Minoan palaces
They shared a common architectural vocabulary and organization, including distinctive room types such as the lustral basin and the pillar crypt.
They are known to have contained shrines, open areas for communal festivals, industrial workshops, as well as storage magazines for large agricultural surpluses.
They share similar tendencies in organization, for instance having their main storage magazines and industrial areas in the north and northwest wings.
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.
Like their Near Eastern antecedents, the west facades were punctuated by recesses which would have enhanced the spectacle of public events, creating what is sometimes referred to as a "window of appearances".
By opening or closing the doors, occupants could control light and airflow, transforming the hall into either an interior or exterior space.
[6][10][16] Lustral basins were added to the palaces during the renovations that marked the beginning of the Neopalatial period (MM III, c. 1750–1700 BC).
They fell out of use and were filled in during the LM IB period (c. 1625–1470 BC), simultaneous with an island-wide change in religious practice that also saw the abandonment of peak sanctuaries.
They are sometimes interpreted as human-made analogues of sacred caves, where worship often centered around stalagmites and stalactites incised with the double axe.
[6][10] The palaces are traditionally regarded as the seats of a combined political, economic, and religious authority that presided over a redistributive economy.
For instance, documents from Knossos suggest that it managed large flocks of sheep in the Protopalatial era, and also appear to record transactions involving figs, olives, cereals, and other produce.
[3] [a] Later Linear B documents record agricultural surplusses far beyond local needs for subsistence, including 960,000 liters of grain from a place called Da-wo.
[3] Unlike the Near Eastern buildings that influenced them, Minoan palaces were not secure fortresses, and were at least partially accessible to residents of the adjacent towns.
Similarly, while Near Eastern societies had separate buildings which served as palaces and temples, Minoan architecture does not make any such obvious distinction.
New palaces were constructed during MM III (c. 1750–1700 BC), marking the beginning of the Neopalatial era, which is often regarded as the mature phase of the Minoan civilization.
The Neopalatial palaces were destroyed as part of a wave of violent destructions which shook the island at the end of LM IB, c. 1470 BC.
After that, only Knossos continued in use during the Monopalatial era, during which a Mycenaean elite ruled the island, forming a hybrid "Mycenoan" culture.
However, traces of early construction are found at Knossos throughout the area of the later palace, including a segment of a long wall dating to EM III (c. 2200–2100 BC), potentially suggesting development of the site as a whole.
[6][29][32] These early developments at palace sites occurred at the same time as similar construction at peak sanctuaries and sacred caves.
[33] These developments suggest that the palaces were built as part of a broader pattern of earlier traditions being institutionalized, with particular groups within Minoan society asserting control over important spaces and activities that would have taken place there.
During EM II (c. 2650–2200 BC), the Minoans had forged economic links around the eastern Mediterranean, creating a local culture of elite competition via imported prestige goods.
When international trade collapsed during EM III (c. 2200–2100 BC), these goods would have become scarce, increasing the status of those who retained and controlled access to them.
They appear to have been influenced by the Near Eastern tradition of monumental temples and palaces, which used ashlar masonry to signal the building's status.
In this era, Knossos was ruled by a Mycenaean Greek elite, who adopted a mixture of local Minoan cultural traditions and ones from the mainland.
These new frescoes abandoned earlier Minoan subjects such as fantastical nature scenes and ecstatic rituals, replacing them with figure-eight shields and processions of tribute-bearers.
"[54][55] Monumental buildings at Petras, Zominthos, Makrygiallos, Kommos, Monastiraki, and Archanes had palatial features such as central courts but otherwise do not pattern with the palaces in terms of form or function.
[3][56] At Gournia, a monumental Neopalatial building adopted palatial features including a public court and an ashlar facade, and may have served a similar administrative function to the palaces.
[57] Similar considerations apply to a building at Petras, which mixes classic palatial features with characteristics adopted from earlier regional architectural traditions.
[60][61] In the words of excavator Joseph Shaw:[60](pp30–35) Could a relatively small and architecturally unpretentious town such as Kommos have promoted and maintained such an enormous structure, or have we misunderstood the palaces?
[60]During the Neopalatial era, ordinary houses took on characteristics of palatial architecture including Minoan Halls, lustral basins, and mason's marks.
