Dated about 1900 BC, destroyed and rebuilt around 1450 BC. Discovered by Sir Arthur Evans 1900 AD.
There is little in the book on the world history of architecture that I didn’t know about Knossos, still, it was an enjoyable read.
Knossos, a Minoan ruin, stands in Crete, an island off the coast of Greece. Revered by most Eurocentric historians as the starting civilisation of magnificent Greece, Ponting in his World History is quick to point out that this probably isn’t the case and the Cretan civilisation might have been but a spin-off caused by migrants / indigenous (?) – anyway, people – who emulated the styles of more glorious civilisations of that time: Egypt, Mesopotamia, but gradually came up with their own.
The Palace of Knossos, so dubbed by Evans and the rest that follow him, might not actually be a palace in the real sense of the word. Historical debate has provided an alternative reading for the possible function of this complex, it could have been religious, since there is little to suggest residential use by monarchs but is full of rooms built for ceremonial purposes, like rooms made for storing religious ware. There is a throne room, but it is structured with a lustral-basin (depressed pool) which gives rise to speculation about whether the room could have used for ceremonial functions. In fact the name ‘throne room’ was only given because of an elaborate alabaster seat found there.
The art at Knossos was also more naturalistic than that of contemporary Egypt. It depicted youths in some ritual involving bulls, natural living things like fishes, plants etc. It seemed to emphasize movement, or at any rate gave more free rein to movement than Egyptian art. The bull imagery was probably due to a cult at Knossos that held the bull sacred. To me it sort of links with the bull mania in Spain: is this a possible predecessor? Rather unlikely connection though. It is more likely to have some links with the myth of King Minos and the minotaur.
An interesting thing about Knossos was that the whole complex was not fortified at all, by defensive walls or moats or whatever. So what exactly was the function of the place? The palace was also constructed in a labyrinthine model, which is questionable since who with proper town planning ideas would do that? And knowing that, as the myth goes, the minotaur was kept in a labyrinth, to what end was the complex constructed? Did the complex precede the myth, or vice versa?
Back to what is of architectural interest, the complex at Knossos had very exceptional water supply and drainage standards for those times. Terracotta pipes carried water in to the complex to supply baths, and sanitary sewers carried off waste water from basins and water closets. Although there was one place that had to be emptied by bailing though, a tub in a room called the Queen’s Megaron.
Besides the naturalistic frescoes, Minoan art at Knossos appeals to me as it strikes me as elegantly simple and rather ‘modern’… In particular the columns of the Minoan order. They are ‘downward-tapering shaft(s) with… bulbous torus ring(s) and abacus block capital(s)’.
(From http://www.bsa.ac.uk/knosos/index.htm?vrtour)
I wish to add that the above site, the British School of Athens’ page on Knossos, also offers a very interesting 3D virtual reality tour of Knossos. I found it pretty tiring to navigate the site after a while though, but for the patient, it could be most enjoyable! Also worth a look is http://www.dilos.com/location/13370 which is a Dilos Holiday World introduction to Knossos, Crete. Don’t be deceived – it actually has very extensive and informative write-ups on Knossos and the Minoan Civilisation! I was very amazed.
