Cyclopean masonry
Encyclopedia
Cyclopean masonry is a type of stonework
found in Mycenaean
architecture, built with huge limestone
boulders, roughly fitted together with minimal clearance
between adjacent stones and no use of mortar
. The boulders typically are unworked, but sometimes are worked roughly with a hammer, and often the gaps between boulders are filled in with smaller chunks of limestone.
The most famous examples of Cyclopean masonry are found in the walls of Mycenae
and Tiryns
, and the style is characteristic of Mycenaean
fortifications. Similar styles of stonework are found in other cultures and the term has become used to describe typical stonework.
The term comes from the belief by classical Greeks that only the mythical Cyclopes
had the strength to move the enormous boulders that made up the walls of Mycenae and Tiryns. Pliny's Natural History reported the tradition attributed to Aristotle
, that the Cyclopes were the inventors of masonry towers, giving rise to the designation Cyclopean.
, Tiryns
, Argos
, Krisa (in Phocis
), and the Athenian Acropolis
. Somewhat smaller boulders occur in the walls of Midea
, whereas large limestone
slabs are characteristic of the walls at Gla
. Cut stone masonry is used only in and around gateways, conglomerate at Mycenae and Tiryns and perhaps both conglomerate and limestone at Argos."
While Peck's first and possibly second and third styles conforms to what archaeologists
today would classify as cyclopean, the fourth now is referred to as ashlar
and is not considered cyclopean. There is a more detailed description of the Cyclopean styles at the Perseus Project
.
described the Cyclopean walls of Mycenae
and Tiryns
:
Modern archaeologists use "Cyclopean" in a more restricted sense than the description by Pausanias; while Pausanias attributes all of the fortifications of Tiryns and Mycenae, including the Lion Gate, to the Cyclopes, only parts of these walls are built in Cyclopean masonry. The photograph above shows the difference between Cyclopean masonry (shown in the blue rectangle), and the ashlar
masonry of the Lion Gate.
sites, most famously at Gla
.
The Nuraghe
of Bronze Age Sardinia
also are described as being constructed in cyclopean masonry, as are some of the constructions of the Talaiotic Culture
abounding on Menorca and present to a lesser extent on Mallorca
. Other constructions dating from Roman times considered to be cyclopean may be found, for instance, in Tarragona
, in a large section of the Roman city walls. See an image of the Roman walls of Tarragona at the Enciclopèdia Catalana.
In Ireland
, cyclopean type of masonry may be seen in the building of some Early Medieval Churches.
Masonry
Masonry is the building of structures from individual units laid in and bound together by mortar; the term masonry can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of masonry construction are brick, stone, marble, granite, travertine, limestone; concrete block, glass block, stucco, and...
found in Mycenaean
Mycenaean Greece
Mycenaean Greece was a cultural period of Bronze Age Greece taking its name from the archaeological site of Mycenae in northeastern Argolis, in the Peloponnese of southern Greece. Athens, Pylos, Thebes, and Tiryns are also important Mycenaean sites...
architecture, built with huge limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
boulders, roughly fitted together with minimal clearance
Clearance
A clearance can refer to:* in chess, A positional move, where a player moves a piece occupying a certain square away, replacing it with an allied piece that will strengthen the player's position....
between adjacent stones and no use of mortar
Mortar (masonry)
Mortar is a workable paste used to bind construction blocks together and fill the gaps between them. The blocks may be stone, brick, cinder blocks, etc. Mortar becomes hard when it sets, resulting in a rigid aggregate structure. Modern mortars are typically made from a mixture of sand, a binder...
. The boulders typically are unworked, but sometimes are worked roughly with a hammer, and often the gaps between boulders are filled in with smaller chunks of limestone.
The most famous examples of Cyclopean masonry are found in the walls of Mycenae
Mycenae
Mycenae is an archaeological site in Greece, located about 90 km south-west of Athens, in the north-eastern Peloponnese. Argos is 11 km to the south; Corinth, 48 km to the north...
and Tiryns
Tiryns
Tiryns is a Mycenaean archaeological site in the prefecture of Argolis in the Peloponnese, some kilometres north of Nauplion.-General information:...
, and the style is characteristic of Mycenaean
Mycenaean Greece
Mycenaean Greece was a cultural period of Bronze Age Greece taking its name from the archaeological site of Mycenae in northeastern Argolis, in the Peloponnese of southern Greece. Athens, Pylos, Thebes, and Tiryns are also important Mycenaean sites...
fortifications. Similar styles of stonework are found in other cultures and the term has become used to describe typical stonework.
The term comes from the belief by classical Greeks that only the mythical Cyclopes
Cyclops
A cyclops , in Greek mythology and later Roman mythology, was a member of a primordial race of giants, each with a single eye in the middle of his forehead...
had the strength to move the enormous boulders that made up the walls of Mycenae and Tiryns. Pliny's Natural History reported the tradition attributed to Aristotle
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
, that the Cyclopes were the inventors of masonry towers, giving rise to the designation Cyclopean.
Current definitions of Cyclopean masonry
"The walls are usually founded in extremely shallow beddings carved out of the bedrock. 'Cyclopean', the term normally applied to the masonry style characteristic of Mycenaean fortification systems, describes walls built of huge, unworked limestone boulders which are roughly fitted together. Between these boulders, smaller hunks of limestone fill the interstices. The exterior faces of the large boulders may be roughly hammer-dressed, but the boulders themselves are never carefully cut blocks. Very large boulders are typical of the Mycenaean walls at MycenaeMycenae
Mycenae is an archaeological site in Greece, located about 90 km south-west of Athens, in the north-eastern Peloponnese. Argos is 11 km to the south; Corinth, 48 km to the north...
, Tiryns
Tiryns
Tiryns is a Mycenaean archaeological site in the prefecture of Argolis in the Peloponnese, some kilometres north of Nauplion.-General information:...
, Argos
Argos
Argos is a city and a former municipality in Argolis, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Argos-Mykines, of which it is a municipal unit. It is 11 kilometres from Nafplion, which was its historic harbour...
, Krisa (in Phocis
Phocis
Phocis is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the administrative region of Central Greece. It stretches from the western mountainsides of Parnassus on the east to the mountain range of Vardousia on the west, upon the Gulf of Corinth...
), and the Athenian Acropolis
Acropolis, Athens
Acropolis is a neighborhood of Athens, near the ancient monument of Acropolis, along the Dionysios Areopagitis, courier road. This neighborhood has a significant number of tourists all year round. It is the site of the Museum of Acropolis, opened in 2009....
. Somewhat smaller boulders occur in the walls of Midea
Midea (Argolid)
Midea is the name given to the bronze age citadel standing above the village of the same name in the Argolid in Greece. The citadel is one of the largest and best preserved Mycenaean citadels...
, whereas large limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
slabs are characteristic of the walls at Gla
Gla
Gla was an important fortified site of the Mycenaean civilization, located in Boeotia, mainland Greece.-Location:The site is located on a limestone outcrop or hill that jutted into Lake Kopais or formed an island within it. The flat-topped outcrop rises up to 38m above the surrounding area. It...
. Cut stone masonry is used only in and around gateways, conglomerate at Mycenae and Tiryns and perhaps both conglomerate and limestone at Argos."
Outdated definitions of the Cyclopean style
Harry Thurston Peck, writing in 1898, divided Cyclopean masonry into four categories or styles:- The first style, which is the oldest, consists of unwrought stones of various sizes in which the gaps are, or were, filled with small stones.
- The second is characterized by polygonal stones, which fit against each other with precision.
- The third style includes structures in PhocisPhocisPhocis is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the administrative region of Central Greece. It stretches from the western mountainsides of Parnassus on the east to the mountain range of Vardousia on the west, upon the Gulf of Corinth...
, BoeotiaBoeotiaBoeotia, also spelled Beotia and Bœotia , is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Central Greece. It was also a region of ancient Greece. Its capital is Livadeia, the second largest city being Thebes.-Geography:...
and ArgolisArgolisArgolis is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Peloponnese. It is situated in the eastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula.-Geography:...
. It is characterized by work made in courses and by stones of unequal size, but of the same height. This category includes the walls of Mycenae, the Lion GateLion GateThe Lion Gate was the main entrance of the Bronze Age citadel of Mycenae, southern Greece. It was erected during the 13th century BC in the northwest side of the acropolis and is named after the relief sculpture of two lionesses in a heraldic pose that stands above the entrance...
, and the Treasury of AtreusTreasure of AtreusThe Treasury of Atreus or Tomb of Agamemnon is an impressive "tholos" tomb on the Panagitsa Hill at Mycenae, Greece, constructed during the Bronze Age around 1250 BCE. The lintel stone above the doorway weighs 120 tons, the largest in the world. The tomb was used for an unknown period of time...
. - The fourth style is characterized by horizontal courses of masonry, not always of the same height, but of stones which are all rectangular. This style is common in AtticaAtticaAttica is a historical region of Greece, containing Athens, the current capital of Greece. The historical region is centered on the Attic peninsula, which projects into the Aegean Sea...
.
While Peck's first and possibly second and third styles conforms to what archaeologists
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
today would classify as cyclopean, the fourth now is referred to as ashlar
Ashlar
Ashlar is prepared stone work of any type of stone. Masonry using such stones laid in parallel courses is known as ashlar masonry, whereas masonry using irregularly shaped stones is known as rubble masonry. Ashlar blocks are rectangular cuboid blocks that are masonry sculpted to have square edges...
and is not considered cyclopean. There is a more detailed description of the Cyclopean styles at the Perseus Project
Perseus Project
The Perseus Project is a digital library project of Tufts University that assembles digital collections of humanities resources. It is hosted by the Department of Classics. It has suffered at times from computer hardware problems, and its resources are occasionally unavailable...
.
Historical accounts
PausaniasPausanias (geographer)
Pausanias was a Greek traveler and geographer of the 2nd century AD, who lived in the times of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. He is famous for his Description of Greece , a lengthy work that describes ancient Greece from firsthand observations, and is a crucial link between classical...
described the Cyclopean walls of Mycenae
Mycenae
Mycenae is an archaeological site in Greece, located about 90 km south-west of Athens, in the north-eastern Peloponnese. Argos is 11 km to the south; Corinth, 48 km to the north...
and Tiryns
Tiryns
Tiryns is a Mycenaean archaeological site in the prefecture of Argolis in the Peloponnese, some kilometres north of Nauplion.-General information:...
:
- There still remain, however, parts of the city wall [of Mycenae], including the gate, upon which stand lions. These, too, are said to be the work of the CyclopesCyclopsA cyclops , in Greek mythology and later Roman mythology, was a member of a primordial race of giants, each with a single eye in the middle of his forehead...
, who made for ProetusProetusProetus was a mythical king of Argos and Tiryns. His father Abas, son of the last surviving and died Danaid Hypermnestra, had ruled over Argos and married Ocalea. However, Proetus quarreled continually with his twin brother Acrisius, inventing shields or bucklers in the process...
the wall at TirynsTirynsTiryns is a Mycenaean archaeological site in the prefecture of Argolis in the Peloponnese, some kilometres north of Nauplion.-General information:...
. (2.16.5)
- Going on from here and turning to the right, you come to the ruins of Tiryns. ... The wall, which is the only part of the ruins still remaining, is a work of the CyclopesCyclopsA cyclops , in Greek mythology and later Roman mythology, was a member of a primordial race of giants, each with a single eye in the middle of his forehead...
made of unwrought stones, each stone being so big that a pair of mules could not move the smallest from its place to the slightest degree. Long ago small stones were so inserted that each of them binds the large blocks firmly together. (2.25.8)
Modern archaeologists use "Cyclopean" in a more restricted sense than the description by Pausanias; while Pausanias attributes all of the fortifications of Tiryns and Mycenae, including the Lion Gate, to the Cyclopes, only parts of these walls are built in Cyclopean masonry. The photograph above shows the difference between Cyclopean masonry (shown in the blue rectangle), and the ashlar
Ashlar
Ashlar is prepared stone work of any type of stone. Masonry using such stones laid in parallel courses is known as ashlar masonry, whereas masonry using irregularly shaped stones is known as rubble masonry. Ashlar blocks are rectangular cuboid blocks that are masonry sculpted to have square edges...
masonry of the Lion Gate.
Locations of Cyclopean structures
Apart from the Tirynthian and Mycenaean walls, other Cyclopean structures include some tholos tombs in Greece and the fortifications of a number of MycenaeanHelladic period
Helladic is a modern archaeological term meant to identify a sequence of periods characterizing the culture of mainland ancient Greece during the Bronze Age. The term is commonly used in archaeology and art history...
sites, most famously at Gla
Gla
Gla was an important fortified site of the Mycenaean civilization, located in Boeotia, mainland Greece.-Location:The site is located on a limestone outcrop or hill that jutted into Lake Kopais or formed an island within it. The flat-topped outcrop rises up to 38m above the surrounding area. It...
.
The Nuraghe
Nuraghe
The nuraghe is the main type of ancient megalithic edifice found in Sardinia. Today it has come to be the symbol of Sardinia and its distinctive culture, the Nuragic civilization...
of Bronze Age Sardinia
Sardinia
Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...
also are described as being constructed in cyclopean masonry, as are some of the constructions of the Talaiotic Culture
Talaiot
The talaiots, or talayots, are Bronze Age megaliths on the islands of Minorca and Majorca forming part of the Talaiotic Culture or Talaiotic Period. They date from the late second millennium and early first millennium BC. There are at least 274 of them, in, near, or related to Talaiotic settlements...
abounding on Menorca and present to a lesser extent on Mallorca
Mallorca
Majorca or Mallorca is an island located in the Mediterranean Sea, one of the Balearic Islands.The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Cabrera Archipelago is administratively grouped with Majorca...
. Other constructions dating from Roman times considered to be cyclopean may be found, for instance, in Tarragona
Tarragona
Tarragona is a city located in the south of Catalonia on the north-east of Spain, by the Mediterranean. It is the capital of the Spanish province of the same name and the capital of the Catalan comarca Tarragonès. In the medieval and modern times it was the capital of the Vegueria of Tarragona...
, in a large section of the Roman city walls. See an image of the Roman walls of Tarragona at the Enciclopèdia Catalana.
In Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, cyclopean type of masonry may be seen in the building of some Early Medieval Churches.