The Palace of Minos essays

The Palace of Minos essays The Minoan city of Knossos on the island of Crete is one of mythological and legendary stature. Up until the early 1900s the Minoan civilization only existed in Greek myths and legends. Sir Arthur Evans, along with an excavation crew, discovered the ruins of the city, and a large structure, which he named the Palace of Minos, after the mythological king Minos of the Minoan civilization. The Palace of Minos is an incredibly large structure measuring 22,000 square meters and over 1500 rooms (though the room count varies from source to source.) The legendary labyrinth was supposed to be located in the center of this structure, but based on actual evidence uncovered by archaeologists no proof has been found. The structure received the label of palace from Sir Arthur Evans, thanks to his Victorian background. Around 1700 BCE the Minoan civilization was reduced to ruin by a massive earthquake which brought this enormous three story structure to the ground. Though the three stories were destroyed, many remnants of them fell into the basement of this structure, which also contained many rooms including what Evans thought to be the royal quarters. Many artifacts have been found at the site where the palace once stood. Some of the most unique of these are frescoes, most were found in pieces on the floor, but were reconstructed by archaeologists. Bronze statuettes, the most famous being that of the Snake Goddess, were found and some were found deliberately broken and buried suggesting a method of killing the cult figures. An actual throne with stone benches on either side in what is now called the Throne Room has also been an interesting find. The Bull Chamber holds the famous Bull Relief Fresco which is a fresco of two young females, a bull, and a young male being thrown, acrobatically, over the bull. The bull was considered a sacred animal to the Minoans as it represented virility and proc...