substantial remains of a great palace; his further investigations over a period of a
quarter of a century discovered more and earlier remains, so that he distinguished
various phases of Cretan civilization which have since been further refined by
subsequent archaeologists after further excavations and ever more sophisticated
techniques for dating ancient material remains. The several large palaces that have
been excavated are not fortified, suggesting that development at Crete was largely
peaceable. The largest palace at Cnossus which is highly sophisticated in its design
and its decoration (fig. 1) dates to 1700, replacing a previous one destroyed by an
earthquake; it covers a huge area of more than three acres and comprises a complex
of labyrinthine buildings around a central courtyard with storerooms for grain and
food, and workshops for potters and painters.
Evans called the civilization uncovered by his excavations Minoan because later
Greek historians believed Minos had been a powerful king whose empire dominated
the Cycladic islands in the Aegean, while in Greek myth Minos is the lawgiver of Crete
and the subject of celebrated stories. In the most famous, Minos was a son of Zeus
2 THE GREEKS
FIGURE 1 Plan of the palace at Cnossus
Source:C. Gates, Ancient Cities, second edition (Routledge, 2011), Fig 7.2, p. 121