Outside the area of the palace proper discoveries of almost equal importance were made. About 130 yards to the east of the Northern Entrance there came to light the walls of a building which Dr. Evans has designated the Royal Villa. It proved to be by far the finest example yet discovered of Minoan domestic architecture on a moderate scale, and contained a finely preserved double staircase; while among the relics found within its walls were some very beautiful examples of the ceramic art, including a fine 'stirrup' or 'false-necked' vase of the Later Palace style, decorated in lustrous orange-brown on a paler lustred ground. Still more beautiful was a tall painted jar, nearly 4 feet in height, bearing an exquisite papyrus design in relief (Plate XXIII.). [Illustration XIV: CLAY TABLET WITH LINEAR SCRIPT, KNOSSOS (_pp_. 80 & 241) From 'The Palace of Minos,' by Arthur J. Evans, in _The Monthly Review_] The main feature of the Villa was a long pillared hall, measuring about 37 by 15 feet. At the one end of it was a raised dais, separated by a balustrade from the rest of the hall, and approached by an opening in the balustrade with three steps. Immediately in face of the opening a square niche breaks the wall behind the dais, and here stand the broken fragments of a gypsum throne. A fine stone lamp of lilac gypsum stands on the second step of the dais (Plate XXIV.). The two rows of pillars which run down the hall divide it into a nave and side aisles, and the hall presents all the elements of a primitive basilica, with its throne for the presiding Bishop or Priest-King. It is possible that we have here the first suggestion of that style of architecture which, passing through the stage where the King-Archon of Athens sat in the 'Stoa Basilike' to try cases of impiety, found its full development at last in the Roman Basilica, the earliest type of Christian church. 'Is the Priest-King of Knossos, who here gave his decisions,' says Professor Burrows, 'a direct ancestor of Praetor and Bishop, seated in the Apse within the Chancel, speaking to the people that stood below in Nave and Aisles?'[*] [Footnote *: 'The Discoveries in Crete,' pp. 10, 11.]