Knossos (/(kə)ˈnɒsoʊs, -səs/; Ancient Greek: Κνωσσός, romanized: Knōssós, pronounced [knɔː.sós]; Linear B: 𐀒𐀜𐀰 Ko-no-so[2]) is a Bronze Age archaeological site in Crete.

Like other Minoan palaces, this complex of buildings served as a combination religious and administrative centre rather than a royal residence.

In 1900, Sir Arthur Evans undertook more extensive excavations which unearthed most of the palace as well as many now-famous artifacts including the Bull-Leaping Fresco, the snake goddess figurines, and numerous Linear B tablets.

While Evans is often credited for discovering the Minoan Civilization, his work is controversial in particular for his inaccurate and irreversible reconstructions of architectural remains at the site.

[4] The initial settlement was a hamlet of 25–50 people who lived in wattle and daub huts, kept animals, grew crops, and, in the event of tragedy, buried their children under the floor.

Remains from this period are concentrated in the area which would later become the central court of the palace, suggesting continuity in ritual activity.

[5][6][7] In the Early Neolithic (6000–5000 BC), a village of 200–600 persons occupied most of the area of the later palace and the slopes to the north and west.

This village had an unusual feature: one house under the West Court contained eight rooms and covered 50 m2 (540 sq ft).

[citation needed] The settlement of the Middle Neolithic (5000–4000 BC), housed 500–1000 people in more substantial and presumably more family-private homes.

[citation needed] It is believed that the first Cretan palaces were built soon after c. 2000 BC, in the early part of the Middle Minoan period, at Knossos and other sites including Malia, Phaestos and Zakro.

These palaces, which were to set the pattern of organisation in Crete and Greece through the second millennium, were a sharp break from the Neolithic village system that had prevailed thus far.

The palace stores occupied sixteen rooms, the main feature in these being the pithoi that were large storage jars up to five feet tall.

Another factor was the expansion of trade, evidenced by Minoan pottery found in Egypt, Syria, Anatolia, Rhodes, the Cyclades, Sicily, and mainland Greece.

The myth of the Minotaur tells that Theseus, a prince from Athens, whose father was an ancient Greek king named Aegeus, the basis for the name of the Greek sea (the Aegean Sea), sailed to Crete, where he was forced to fight a terrible creature called the Minotaur.

The sign of the double axe was used throughout the Mycenaean world as an apotropaic mark: its presence on an object would prevent it from being "killed".

And finally, it appears in Linear B on Knossos Tablet Gg702 as da-pu2-ri-to-jo po-ti-ni-ja, which probably represents the Mycenaean Greek, Daburinthoio potniai, "to the mistress of the Labyrinth," recording the distribution of one jar of honey.

Thucydides accepted the tradition and added that Minos cleared the sea of pirates, increased the flow of trade and colonised many Aegean islands.

Cleinias of Crete attributes to him the tradition of Cretan gymnasia and common meals in Book I of Plato's Laws, and describes the logic of the custom as enabling a constant state of war readiness.

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.

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.

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.

Today a modern road, Leoforos Knosou, built over or replacing the ancient roadway, serves that function and continues south.

It began with channels in the flat surfaces, which were zigzag and contained catchment basins to control the water velocity.

[38] The columns at the Palace of Minos were plastered, painted red and mounted on stone bases with round, pillow-like capitals.

In the subsequent MM Period, with the development of the art, white and black were added, and then blue, green, and yellow.

[39] The decorative motifs were generally bordered scenes: humans, legendary creatures, animals, rocks, vegetation, and marine life.

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.

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.

Griffins were important mythological creatures, also appearing on seal rings, which were used to stamp the identities of the bearers into pliable material, such as clay or wax.