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Knossos Information

Knossos (alternative spellings Knossus, Cnossus, Greek Κνωσός, pronounced [knoˈsos]), currently refers to the main Bronze Age archaeological site at Heraklion, a modern port city on the north central coast of Crete. Heraklion was formerly called Candia after the Saracen name for the place, Kandaiki, meaning the moat that was built around the then new settlement for defence.[4] Kandaiki became Byzantine Chandax.

The name, Knossos, survives from ancient Greek references to the major city of Crete. The identification of Knossos with the Bronze Age site is supported by tradition and by the Roman coins that were scattered over the fields surrounding the pre-excavation site, then a large mound named Kephala Hill, elevation 85 m (279 ft) from current sea level. Many of them were inscribed with Knosion or Knos on the obverse and an image of a Minotaur or Labyrinth on the reverse, both symbols deriving from the myth of King Minos, supposed to have reigned from Knossos.[5] The coins came from the Roman settlement of Colonia Julia Nobilis Cnossus, a Roman colony placed just to the north of, and politically including, Kephala. The Romans believed they had colonized Knossos.[6] After excavation, the discovery of the Linear B tablets, and the decipherment of Linear B by Michael Ventris, the identification was confirmed by the reference to an administrative center, ko-no-so, Mycenaean Greek Knosos, undoubtedly the palace complex.

The palace was excavated and partially restored under the direction of Arthur Evans in the earliest years of the 20th century. Its size far exceeded his original expectations, as did the discovery of two ancient scripts, which he termed Linear A and Linear B, to distinguish their writing from the pictographs also present. From the layering of the palace Evans developed de novo an archaeological concept of the civilization that used it, which he called Minoan, following the pre-existing custom of labelling all objects from the location Minoan.

The palace complex is the largest Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete. It was undoubtedly the ceremonial and political centre of the Minoan civilization and culture. It appears as a maze of workrooms, living spaces, and storerooms close to a central square. Detailed images of Cretan life in the late Bronze Age are provided by images on the walls of this palace.

The palace was abandoned at some unknown time at the end of the Late Bronze Age, ca. 1380 – 1100 BC.[7] The occasion is not known for certain, but one of the many disasters that befell the palace is generally put forward. The abandoning population were probably Mycenaean Greeks, who had earlier occupied the city-state, and were using Linear B as its administrative script, as opposed to Linear A, the previous administrative script. The hill was never again a settlement or civic site, although squatters may have used it for a time.

Except for periods of abandonment, other cities were founded in the immediate vicinity, such as the Roman colony, and a Hellenistic Greek precedent. The population shifted to the new town of Chandax (modern Heraklion) during the 9th century AD. By the 13th century, it was called Makruteikhos 'Long Wall'; the bishops of Gortyn continued to call themselves Bishops of Knossos until the 19th century.[8] Today, the name is used only for the archaeological site now situated in the expanding suburbs of Heraklion.

Contents

Discovery and modern history of the antiquities

"Prince of lilies" or "Priest-king Relief", plaster relief at the end of the Corridor of Processions, restored by Gilliéron, believed by Arthur Evans to be a priest-king, wearing a crown with peacock feathers and a necklace with lilies on it, leading an unseen animal to sacrifice.

The term Minoan

In 1825, Karl Hoeck used the name Das Minoische Kretas for Volume II of his major work, Kreta. This is currently the first known use of the term Minoan to mean ancient Cretan. Arthur Evans read the book, continuing the use of the term for his own writings and findings, as it is the custom in archaeology always to respect the findings and terminology of predecessors. The term, however, is often erroneously attributed to Evans, sometimes by noted scholars.[9] Evans said:[10]

"To this early civilization of Crete as a whole I have proposed — and the suggestion has been generally adopted by the archaeologists of this and other countries — to apply the name 'Minoan.'"

As he claims to have applied it, but not to have devised it, no false claims on that score can justly be attributed to him. Hoeck had in mind the Crete of mythology. He had no idea that the archaeological Crete had existed. Similarly, "Minoan" had been in use since ancient times as an adjective meaning "associated with Minos." Evans' 1931 claim that the term was "unminted" before his use of it was not necessarily a "brazen suggestion," as Karadimas and Momigliano assert. He seems to have meant in archaeological contexts. Since he was the one who discovered the civilization, and the term could not have been in use to mean it previously, he did coin that specific meaning.

Excavation by Kalokairinos

The ruins at Knossos were discovered in either 1877 or 1878 by Minos Kalokairinos, a Cretan merchant and antiquarian. There are basically two accounts of the tale, one deriving from a letter written by Heinrich Schliemann in 1889, to the effect that in 1877 the "Spanish Consul," Minos K., excavated "in five places." Schliemann's observations were made in 1886, when he visited the site with the intent of purchasing it for further excavation. At that time, several years after the event, Minos related to him what he could remember of the excavations.[11] This is the version adopted by Ventris and Chadwick for Documents in Mycenaean Greek. By "Spanish Consul" Heinrich must have meant a position similar to that held by Minos' brother, Lysimachos, who was the "English Consul." Neither was a consul in today's sense. Lysimachos was the Ottoman dragoman appointed by the pasha to facilitate affairs conducted by the English in Crete.

In the second version, in December of 1878 Minos conducted the first excavations at Kephala Hill, which brought to light part of the storage magazines in the west wing and a section of the west facade. From his 12 trial trenches covering an area of 55 m (180 ft) by 40 m (130 ft) he removed numbers of large-sized pithoi, still containing food substances. He saw the double-axe, sign of royal authority, carved in the stone of the massive walls. In February, 1879, the Cretan parliament, fearing the Ottoman Empire would remove any artefacts excavated, stopped the excavation.[12] This version is based on the 1881 letters of William James Stillman, former consul for the United States in Crete, and coincidentally a good friend of Arthur Evans from their years as correspondents in the Balkans. He tried to intervene in the closing of the excavation, but failed. He applied for a firman to excavate himself, but none were being granted to foreigners. They were all viewed as aligning themselves with insurrection, which was true.[13] Arthur and James had been whole-heartedly anti-Ottoman, along with most other British and American citizens.

The question could easily have been settled if some ad hoc record of the excavation had survived. Minos did make a careful record, but during the renewed Cretan insurrection in 1898, his house in Heraklion was destroyed with all the pithoi and his excavation notes. His diaries survived, but they were not very specific. According to Stillman, the "trial trenches" were not exactly that, but were numbers of irregular pits and tunnels. Only the major ones were even recorded. The question of what was at the site before he began work is of less relevance. Arthur Evans' subsequent excavations removed all trace of it and of Minos' pits.

Waiting for the march of history

Sign of the double axe on the walls of Knossos

After Kalokairinos, several noted archaeologists attempted to preempt the site by applying for a firman, but none was granted by the then precarious Ottoman administration in Crete. Arthur Evans, Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum, noted antiquarian and scion of the wealthy Evans family, arrived on the scene in Herakleion for the first time in February, 1894, mending from his grief at the death of his beloved wife, Margaret, nearly one year previously. Just before her death he had purchased some signet stones engraved in a strange script, which, he was told, were from Crete. During his mourning period Federico Halbherr and Stillman had kept him posted on developments in Crete. It was there that his renewed interest focused. He could not find Halbherr, who had gone to Khania. He purchased more sealstones and an engraved gold ring from Ioannis Mitsotakis, dragoman for Russia (English "Russian vice-consul," but he was a native, not a Russian). After meeting Minos and inspecting his collection, he set out for Knossos. There he immediately jumped into a trench to examine the signs of the double-axe. The next day he met Halbherr.[14]

The two made a brief tour of Crete. Based on the script he was finding everywhere, which matched that of the stones he had purchased in Athens and the marks on the walls at Knossos, Evans made up his mind. He would excavate, but he had not a moment to lose. He solved the funds obstacle by creating The Cretan Exploration Fund in imitation of the Palestine Exploration Fund, removing the funding from any particular individual, at least in theory initially. The only contributors at first were the Evans'. He secured the services of the local Ottoman administration in purchasing 1/4 of the hill with the first option of buying the whole hill later. They would accept a down payment of £235. Then he went home to wind up his affairs at Youlbury and the Ashmolean. When he returned in 1895 he brought in David George Hogarth, director of the British School at Athens. The two pressed successfully for the purchase of the entire hill and valley adjoining it, obtaining more money through contributions. The owners would accept future payments on the installment plan. Evans selected the site for his future quarters in 1896. They still could not obtain the firman. There was nothing to do but wait for history, which by then was looming on the horizon.[15] After an exploration of Lasithi, or eastern Crete (coincidentally the moslem half), with John Myres in 1895, the two returned to London in 1896 to write about the Bronze Age forts they had discovered there, under the very shadow of looming civil war.

Crete changes hands

Crete had never belonged to independent Greece, a cause of insurrection and continual conflict between moslem (previously converted Greek, Turkish and Arab) and Christian (primarily Greek) populations. Of a population of about 270,000, 70,000 were moslem. After the insurrection of 1877 Britain had mediated the Pact of Halepa, providing for a Cretan Assemby (the "Parliament" of the sources) and a Christian pasha, but the Ottoman military governor was not subject to it, leading to two governments over the same territory and a resulting breakdown of law and order. After the elections of 1888 the defeated party and the moslems staged another insurrection. The Sultan sent a military governor, Shakir Pasha, who declared martial law and in 1889 cancelled the Pact of Halepa. More irritatingly to the Christians, he appropriated the Cretan treasury for the use entirely of the Porte at Istanbul.

The Christians resisted passively. An attempt at conciliation in 1894 by the Sultan by appointing a Christian pasha (Alexander Karatheodory) and restoring the Assembly failed. It coincided with a scandal of misappropriation of Cretan taxes in Istanbul. The Cretans demanded a refund, and when they did not get it, began to arm. When Karatheodory was replaced by Turkhan Pasha, they rebelled. The death toll rose. Macedonian Christians, preparing their own insurrection, began sending arms surreptitiously to Crete. The Great Powers were for a blockade, but Britain vetoed it. In 1897, George I of Greece sent Greek troops to the island to protect the Greeks.

The Sultan appealed to the Great Powers, a coalition of European nations that had taken an interest in the Greek revolution. When the moslems destroyed the Christian quarter of Khania, the capital of Crete, a city of 23,000, British and French marines secured the city, setting up a neutral zone. Shortly after, they secured Retimo, Heraklion, Kisano, Kasteli, Sitia and others in the same way. The Christians at Halepa declared unity with Greece. King George sent a fleet containing an occupation force under Prince George. He was warned that a blockade of Athens might ensue, but he sent a reply refusing all measures of the powers, stating that he would not "abandon the Cretan people," and subsequently attacking Khania with the Cretan Christians. The matter was settled shortly by naval gunnery from the Dryad, the Harrier, the Revenge and three ships from the other powers. The Great Powers were through trying to negotiate. The Greek army was given six days to leave the island, which they did. The Ottoman army was then ordered to concentrate in "fortified places which are at present occupied by the European detachments" so that they could be guarded and kept in protective custody.

For the time being all parties complied. Greece, however, mobilized its reserves, raising an army of 80,000 men. The Turkish reserves brought their army up to 150,000 men. The issue was not to be resolved in Crete. Both armies concentrated in the Balkans. In April, 1897, the insurrection began in Macedon, assisted by the Greek army. It was short-lived. Turkish troops easily quelled it by May. In August, the Great Powers: England, France, Italy, and Russia, dictated their terms to the Sultan. Crete would remain in the Ottoman Empire, but it would be governed autonomously under their protectorate. A new Constitution was drawn up.[16]

However, by now the Sultan had lost control of the moslem population. A wave of outraged Turkish nationalism swept the Ottoman Empire, which would result ultimately in the Young Turk movement. The Hamidian massacres, named after the Sultan, who was of the conviction that Christianity was the cause of all the empire's problems, raised anti-Turkish sentiment nearly to the point of war. On Crete the moslems attempted a duplication of the terror inflicted in the name of Sultan Hamid elsewhere. In addition to native Christians, 17 British nationals and Lysimachos Kalokairinos were slaughtered. The excavation journal from Knossos was lost. Coalition troops moved swiftly. Turkish troops were ferried off the island by the British fleet. The forces of the Great Powers summarily executed anyone they caught participating in the conflct. The death rate was highest in 1897. While Evans was exploring in Libya, from which he was expelled by the Ottomans, Hogarth returned to Crete, reporting that, from the ship in which he was returning, he saw a village burn and battle raging on the hillside. Prince George of Greece and Denmark was now appointed high commissioner of the protectorate. Arthur Evans came back on the scene in 1898, again the foreign correspondent of the Manchester Guardian. He was instrumental and tireless in trying to bring about the rule of reason in Crete, taking the side of the oppressed moslems finally, as did Hogarth. His pen was everywhere, and with it the consciousness of the British public, not to mention Whitehall. He ended by assisting the relief effort to stricken villages.[17]

The Cretan Republic was born in 1899 when a combined Christian and moslem government was elected in accordance with the new constitution. It lasted until 1913. Everyone understood that amalgamation with Greece was in the future, and that Crete had changed hands. For the time being Arthur was not needed in politics. As a firman was no longer necessary, he turned his full attention to the excavation of Knosses, eager to push ahead with it before some other event should remove it from him.

Excavation, 1900 – 1905

The major excavations at Knossos were performed 1900 – 1905, at the end of which the wealthy Arthur Evans was insolvent. Much later, when he inherited his father's considerable estate, his wealth would be restored, and then some, but in 1905 he had to cancel the excavation of 1906 and return to England to find ways to generate income from Youlbury. The palace, however, had been uncovered, and Arthur's concepts of Minoan civilization were known extensively to the public. The term 'palace' may be misleading: in modern English, it usually refers to an elegant building used to house a high-ranking individual, such as a head of state. Knossos was an intricate conglomeration of over 1,000 interlocking rooms, some of which served as artisans' workrooms and food-processing centers (e.g. wine presses). It served as a central storage point, and a religious and administrative center, as well as a factory. No doubt a monarch did reside there, but so also did the better part of his administration. In the age of Linear B, the "palaces" came to be thought of as administrative centers.

The initial team

After the liberation of Crete in 1898, an Ottoman firman was no longer required to excavate, but the permission was in some respects just as difficult to obtain. Before the new Constitution went into effect, the French School of Archaeology under Théophile Homolle was under the impression that it had the right to excavate, based on a previous claim of André Joubin. He soon discovered the Cretan Exploration Fund's ownership. A dispute ensued. David George Hogarth, now Director of the British School at Athens, backed Evans. Arthur appealed to the High Commissioner.

In view of Arthur's activity on behalf of the cause of Cretan freedom, the Prince decided in his favor, provided he finished paying for the site. This decision was subsequently reaffirmed by the new Cretan government. They knew they could count on Arthur to support the subsequent movement for enosis, or union with Greece. By now the price for the rest of the site had diminished. The Cretan Exploration Fund, thanks to additional contributions, purchased it for £200. Prince George was patron of the fund, Evans and Hogarth directors, and Myres secretary. They raised £510, just enough to begin excavation.[18]

Arthur's first step after paying for the estate was to restore the former Turkish owner's house as a storeroom, but as it turned out, the repairs were incomplete. A leaking roof was to cause irreplaceable losses of the initial tablets. He and Hogarth lived in Heraklion. After they disagreed on the management of the future excavation, Hogarth suggested that Duncan Mackenzie, who had become notorious after his excavations on the island of Melos, be employed as superintendant. Duncan had excavated Phylakopi expertly, 1896 – 1899, but escaped with the excavation notes, leaving large, unpaid bills, ostensibly to do independent research. Arthur cabled him in Rome. He arrived in a week. He was to prove a site superintendant of great capabilty, but always under Arthur's management. Unlike Arthur's imaginative guesses, his accounts were sparse and prosaic. Arthur also hired, at Hogarth's recommendation, an architect at the beginning of his career, then at the British School at Athens, David Theodore Fyfe. For a foreman Hogarth gave him his own foreman, Gregorios Antoniou, informally Gregóri, a "grave robber and looter of antiquities," who, trusted in a responsible post, proved fanatically loyal.[19]

The first few months

The start of the excavation was a gala event. On March 28, 1900, Evans, Hogarth, Fyfe, and Alvisos Pappalexakis, a second foreman, staged a donkey parade from Heraklion to Kephala Hill. A crowd of persons hoping to be hired had gathered before dawn, some coming from great distances. The archaeologists pitched a tent. Arthur ran up the Union Jack. Arthur used his cane, called Prodger, to divine a spot to dig for water. The Cretans openly sneered. By chance the diggers broke into an old well, from which water began to gush, establishing Arthur as man of supernatural power from that moment on. They hired 31 men, Christians and moslems. Duncan arrived in the afternoon to start a day book of excavation notes.

The throne room that was discovered was repainted by a father-and-son team of artists, both named Émile Gilliéron, at Arthur Evans' command. Evans based the recreations on archaeological evidence, but drew criticism from some quarters, because some of the best-known frescoes from the throne room are believed to be inventions of the Gilliérons.[20]

Legends of Knossos

A labrys from Messara.

The palace is about 130 meters on a side and since the Roman period has been suggested as the source of the myth of the Labyrinth, an elaborate mazelike structure built for King Minos of Crete and designed by the legendary artificer Daedalus to hold the Minotaur, a creature that was half man and half bull and was eventually killed by the Athenian hero Theseus.

"Labyrinth" may have come from labrys, a word that refers to a double, or two-bladed, axe. Its representation had religious and probably magical significance. It was used throughout the Mycenaean world as an apotropaic symbol: the presence of the symbol on an object would prevent it from being "killed". Axes were scratched on many of the stones of the palace. It appears in pottery decoration and is a motif of the Shrine of the Double Axes at the palace, as well as of many shrines throughout Crete and the Aegean. The first written attestation of the word 'labyrinth' is believed by many linguists to feature on a Linear B tablet as da-pu2-ri-to-jo po-ti-ni-ja, 'lady of the Labyrinth', which makes the etymology connecting it to labrys less likely. Whatever the word's ultimate origin, it must have been borrowed by the Greeks, as the suffix labyr-inthos uses a suffix generally considered to be pre-Greek.

The location of the labyrinth of legend has long been a question for Minoan studies. It might have been the name of the palace or of some portion of the palace. Throughout most of the 20th century the intimations of human sacrifice in the myth puzzled Bronze Age scholars, because evidence for human sacrifice on Crete had never been discovered and so it was vigorously denied. The practice was finally confirmed archaeologically (see under Minoan civilization). It is possible that the palace was a great sacrificial center and could have been named the Labyrinth. Its layout certainly is labyrinthine in the sense that it is intricate and confusing.

Many other possibilities have been suggested. The modern meaning of labyrinth as a twisting maze is based on the myth.

Several out-of-epoch advances in the construction of the palace are thought to have generated the myth of Atlantis.

Site history

Arthur Evans developed his concept of Minoan civilization primarily from the excavations at Knossos. His periodization and general styles and other characteristics have wider application throughout the Aegean.

See also: Minoan civilization, Minoan pottery, and Minoan chronology

Neolithic

Neolithic remains are prolific in Crete. They are found in caves, rock shelters, houses and settlements. Knossos has a thick Neolithic layer indicating the site was a sequence of settlements before the Palace Period. The earliest was placed on bedrock. A. Evans estimates its age by calculating a multiplier of 1800 years per 2.82 metres from the start of Early Minoan at 3400 BC to the end of Middle Minoan at 1600 BC. The 8 metres of the Neolithic is then equivalent 5100 years, except that Evans takes off 10% to allow for a possible increased deposition rate of mud materials. Adding the 4600 of the Neolithic to 3400 gives about 8000 BC for the start of the Neolithic at Knossos. The Proto-Neolithic is missing. From the pottery fragments Evans distinguishes Early, Middle and Late Neolithic.[21]

Evans observes that about about 8000 BC a Neolithic people arrived at the hill from elsewhere, probably from overseas by boat, and placed the first of a succession of wattle and daub villages. Large numbers of clay and stone incised spools and whorls attest to a home industry of cloth-making. There are fine ground axe and mace heads of colored stone: greenstone, serpentine, diorite and jadeite, as well as obsidian knives and arrowheads along with the cores from which they were flaked. Most significant among the other small items were a large number of of animal and human figurines, including nude sitting or standing females with exaggerated breasts and buttocks. Evans attributes them to the worship of the Neolithic mother goddess and figurines in general to religion.[22]

Arthur did not have carbon dating at his command. He would perhaps have been the first to admit that his 8 meters and 10% were nearly completely judgement calls, and that slight variations in either direction would change the overall date significantly. Currently a number of radiocarbon dates have raised the estimate to 7000 – 6500 BC; furthermore, "Knossos Neolithic remains without parallels elsewhere on Crete."[23] At some time in that range a people possessing sheep, pigs, cattle, and growing grains and pulses took up residence on the elevation. The Neolithic was not general over the Aegean until 6500 BC; however, the Neolithic of Cyprus dates to the 9th millenium. If the Knossians were from Cyprus, accessible from anywhere in the Middle East or to any possible maritime peoples from anywhere in the Mediterranean, their ultimate origin might very well never be discovered.

Considering that Evans was necessarily not very clear on the Neolithic, being primarily interested in the palace, John Davies Evans (no relation), whose specialty was the Neolithic of the Aegean, undertook further excavations in pits and trenches over the palace, elucidating the Neolithic. These findings are summarized by McEnroe.[24] In the Aceramic Neolithic (without pottery), 7000 – 6000, a hamlet of 25 - 50 persons existed at the location of the Central Court. They lived in wattle and daub huts, kept animals, grew crops, and, in the event of tragedy, buried their children under the floor. In such circumstances as they are still seen today, a hamlet consisted of several families, necessarily interrelated, practicing some form of exogamy, living in close quarters, with little or no privacy and a high degree of intimacy, spending most of their time in the outdoors, sheltering only for the night or in inclement weather, and to a large degree nomadic or semi-nomadic. Sufficient numbers of tribesmen still live in this way to reconstruct a fairly clear picture of life from the remains.

In the Early Neolithic, 6000 – 5000, a village of 200 - 600 persons occupied most of the area of the palace and the slopes to the north and west. They lived in one- or-two-room square houses of mud-brick walls set on socles of stone, either field stone or recycled stone artifacts. The inner walls were lined with mud-plaster. The roofs were flat, composed of mud over branches. The residents dug hearths at various locations in the center of the main room. This village had an unusual feature: one house under the West Court contained eight rooms and covered 50 m2 (540 sq ft). The walls were at right angles. The door was centered. Large stones were used for support under points of greater stress. The fact that distinct sleeping cubicles for individuals was not the custom suggests storage units of some sort.

The settlement of the Middle Neolithic, 5000 – 4000, housed 500 - 1000 people in more substantial and presumably more family-private homes. Construction was the same, except the windows and doors were timbered, a fixed, raised hearth occupied the center of the main room, and pilasters and other raised features (cabinets, beds) occupied the perimeter. Under the palace was the Great House, a 100 m2 (1,100 sq ft) area stone house divided into 5 rooms with meter-thick walls suggesting a second story was present. The presence of the house, which is unlikely to have been a private residence like the others, suggests a communal or public use, although the socio-political alpha male may well have lived there; i.e., it may have been the predecessor of a palace. In the Late or Final Neolithic (two different but overlapping classification systems), 4000 – 3000, population increased dramatically, suggesting an immigration (which was Arthur Evans' view also).

Art and architecture of the palace

General features

Magazine 4 with giant pithoi. The compartments in the floor were for grain and produce. An alternate explanation for these compartments is that they were catch basins for the contents of the pithoi if one should break or leak. It would be very hazardous to store grain or produce in the floor of a magazine, the main purpose of which was to hold giant containers that held liquids.

The great palace was gradually built between 1700 and 1400 BC, with periodic rebuildings after destruction. Structures preceded it on Kephala hill. The features currently most visible date mainly to the last period of habitation, which Evans termed Late Minoan. The palace has an interesting layout[25] – the original plan can no longer be seen due to the subsequent modifications. The 1,300 rooms are connected with corridors of varying sizes and direction, which differ from other contemporaneous palaces that connected the rooms via several main hallways. The 6 acres (24,000 m2) of the palace included a theater, a main entrance on each of its four cardinal faces, and extensive storerooms (also called magazines). Within the storerooms were large clay containers (pithoi) that held oil, grains, dried fish, beans, and olives. Many of the items were processed at the palace, which had grain mills, oil presses, and wine presses. Beneath the pithoi were stone holes that were used to store more valuable objects, such as gold. The palace used advanced architectural techniques: for example, part of it was built up to five storeys high.

Water management

The palace had at least three separate water-management systems: one for supply, one for drainage of runoff, and one for drainage of waste water.

Aqueducts brought fresh water to Kephala hill from springs at Archanes, about 10 km away. Springs there are the source of the Kairatos river, in the valley in which Kephala is located. The aqueduct branched to the palace and to the town. Water was distributed at the palace by gravity feed through terracotta pipes to fountains and spigots. The pipes were tapered at one end to make a pressure fit, with rope for sealing. The water- supply system would have been manifestly easy to attack. No hidden springs have been discovered as at Mycenae.

Sanitation drainage was through a closed system leading to a sewer apart from the hill. The queen's megaron contained an example of the first water-flushing system toilet adjoining the bathroom. This toilet was a seat over a drain that was flushed by pouring water from a jug. The bathtub located in the adjoining bathroom similarly had to be filled by someone heating, carrying, and pouring water, and must have been drained by overturning into a floor drain or by bailing. This toilet and bathtub were exceptional structures within the 1,300-room complex.

As the hill was periodically drenched by torrential rains, a runoff system was a necessity. It began with channels in the flat surfaces, which were zigzag and contained catchment basins to control the water velocity. Probably the upper system was open. Manholes provided access to parts that were covered.

Some links to photographs of parts of the water-collection-management system follow.

Ventilation

Due to its placement on the hill, the palace received sea breezes during the summer. It had porticoes and air shafts.

Minoan Columns

The palace also includes the Minoan column, a structure notably different from other Greek columns. Unlike the stone columns that are characteristic of other Greek architecture, the Minoan column was constructed from the trunk of a cypress tree, common to the Mediterranean. While most Greek columns are smaller at the top and wider at the bottom to create the illusion of greater height (entasis), the Minoan columns are smaller at the bottom and wider at the top, a result of inverting the cypress trunk to prevent sprouting once in place.[28] The columns at the Palace of Minos were painted red and mounted on stone bases with round, pillow-like capitals.

Frescoes

Bull-leaping Fresco, Court of the Stone Spout

Frescoes decorated the walls.[29] Since the remains were only fragments, fresco reconstruction and placement by the artist Piet de Jong is controversial. These sophisticated, colorful paintings portray a society which, in comparison to the roughly contemporaneous art of Middle and New Kingdom Egypt, was either conspicuously non-militaristic or did not choose to portray military themes anywhere in their art. (See Minoan civilisation) As with contemporaneous Egyptian art, male figures are often shown with darker or redder skin than female figures; though not certain, the differentiation might be related to cultural ideals which placed women in protected settings and men in outdoor settings. Many of the extant images depict young or ageless adults, with few young children or elders depicted. In addition to scenes of men and women linked to activities such as fishing and flower gathering, the murals also portray athletic feats. The most notable of these is bull-leaping, in which an athlete grasps the bull's horns and vaults over the animal's back. One remaining question is whether this activity was a religious ritual, possibly a sacrificial activity, or a sport, perhaps a form of bullfighting. Many people have questioned whether this activity is even possible; the fresco might represent a mythological dance with the Great Bull. The most famous example is the Toreador Fresco, painted around 1550–1450 BC, in which a young man, flanked by two women, apparently leaps onto and over a charging bull's back. It is now located in the Archaeological Museum of Herakleion in Crete.

Throne Room

Main article: Throne Room, Knossos Throne from which the Throne Room was named

The centerpiece of the "Minoan" palace was the so-called Throne Room or Little Throne Room,[30] dated to LM II. This chamber has an alabaster seat identified by Evans as a "throne" built into the north wall. On three sides of the room are gypsum benches. A sort of tub area is opposite the throne, behind the benches, termed a lustral basin, which means that Evans and his team saw it as a place for ceremonial purification.

The room was accessed from an anteroom through two double doors. The anteroom as connected to the central court, which was four broad steps up through four doors. The anteroom had gypsum benches also, with carbonized remains between two of them thought to possibly be a wooden throne. Both rooms are located in the ceremonial complex on the west of the central court.

Griffin couchant (lying down) facing throne

The throne is flanked by the Griffin Fresco, with two griffins couchant (laying down) facing the throne, one on either side. Griffins were important mythological creatures, also appearing on seal rings, which were used to stamp the identities of the bearers into pliable material, such as clay or wax.

The actual use of the room and the throne is unclear. The two main theories are as follows:

It is also speculated that the throne was made specifically for a female individual, since the indentation seems to be shaped for a woman's buttocks. Also, the extensive use of curved edges and the crescent moon carved at its base both symbolize femininity.

The lustral basin was originally thought to have had a ritual washing use, but the lack of drainage has more recently brought some scholars to doubt this theory. It is now speculated that the tank was used as an aquarium, or possibly a water reservoir.

Minoan society evidenced at Knossos

A long-standing debate between archaeologists concerns the main function of the palace, whether it acted as an administrative center, a religious center, or both, in a theocratic manner. Other important debates consider the role of Knossos in the administration of Bronze Age Crete, and whether Knossos acted as the primary center, or was on equal footing with the several other contemporaneous palaces that have been discovered on Crete. Many of these palaces were destroyed and abandoned in the early part of the 15th century BC, possibly by the Mycenaeans, although Knossos remained in use until it was destroyed by fire about one hundred years later. Knossos showed no signs of being a military site; for example, it had neither fortifications nor stores of weapons.

Notable residents

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Knossos

References

  1. ^ Papadopoulos, John K (1997), "Knossos", in Delatorre, Marta, The conservation of archaeological sites in the Mediterranean region : an international conference organized by the Getty Conservation Institute and the Paul Getty Museum, 6-12 May 1995, Los Angeles: The Paul Getty Trust, p. 93
  2. ^ McEnroe, John C. (2010). Architecture of Minoan Crete: Constructing Identity in the Aegean Bronze Age. Austin: University of Texas Press. p. 50.
  3. ^ Stratis, James C. (October 2005), Kommos Archaeological Site Conservation Report, kommosconservancy.org, http://kommosconservancy.org/HTMLwebsite/Kommos_Conservation_Report_2005.pdf
  4. ^ Hutchinson, R.W. (1968) (Revised ed.). Baltimore: Penguin Books.
  5. ^ Gere 2009, p. 25.
  6. ^ Chaniotis, Angelos (1999). From Minoan farmers to Roman traders: sidelights on the economy of ancient Crete. Stuttgart: Steiner. pp. 280-282.
  7. ^ Castleden, Rodney (1993). Life in Bronze Age Crete. London; New York: Routledge. p. 35.
  8. ^ Oliver Rackham and Jennifer Moody (1996). The Making of the Cretan Landscape. Manchester University Press. pp. 94, 104. ISBN 0-7190-3646-1.
  9. ^ Karadimas, Nektarios; Momigliano, Nicoletta (2004). "On the Term 'Minoan' before Evans's Work in Crete (1894)". Studi micenei ed egeo-anatolici (Roma: Edizione del 'Ateneo) 46 (2): 243-258. http://www.aegeussociety.org/images/uploads/pdf/Karadimas-2004-SMEA.pdf.
  10. ^ Evans 1921, p. 1.
  11. ^ Driessen 1990, p. 24.
  12. ^ Castleden 1990, p. 22.
  13. ^ Begg 2004, pp. 8–9.
  14. ^ MacGillivray 2000, pp. 115-124.
  15. ^ Gere 2009, pp. 64-65.
  16. ^ The above summary is based on Johnston, Albert Sidney; Clarence A Bickford; William W. Hudson; Nathan Haskell Dole (1st Quarter 1897). "The Eastern Crisis". The Cyclopedic review of current history 7 (2): 17-46.
  17. ^ MacGillivray 2000, pp. 154-162
  18. ^ MacGillivray 2000, pp. 163-168.
  19. ^ 2000, pp. 170-173.
  20. ^ Gere, Cathy Knossos and the Prophets of Modernism (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2009), p. 111 ISBN 0226289540
  21. ^ Evans 1921, pp. 32-35.
  22. ^ Evans 1921, pp. 36-55.
  23. ^ Düring, Bleda S (2011). The prehistory of Asia Minor: from complex hunter-gatherers to early urban societies. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. p. 126.
  24. ^ McEnroe, John C (2010). Architecture of Minoan Crete: constructing identity in the Aegean Bronze Age. Austin: University of Texas Press. pp. 12-17.
  25. ^ Plot plans of the palace are given at the following sites: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
  26. ^ JPEG image. UK.digiserve.com. Retrieved on 2012-01-02.
  27. ^ JPEG image. Dartmouth.edu. Retrieved on 2012-01-02.
  28. ^ C. Michael Hogan, Knossos fieldnotes, Modern Antiquarian (2007)
  29. ^ Knossos: Fakes, Facts, and Mystery. Nybooks.com (2009-08-13). Retrieved on 2012-01-02.
  30. ^ Matz, The Art of Crete and Early Greece Kessinger Publishing, LLC, 2010, ISBN 1163815446, uses this term.
  31. ^ Peter Warren: Minoan Religion as Ritual Action, Volume 72 of Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology, 1988, the University of Michigan

Bibliography

By Evans

By others

External links

History of Crete
Minoan period · Mycenean period · Classical and Hellenistic period · Roman period · First Byzantine period · Arab period · Second Byzantine period · Venetian period · Cretan War · Ottoman period · Cretan State · Battle of Crete · Resistance

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