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The Daily Insight

How was Knossos discovered

Author

John Thompson

Updated on April 24, 2026

The site of Knossos was discovered in 1878 by Minos Kalokairinos. The excavations in Knossos began in 1900 by the English archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans (1851–1941) and his team, and continued for 35 years.

How did Arthur Evans Discover Knossos?

Evans was drawn to the island of Crete initially because of his interest in ancient coins and seal stones. He began his excavations at Knossos in 1899 when he took over the site which was previously being excavated by Minos Kalikairinos.

Where was the palace of Knossos discovered?

Knossos is the site of the most important and better known palace of Minoan civilisation. It is located in a prominent position on Kefala Hill, 6 km.

How did they find the palace of Knossos?

In 1900 Evans began a systematic excavation of the site. After expanding upon Kalokairinos’s initial dig, Evans discovered a complex network of corridors and rooms that reminded him of the legendary labyrinth of King Minos. Evans accordingly named the palace, Knossos, after that of Minos.

Who discovered Minoan Crete?

When the British archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans discovered the 4,000-year-old Palace of Minos on Crete in 1900, he saw the vestiges of a long-lost civilization whose artefacts set it apart from later Bronze-Age Greeks.

What did Evans do at Knossos?

He is most famous for unearthing the palace of Knossos on the Greek island of Crete. Based on the structures and artefacts found there and throughout the eastern Mediterranean, Evans found that he needed to distinguish the Minoan civilisation from Mycenaean Greece.

Who first excavated Knossos?

The site of Knossos was discovered in 1878 by Minos Kalokairinos. The excavations in Knossos began in 1900 by the English archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans (1851–1941) and his team, and continued for 35 years.

What artefacts were found at Knossos?

Among the most famous examples form Knossos are a fragment known as “La Parisenne” depicting a woman’s face, one of flying fish and another depicting “bull vaulting”. Many other important artifacts are drawn from Knossos, such as tablets with inscriptions in the Linear A and Linear B syllabaries.

What is the Knossos famous for?

Apart from its construction and architecture, the Palace of Knossos is most famous for its connection to Greek mythology. Namely, the tale of the Labyrinth and the Minotaur and the one of Daedalus and Icarus.

How did Knossos fall?

The city of Knossos, and almost every other community centre on Crete, was destroyed by a combination of earthquake and the invading Mycenaeans c. 1450 BCE with only the palace spared. The eruption of the volcano on the nearby island of Thera (Santorini) in c.

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Why was Knossos built?

The palace of Knossos was the center of administration of the entire island during Minoan times, and its position as such allowed for unprecedented growth and prosperity as witnessed by the plethora of storage magazines, workshops, and wall paintings.

When was Knossos conquered?

The palace was hit with another catastrophe (of some form) around 1450 B.C., when sites across Crete were destroyed and a people who modern-day scholars call the “Mycenaeans” occupied Knossos. The final destruction of the palace probably took place sometime before 1300 B.C.

What is the meaning of Knossos?

Knossos in British English or Cnossus (ˈnɒsəs , ˈknɒs-) a ruined city in N central Crete: remains of the Minoan Bronze Age civilization.

Who discovered the palace of Mycenae?

Heinrich Schliemann, a pioneer in archaeology, conducted the first excavations of Mycenae in 1874, uncovering five graves in Grave Circle A. Various archaeologists in the late 1800s and early to mid 1900s continued his work excavating the palace and cemeteries.

What has been uncovered at Knossos?

During the excavations at Knossos, Arthur Evans found objects which showed that the Minoans had at least two forms of writing, an early hieroglyphic text, (similar to that of the Egyptians), and a later more sophisticated type of writing known as Linear A. Neither of these forms of writing has ever been deciphered.

What did the discovery at Knossos reveal about the Minoans?

The discovery at Knossos revealed that the Minoans built the palace at Knossos and that they were the first civilization to develop in the Aegean region. the discovery also revealed that trade was an important economic activity for the Minoans.

Who excavated palace at Knossos?

In 1900 Arthur (later Sir Arthur) Evans, an English archaeologist, began to uncover the palace at Knossos,…… … excavated by the English archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans (1851–1941), which enabled the study of Mycenaean……

Is there a labyrinth at Knossos?

The labyrinth is popularly held to have been in the Palace of Knossos, built around 1950 BCE, the ruins of which stand near the city of Heraklion on the north coast of Crete.

Who uncovered a Mycenaean palace at Pylos?

Pylos was excavated recently by Carl Blegen. The excavations revealed a large palace. This was given the name the Palace of Nestor because of its similarity in location to the palace of the King Nestor named in the stories of Homer. The palace is characteristic of Mycenaean palace construction.

Was Arthur Evans married?

EVANS, Margaret (1848?-1893, wife of Sir Arthur Evans).

Why is the priest king fresco from the Minoan palace at Knossos controversial?

The restorations remain controversial because the remains are fragmentary and the original composition cannot be determined with certainty.

What is Daedalus the god of?

In Greek mythology, Daedalus (/ˈdɛdələs ˈdiːdələs ˈdeɪdələs/; Greek: Δαίδαλος; Latin: Daedalus; Etruscan: Taitale) was a skillful architect and craftsman, seen as a symbol of wisdom, knowledge and power. He is the father of Icarus, the uncle of Perdix, and possibly also the father of Iapyx.

What modern day country is Troy?

The site of Troy, in the northwest corner of modern-day Turkey, was first settled in the Early Bronze Age, from around 3000 BC. Over the four thousand years of its existence, countless generations have lived at Troy.

Was Knossos in Atlantis?

The fascinatingly diverse Greek nation has many great archaeological marvels and none more so that Knossos in Crete, a fabled city of Atlantis.

Is Knossos open?

Opening hours Knossos: In summer, the palace is open daily from 8am to 8pm. This information is from the year 2021. In the winter 2019 / 2020 the opening times of the palace of Knossos were open from 8am to 5 pm.

What volcano destroyed the Minoans?

The enormous eruption of the submarine volcano at the Greek island of Thera (Santorini) during the Bronze Age, around 1500 BC, is such a natural hazard. The tsunami generated by the eruption, literally wiped out the peace-loving Minoan civilization who inhabited the island of Crete.

How do you play Knossos?

  1. If one dice has the colored corner up and the other two dice have it down then the score is 1.
  2. If two dice have the colored corner up and the third dice has it down then the score is 2.
  3. If all three dice have the colored corner up then the score is 3.

What does Evans believe his discovery of Linear B at Knossos proves?

When Arthur Evans started digging at Knossos on Crete in 1900, a major aim was to find inscriptions and prove that the ancient Cretans had been literate. The later, Linear B, represented a subsequent intrusion of Mycenaeans from the mainland. …

Who was the first king of Crete?

Minos, legendary ruler of Crete; he was the son of Zeus, the king of the gods, and of Europa, a Phoenician princess and personification of the continent of Europe.

What is the possible connection between the story of the Minotaur and Knossos?

The story of the Minotaur, a half human-half bull, could have originated from the bull jumpers of Knossos (who, in their acrobatic leap over the bull, became `one’ with it momentarily before vaulting over the horns) in the same way the story of the labyrinth can be seen as originating from the complex structure of …

Who was the Mycenaean king?

Agamemnon, in Greek legend, king of Mycenae or Argos.