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megaron

 
Dictionary: meg·a·ron   (mĕg'ə-rŏn') pronunciation
n., pl., -a·ra (-ər-ə).
The main hall or central room of a palace or house, especially of Mycenaean Greece, having a pillared porch and a more or less central hearth.

[Greek.]


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In ancient Greece and the Middle East, an architectural form consisting of a porch, vestibule, and large hall with a central hearth. The megaron was found in all Mycenaean palaces and also in houses. It probably originated in the Middle East, later attaining the uniquely Aegean aspect of the open porch supported by columns.

For more information on megaron, visit Britannica.com.

Architecture: megaron
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1. In many Greek temples, a space divided off and sometimes subterranean, where only the priest was allowed to enter.
2. The great central hall of a palace.



(pl. megara) [MC]

Form of tripartite rectangular hall or building particularly associated with Mycenaean citadels, in which a rectangular room is approached through a forecourt and vestibule forming an extension of one end. The principal room commonly contained a central hearth surrounded by four columns and a dais to one side.

Wikipedia: 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 Mégaron (plural: mégara) is the great hall of the Mycenaean palace complexes. It was a rectangular hall, fronted by an open, two-columned porch, and a more or less central, open hearth vented though an oculus in the roof above it and surrounded by four columns. It is the architectural predecessor of the classical Greek temple. It was used for poetry, feasts, worship, sacrifice, formal royal functions, councils, and is said to be where guests of the king would stay during their visits. Originally it was very colorful- made with the Minoan architectural order, the insides made of fired brick and a wooden roof supported on beams. The rooftop was 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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Year 2100 bce (in Science & Technology)
Tiryns (in archaeology)
Mycenaean (in archaeology)

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Did The basic design of the Greek temple derived from the megaron?

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Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Architecture. McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Archaeology Dictionary. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology. Copyright © 2002, 2003 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Megaron" Read more

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