The Mycenaean Palace At Knossos

A very basic introduction to Sir Arthur Evans' famous excavations at Knossos and the reconstruction work he oversaw.

Wander through the labyrinth city of Knossos and lose yourself in its ancient treasures. Full colour photographs of original artefacts, sculptures, reliefs and frescos bring this fascinating place to life.

Wine production was clearly an important activity in the Mycenaean Palace economies as Linear B tablets make clear. However the archaeological evidence for prehistoric vintners has never been systematically evaluated before this book, partly because of the scholarly divided between Linear B scholars and excavators. The author here, however, draws on both kinds of evidence to discuss an industry that reveals much about the relationship of Palaces to ordinary people, and about the way in which Pylos, Knossos and other Palaces bolstered their power bases. Contents: Background to Wine as an Agricultural Commodity; The Development of the Wine Ideogram; Mycenaean Vocabulary in Reference to Viticulture and Wine; Derivatis of `dateomai' and the Distribution of Wine; Wine in the Pylos Commodity Tablets; Wine in the Knossos Fs Tablets; The Impressed Nodules from the Wine Magazine at Pylos; Wine in the Knossos and Mycenae Tablets; The Place of Wine in the Mycenaean Palace Economy.

The Little Palace at Knossos, excavated by Evans and Mackenzie from 1905 - 10, remains the largest neo-palatial building within the Minoan town of Knossos, and to a large extent mirrors the history of the Palace itself. The present work effectively constitutes an excavation report of the LP, publishing for the first time entries from the daybooks of Evans and Mackenzie and many original excavation photographs. The volume provides an extremely detailed architectural account, supported by numerous plans and elevations. It incorporates the results of the 1995 restoration programme carried out by the 23rd Ephoreia and publishes sherd material then collected. A lengthy pottery chapter presents the LP sherd material from Evans's excavations, housed in the Stratigraphical Museum, and also complete vases in Herakleion. Clay tablets and sealings are discussed; small finds presented (many for the first time). The final chapter offers a thorough appraisal of the LP's history, and, in particular, deals with the thorny issue of 're-occupation' and the final destruction of the building in LM IIIA2 (i.e. contemporary with the Palace itself).