Argos

Odysseus and the good pig herder stopped when they came close to the palace, and around them came the sound of the hollow lyre- it was Phemios striking the chords to sing for the suitors... ...There is building upon building, and the courtyard is built with wall and coping, and the double doors are well fenced.

Feasting started already and the palace is 2 storeys high, like the palace in Pylos. The courtyard walls are made of stone. Apparently other palaces are not, but Odysseus' palace is excactly what is should be. And with a proper gate with double doors and two gate houses. Eumaios and the stranger are talking about who should get into the palace first and they prepare for the hostile suitors and what might happen to 'the stranger'.

Odyssey Book 17 line 240-247 Barry B Powell
Odyssey Book 17 line 267-274 Barry B Powell
Odyssey Book 17 line 306-309 Barry B Powell

Colleen Myers: Argos (old)

They spoke to one anaother in this fashion, when the hound dog Argos, lying there, raised his head and pricked up his ears..... ....he lay neglected on a pile of excrement poured out by mules and cattle and piled up in front of the gates....

Here we can learn that the mules and oxes that work the land are penned within the palace walls and not in the oval enclosure. Argos was Odysseus' dog, He trained him for the hunt and the dog recognizes his master. But Argos, a mess of fleas, is weak and dies before his eyes on the pile of excrement. Eumaios is going in first and is asked to sit opposite Telemachos.

Coming right after him, Odysseus entered the palace in the likeness of a wretched beggar, an old man leaning on his staff, his repulsive clothes hanging from his flesh. He sat down on the treshold of aswood just inside the doors, ...