Another group of buildings, supposed, though without authority, to be the women’s quarters, lies to the east of the great hall, from which, however, it is completely cut off by a solid wall; it is entered by two circuitous passages, one leading from the first propylæa, the other from a postern gate in the western rampart. Here again the plan shows an open court, without an altar, from which a vestibule admits to a smaller megaron.
The floors of the megara are of stucco, incised with a series of lines, coloured blue and red, while the walls are decorated with frescoes as in the palace at Cnossus, one of the best preserved paintings showing a bull-fight scene. On the other hand, the palace of Tiryns shows part of a frieze of alabaster, sculptured in relief with rosettes and interlacing patterns and studded with jewel-like pieces of blue glass or enamel.
The walls to a height of about three feet above ground were of stone, above which they were continued with sun-dried bricks; the upper story being probably of wood, with roofs of stamped earth. The doorways, though sometimes of wood, were more usually constructed of monoliths. Bronze cup-like sockets, let into the stone thresholds, show that the doors revolved upon a pivot.
It is agreed that while the palace of Tiryns represents the general character of a royal house, as it is pictured in the Homeric poems, it is a mistake to look in it for an explanation of details of arrangement.
BOOK III
CLASSIC PERIOD
CHAPTER I
HELLENIC CIVILISATION
The use of the term Hellenic can be traced back to the seventh century B.C. It was the name under which the various streams of migration—Achæan, Æolian, Dorian, and Ionian—merged their differences in the proud recognition of a common race.
The date and extent of these migrations are clouded with obscurity; but certain points are clear. The Ionians came from Armenia and settled in Asia Minor and the adjacent islands, while the other three penetrated into Greece from the shores of the Baltic. The Achæan was the first to arrive and had maintained a long civilisation before the later migration of Æolians and Dorians. The Dorian invasion seems to have been especially aggressive and after fastening a hold upon the mainland of Greece extended to the Ægean Archipelago, overrunning Crete and wresting supremacy of the Mediterranean from the Minoan Sea-Kings about 1000 B.C.