Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology, Vol 23, No 2 (2010)

The Minoan ‘Palace-Temple’ Reconsidered: A Critical Assessment of the Spatial Concentration of Political, Religious and Economic Power in Bronze Age Crete

Ilse Schoep
Issued Date: 20 Jan 2011

Abstract


Although aspects of Arthur Evans’s vision of Minoan society have undergone modification during the course of the 20th century, his basic interpretation of the monumental building complex with courts at Knossos as a Palace-Temple, or the residence of both a political and religious authority, remains the dominant paradigm in Minoan archaeology. When set within the context of other contemporary Bronze Age societies in the eastern Mediterranean, however, Evans’s model of a priest-king who resided in a Palace Temple is actually highly unusual and anomalous. Indeed, it will be argued that the Palace-Temple model was invented by Evans as a distinctive, formative and intermediate stage between the Oriental Temple, which was the model then current in the Near East at the time of his writing, and what might be termed European kingship. The perception that Cretan culture and society was essentially European (and thus different from the East) formed a cornerstone of Evans’s vision and its enduring popularity goes some way to explaining why the intellectual and empirical origins of Evans’s Palace-Temple model have not previously been critically reassessed.

Download Media

PDF (Price: £17.50 )

DOI: 10.1558/jmea.v23i2.219

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.





Equinox Publishing Ltd - 415 The Workstation 15 Paternoster Row, Sheffield, S1 2BX United Kingdom
Telephone: +44 (0)114 221-0285 - Email: [email protected]

Privacy Policy