Page:History of Art in Primitive Greece - Mycenian Art Vol 2.djvu/184

 The House and the Palace. 143 Menelaus, and Alcinous contain a number of ^&KoifMi, ** sleeping chambers," which were grouped ** at the end of the house " (Iv jttwx^ Sojttoti) ; ^ one of the rooms in the house of Odysseus is called SaXa/jio^ itr-^farog, *' the last apartment";^ that is to say, the one situated as far as possible from the front door. Similarly, at Tiryns, we see a whole series of rooms at the north-east angle, e.g. at the farthest corner of the court and of its TrpoOupov, the dimensions and arrangement of which indicate that they were the bedrooms of the house. And, if we take the leading lines of the houses of Odysseus and Alcinous, not only shall we find striking analogies between them, but also with the two edifices from which we have borrowed the elements of our restoration. The result is a picture such as one could have imaged forth even before Schliemanns advent. Hence, the first impulse of the critic who has just compared the buildings in question, would be to affirm that Schliemann and his associates have given us back specimens, more or less complete, of the architectural type which Homer had before his eyes. Ere we yield to so fascinating a temptation, it will be well to glance at the objections that have been raised, and the reserves that are still kept on the subject.^ A main difference between the plan of the Tirynthian palace and that distilled from Homeric data is the following : in the former the portion which appears to be the women's quarter is situated at a certain distance from the megaron ; its only means of communication with it are long, narrow, winding passages ; whereas the whole context of the poem is to the effect that the gynecaeum, in the house of Odysseus, was immediately behind the great hall ; that both the end and side-walls were pierced with doors which opened directly on the women's apartments. Of these some are on the ground-floor, and others on the first storey, where Penelope is generally to be found. The private apartments, then, were connected with the great hall where the pretenders sit by the front and side doors, which permitted of unbroken movement to and fro. On the other hand, the megaron at Tiryns had no outlet except through the front door. The case, it would appear, was somewhat different at Mycense ; quite ^ Consult, above all, R. C. J ebb, -T/ie Homeric House in Relation to tlu Remains at Tiryns (Hellenic Studies) ; and Otto Puchstein, Jahrbuch des k. d, archa. Instituts. Both authors cite recent studies bearing on the subject. See also Tsoundas, M vici/rni.
 * Odyssey. * Ih'd.