Cyclopean Architecture

a wall of large, irregular stones, unhewn and uncemented. In Greece such walls were fabled to be the work of the Cyclopes, or one-eyed giants. The walls of Tiryns, near Nauplia are an example of the ruder style of Cyclopean masonry. ‘They are of irregular stones, from 6 to 9 feet long, from 3 to 4 feet wide, and from 2 to 3 feet thick; the interstices are filled up by small stones, but no mortar is used. The walls of Mycene and of Epirus are examples of more advanced Cyclopean architecture. These structures are commonly believed to have been reared by a race called Pelasgians, probably more than 1,000 years before the Christian era. Masonry partaking more or le of the Cyclopean character is seen in some parts of America, in Perse polis, and elsewhere in Asia, and in several parts of W. Europe. The walls of Cuzco, and the ruins of what is called the House of Manco Capac, on an island in the lake of Titicaca, in Peru, are interesting examples of the Cyclopean architecture of the New World.