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Figure1- http://www.dilos.com/region/crete/kn_01.html
Nov. 20, 2000
Location of
the Palaces
Figure2-http://www.culture.gr/2/21/211/21123n/e211wn02.html
Nov. 20, 2000
The
Administrative
Function of the Palaces
Decorations were used in
At Phaistos, the site was entered at the
level of the
The next feature is a group of rooms that
appear to represent units, which have been called the Residential Quarters. At
Defensive
Function of the Palaces
The Minoans never built any defensive walls
around their city. This would explain why no military evidence was found. They
did not seem to be afraid of invasions from the sea, but they did prepare
themselves to make it difficult for foreigners to access the building. First of
all, they had entrances on each side of the palace, but they were all hidden
and if they were able to find themselves inside, they would get lost in the
maze of rooms and corridors with some of them leading to dead ends. The layout
of the architectural buildings are made in such a way that when the plans are
analyzed (Figure 10), they seem to resemble a maze or a labyrinth. All of the
corridors lead up to the central courtyard that would be in the middle of the
palace and were intruders would be surrounded if they did not get lost before.
There is no evidence that a King existed who lived on Some houses at Gournia were entered directly at street level and large threshold stones can still be seen at the entrance to many of these houses. Access to the basements would have been down wooden stairs, through a trapdoor from inside the houses. The rooms on the first floor had windows, but those on the ground floor did not, although some of them had doors on the ground floor. It may be that windows on the ground floor were avoided for simple reasons of security: to avoid burglary.10 This would account for a defensive strategy mostly from within the city or inland or it could have been from fear of enemy invasion. This way, the Minoans could hide their goods and themselves. There is no evidence that there were any military.
Economical
Function of the Palaces One of the best evidence
for the economical function of the palaces are the clay tablets written in
Linear B preserved by fire which were deciphered and found out to be the Greek
language in cuneiform style. Although they do not explain how the Minoans lived
or what ritual they performed or how did their society function, whether a
monarch was in power or not, they do state inventories and trade. To some
people it might seem irrelevant and probably did as well to the Minoans at the
time, but to every archaeologist they are very important artifacts that explain
that they did keep records and that in fact they did trade. In the central
courtyard, many functions could have taken place, but one of the most common is
of an economic point of view. With the possibility of people living in these
buildings, it is likely that they would have needed a place to trade or sell
their goods, especially if foreigners were to come in from the sea or even
inland. This would help confirm as well the need for workshops within these
buildings. At Phaistos, the site was entered at the level of the
At Gournia, the West facade had storerooms
behind and rooms above. There were three entrances to the palace, from the
south, west, and northeast. The mini-palace at Gournia did not survive for long
and it was destroyed by an earthquake. In Late Minoan IA, it was turned into
workers' accommodation and an industrial settlement developed, growing out from
the center. The numerous houses are small and tightly packed together. Many of
the surviving rooms were most likely basements used for storage and entry to
the houses would have been by steps leading up from the street. The houses were
built around a wooden frame. The most likely reason for the use of these beams
was as protection against earthquake damage. Among the finds on the site are
potters' wheels, a carpenter's workshop complete with saws and other tools, a
coppersmith's forge and an oil press.11
Although the town of
Religious
Function of the Palaces The last possible
function of the palaces was religious and there is much evidence for this in
the entire building. Thin partition walls were regularly made of mud bricks set
on edge. Carved signs were found on many of the stones of the palaces,
especially at
In the courtyard
in Mallia, which was placed outside the palace because the palace was so small,
there is what might be a sacrificial stone. Holes carved in the stone may have
enabled a table to be slotted in, on which the animal to be sacrificed was
tied. Another hole may have been for fixing a religious symbol, for example a
double axe. To the north of the palace, and separate from it, a small civic
shrine was found. This small shrine had a ledge on the south side for the
placing of cult objects. In the shrine, the finds themselves dated from a much
later period and included idols of a goddess with raised arms and a clay vessel
with handles on either side in the form of snakes and a relief of horns of
consecration.16 The subjects of many of these wall paintings
were religious, but some of the pictures appear to have been entirely secular.
These include scenes of real life, and landscapes with animals and birds of the
kind that adorned the so-called House of the Frescoes at Knossos. The huge
relief's of bull leaping in the west and north entrances of the palace at
Knossos, and the imaginary griffins of the Throne Room there, evidently had a
religious significance. Great examples are the frescoes that seem to depict
religious processions.
Conclusions The grand
architectural buildings of Bronze Age Crete have been a topic of debate for
several decades, in the sense of whether they were palaces with a King and/or
Queen or whether they were merely administrative centers that had nothing to do
with monarchy. Depending on the books and the authors, there are many different
opinions about the subject and the one that is the most frequently used is the
word palace. However, not only as a residence for the monarchs that are tough
to have existed in the residential quarters, but also as a multi function
center that would have included administration, economies, entertainment and
ritual processions or offerings as in the theatral area or the courtyards. In
analyzing the structure of the buildings, the material, and layout of the rooms
as well as purpose and decorations of these rooms: one can form an opinion. My
personal opinion is that of which these buildings, such as the ones at Knossos,
Mallia and Phaistos can be considered as multi-purpose palaces as compared to
other architectural buildings on Crete which are smaller scale. Those are not
as lavishly decorated and considered more as towns and villas such as the one
at Gournia described previously. Therefore, these buildings in my opinion can be
considered Palaces although there is no evidence that a monarchy ever reined in
Crete. This leaves the topic open to further study and discussion on the
speculations of what life was in the Bronze Age in Crete as well as what were
the purposes for the lavishly decorated architectural buildings. Figure 10- Plan of the Palace at Knossos http://www.dragonridge.com/greece/knossos.htm
Endnotes
1 http://www.dragonridge.com/greece/knossos.htm
2 http://www.dragonridge.com/greece/knossos.htm
3 http://www.dragonridge.com/greece/knossos.htm
4 http://www.dragonridge.com/greece/phaistos.html
5 http://www.dragonridge.com/greece/phaistos.html
6 http://www.uk.digiserve.com/mentor/minoan/malia.htm
7 http://www.uk.digiserve.com/mentor/minoan/malia.htm
8 http://www.uk.digiserve.com/mentor/minoan/gournia.htm
9 http://devlab.dartmouth.edu/history/bronze_age/lessons/12.html
10 http://www.uk.digiserve.com/mentor/minoan/gournia.htm
11 http://www.uk.digiserve.com/mentor/minoan/gournia.htm
12 http://www.uk.digiserve.com/mentor/minoan/malia.htm
13 http://devlab.dartmouth.edu/history/bronze_age/lessons/12.html
14 http://www.uk.digiserve.com/mentor/minoan/malia.htm
15 http://devlab.dartmouth.edu/history/bronze_age/lessons/12.html
16 http://devlab.dartmouth.edu/history/bronze_age/lessons/12.html
Bibliography Cadogan, G. “An Old Palace Period Knossos State?” Knossos: A
Labyrinth of History. British School of Athens, 1994.
Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1959.
http://www.vacation.net.gr/p/crete.html
http://www.dilos.com/region/crete/kn_01.html
http://www.museum.upenn.edu/Greek_World/Index.html
http://hsc.csu.edu.au/ancthist/courses/23unit/anc_socs/minoan/127/page210.htm
http://devlab.dartmouth.edu/history/bronze_age/lessons/12.html
http://www.dragonridge.com/greece/knossos.htm
http://www.uk.digiserve.com/mentor/minoan/
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Oracle/1039/greece/mallia.htm |
Minoan
Palaces of Crete and their Functions
Between 1700-1450 BC, the Minoan civilization flourished at 
Gournia is one of the few Minoan town sites that have been
extensively excavated. The streets are fairly well defined, and are even
roughly paved. The original name of the settlement is not known and its present
name comes from the hollow vessels found all over the site, and many of which
can still be seen at the entrances to the rooms. It is located a few hundred
meters from the sea in the 
palace. Little of the furnishings of palaces have survived. With the exception of stone benches along
the walls of rooms are regular features of the palaces from the earliest times.
There are also one or two stone chairs, which clearly imitate wooden models.
Therefore, 
Another important
feature is the large areas of the ground-floor plans devoted to storage
facilities, which are called magazines. They are all situated on the west with
some geographical differences. The west facades are characterized in plan by a
stepped series of projections, each of which corresponds to a clump of
magazines on 
the interior. Near the middle of the west façade of each block of
magazines, is a shallow recess. Storage vessels may suggest a manufacture on
the premises. If it was the case, then there should have been a living society,
which would explain the living quarters. The last feature common to the palaces
is the Kouloures or grain silos that constitute of these semi subterranean
cylindrical structures built of rubble and ordinarily not plastered on the
interior. At 
The most common trait is the central court
oriented north south. The colonnades bordering it provide maximum sunlight and
they have along the west side the openings into the cult rooms facing towards
the rising sun. This focal point is a large open area surrounded by a large
number of architectural blocks that tend to have a specific and at the same
time discrete functions. We have do not have intangible evidence that proves
that the central court was used for large public gatherings, although it is
possible that the Minoan
sport or ritual of bull leaping took place there. The major axis of the central
courtyard in the case of Knossos
points southward towards the sacred mountain
Iuktas, where as in the case of Phaistos, it points northward to the mountain
of Ida.
be symbolic signs,
perhaps associated with a divinity during the Minoan times.
rooms include the pillar crypts, the temple
Repositories, the Tripartite Shrine and the Throne Room Complex. There was
perhaps a similar arrangement at Mallia, while at Phaistos some of the rooms on
the west side of the central court might have served in religious functions.
