Did I ever think I would visit the famous Palace of Knossus when I took Classics 17AB at UC Berkeley in the 60s? No, we only took the class to fulfill the humanities requirement, and pad the old GPA, if you know what I mean.
From Live Science:
The Palace of Knossos is located just south of modern-day Heraklion near the north coast of Crete. Built by a civilization that we call the Minoans, it covers about 150,000 square feet (14,000 square meters), the size of more than two football fields, and was surrounded by a town in antiquity. The site came to prominence in the early 20th century when it was excavated and restored by a team led by British archaeologist Arthur Evans.
When the palace was first constructed “it must have been a remarkable sight, quite unlike anything seen on Crete before,” writes J. Lesley Fitton in her book “Minoans (Peoples of the Past)(opens in new tab)” (British Museum Press, 2002). She notes that although other settlements on Crete around this time built palaces of their own, none were as large as Knossos. “Knossos perhaps began as a ‘first among equals,’ and the relationship between the powerful groups that built the palaces may not have been entirely friendly.” The position of Knossos was not accidental, and Fitton notes that it lines up with a sanctuary located at Mount Juktas to the south.
The chronology of the palace is a matter of scholarly debate. Construction of the palace appears to have begun around 1950 B.C., although there may have been structures predating it. This “first palace” (as it is sometimes called) was damaged (likely by earthquakes) around 1700 B.C. and a second palace was built on top of it. Recently, however, scholars have called into question how extensively this “first palace” was damaged, write researchers Colin Macdonald and Carl Knappett in a chapter of the book “Intermezzo: Intermediacy and Regeneration in Middle Minoan III Palatial Crete(opens in new tab)” (British School at Athens, 2013). The papers published in their book raise the possibility that rather than a “first” and “second” palace, there were several phases of renovation and change that occurred over a period of centuries.
You can google the rest. I am here on Crete for the first time. I also plan to visit the nearby Iraklio wine country. In fact, that is why I am here. We are about twenty miles south of the city of Heraklion (Iraklio). Some of the famous names associated with Knossus, as you may recall from your history or Latin classes: King Minos, Zeus, Poseidon, Theseus and the Minotaur, Ariadne, Daedulus, Icarus, and Pasiphae.
My main goal is to visit the Iraklio Wine region.
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