Fuly 8, 1886] 
containing long rows of small vaulted chambers averaging 
about 14 feet by 12, all opening into a long vaulted 
passage, the whole formed in the thickness of the wall 
itself, which at some places consists of nearly 4o feet of 
masonry. Two stories of these chambers existed, one 
above the other: the lower story is of solid stone 
masonry, built of large hammer-dressed blocks, bedded in 
clay cement. The upper tier of chambers was built of 
sun-baked bricks, like the upper part of the wall round 
Athens, carefully protected from the weather by coatings 
of very hard durable stucco. This top story of rooms 
opened into a long open /eggza or colonnade, with a flat 
roof supported by a range of wooden columns, each on a 
stone footing block. 
The columns themselves are of course no longer in 
existence, but their size and positions are clearly shown 
Scale of Yards 
o s jo__t5__20 
PLAN OF THE PALACE MEASURED BY Dr. D6RPFELD. 
1, Main gate in outer wall; 2, inner gate; 3, main propylaum; 4. inner 
propylzum ; 5, court of the men with surrounding cloister, 6, aithousa, 
or portico ; 7, prodcmos, or vestibule ; 8, men’s hall; 9, bath room and 
small chambers ; 10, chambers rourd the court ; rr, guard-room by the 
Fropylezum ; 12, passage from propyleum to the women’s part; 13, 73, 
courts of the women; 14, women’s hall; 15, chambers of the women’s 
part ; 16, 16, passage from the women’s part to the outer fostern; 17, 
postern door, approached by rock-cut steps ; 18, outer wall of Acropolis ; 
19, inner wall of entrance passage ; 20, outer wall with rows of chambers ; 
21, side entrance to men’s court. 
by the stone base on which each stood. These extensive 
series of chambers in the wall of Tiryns served, no doubt, 
to accommodate the garrison of the place—exactly as 
was the case in the Pheenician cities of Thapsus and 
Carthage. The enormous number of 24,00c men are 
said to have had lodging in the walls of the Carthaginian 
Acropolis (Appianus of Alexandria, “ Hist. Rom,” i. 
p- 220), and recent discoveries have shown that this 
statement may very possibly have been no exaggeration. 
More than a third of the whole Acropolis of Tiryns 
was occupied by the palace of its ruler—a very compli- 
cated building designed with much architectural skill, 
and showing complete uniformity of design combined 
with very distinct adaptation to a clearly defined 
purpose. 
NATURE 
219 
With the exception of three very narrow posterns, 
there is only one entrance into the citadel ; and this is very 
skilfully contrived so as to make its defence as easy as 
possible. 
After breaking through the outer gate, which was com- 
manded by a tower on the right or unshielded side of the 
enemy, the assailants would have found themselves in a 
narrow passage with massive walls on both sides, and 
strong inner gates at each end; and in this cramped 
space would be subjected to a heavy fire of missiles 
poured down upon them fron all sides. 
After passing the inner gate in a southern direction, a 
handsome propyleeum or porch was reached: this was 
decorated on both sides by a portico of two columns zz 
antis, and is very similar in plan to the propylzum of the 
sacred inclosure at Eleusis—a work of the fifth century 
B.C. (See the accompanying woodcut of the plan.) 
After passing through an open court, a second propy- 
leeum of similar design was reached, and then the visitor 
found himself in the cloistered court of the men’s part of 
the palace. In the central open space stands the altar to 
Zeus Herkeios, which is frequently named in the Homeric 
poems, built over a small pit cut in the rock, into which 
would fall the blood and ashes from the burnt offering on 
the altar above. Opposite the entrance to the court is 
the great hall or Megaron (about 4o feet by 32), ap- 
proached through an open-columned portico and an inner 
vestibule. The roof of the hall was partly supported on 
four wooden columns, which appear to have carried an 
open “lantern,” formed to carry off the smoke from the 
fire, which burnt on a round hearth in the middle of the 
room ; very much as was the case in the hall of a medi- 
zval house or college. 
On the west side of the hall of the men are a number 
of small chambers—probably the sleeping-apartments of 
the bachelor members of the family. One small room, 
about 12 feet by 10, is of extraordinary interest. It is 
evidently a bath-room ; its floor is formed of one enor- 
mous slab of stone, carefully chiselled so as to drain out 
at one point where a stone drain-pipe is carried through 
the wall, and so into the main drain of the house. 
The bath itself, in size and form very like a modern 
one, was of terra-cotta decorated with a spiral ornament 
in red. 
The walls of the bath-room were lined with wooden 
planks about 1o inches wide; their lower ends were 
fastened by wooden dowels to the stone flooring block, 
the edge of which all round the room is raised slightly 
where the wood wall-lining rested on it: evidently in 
order that water splashed on the stone floor might not 
soak under the wood lining ; a piece of refinement which 
shows much thought and labour spent on matters of 
detail. , 
The eastern half of the palace consists of the apart- 
ments reserved for the women and the married members 
of the chief’s family. This also has a hall with a central 
hearth, and isapproached through a single vestibule from 
another open court. The smaller rooms, of which there 
are a great many, onthis side appear to have been two 
stories high: traces of the staircase still exist. 
Though a separate group of apartments appears to 
have been provided for the women, yet they were by no 
means shut off from ready access either to the outer world, 
or to the men’s part of the house. There are at least 
three ways by which the wcmen’s rooms could be reached : 
one from the side of the outer propyleum, another 
through the court of the men, and lastly a long passage 
leads round the back of the men’s hall to the long flight 
of rock-cut steps leading down to the postern in the semi- 
circular bastion. Another door at a higher level gave 
direct communication between the hall of the men and 
the apartments of the women. 
The walls of this palace were built of roughly-dressed 
stone bedded in clay up toa height of about 2 feet above 
