West: The pillar crypt was located off the central court: these were dark rooms,
with evidence of ancient sacrifices; they were connect with storerooms on the
west side perhaps evidence that the ruler was a priest or priestess/king queen.
Also off the west side was a throne room, though this dates to the Mycenaean
period. linear B tablets were found here; there are no thrones in other palaces .
The propylon held frescos with bullring scenes, this may have been a guardroom.
A staircase led to the central court; the tripartite columnar shrine was located
south of the staircase. A grand staircase led up to the piano nobile, this probably
held the royal audience hall of the early palaces. On the west court, orthostats show marks of fire, perhaps a trace of the first palace in the west wall. The west magazines could hold 400 pithoi about 16,000 gallons. There is evidence that trade extended to Sparta. Near the entrance of the palace are three large pits. These are associated with the first palace, but their use is unknown. They were covered over during the period of the later palace. They may have been used for grain storage. While other Minoan palaces were destroyed around 1450, Knossos continued, perhaps under Mycenaean control, until about 1375, when it too was destroyed.
2. PHAISTOS CRETE
According to myth, Phaistos was founded by Rhadamanthys, one of the three sons of Zeus and Europa, Minoa and Sarpedon were the others. Rhadamanthys is said to have visited the cave of Zeus every nine years, and to have brought back new laws to be enforced throughout his kingdom. The Gortyn code supposedly originated with him. Was Phaistos is in the south central part of the island. The area was settled in the Neolithic period, and there is evidence of pre-Minoan palaces. The first Minoan palace was originally ravaged by fire and earthquake and was rebuilt. It was then almost entirely destroyed by earthquake and fire about 1700. The second Minoan palace was built over the ruins of the first. This second palace was destroyed about 1450.
3. MALIA CRETE
According to myth, this was the palace of Sarpedon, one of three sons of Zeus and Europa. Its site is a strange location for a palace: the area is hot and uncomfortable in the summer; there are no sources of water other than springs. It is also close to the sea, perhaps indicating again a lack of fear of attack. The palace is as large as Phaistos 9,000 sq meters, but the architecture, building materials, and decorations do not compare with Phaistos or Knossos. The palace is constructed of simple materials; no gypsum is used. It is orderly, but not opulent. page. Its history parallels Knossos: The original palace was built around 1900; this was destroyed around 1700, it was rebuilt immediately. This second palace was destroyed around 1450. Here there is a difference with Knossos; Malia was not re occupied; there is no evidence of Mycenaean occupation. Around the palace there are several housing blocks and roads. There is evidence of an extensive city extending to the sea. To the northwest of the palace, there are buildings and storehouses. Such buildings here may imply the existence of an agora and prytaneion. Perhaps the seeds of the Greek polis are here.
B. Minoan Villages - 1. GOURNIA CRETE
The site was inhabited as early as 3000, but there were no settlements of importance until around 1650; it was a significant Minoan town by 1600. Located in the northeast between Kato Zakro and Knossos, it lies on the narrowest part of the island and may have prospered like Corinth by lying at crossroads. Gournia is a medium sized Minoan town, not really a palace site. Numerous objects for everyday use have been uncovered, including molds for bronzes, loom weights, and carpenters' kits. This was an industrial town, with inhabitants occupied in fishing, weaving, bronze casting, and terracotta production. Was this ? well. Gournia was a peaceful town; there are no fortifications. Roads are paved with cobblestones. Most roads radiate from the center, though there are a few ring roads. There are over 70 tightly packed houses. Lower courses were made of rubble, upper of mud brick. Houses often had 2 stories, with flat roofs and plaster walls. The area was ruled by a governor; there is a miniature version of a palace 1/10 the size of Knossos. The town was destroyed about 1500, but was rebuilt by Mycenaeans, there is a house with a megaron evident. The site was ultimately abandoned about 1200.
2. AYIA TRIADA CRETE
Located about 3 km from Phaistos, on the road between Phaistos and the sea, Ayia Triada's relation to Phaistos is unclear. There was an elaborate and beautiful structure here, sometimes called a palace but more like a weekend or summer villa. It was built in the first half of the 16th century, the period of the second palace at Phaistos. It was furnished with superb art works. The villa was destroyed at the end of the 15th century. There are a number of buildings around the villa, on the north and west quarters- later than the villa. There is a necropolis of circular tombs, which included a marble sarcophagus from about 1400. There are also ruins of a settlement with an agora, dating from 1375 to 1100. A Minoan temple has been found on the southeast edge of the village. It may date from 1700 and included superb frescos.
C. A City Colony? - AKROTIRI (on Greek Island Santorini)
The first evidence of settlements on the volcanic island of Santorini the southern most island in the Cyclades comes from between 3200 and 3000. Bronze was used on these sites, there is no evidence of Neolithic settlements. Most remains from the Bronze Age date from 1600-1500, just before the eruption which sent much of the island falling into the sea. No palaces have been excavated on the island. page. The large Bronze Age city of Akrotiri retains signs of the earlier Cycladic culture but with strong Minoan influences. The extent of the site is unclear. Test trenches on the outskirts indicate an area of about 200,000 square meters, with a population of between 4000 and 5000.
Earthquake destroyed the town prior to the eruption, but people returned and rebuilt. The city was very prosperous during this period. The area exported grains, wine, and grapes. People had time to leave before the final eruption, though there is evidence that some squatters may still have been inhabiting the site. .The city was divided into blocks and then houses. The irregular shapes of buildings is similar to Minoan architecture. Further similarities include the use of pier and door construction, angled stairways, and large windows open to the street. One lustral basin has been found. On the other hand, only one example of the horns of consecration and no double axes have been found. Building materials were rubble and clay, mud brick reinforced with straw, timber, stucco (inside and out). Each house made its own bread and had its own drainage system--water was pumped under paved streets. Almost every house had a loom. Ashlar masonry was used in fine buildings and is often found at the corners of ordinary buildings (perhaps for support). Frescos have been found in the upper stories of every house. Landscapes, animals and people were depicted. Jars and pithoi with spiral motif, in the Cycladic style, are evident.
D. Classical Sites - GORTYN CRETE
Gortyn was populated during the Minoan Age and was under the rule of Phaistos. Much later, with the arrival of the Dorians, the city rose in importance. It conquered Phaistos and Matala in the 3rd century. It became the capitol of Crete under the Romans, from 67 AD to 395. St. Paul visited Crete in 59. His companion Titus (as the first bishop of the island) built a church at Gortyn, and the site became the center of Christian Crete. After the Arab invasion of 824, the city was abandoned. A new settlement was later founded outside the old. ? . The law code dates from the 5th century BCE (between 480 and 460). It was originally dated earlier (6th century) because the script was more conservative than 5th century Attic. The alphabet has only 18 letters; it includes F (digamma) but lacks 6 others. The form of some letters is archaic. In addition, the content of the code may reflect earlier legislation. The code was inscribed on the bouleuterion of the agora. The Romans built an odeon over the ruins of the bouleuterion, about 100 BCE. The north wall of the old building, with the tablets, was preserved. (The corridor was reused as a mill sluice in the 19th century.) The code covers 42 blocks, with 12 law texts. It was written in a Dorian-Cretan dialect, "as the cow goes" that is, back and forth. The inscriptions provided the complete code of laws for the city.
THERA (Classical City on Santorini)
The island was uninhabited for centuries after the earthquake that reduced the circular island of Santorini to a small semi-circular rim. In the 11th century, the Dorians inhabited the island and founded the ancient city of Thera. This city founded a colony at Cyrene (on the northern coast of Africa) around 630. The classical city was a member of Athens's League. Most of the ruins date from the Hellenistic and Byzantine eras. During the Hellenistic period, the site served as a naval base for the Ptolemies. The island ultimately became part of the Roman province of Asia. .a. 2. c In the Middle Ages, it was ruled by Venice, in the Duchy of Naxos. It was named Santorini by the Venetians, after the island's patron saint, Irene. The island was captured by the Turks in 1537.
Compiled from:
Primary Sources: Castleden, Rodney, Minoans: Life in Bronze Age Crete (NY: Routledge, 1990). Cole, Dan, Course Notes for Ancient Greece, spring 1989. Finley, M. I., Early Greece: The Bronze and Archaic Ages (NY: W. W. Norton, 1970). Hood, Sinclair, The Minoans (NY: Praeger Pubs., 1971). Michailidou, Anna, Knossos (Athens, GR: Ekdotike Athenon S.A., 1989). Secondary Sources: Amos, H. D. and A. G. P. Lang, These Were the Greeks (Chester Springs, PA: Dufour Editions, Inc., 1982). Andronicos, Manolis, Herakleion Museum (Athens, GR: Ekdotike Athenon S.A., 1985). Burn, A.R., The Pelican History of Greece (Baltimore, MD: Penguin Books, 1966) Geldard, Richard G., The Traveler's Key to Ancient Greece (New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 1989). Hafner, German, Art of Crete, Mycenae, and Greece (NY: Harry N. Abrams, 1968). Higgins, Reynold, Minoan and Mycenaean Art (NY: Oxford Univ. Press, 1981). Hopper, R. J., The Early Greeks (NY: Barnes and Noble, 1976). Kitto, H.D.F., The Greeks (New York, NY: Penguin Books, 1957) Murray, Gilbert, Five Stages of Greek Religion (Garden City, NY: Doubleday Anchor, 1951). Nilsson, Martin, A History of Greek Religion (New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Co., 1964). Payne, Robert, The Splendour of Greece (London, ENG: Pan Books, Ltd., 1960). Phaidon Cultural Guide, Greece (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1985). Vermeule, Emily, Greece in the Bronze Age (Chicago, IL: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1972). Willetts, R. F., The Civilization of Ancient Crete (Berkeley: U. of California Press, 1977). Woodford, Susan, Introduction to the History of Art: Greece and Rome (NY: Cambridge University Press, 1982)
