Megaron

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

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

The megaron is the "great hall" of Mycenaean culture. The rectangular hall, fronted by an open, two-columned porch and a more or less central hearth traditional in Greece since Mycenaean times, is ancestor of the temple in Greece. It was used for poetry, feasts, personal gods being worshipped, sacrifice, and counsels of war. Originally it was very colorful- made with the Minoan architectural order, the insides made of fired brick and huge wooden beams used to frame the building. The roof is tiled with ceramic and terracotta tiles. A famous megaron is in the large reception hall of the king in the palace of Tiryns, the main room of which had a throne placed against the right wall and a central hearth bordered by four Minoan-style wooden columns that served as supports for the roof.

The megaron of Odysseus is well described in the Odyssey.

• Biers, William R. 1987. The Archaeology of Greece: An Introduction. (Ithaca: Cornell University Press)
• Klein, Christopher P. (Editor in Chief) Gardner's Art Through the Ages. Tenth edition. Harcourt Brace (1996). ISBN 0-15-501141-3
• Vermeule, Emily, 1972. Greece in the Bronze Age (Chicago: University of Chicago Press).

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