Empty Space? Courts and Squares in Mycenaean Towns William Cavanagh
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8 Empty Space? Courts and Squares in Mycenaean Towns William Cavanagh Introduction ... TOC 6e SGOQCX avcd; avSQcav AYCXM^VGOV 0108x0) eg pieaoT|v dyoQr|v, i'va jrdvxeg Ayaioi Whilst much has been written about open 6cp6cd[ioiaiv i'Soaai... spaces in Minoan architecture (Indelicate 1982), such as the Central Courts (e.g. Davis Urban open space is an arena for political 1987, Graham 1969: 73-83) and the West action and, arguably, an analysis of the Courts (Marinatos 1987) and complexes such arrangement of courts and squares in as the Agora at Mallia (H. and M. van Mycenaean towns might throw light on the Effenterre 1969, H. van Effenterre 1980: I relationship between ruler and ruled. Thus, 189-95 with further references), open spaces to quote a parallel even more remote from in Mycenaean architecture have not attracted Bronze Age Greece, the articulation of public much comment. The distinction between the and private space in medieval cities was a Minoan Central Court, a sacred space, and material expression of the political conflict the Mycenaean court, a means of approach between town governance and private privi- (Lawrence 1983: 93) or a busy thoroughfare lege (Heers 1984). For example wealthy mer- (Taylour 1983: 93), has become almost a topos, cantile families could express patronage and but somewhat to the detriment of the earn rents from letting pitches for market Mycenaean. It may be that the study of stalls in 'their' squares (Rayerson 1997) but Mycenaean courts received a fatal blow early their right to such spaces was challenged by on with Schliemann's notion that Grave the town's administration, which required Circle A represented an Homeric agora, like access and demanded control. It is not that depicted on the Shield of Achilles entirely out of the question that sectors or (Schliemann 1880: esp. 125-29, 338-39, II. blocks of Bronze Age towns were under the xviii 497-508, he ascribes the idea to Paley). wing of (rival) leading families. Miiller wrote Although sceptical of the value of the in terms of 'Kavalierhauser' (1930: 168), and Homeric precedent for explaining Kilian has recently proposed the theory that Mycenaean practice, I believe that there is a the Lawagetas' residences can be recognized useful general point that can be illustrated in buildings subsidiary to the main megaron from the poems: that those in power need to (1987a). At the same time we can point to be seen to act before the people. On the Shield associations of the tombs of more and less Copyright © 2001. Sheffield Academic Press. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except fair uses permitted under U.S. or applicable copyright law. the elders decide openly and before the peo- powerful (Mee and Cavanagh 1990: 234), ple. Odysseus makes much the same point a perhaps reflecting in death social alliances littlEBSCOe late Publishingr (II. xi x: 172-4eBook Academic) Collection (EBSCOhost) - thaprintedt ha ond 1/19/2015 been 2:22importan PM via BROWNt in UNIVERSITYlife. Indeed AN: 377742 ; Branigan, Keith.; Urbanism in the Aegean Bronze Age Account: rock 120 Urbanism in the Aegean Bronze Age tombs and houses are curiously intercalated An approach to the study of courts and at a number of Mycenaean settlements. But squares our knowledge of the configuration of houses and open space in what excavators The analysis to follow attempts to draw from often call the 'lower' towns, outside the the design of squares inferences about their citadels, is frustratingly limited. All the role. This approach is open to objection. People same, putting aside the rather special case of do not always behave as architects and plan- Gla, there is no indication in mainland ners would have them. Thus on the planned Greece of paved squares contemporary with high-rise estates of the 1960s (AD) spaces envis- the Piazzale dei Saccelli or the large court in aged by their architects as friendly, communal, front of the Great Stoa at Ayia Triadha, on social areas, are today said to be stalked by Crete. The latter follow Minoan antecedents crime and violence, and shunned by residents. and thus belong to a different cultural In a similar vein note that important assemblies tradition. can gather in any open space, it need not be There are, naturally, fundamental differ- enclosed by walls or clearly demarcated within ences between the medieval and Bronze Age a town (though the Homeric agora, as it hap- towns, for example the sort of market pens, was quite formalized, see Wees 1992: 29, exchange crucial to the medieval town does and agoras of the 8th century BC have been not apply under the bureaucratic administra- recognised at Megara Hyblaia and Dreros, see tion centred in the palaces to be discussed Vallet 1973 and de Polignac 1995: 8-11). In here (though it would be a mistake to rule out response I would say that here the theme is not commercial exchange from Mycenaean the everyday interaction of individuals, but the Greece see, for example, Wiener 1987, the meeting of ruler and ruled, always a formal papers in Gale 1991, Shelmerdine 1997: 567). occasion, and usually one that is stage- Nevertheless Heers has stressed that the managed. To anticipate, the Mycenaean courts monumentalization of the grand piazzas in were the result of an evolution, which shaped the Italian cities was an expression of civic them to their end, and they were an expression polity, and quite distinct from the provision of a self-conscious idiom aimed at providing an of markets. Indeed there are many cases from architectural set for the exercise of power. different cultures where expenditure lav- As a means of broaching the question it is ished on the religious/political centre was proposed to look at the following characteris- not matched in the markets: recall, for exam- tics: ple, the ritual precincts in the Aztec sites of Tenochtitlan and Tlatelolco with their mas- - access sive monuments, and beside them the huge - size but simple markets. - orientation Here the more specific question is asked - focus how are we to understand the courts and - perspective open spaces in Mycenaean palaces. Political - visibility assembly, religious procession, military - appointment muster, economic transaction, organisation of - frontage labour, supply and circulation might all form part of the answer. What can archaeology tell These terms are jargon and require some Copyright © 2001. Sheffield Academic Press. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except fair uses permitted under U.S. or applicable copyright law. us? attempt to turn them into English. Access EBSCO Publishing : eBook Academic Collection (EBSCOhost) - printed on 1/19/2015 2:22 PM via BROWN UNIVERSITY AN: 377742 ; Branigan, Keith.; Urbanism in the Aegean Bronze Age Account: rock Empty Space? Courts and Squares in Mi/cenaean Toivns 121 raises the question of how easy or difficult it not extend so far as the Court did (Miiller might be for an individual to enter the court. 1930: 134). Indeed, although he eventually Thus Wright (1994; cf. Kilian 1987a, 28 rejected the hypothesis, Miiller entertained 'Megaron als Endglied einer architektonis- the theory that the west portico was part of chen Steigerungskette') has emphasized 'cen- an earlier construction, later incorporated tredness' as an organising principle in into the Great Court when that was first laid Mycenaean settlement form, and the impor- out. This theory makes good sense, and tance of monumental entrances marking a Miiller's arguments for rejecting it are not progress through a series of boundaries to the overwhelming. The south and east portico innermost seat of authority. Size can set a would seem also to go with the winding cor- limit to the capacity of a square and reflects ridor, 36, itself an integral part of the East its monumentality. Orientation and focus are Wing at Tiryns, now dated to the later LH IIIB characteristics of the shape and sense of phase (Kilian 1987a: 28). Finally the Great direction given to the space. Is it broad, or Court at Mycenae also seems to be approxi- long and narrow? Is it directed towards an mately contemporary with the other two, and obvious focal point? Visibility and perspective replaced some earlier disposition. Thus Wace mean, in the first place, is someone standing observed that traces of an earlier north wall in the space easily seen by others, and in the implied a different arrangement which pre- second, does someone standing in the space ceded the megaron and Court (Wace 1921-23: have a clear view of their surroundings. 195). The date of the formation of the Court at Appointment can include furnishings, such as Mycenae is bound up with the construction an altar or a podium, and decoration, such as of the Grand Staircase (Wace 1921-23: painted plaster. Frontage refers to the build- 179-86). Indeed a massive conglomerate ings which look onto the space. threshold (unfortunately displaced in the nineteenth century) marked the passage from the 'anteroom' (Mylonas 1966: 66 suggests The Great Courts that the 'anteroom' was an unroofed court), at the top of the Staircase, to the Court. The The Development of the Great Court creation of the Staircase involved the destruc- The Great Courts (those fronting the megara) tion of the Pillar Basement. Now the con- at Mycenae, Tiryns and Pylos are creations of struction of the Pillar Basement was no the thirteenth century BC (cf. Kilian 1987a: 33: earlier than LH IIIA2, to judge from the 'die grossraumigen Megara eine Bauform, sherds illustrated by Wace (1921-23: pi. 31 die erst in der SH IIIB-zeit hinzukam'; j-o; though there was clearly some later dis- Shelmerdine 1997: 558-59).