Megaron

Schematic plan of a megaron complex. 1: anteroom, 2: hall (main room), 3: columns in portico and hall

Foundation of the Megaron complex at Mycenae, view from the main hall (circular hearth visible in foreground) through the anteroom and porch.

The megaron (/ˈmɛɡəˌrɒn/; Ancient Greek: μέγαρον, [mégaron]), plural megara /ˈmɛɡərə/, was the great hall in very early Mycenean and ancient Greek palace complexes.^[1] Architecturally, it was a rectangular hall that was surrounded by four columns, fronted by an open, two-columned portico, and had a central, open hearth that vented though an oculus in the roof.^[2]

The megaron also contained the throne-room of the wanax, or Mycenaean ruler, whose throne was located in the main room with the central hearth.^[3] Similar architecture is found in the Ancient Near East though the presence of the open portico, generally supported by columns, is particular to the Aegean.^[4] Megara are sometimes referred to as "long-rooms", as defined by their rectangular (non-square) shape and the position of their entrances, which are always along the shorter wall so that the depth of the space is larger than the width.^[5] There were often many rooms around the central megaron, such as archive rooms, offices, oil-press rooms, workshops, potteries, shrines, corridors, armories, and storerooms for such goods as wine, oil and wheat.^[6]

The megaron is thought to have been used for sacrificial processions,^[7] as well as for royal functions and court meetings.^[4]

Structure[]

Rectilinear halls were a characteristic theme of ancient Greek architecture.^[8] The Mycenaean megaron originated and evolved from the megaroid, or large hall-centered rectangular building, of mainland Greece dating back to the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age.^[1][8] Furthermore, it served as the architectural precursor to the Greek temples of the Archaic and Classical periods.^[9] With respect to its structural layout, the megaron includes a columned entrance, a pronaos and a central naos (cella) with early versions of it having one of many roof types (i.e., pitched, flat, barrel).^[5] The roof, specifically, was supported by wooden beams^[10] and since the aforesaid roof types are always destroyed in the remnants of the early megaron, the definite roof type is unknown.^[5] The floor was made of patterned concrete and covered in carpet.^[11] The walls, constructed out of mud brick,^[12] were decorated with fresco paintings.^[9] There were wood-ornamented metal doors, often two-leaved,^[13] and footbaths were also used in the megaron as attested in Homer's Odyssey where Odysseus's feet were washed by Eurycleia.^[14] The proportions involving a larger length than width are similar structurally to early Doric temples.^[15]

Examples[]

A famous megaron is in the large reception hall of the king in the Bronze Age palace of Tiryns, the main room of which had a raised throne placed against the right wall and a central hearth bordered by four Minoan-style wooden columns that served as supports for the roof.^[5] The Cretan elements in the Tiryns megaron were adopted by the Mycenaeans from the palace type found in Minoan architecture.^[5] Frescoes from Pylos show figures eating and drinking, which were important activities in Greek culture.^[7] Artistic portrayals of bulls, a common zoomorphic motif in Mycenaean vase painting,^[16] appear on Greek megaron frescoes such as the one in the Pylos megaron where a bull is depicted at the center of a Mycenaean procession.^[7] Other famous megara include the ones at the Mycenaean palaces of Thebes and Mycenae.^[17] Different Greek cultures had their own unique megara; for example, the people of the Greek mainland tended to separate their central megaron from the other rooms whereas the Cretans did not do this.^[18]

See also[]

• Ancient Greek architecture
• List of ancient Greek and Roman roofs

References[]

Citations[]

Sources[]

• Biers, William R. (1996). The Archaeology of Greece: An Introduction. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0-801-43173-9.
• Cartwright, Mark (2019). "Mycenaean Civilization". World History Encyclopedia.
• Diehl, Charles (1893). Excursions in Greece to Recently Explored Sites of Classical Interest: Mycenae, Tiryns, Dodona, Delos, Athens, Olympia, Eleusis, Epidaurus, Tanagra. London: H. Grevel and Co.
• Hitchcock, Louise A. (2010). "Chapter 15. Mycenaean Architecture". In Cline, Eric H. (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of the Bronze Age Aegean. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 200−209. ISBN 978-0-19-536550-4.
• Kleiner, Fred S., ed. (2016). Gardner's Art Through the Ages: A Global History. I (15th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning. ISBN 978-1-30-554486-4.
• Müller, Valentine (1944). "Development of the "Megaron" in Prehistoric Greece". Archaeological Institute of America. 48 (4): 342–348. JSTOR 499900.
• Neer, Richard T. (2012). Greek Art and Archaeology: A New History, c. 2500–c. 150 BCE. New York, NY: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 978-0-500-28877-1. OCLC 745332893.
• Pentreath, Guy (2006). "ABCs of Greek Architecture". The New York Times: Travel. Fodors LLC. Retrieved 18 April 2020.
• Pullen, Daniel (2008). "The Early Bronze Age in Greece". In Shelmerdine, Cynthia W. (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to the Aegean Bronze Age. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press. pp. 19–46. ISBN 978-0-521-81444-7.
• Rider, Bertha Carr (1916). The Greek House: Its History and Development from the Neolithic Period to Hellenistic Age. London: Cambridge University Press.
• Werner, Kjell (1993). The Megaron during the Aegean and Anatolian Bronze Age: A Study of Occurrence, Shape, Architectural Adaptation, and Function. Jonsered: Paul Åströms Förlag. ISBN 978-9-17-081092-3.
• Wright, James C. (2004). "A Survey of Evidence for Feasting in Mycenaean Society". Hesperia. 73 (2): 133–178. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.675.9036. doi:10.2972/hesp.2004.73.2.133. ProQuest 216525567.

Further reading[]

• Homer's Odyssey contains detailed references to the megaron of Odysseus.
• Hopkins, Clark (1968). "The Megaron of the Mycenaean Palace" (PDF). Studi Micenea ed Egeo-Anatolici. 6: 45−53.
• Konsolaki-Yannopoulou, Eleni (2004). "Mycenaean Religious Architecture: The Archaeological Evidence from Ayios Konstantinos, Methana". In Wedde, Michael (ed.). Celebrations: Sanctuaries and the Vestiges of Cult Activity (PDF). Papers from the Norwegian Institute at Athens 6. Athens. pp. 61–94. S2CID 55419723.
• Vermeule, Emily (1972). Greece in the Bronze Age. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

External links[]

• Encyclopedia.com (15 April 2021). "Minoan and Mycenaean Architecture (Arts and Humanities Through the Eras)". Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
• Lee, Stephanie (2007). "Megaron". JIAAW Workplace: Archaeologies of the Greek Past. Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology & the Ancient World (Brown University).