A megaron is the rectangular main hall of a Mycenaean palace or high-status house: a long room made up of an open porch, an antechamber and a large hall with a hearth at its centre. The type is known from the Greek Bronze Age, notably from the palaces at Mycenae, Tiryns and Pylos.
Layout
The plan is strict and easy to read, with every part set one behind the other on a single axis:
- The porch — an open space between the projecting side walls, usually with two columns standing between the wall ends
- The antechamber — an intermediate room leading to the hall
- The main hall — with a circular hearth at its centre, surrounded by four columns that carry the roof and frame the opening through which smoke escaped
The ruler’s throne generally stood against a side wall of the hall, beside the hearth.
Why it matters architecturally
The megaron is significant because its arrangement reappears in later Greek building. The sequence porch – antechamber – main room, with columns set between projecting side walls, is the same progression found in the classical Greek temple: pronaos, cella and sometimes a rear chamber. The idea of columns carrying the roof around an opening also recurs throughout ancient architecture.
Construction used heavy walls of stone and clay, or mudbrick on a stone plinth, with timber columns and a timber roof. The central hearth with no chimney but an opening in the roof was a solution that remained in use in Europe well into the Middle Ages.
Related terms
- Greek architecture
- Naos
- Cella
- Anta
- Temple in antis
- Hypostyle
- Domus
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