The Homeric Palace

ace surrounded by it there was?in the palace of Odysseus?a second line of enclosure, the wall of the inner court, of the "court" par excellence. This was the herkion aules, ('epKiov avXijs). This outer wall might or might not coincide with the inner line at certain points, but between the two walls at the outer entrance, and thus near the entrance to the inner court also, was a wide space, an outer court,1 like the outer bailey of a Norman castle. The material of the wall is not clearly stated in Homer, except in the case of 1 Joseph, Palaste, pp. 8-10. Tria F%.11I. The-M/cerxoeon Cifc-. Eumaios' abode, which was surrounded by a low wall of rough stones on each side of which was a row of palisades, while along the top ran a hedge of thorn1. The smaller castles had walls very likely of Cyclopean character, while those humbler dwellings of the people, which were also fortified, were like that of the faithful swineherd. Many a wall, even among the more pretentious, was no doubt built of palisades. When we turn to the Mycenaean remains, figures I to IV, we find some variety both in the materials and in the mode of construction. In the earliest times of the Mycenaean epoch the outer wall up to the level of the hill-top was built of rough stones against the face of the cliff like a retaining wall, with considerable batter, or inward inclination, of its outer face. Above this level the ramparts proper were of sun-dried brick. In the rampart of the secon...