Compare and contrast the Palace at Knossos and the Citadel of Tyrns. Discuss how geography affected artistic and contrast the materials, techniques, and appearance of Minoan and Mycenaean architecture. Think about the differing ornamental strategies in Minoan and Mycenaean architecture and the role of animals in Minoan and Mycenaean art.

Question

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Answer 1

The Citadel of Tyrns was located about 10 miles from Mycenae. In the 2nd century, when Pausanias visited the citadel he was marveled by the fortification and strength of the citadel. Historians still believe the massive fortification of the walls of Tyrn was because of Cyclopean masonry. The walls of the citadel clearly reveal defensive characteristics. THey average about 20 feet in thickness. The builders piled large cyclopean blocks in horizontal courses. No mortar was used. The vault is held in place by weighted blocks, and by smaller stones used as wedges, with clay that filled the empty spaces. The Palace of Knossos was the largest and was the Palace of King Minos. The word 'labyrinth' is derived by the structure of this pace because it had such intricate plans and scores of rooms. The Palace of Knossos was structured and built on a the upper slope on a low hill so that it will 'rise' from a fertile plain. Around the palace laid the villas and homes of the Minoan elite. It was almost three stories tall. They were constructed with thick walls composed of rough fieldstone's embedded in clay. THe wooden columns were painted nicely. The bull-leaping piece at Knossos depicts the Minoan ceremony, in which young men grasp bulls.