The West Wing
The ground floor of the palace consists of long, narrow rooms going east to west used for pithoi (tall ceramic storage jars) the west of the palace has two important features. First, the exterior wall is much thinner than the interior walls. Second, the exterior wall instead of running straight from north to south there are a series of jogs. These jogs are the distinguishing features of many Minoan structures the thickness of the wall meant it could support at least one other floor.
The Palace Workshop
Was a storeroom for stone especially imported from the Greek mainland.
The room known as Lapidary's workshop was probably a workshop for the production of stone vases
Residential quarters
Were in the south east part of the palace, rooms facing south to east get morning sun all year round and are coolin the evening this is crucial
for the baking summers of Crete. A comfortable feature would be plumbing which includes toilets which were flushed by a channel of water.
Map of The palace of Knossos
Pithoi (tall ceramic storage jar)
Historical Importance
The palace of Knossos is the most glorious monument of the Minoan civilization. The palace plays a large part in Greek mythology and is where the Greek Mythological creature Minotaur came from. The Story of the Minotaur was told roughly like this…
“In some far distant time King Minos ruled the Aegean. He demanded in tribute every year a group of Athenian youths and maidens. These were delivered to the Labyrinth, in the middle of which lived the Minotaur, a terrifying creature that was half human and half bull. Once anyone entered the Labyrinth, they could never find their way out again; the Minotaur devoured the young and maidens as they tried to escape. After many years of this, a courageous young man called Theseus volunteered to be one of the group. When Ariadne, the daughter of King Minos, saw Theseus, she took a liking to him, and helped him by giving him a thread that he paid out after him when he entered the Labyrinth. When Theseus encountered the Minotaur, they fought, and Theseus killed the beast. After escaping by backtracking along the thread, he took Ariadne with him as he left Crete. But he did not go straight back to Athens with her. Instead, he abandoned her on Naxos. Naxos is a large island in the Cyclades about 200 km north of Crete and the same distance east-south-east of Athens.”
Statue of the “Minotaur”
Preservation Problems
The palace was built in 2000 B.C and was only destroyed two times in its history
The first was an earthquake in 1700 B.C and was rebuilt more magnificent than the first
The second was a fire in the mid 14th century B.C and it ceased to function as a palatial centre.
Also in the middle 15th century B.C the Achaeans from the Greek mainland conquered the island of Crete and settled at the palace of Knossos they used Greek Language indicated by the clay tablets they left behind.
