The "Lost" Portico at Knossos: The Central Court Revisited

Abstract

When Evans excavated the Palace at Knossos he found the eastern part of the central court eroded down to at least 2 m below its original floor level. He also discovered that just east of the court was a huge terrace-like cutting, within which were preserved the Grand Staircase and the Residential Quarter. Since then it has been assumed that the western walls of these two areas formed the edge of the court. This article offers a different solution, partially based on comparative analysis with the courts of the other Minoan palaces. Specifically, the proposal is made that lining the court here was a long pillared portico of two adjoining sections. The first, northern section of reconstruction is based on Doll's and Evans's restoration of an East Hall. South of the hall was the Grand Staircase, presumably with an entrance leading down to it from the Central Court. Such an entrance can be convincingly established by the fact that all major areas bordering Minoan central courts were reached directly from them. This entrance must have been covered (hence the beginning of the second stretch of the proposed portico), for otherwise the Grand Staircase would have been flooded by rainwater runoff. The portico continued south to the end of the court. The proposed restoration finds support from similar arrangements alongside other palatial courts (e.g., Phaistos, Malia, Kato Zakros, Galatas), some discovered after Evans's time. Moreover, the new proposal results in general proportions of court length-to-width that conform more closely to those of other palaces.