Knossos, Crete

Knossos is the ancient capital city of the Minoan civilization on the Mediterranean island of Crete. The city was the hub of a significant seafaring society that was among the oldest cultures in Bronze Age Europe. In Greek legend, Knossos was home to the mythical King Minos, who had an extravagant palace built on the site. The palace of Minos was said to house the fabled Labyrinth, which played a central role in the myth of the Greek hero Theseus and the Minotaur. Knossos and the Minoan civilization have also been associated with the story of the lost continent of Atlantis. In the early twentieth century, archeologists discovered the city was more than a mythical location when they uncovered the remains of a once-thriving civilization and two large palaces at Knossos.

Background

Crete is a 160-mile (258-kilometer) long island in the Mediterranean Sea, about 100 miles (161 kilometers) southeast of mainland Greece. The earliest traces of human habitation on Crete date from about 7000 BCE, when settlers from Asia Minor in modern-day Turkey landed on the island. Archeological evidence suggests that the earliest cultures on Crete were decentralized communities that began a system of trade with the peoples of Egypt, Asia Minor, and Syria. By about 2000 BCE, the island's culture had grown to include a political system headed by a powerful king and colonial outposts on other islands in the region.

A civilization developed on Crete that became a powerful seafaring force that dominated trade in the Mediterranean. Arthur Evans, the twentieth-century British archaeologist who excavated the island's ruins, called the civilization the Minoans after tales of its legendary King Minos. The Minoans were the first civilization to take root in Europe. From 2000 BCE to about 1700 BCE, the Minoans prospered, establishing a network of roads, a sophisticated system of writing, and a hieratical social structure.

Evidence suggests that a cataclysmic disaster befell the Minoans sometime after 1700 BCE. A possible candidate for the destruction was the violent eruption of the volcanic island of Thera, about 70 miles (113 kilometers) north of Crete. The eruption was one of the most powerful in recorded human history and likely caused great damage on Crete. The eruption of Thera is believed by some to have influenced the Greek philosopher Plato to create the story of Atlantis. Plato wrote his tale of a utopic kingdom destroyed by the wrath of angry gods about 360 BCE, more than a millennium after the event. While Plato may have been inspired by the story of Thera's eruption, the Minoan civilization most likely did not fall solely because of the disaster. It was rebuilt afterward and thrived for about another three centuries. Archeologists believe competition and war with the Mycenaeans of mainland Greece was a main reason the Minoan civilization ultimately disappeared about 1400 BCE.

Overview

At the height of the Minoan civilization, Knossos was its capital and largest city. According to legend, it was the home of King Minos, a wise ruler and son of the god Zeus. Minos was said to have hired famed Athenian architect Daedalus to build a great palace at Knossos. He also tasked Daedalus with constructing the Labyrinth, a complex maze that doubled as a prison. Minos kept a ferocious half-man, half-bull creature known as the Minotaur in the Labyrinth and fed the beast with a ritualistic sacrifice of young men and women from Athens. The hero Theseus, who solved the Labyrinth by following a trail of string to the exit, eventually slew the Minotaur.

After its destruction, Knossos remained in the consciousness of the Greek civilization for centuries. The city was mentioned in Homer's The Odyssey, an epic poem believed to be written about the eighth century BCE, and depictions of Theseus's battle against the Minotaur were found on pottery dating as far back as the seventh century BCE. By the late nineteenth century, however, many researchers doubted the existence of historical Knossos and believed the city appeared only in ancient myth.

In 1900, Evans unearthed the ruins of a large palace at Knossos, confirming the existence of the ancient city. His work also uncovered evidence of an advanced trading culture at the site and helped establish a timeline for the Minoan civilization. Evans determined that work on the first palace of Knossos was begun sometime before 2000 BCE and was completed by about 1900 BCE. The palace was a large building with a central courtyard and numerous entrances. It had thick, sturdy walls, suggesting it also served a defensive purpose. Hieroglyphic writing dating from the period has not been decoded and sheds no light on early Minoan history. The first palace was destroyed sometime between 1700 and 1600 BCE, a period that corresponds with the eruption of Thera.

The Minoans soon built a second palace over the site of the first. This structure was larger than the first—about 236,000 square feet (22,000 square meters)—but was not built with the same defensive mindset. It was more elaborate and ornate, with brightly colored frescoes painted on the walls and the mineral gypsum used as a decorative element. The palace contained a central courtyard and numerous rooms connected by a series of narrow passageways. Some archeologists speculated that the palace's layout might have inspired the myth of the Labyrinth. Certain rooms in the place also may have been used for religious rituals or as a place of worship. A smaller palace was also uncovered to the west of the main palace, and a tomb was located to the south.

The second great palace and other traces of the Minoan civilization disappeared from the island of Crete between 1450 and 1200 BCE. Scholars speculate a combination of an earthquake and invading forces from mainland Greece may have been to blame. The ruins at Knossos show evidence of a great fire destroying both the city and palace sometime during that timeframe. The modern archaeological site of Knossos is located near the northern coast of Crete, about 3.1 miles (5 kilometers) southeast of the island's largest city, Heraklion.

Bibliography

Evans, Arthur. The Palace of Minos. 1935. Cambridge UP, 2013.

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Mark, Joshua J. "Knossos." Ancient History Encyclopedia, 15 Oct. 2010, www.ancient.eu/knossos. Accessed 5 Dec. 2024.

"The Palace of Minos." Odyssey, Adventures in Archaeology, 30 Apr. 2024, www.odysseyadventures.ca/articles/knossos/articleKnossos02.palace.html. Accessed 5 Dec. 2024.

"Volcanic Eruption at Thera (Santorini)." Canadian Museum of History, 2024, www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/civil/greece/gr1040e.shtml. Accessed 5 Dec. 2024.