The palaces of Crete and their builders . he oppositeside, near the door, the courtyard is truly worthy of blue campanulas grew up along the curves of a flutedcolumn, and leaning against the wall was the torso of a Romanemperor wearing a cuirass with the head of Medusa in thecentre. From the exquisite skill with which the Nike was carvedon the metal covering the leather on the shoulders, the statue wasevidently the work ot a clever artist ; the other mutilated statues,too, are of value, but I will not stop to describe them. The stair-case in the corner to the right is made of
The palaces of Crete and their builders . he oppositeside, near the door, the courtyard is truly worthy of blue campanulas grew up along the curves of a flutedcolumn, and leaning against the wall was the torso of a Romanemperor wearing a cuirass with the head of Medusa in thecentre. From the exquisite skill with which the Nike was carvedon the metal covering the leather on the shoulders, the statue wasevidently the work ot a clever artist ; the other mutilated statues,too, are of value, but I will not stop to describe them. The stair-case in the corner to the right is made of the bases of columnsreversed and set one above another to form the steps. As I wentup to my room I wondered that architects do not more oftenmake use of so simple and symmetrical a form ot staircase. On the terrace above I admired a Herm, which served as apilaster, and some inscriptions which Manoli prides himself Onhaving collected entirely in his own domain. These are mostlyarchaic boustrophedon inscriptions, and I could not even read. GO THE RUINS OF GORTYNA III them, as the characters are different from the Greek letters whichI learnt at school. In the room where I slept there was a bust ofT^sculapius in a niche, and the lamplight showed up the majesticbeard. The same light which shone upon the face of my masterfell also upon the cella of an ancient temple, and I fell asleeplooking at it. In the morning I was awakened by two swallowsflying about the room. I opened the window and saw that theyhad built their nest upon a beam ot the ceiling. They went inand out, hovered in the air, or perched twittering on theiron bars. In the peace of this distant corner of the island I thought ofHomer, who speaks of strong Gortyna. Without blazed theclassic sun of Greece, the sky so blue and bright that nothingcould equal it. The doves cooed in their guttural voices thatsounded almost like a lament, following one another, stoppingfor long kisses on the edges of the roof, and flapping their
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookpublishe, booksubjectpalaces
