Editing Knossos (section)

==Palace complex==
{{Further|Minoan palaces}}

[[File:Knossos Map-T Just the map.jpg|thumb|225px|alt=Layout of the Palace at Knossos|The Palace at Knossos was organized around an open central court, labeled (1) in this map.]]

The palace at Knossos was continuously renovated and modified throughout its existence. The currently visible palace is an accumulation of features from various periods, alongside modern reconstructions which are often inaccurate. Thus, the palace was never exactly as it appears today.<ref name = "prezhitchLB" >{{cite book|last1=Preziosi |first1=Donald|last2=Hitchcock|first2=Louise|year=1999 |title=Aegean|publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=92–93|isbn=9780192842084}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Architecture of Minoan Crete: constructing identity in the Aegean Bronze Age|first=John C |last=McEnroe|location=Austin|publisher=University of Texas Press | year=2010|page=79}}</ref>

=== Layout ===

[[File:Wall painting of grandstand or sacred grove and shrine from Knossos (north end of central court) - London BM - 02.jpg|thumb|250px|alt=The Grandstand Fresco|The ''Grandstand Fresco'' appears to show a ceremony taking place in the Central Court at Knossos.]]

Like other Minoan palaces, Knossos was arranged around a rectangular central court. This court was twice as long north-south as it was east-west, an orientation that would have maximized sunlight, and positioned important rooms towards the rising sun.<ref name=HitchcockHandbook>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Hitchcock |first=Louise|year=2012 |title=Minoan Architecture |editor-last=Cline |editor-first=Eric |encyclopedia=The Oxford Handbook of the Bronze Age Aegean |pages=189–199|publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199873609.013.0014|isbn=978-0199873609}}</ref><ref name=LupackHandbook>{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Lupack |first1=Susan|year=2012 |title=Crete |editor-last=Cline |editor-first=Eric |encyclopedia=The Oxford Handbook of the Bronze Age Aegean |pages=251–262 |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199873609.013.0019|isbn=978-0199873609}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Architecture of Minoan Crete: Constructing Identity in the Aegean Bronze Age | first=John C. | last=McEnroe | location=Austin | publisher=University of Texas Press | year=2010 | pages=84–85}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.athenapub.com/11knoss.htm |title=The Palaces of Minos at Knossos |first=Colin F. |last=Macdonald |volume=3 |issue=3 |journal=Athena Review |publisher=Athena Publications, Inc. |year=2003 |access-date=25 July 2018  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110524083709/http://www.athenapub.com/11knoss.htm |archive-date=24 May 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The central court is believed to have been used for rituals and festivals. One of these festivals is believed to be depicted in the ''Grandstand Fresco''. Some scholars have suggested that [[bull-leaping]] would have taken place in the courts, though others have argued that the paving would not have been optimal for the animals or the people, and that the restricted access points would have kept the spectacle too far out of public view.<ref name=HitchcockHandbook/><ref name=LupackHandbook/>

The {{convert|6|acre|m2}} of the palace included a theater, a main entrance on each of its four cardinal faces, and extensive storerooms.

===Location===
[[File:Armon Knossos P1060104.JPG|thumb|View to the east from the northwest corner, in the foreground is the west wall of the [[lustral basin|Lustral Basin]]]]
[[File:Knossos - 03.jpg|thumb|View to the south, the hill in the background is Gypsades, between it and Knossos is the Vlychia and the South Entrance is on the left]]
[[File:KnossosCourt.jpg|thumb|Reception courtyard in the palace of Knossos, the royal family would entertain guests here, members of the court would stand on the tiered platforms in the background]]

The palace was built on [[Kephala|''Kephala Hill'']], {{convert|5|km|mi|abbr=on}} south of the coast. The site is located at the confluence of two streams called the Vlychia and the [[Kairatos]], which would have provided drinking water to the ancient inhabitants. Looming over the right bank of the Vlychia, on the opposite shore from Knossos, is Gypsades Hill, on whose eastern side the Minoans quarried their gypsum.

Though it was surrounded by the town of Knossos, this hill was never an [[acropolis]] in the Greek sense. It had no steep heights, remained unfortified, and was not very high off the surrounding ground.<ref>{{cite journal | first=HR | last=Hall | title=The Mycenaean Discoveries in Crete | journal=Nature | volume=67 | number=1725 | date=November 20, 1902 | page=58 | doi=10.1038/067057a0| bibcode=1902Natur..67...57H | s2cid=4005358 | url=https://zenodo.org/record/1429412 | doi-access=free }}</ref>

The Royal Road is the last vestige of a Minoan road that connected the port to the palace complex. Today a modern road, Leoforos Knosou, built over or replacing the ancient roadway, serves that function and continues south.

===Storage===
{{main|Minoan pottery}}
[[File:Pithoi in Knossos.jpg|thumb|A storage magazine with giant [[pithos|pithoi]]]]

The palace had extensive storage magazines which were used for agricultural commodities as well as tableware. Enormous sets of high quality tableware were stored in the palaces, often produced elsewhere in Crete.<ref name=SchoepHandbook>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Schoep|first=Ilse|year=2012|title=Crete|editor-last=Cline|editor-first=Eric|encyclopedia=The Oxford Handbook of the Bronze Age Aegean |pages=113–125 |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199873609.013.0008|isbn=978-0199873609}}</ref> Pottery at Knossos is prolific, heavily-decorated and uniquely-styled by period. In [[Minoan chronology]], the standard [[relative chronology]] is largely based on pottery styles and is thus used to assign dates to layers of the palace.

===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.

[[aqueduct (watercourse)|Aqueducts]] brought fresh water to Kephala hill from [[Spring (hydrosphere)|springs]] at [[Archanes]], about 10&nbsp;km away. Springs there are the source of the [[Amnisos|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. Unlike [[Mycenae]], no hidden springs have been discovered.

Sanitation drainage was through a closed system leading to a [[sanitary sewer|sewer]] apart from the hill. The queen's [[megaron]] contained an example of the first known water-flushing system [[latrine]] 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.
*Runoff system.<ref>[http://www.minoancrete.com/knossos13b.jpg JPEG image]. minoancrete.com, Ian Swindale. Retrieved on 2013-05-12.</ref> Sloped channels lead from a catchment basin.
*Runoff system.<ref>[http://www.dartmouth.edu/~classics/greece2003/updates/week1_2/0401Knossos8Web.jpg JPEG image]. Dartmouth.edu. Retrieved on 2012-01-02.</ref> Note the zig-zags and the catchment basin.

===Ventilation===
Due to its placement on the hill, the palace received sea breezes during the summer. It had [[portico]]es and air shafts.

===Minoan columns===
The palace also includes the Minoan column, a structure notably different from Greek [[column]]s. Unlike the stone columns that are characteristic of Greek architecture, the Minoan column was constructed from the trunk of a [[cypress]] tree, which is common to the Mediterranean. While 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.<ref>C. Michael Hogan, [http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/10854/knossos.html#fieldnotes ''Knossos fieldnotes''], Modern Antiquarian (2007)</ref> The columns at the Palace of [[Minos]] were plastered, painted red and mounted on stone bases with round, pillow-like [[Capital (architecture)|capitals]].

===Frescoes===
{{main|List of Aegean frescos|Minoan painting}}
[[File:Armon Knossos P1060030.JPG|thumb|Bull-leaping fresco now in the [[Heraklion Archaeological Museum]], the duplicate shown here is fixed to the wall of the upper throne room]]
[[File:Delfiny w Knossos.jpg|thumb|Dolphins fresco]]
The palace at Knossos used considerable amounts of colour, as did Greek buildings in the classical period. In the EM Period, the walls and pavements were coated with a pale red derived from red ochre. In addition to the background colouring, the walls displayed [[fresco]] panel [[mural]]s, entirely of red. In the subsequent MM Period, with the development of the art, white and black were added, and then blue, green, and yellow. The pigments were derived from natural materials, such as ground [[hematite]]. Outdoor panels were painted on fresh [[stucco]] with the motif in relief; indoor, on fresh, pure plaster, softer than the plaster with additives ordinarily used on walls.<ref>{{harvnb|Evans|1921|pp=532–536}}.</ref>

The decorative motifs were generally bordered scenes: [[human]]s, [[legendary creature]]s, [[animal]]s, rocks, vegetation, and marine life. Many of the depicted motifs had symbolic meanings and are thought to have corresponded to the activities and rituals carried out in the respective rooms.<ref>{{harvnb|Günkel-Maschek|2020}}<!--passim--></ref> The earliest paintings in the palace imitated pottery motifs. Most have been reconstructed from various numbers of flakes fallen to the floor. Evans had various technicians and artists work on the project, some artists, some chemists, and restorers. The symmetry and use of templates made possible a degree of reconstruction beyond what was warranted by only the flakes. For example, if evidence of the use of a certain template existed scantily in one place, the motif could be supplied from the template found somewhere else. Like the contemporary murals in the funerary art of the Egyptians, certain conventions were used that also assisted prediction. For example, male figures are shown with darker or redder skin than female figures.

Some archaeological authors have objected that Evans and his restorers were not discovering the palace and civilization as it was, but were creating a modern artifact based on contemporary art and architecture.<ref>{{harvnb|Gere|2009|loc=Chapter Four: The Concrete Labyrinth: 1914–1935}}.</ref>

===Throne Room===
{{Main|Throne Room, Knossos}}

The centrepiece of the "Minoan" palace was the so-called [[Throne room|Throne Room]] or Little Throne Room,<ref>Matz, ''The Art of Crete and Early Greece'' Kessinger Publishing, LLC, 2010, {{ISBN|1-163-81544-6}}, uses this term.</ref> dated to [[Minoan chronology|LM II]]. This chamber has an [[alabaster]] seat which Evans referred to as a "[[throne]]" built into the north wall. On three sides of the room are [[gypsum]] benches. On the south side of the throne room there is a feature called a ''[[lustral basin]]'', so-called because Evans found remains of unguent flasks inside it and speculated that it had been used as part of an annointing ritual.{{citation needed|date=July 2024}}

The room was accessed from an anteroom through double doors. The anteroom was connected to the central court, which was (in the later phases of the palace) four steps up through four doors. The anteroom had gypsum benches also, with carbonized remains between two of them thought possibly to be a wooden throne.<ref>{{harvnb|Günkel-Maschek|2020|pp=424-428. 436-437}}</ref> Both rooms are located in the ceremonial complex on the west of the central court.

The throne is flanked by the Griffin Fresco, with two [[griffins]] couchant (lying down) facing the throne, one on either side.<ref>{{harvnb|Günkel-Maschek|2020|pp=444-445}}</ref> Griffins were important mythological creatures, also appearing on [[Seal (emblem)|seal rings]], which were used to stamp the identities of the bearers into pliable material, such as clay or wax.<ref>{{harvnb|Günkel-Maschek|2020|pp=455-474}}</ref>

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

* The seat of a [[priest-king]] or a queen. This is the older theory, originating with Evans. In that regard Matz speaks of the "[[heraldry|heraldic]] arrangement" of the griffins, meaning that they are more formal and monumental than previous Minoan decorative styles. In this theory, the [[Mycenaean Greece|Mycenaeans]] would have held court in this room, as they came to power in Knossos at about 1,450. The "lustral basin" and the location of the room in a sanctuary complex cannot be ignored; hence, "priest-king".
* A room reserved for the epiphany of a goddess,<ref>Peter Warren: ''Minoan Religion as Ritual Action'', Volume 72 of Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology, 1988, the University of Michigan</ref> who would have sat in the throne, either in [[effigy]], or in the person of a priestess, or in imagination only. In that case the griffins would have been purely a symbol of [[divinity]] rather than a heraldic motif.
<!--This statement is not NPOV. The epiphany theory is not generally accepted; it is only a theory. The chronology statement is too vague: The label of "throne room" could be seen as being misleading in the light of the religious aspect to the Room, and may confuse the issue of there being a "priest-king". The chronology of the Throne Room must also be borne in mind.-->

<gallery widths="200px" heights="160px">
File:Throne Hall Knossos.jpg|The throne from which the room was named, not the only throne at Knossos
File:Knossos_Thronsaal_(1900).jpg|The throne room prior to reconstruction
Роспись тронного зала. Минойский дворец. Knossos. Crete. Greece. Июль 2013 - panoramio.jpg
</gallery>