1). In
this part of the building, and especially in the Colonnaded Hall,
the conflagration in which the glories of Knossos found their close
had been extremely severe, and the evidences of fierce burning
were everywhere. In a small room in an upper storey, whose floor
was near the present surface of the ground, there came to light
also evidence which suggested that the catastrophe of the palace,
in whatever form it may have come, came suddenly and unexpectedly.
The room had evidently been a sculptor's workshop, and the artist
who used it had been employed in the fabrication of those splendid
vessels of carved stone in which the Minoan magnates delighted. One
of them still stood in the room, finished and ready for transport.
It was carved from a veined limestone approaching to marble in
texture, and was of noble proportions, standing 27-1/4 inches in
height, while its girth was 6 feet 8-3/4 inches, and its weight
such that it took eleven men to carry it from the room where it had
waited so long for its resurrection. Its workmanship was superb.
The upper rim was decorated with a spiral band, while round the
bulging shoulder ran another spiral, whose central coils rose up
in bold relief into forms like the shell of a snail, and its three
handles bore another spiral design. But beside it stood another
amphora, smaller than its neighbour, and giving unmistakable proof
that the artist's work had been suddenly interrupted, for it had
only been roughed out, and its decoration had not been begun.
Pages:
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106