march between two walls, from the top of which missiles were rained down upon him ; at the end of which he would come against a heavy gate, and find himself caught as in a trap, for the doors, being firmly fixed to huge stone uprights, could not be easily forced. The Lions Gate, which was closed by folding-doors, was apparently followed, four metres fifty centi- jlf hd'^^ cAaussee ^^ !^r'^ jifOJfp - oi/^'tr de Z ACI(OJ'OCF Fig. 295. — Plan of north-west angle of citadel. metres in its rear, by a second gate, pierced in a wall of no great depth, the foundations of which alone remain. When these works had been carried, the invader debouched on an esplanade bounded southward by the sacred precinct, overhung on the right by the circuit and on the left by a Cyclopaean wall, which supported the lower esplanade of the upper city, thickly studded with habit- ations. Behind the north-eastern postern, b, there is a wall which runs parallel to the circuit for about thirty metres, leaving a narrow space between it and the boundary wall, where the invader who had obtained a first success on that side would be exposed to the missiles of the garrison posted on the summit of the double rampart. If the principal entrance at Mycence was planned on a more simple system than at Tiryns, it may have been because it was