Knossos and Cosmology
THE FUNCTIONS OF A COSMOLOGICAL CENTER: KNOSSOS IN PALATIAL CRETE
What accounts for the apparent cultural dominance of Knossos in Crete and its influence elsewhere in the Aegean, even among people who are not Minoan? The influence'of this one site on its neighbors, particularly in the New Palace period, is a well-documented phenomenon of Minoan civilization which appears repeatedly in the material record of Aegean archaeology. It takes many forms which may however be grouped into three general categories of influence: 1) the architectural imitation of the palace at Knossos at outlying palaces and villas in Crete and to a lesser extent at palaces on the Greek mainland; 2) the widespread imitation and acquisition of artifacts manufactured in the palace at Knossos; and 3) the adoption of Minoan costume, which may be Knossian in origin, particularly Minoan ceremonial dress inside and outside Crete.
~
The Knossos Effects
The first example includes the imitation of overall plans as well as dimensions, documented so well by J. W. Graham 1, but it also includes the imitation of individual rooms and architectural details. Many of the imitated rooms appear to have been shrines. The current excavations at Mochlos, for example, have uncovered a building that served as the main ceremonial center for the LM IB settlement, Building B.2 2. The east wing of this building is built in ashlar masonry and contains two pillar crypts on the basement level, each provided with a window and each with a bench along its north wall. They belong to a well-known type of Minoan shrine complex consisting of a columnar room above a basement crypt 3. Evidence for their religious use was found in a number of ritual objects, which had fallen from the columnar rooms down into the crypts, and in the dozens of conical cups that had been used as lamps which were found outside the crypts, some sitting on a low precinct wall which runs alongside the crypts. One of the first examples of this type
What accounts for the apparent cultural dominance of Knossos in Crete and its influence elsewhere in the Aegean, even among people who are not Minoan? The influence'of this one site on its neighbors, particularly in the New Palace period, is a well-documented phenomenon of Minoan civilization which appears repeatedly in the material record of Aegean archaeology. It takes many forms which may however be grouped into three general categories of influence: 1) the architectural imitation of the palace at Knossos at outlying palaces and villas in Crete and to a lesser extent at palaces on the Greek mainland; 2) the widespread imitation and acquisition of artifacts manufactured in the palace at Knossos; and 3) the adoption of Minoan costume, which may be Knossian in origin, particularly Minoan ceremonial dress inside and outside Crete.
~
The Knossos Effects
The first example includes the imitation of overall plans as well as dimensions, documented so well by J. W. Graham 1, but it also includes the imitation of individual rooms and architectural details. Many of the imitated rooms appear to have been shrines. The current excavations at Mochlos, for example, have uncovered a building that served as the main ceremonial center for the LM IB settlement, Building B.2 2. The east wing of this building is built in ashlar masonry and contains two pillar crypts on the basement level, each provided with a window and each with a bench along its north wall. They belong to a well-known type of Minoan shrine complex consisting of a columnar room above a basement crypt 3. Evidence for their religious use was found in a number of ritual objects, which had fallen from the columnar rooms down into the crypts, and in the dozens of conical cups that had been used as lamps which were found outside the crypts, some sitting on a low precinct wall which runs alongside the crypts. One of the first examples of this type