Megaron

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As Megaron ( Greek  Μέγαρον ) refers to either one of the three main parts of the ancient Greek house , its function as the great men hall in later times the Andron took over, or widespread in the eastern Mediterranean building type.

Early days

The Megara developed in the middle Neolithic in Southeast Europe ( Dimini , Sesklo ) as well as in Asia Minor ( Beycesultan , Kültepe and Troy ) and in the Levant ( Jericho , Tell Chuera ).

Minoan culture

In the Minoan culture , the megaron is a large two-story building that mimics the architecture of the palaces and served as the seat of a local prince. In the large palaces themselves, important halls are called megarons. The shape is known as the "Minoan megaron" and it was often used as a throne room or assembly hall. In the palace of Knossos , such a "Minoan megaron" has been preserved as a throne room, in which the walls are dissolved by supports and the room connects with the surrounding corridors and halls.

Mycenaean and Archaic Greek Culture

On the Greek mainland, during the Mycenaean period, a fixed form of the megaron developed as the central building of a princely castle. The preserved examples of the great castles in Mycenae ( Peloponnese ), Tiryns and Pylos have been well researched . Such a megaron had a main room with only one entrance in the middle of the longitudinal axis of the building. In the center of the room there was a circular fireplace, which was usually surrounded by a stone ring-shaped border. This central structure was surrounded by four pillars. In front of the entrance there was an anteroom, which could also have doors to the sides, thus enabling contact with the rest of the palace. Opposite the main hall was the main entrance in the anteroom, which was made possible in Mycenae and Tiryns by a central door, in Pylos by three doors next to each other. In front of it there was a vestibule between the protruding side walls of the longitudinal walls (ante). There were two pillars on the courtyard side. In Tiryns and Pylos, the vestibule was integrated into other areas of the courtyard by additional columns, in Mycenae probably too little has survived to be able to prove such a courtyard conversion.

Mycenaean and archaic sanctuaries in the form of an elongated building divided into three rooms are also called a megaron. An example was discovered in Methana . The megaron shaped sanctuary was the forerunner of the ancient Greek temples . The temple of Solomon in Jerusalem also had this tripartite shape (see floor plan ).

See also

Modern times

In modern times the term is or was used for stately villas. In particular, the architect Ernst Ziller , who worked in Athens, erected numerous buildings called Megaro with the addition of the builder in the last quarter of the 19th century: Megaro Stathatou for the shipowner family Stathatos (1895, today Museum of Cycladic Art), Megaro Deligeorgi for Leonidas are to be mentioned Deligeorgis (around 1890), Megaro Koupa for the industrialist Achilleas Koupas (1875–1900), Megaro Syngrou for Andreas Syngros (1872/1873, today Foreign Ministry), Megaro Psycha for Nikolaos Psychas (1885, today Egyptian Embassy) and Megaro Mela for the Merchant Vasilios Melas (laying of the foundation stone in 1873, realization from 1882; later a hotel, then the main post office, today a bank).

literature

  • Alexander Mazarakis Ainian : From rulers' dwellings to temples. Architecture, religion and society in early iron age Greece (1100–700 BC) (= Studies in Mediterranean archeology. Vol. 121). Åström, Jonsered 1997, ISBN 91-7081-152-0 .
  • Walter Hatto Groß : Megaron. In: The Little Pauly (KlP). Volume 3, Stuttgart 1969, column 1149 f.
  • Gerhard Hiesel : Late Helladic house architecture. Studies on the architectural history of mainland Greece in the late Bronze Age. von Zabern, Mainz 1990, ISBN 3-8053-1005-6 , pp. 237-239, (at the same time: Freiburg (Breisgau), University, habilitation paper, 1977).
  • Reinhard Jung: The megaron - an analogy (short) circuit of Aegean archeology . In: A. Gramsch (Ed.): Comparing as an archaeological method. Analogies in the archeologies. BAR International Series 825, Oxford 2000, pp. 71-95.
  • Jayne Warner: The Megaron and Apsidal House in Early Bronze Age Western Anatolia: New Evidence from Karataş. In: American Journal of Archeology, Vol. 83, No. 2, April 1979, pp. 133-147.
  • Kjell Werner: The megaron during the Aegean and Anatolian Bronze Age. A study of occurrence, shape, architectural adaptation, and function (= Studies in Mediterranean archeology. Vol. 108). Åströms, Jonsered 1993, ISBN 91-7081-092-3 .

Individual evidence

  1. Dimini description in Perseus
  2. ^ Plan by Dimini in Perseus
  3. ^ Sesklo description in Perseus
  4. ^ Plan of the relevant layer of Sesklos.
  5. ^ Plan of the Pylos complex with a central megaron at Perseus .