The palace is a complex of different buildings. The Central Palace, more than 50m long and 32m wide, was definitely the Royal residence. At the southwest we can find another venue smaller than the Central Palace but of considerable size that might be the oldest part of the complex. Both venues were operational all of the 13th century B.C. until their destruction at about 1200B.C. Apart from the normal rooms each of the two buildings had its official quarters, storage rooms and also a separate wine cellar located at the back and to the right of each of them. At the northeast an independent big building is located which could be a workshop. It is possible that in that building were storied and repaired parts of chariots and other metallic and leathern equipment. At the northwest of the Workshop between the latter and the wine cellar of the Central Palace, there have been found smaller buildings, that probably were the residences of the servants and the slaves.
Architecture
Wood was the main material used in large amounts for the construction of the Palace. Even the walls made of stones had been built with scaffolding systems. Also the columns, the frames of the doors and the roof were made of woods and exactly that characteristic explains why the Palace was so easily destroyed by the catastrophic fire of 1200 B.C. All of the external walls of the Palace were built with carved rectangular flint stones. The internal walls were mainly built with uncut stones of diverse size. Internal walls had varnishing of wall plaster and the official rooms were decorated with frescos.
The two buildings had a second floor accessible by stairs. The walls of the upper floor were built with raw stones also with scaffolding systems within like all of the walls in the Palace. The roof had to be formed flat in two or more levels. Over the Hall of the Throne the ceiling definitely was higher than the ceiling of the sides.
Central Palace
 The main entrance to the Central Palace was located at the southeast side of the building and somebody to get there had to walk through a spacious yard covered with plastering. The entrance was a simple porch with one column at front and another at the back of every side. The stone feet of the columns maintain on their position until today and they are surrounded by layers of plastering that used to decorate the lower part of the columns. The columns were made of wood and had 64 stripes as it can be inferred by the remaining. When somebody enters the main entrance he can observe on his left the place where the guard stood watching the main door and also a smaller door that led to two rooms where probably the tax collector was settled. At those two rooms there were found nearly one thousand tablets with signs in Linear B writing. In June of 1952 Michael Ventris managed to decode Linear B writing, which proved to be one of the oldest Greek writings. The signs that now can be read are balance sheets of the administrative office of the Palace.
 When somebody passes the main entrance he enters where the interior yard was located. Straight ahead rose the projecting roof of the official quarters with two columns at its front. On the left there were two rooms that probably one of them was for food storage and the other worked as a foyer, where the visitors used to wait until they were accepted by the king. The foyer was decorated with a desk that had plastering and writings on it. At the corner there was a pedestal made of clay decorated with drawings. It contained two big jars likely full of wine. In the side room food was stored with hundreds of cups on its wooden selves. The cups nowadays deformed by the great heating are all over the floor like when they fell during the fire that destroyed the Palace.
 When the king was ready to accept the visitors ,the servants led the visitors towards the room with the two columns. Nowadays the only part of these columns that is preserved is the basis. The walls in that room seems to have been richly decorated with wood and peaces of fabric. On the right next to the entrance there was one more guard or servant. Through the gate the visitors entered the Prodrome, which like the Main Hall, had varnished floor with plastering and walls with colorful paintings. Straight forward there was another gate that was also guarded and led to the most important room, the Hall of the Throne.
There in the center was located the great worshiping fireside. It was made of clay covered with plastering and was lifted 0.20m over ground level. . It was also symmetrically rounded by four columns made of wood, that sustained a garret and an attic window. The latter was helpful for the ventilation and the illumination of the Hall. There was also a chimney for the smoke of the fire side made of two earthen tubes. The Throne was located in the middle of the right wall facing the fireside. It was made of wood decorated with ivory or another material that unfortunately was vanished during the fire. The Hall of the Throne (12.9m long and 11.2m wide) was well illuminated and had colorful drawings. The floor was separated to red, blue, yellow, white and black squares, while in front of the Throne there was a naturally painted octopus.
The fireside had also paintings of symbolic flames. Near the west column of the fireside it was found an earthen table for offerings covered with plastering. The columns with its 32 stripes and the wooden parts of the ceiling were probably painted with vivid colors. Frescos covered the walls across the Hall. The Throne was guarded by two griffins standing face to face and each of them had a lion behind him. Close to the east corner of the Hall there was found parts of a fresco picturing a man seating on a rock playing the lyre.
Next to the Throne and on the right of the king there was a strange structure. There was a sallow tub with a small water course in V shape, that led to another lower tub about 2m. further of the first. It was probably used by the King in order to assist him to make offerings to the Gods without standing up of the Throne.
The narrow openings, that could be observed in different distances in the walls of the Hall, at first contained wooden beams which were very popular during the Mycenaean era to sustain the walls. It is obvious that these wooden beams played an important role at the spread of the fire that destroyed the Palace.
At first it seems that there was a long corridor at every side of the Hall that led to the several nearby rooms. The corridor on the left (the southwest side) was later divided with transversal walls in order to create new rooms. In the five small rooms at the west corner of the building there were found dozens of broken pots and they were most likely storage rooms. The long and narrow room next to the Hall of the Throne contained several pots of different sizes and shapes and part of a table for offerings to the Gods. The room to the left that used to have wooden selves on each side contains exactly 2.853 cups all broken. The other three storage rooms were also filled with pots and cups of at least 23 different shapes. Totally more than 6.000 pots and cups and other things were found in these rooms.
 Behind the Hall of the Throne there were two large warehouses, where the oil was stored in big jars that were deeply placed in earthen benches. Seventeen jars were found in room 23 and sixteen in room 24. Also in room 23 there were found many tablets, most of them broken, that contained information about the storage of the oil. It is worth to mention that the word ‘έ λ α ι ο ν’ (ELEON) that is used on the tablets and means oil is the same that is still used after thousands of years in the Greek language for oil. Additionally through the northeast corridor of the Hall of the Throne someone could reach a storage room also for oil. In that room sixteen large jars where discovered that most likely contained oil.
Across the Hall of the Throne, on the right, a series of five rooms of different sizes can be found. The one at the northwest contained 12 jars for oil and many more smaller pots. It seems that this room was used to stock oil of the best quality. The other four rooms looks like that they were empty during the great fire or had in their interior flammable goods. It is noticeable that in the middle room there were found parts of burnt ivory broken in tiny pieces. Certainly they had fallen down of the upper room and were parts of combs and jewelry of the ladies of the Palace that seems to have been using the rooms above the five storage rooms.
Opposite the side gate of the Prodrome(that is in front of the Hall of the Throne) there still are eight stone steps that were part of the stairs that led to the second floor of the Palace. Measurements have shown that there had to be totally 21 steps at the stairs. At the other side of the Palace that was also connected with a gate of the Prodrome two steps of another staircase are preserved. At this staircase after nine steps there was a stair head. Turning to the right and after 2 or 3 steps there was another stair head. Turning again to the right and after 9 or 10 steps there you met the second floor that was about 3.25m higher than the first.
The long hallway continues beyond the northeast staircase until it meets another corridor that leads to the left and near the great projecting roof of the Hall of the Throne. In that location someone could enter a small lobby that drives to the left to two separate rooms that contained very interesting pottering. Another door of the lobby drove straight to a Porch with a wooden column at its front and stone base. The Porch was widen at the northeast to a relatively big yard covered with plastering. That had to be the private yard of the King during the moments that he wanted privacy or didn’t wish to meet any guests. The wall that surrounds the yard was definitely constructed at the latest period of the Palace. During earlier years there was a path through that yard that led to the north east edge of the Acropolis. At that ‘modern’ wall opposite of the Porch there was a small square opening that probably was used to bring water. There are no signs indicating that there was a permanent tank of water in the yard.
Beyond the northwest side of the yard we can see the only part preserved of the initial outer wall of the Central Palace. Its front consists of big porous stones that were put symmetrically but have odd conjunctions in V shape. All of the porous stones of the second row had holes that were used to fasten a big wooden beam about 0.3m thick. About four rows higher there was probably another same beam fasten at the length of the wall. If there were openings for windows it is not proved by the findings. The lowest beam could be used as a door step and the upper beam as a lintel. A little bit to the northwest and beyond the yard there was a rather wide cavity probably serving the esthetics of the outer wall, and there probably was a window. Outside the wall to the northwest we can still find pieces of the big porous stones that were spread over a quite large area during the period of time. Looking from the yard we can see 5 or 6 rows of the stones that each of them it is likely to represent a layer of the wall. It is clear that a big part of the wall fell during the great fire that destroyed the Palace. The amount of oil storied in warehouse 32 could actually explode if the fire was big enough.
Turning around to the foyer we can see a huge number of broken pots and jars that have fallen of the second floor and contained mostly oil that assisted the fire to be as much catastrophic as it gets. Among the pieces there have been discovered 19 parts of signed tablets that at majority refer to oil records.
 To the Southeast there is a narrow but long bathroom, that is unique of its kind among the Mycenaean discoveries because of its almost untouched structure. In its southeast wall we can find a bathtub made of clay decorated with writings. The man taking a bath was sitting in the bathtub while a servant poured water. A step made of clay at the front of the bathtub assisted the entering in it. At the same side with the bathtub there were found two jars-1.2m high-within a base made of clay that probably contained the water needed to get a bath. At the bottom of each jar there have been discovered several cups. Another unharmed cup was found at the bottom of the bathtub that definitely was used by the servant to pour water.
 Outside the Central Palace and near the Main entrance there is a small porch that was facing the external yard and had two wooden columns at its front. The remains show that the columns had 60 stripes. These two columns should have supported a balcony that was used by the women and children during several festivals that were definitely taking place at the yard.
At the southeast edge of that porch there were two doors one next to the other. The one at the right led to the stairs that drove to the top of a small tower that should have been a headquarters of the security of the Palace. The other door on the left drove to a very nice room with a fireside that was the Queen’s rest room. This room suffered great damage because of the fire since the jars of oil that fell from the upper floor was spilled all over the place. The floor of the Queen’s room that once upon a time had great drawings and writings, was carbonized along with the walls. The wall plaster that decorated the walls with drawings fell and broke into pieces. Fortunately there have been saved some of that pieces and it can be inferred that drawings of animals like lions, panthers and griffins were pictured in natural size on the walls. The fire side at the center of the room though smaller than the one at the Hall of the Throne, it was decorated with great skill and decorations in the shape of Z or flames. Also we can see four or five layers of plastering that each of them had writings.
A door at the northeast corner of the Queen’s quarters led to a yard with surrounding wall similar to the one of the King with the small difference that none could enter in the yard from outside. On the floor next to the door there were found tree dozens amphora of several sizes. Two or three rows of holes in the surrounding wall seem to have been used to fasten wooden spears for sorts of purposes like the support of a tent or even to use ropes for the laundry.
Another door of the Queen’s quarters led to a hallway that reached a smaller room at the corner of the building. The walls in that room had many frescos but unfortunately were completely destroyed by the fire. The floor was separated to squares (7x7) with very detailed drawings of octopus and dolphins. A neighboring room to the southwest accessible only by that hallway was probably a toilet. Seventeen amphora were placed on the floor on the left of the door. Near the east corner and under a big stone there was a draining.
|
