Knossos is one of the most important sites in the ancient Mediterranean. It remained amongst
the largest settlements on the island of Crete from the Neolithic until the late Roman times
but aside from its size it held a place of particular significance in the mythological
imagination of Greece and Rome as the seat of King Minos the location of the Labyrinth and the
home of the Minotaur. Sir Arthur Evans' discovery of 'the Palace of Minos' has indelibly
associated Knossos in the modern mind with the 'lost' civilisation of Bronze Age Crete. The
allure of this 'lost civilisation' together with the considerable achievements of 'Minoan'
artists and craftspeople remain a major attraction both to scholars and to others outside the
academic world as a bastion of a romantic approach to the past. In this volume James Whitley
provides an up-to-date guide to the site and its function from the Neolithic until the present
day. This study includes a re-appraisal Bronze Age palatial society as well as an exploration
of the history of Knossos in the archaeological imagination. In doing so he takes a critical
look at the guiding assumptions of Evans and others reconstructing how and why the received
view of this ancient settlement has evolved from the Iron Age up to the modern era.
