Cyclop walls

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Published on Thursday, 25 October 2012 14:10

The easiest way to build walls made of undressed boulders was to put them in such a way that they fit almost perfectly in the place of contact. Because perfect fit was very difficult to achieve, small spaces in the contact were filled with ground or crushed stone. Such walls were called cyclop walls. The most impressive monuments from that period can be found in Argolida, but the largest one is the citadel's wall in Mykenes. Undressed boulders were also used to build bridges. The oldest bridge in Europe is situated on the ancient way from Mykenes towards the present-day Epidauros in Kazarna.

Although in the ancient times they could not use today's knowledge and present-day machines they were creating beautiful buildings according to the rule which is still obeyed - to build in such a way that the weight of the materials is smaller than the maximum weight the construction was designed to carry. Stone dressing allowed not only for new aesthetic possibilities, but also for better solutions concerning the building mechanics. Wall building became more systematised. Dressed stone could be used not only as a wall element but also as a bended element.

Now let's take a look at the Gate of the Lions and the tomb of Atreus. Both gates are identical as regards the mechanics. There is a stone beam on the walls. In the bay part there is a counterbalance - instead of building a wall on the beam a free space in a triangle shape was formed. In case of the tomb of Artreus the situation is even clearer since the filling of a triangular counterbalance disappeared in the history of the building. We should add that the basic loading in designing window heads in the present-day houses is assumed to be the loading from the wall in the form of a triangle. The Mykenians created their buildings skipping this basic reaction by introducing dressed stones.

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