Editing Minoan civilization (section)

=== Villas ===

A number of compounds known as "villas" have been excavated on Crete, mostly near palaces, especially Knossos. These structures share features of neopalatial palaces: a conspicuous western facade, storage facilities and a three-part Minoan Hall.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.academia.edu/3801242|last=Letesson|first=Quentin|title=Minoan Halls: A Syntactical Genealogy|journal=American Journal of Archaeology |date=January 2013 |volume=117 |issue=3 |pages=303–351 |doi=10.3764/aja.117.3.0303 |s2cid=191259609 |access-date=7 April 2017}}</ref> These features may indicate a similar role or that the structures were artistic imitations, suggesting that their occupants were familiar with palatial culture. The villas were often richly decorated, as evidenced by the frescos of [[Hagia Triada]] Villa A.

A common characteristic of the Minoan villas was having flat roofs. Their rooms did not have windows to the streets, the light arriving from [[courtyards]], a common feature of larger Mediterranean in much later periods. In the [[2nd millennium BC]], the villas had one or two floors, and the palaces even three.