West Court

Right: an aerial view of the West Court and West Magazines. On the left side of the courtyard, a row of three koulares can be seen. The paths of the causeways can be seen running along the façade of the West Wing of the palace (leading directly to the West Porch) and cutting diagonally across the West Court past the koulares.

The formal approach to the palace was from the West Court, which ran most of the length of that side of the palace. It was paved with large, irregular slabs of limestone and was crossed by a number of raised walkways known as causeways. There was a rather broad walkway that approached the court from the Theatral Area to the north, running between the palace and a complex that Evans called the North-West Treasure House because of the fine pottery and metal vessels found there. It continued along the west façade for a way and then split into two, narrower paths, each about 1.4 metres across—one continuing along the west side of the palace and the other heading away to the southwest. It ran past a row of three circular, stone-lined pits about 5-6 metres in diameter and 3 metres deep. Evans called them koulares and believed were for the disposal of sacred objects but when he excavated them, he found only broken pottery and other domestic rubbish from the First Palace Period. The remains of pre-palatial houses were found at the bottom.

The façade of the palace is made up of a number of staggered blocks of storage magazines supporting at least one upper storey. Each block had a broad, shallow niche facing the court and, in front of two of them, Evans found bases for altars (right). J.W. Graham, who has made a study out of Cretan architecture, believes that the niches were decorative surrounds for large windows in the upper storey, comparable to the ‘windows of appearance’ in contemporary Egyptian palaces and temples. He imagined the elite of the palace standing at these windows to witness the rites and ceremonies taking place in the courtyard below.

Sacred Grove Fresco (reconst. by N. Marinatos)

The Sacred Grove Fresco, which Evans found in a small shrine in the palace, gives a clue as to what these ceremonies may have been. It shows a very similar looking paved area with the same raised walkways. Crowds of people have gathered around a grove of olive trees while in the foreground, separate from the others, groups of young women—undoubtedly priestesses—appear to be gesturing towards each other and to something happening out of frame. Similar scenes on signet rings, such as the one from Isopata shown below, suggest that the celebrants are witnessing the epiphany of a deity. There is no evidence that there were any olive trees in the West Court but realism was never a huge concern to ancient artists. Certainly, the trees suggest an agricultural festival—most likely a harvest festival, if the presence of all those storage rooms is any indication.

West Porch & Corridor of Procession

The entrance to the palace was by way of the West Porch, a rather simple affair with a small portico supported by a single column and looking along the façade of the palace. At the rear of the porch was a small doorway that marked the start of the Corridor of the Procession. The latest version of this passageway (W= 3.34 metres) was decorated with frescoes depicting kilted young men and young women in flounced skirts flanking the figure of a goddess or priestess.

Some of the men are shown carrying jars filled with offerings (detail) but generally only the lower limbs of the figures survive. After about 17 metres, the ground drops away and much of the superstructure has collapsed but it is possible to trace the line of the corridor by the layout of the underlying basement rooms. After running south for 24 metres the passage makes a right-angled turn to the east and continues for about another 48 metres before turning north to the Central Court. Along the way it passes the grand entrance to a monumental staircase leading to the upper storey, to be dealt with in more detail below. It was in one of the basement rooms underneath the last stretch of corridor that Evans found the fragments of the so-called Prince of the Lilies. However, it now appears that the pieces belonged to more than one figure and Evans’ restoration is wrong. 

Evans believed that, in an earlier phase of the palace, the main approach was from the south. In 1923, he discovered a set of massive foundations for a Stepped Portico about 5 metres wide that ran up the slope of the hill. Further investigations revealed the piers of a viaduct over the bed of the Vlychià along with traces of a Minoan road running along its southern bank from the east. Beside the line of the roadway Evans uncovered the remains of a building that he identified as a Caravanserai, a sort of inn for travellers common in the Near East. It was located next to a spring and was provided with pavilions, including one decorated with a painted frieze of partridges and hoopoes. There was also a fountain room and a stone bath for soaking tired and dusty feet. The southern entrance system was destroyed by an earthquake, sometime around 1600 BC according to Evans, and never rebuilt.

Central Court

The Central Court measures approximately 25 x 50 metres—roughly the same dimensions as at the smaller palaces at Mallia and Phaistos. Its not strictly rectangular since there is only one right-angled corner and its eastern side is very irregular. The surface of the court was paved with flagstones—there is a sizeable patch preserved in the northwest corner. Its function is not entirely certain—apart from the purely architectural roles of providing light and air to the interior and providing a means of communication between the various wings. The standardized size of the court in each of the palaces suggests a specific, formal use—almost all of the ceremonial and cult rooms open off it and fresco scenes show large gatherings in just this sort of setting. It is fairly certain they were not used for bull-leaping—that would have been bordering on suicidal in an arena with sharp corners and slippery pavement. The arenas used for Spanish bullfights are round and are covered with sand. The western side of the court was very open with a number of doorways, staircases and a portico of square pillars at the southern end. These gave access to the principal cult and ceremonial areas of the palace. The eastern side, by contrast, is an almost solid block with only one entrance.

Aerial of the Central Court