Knossos Palace Greece

Legendary

A grand palace complex constructed around 1900 BCE.

Photo by waketechcc

In 1878, a Cretan merchant named Minos Kalokairinos started digging on a hill outside Heraklion. He uncovered two ancient storerooms before officials shut him down after three weeks.

His first name was a coincidence. He shared it with the legendary king said to have ruled this exact spot.

Twenty-two years later, a wealthy Englishman named Arthur Evans bought the entire hill outright. He began digging on March 23, 1900, and within weeks his workers uncovered a stone throne still sitting against a wall.

Evans kept working there until 1931. What he found was an enormous complex of over 1,000 rooms, connected by twisting corridors and staircases.

The layout reminded him of something. In Greek myth, King Minos kept a monster called the Minotaur, half man and half bull, trapped in a maze beneath his palace.

The maze was called the Labyrinth, built by the inventor Daedalus. Evans decided he had found the real place behind the story and named the site the Palace of Minos.

He also named the whole civilization. These people had no surviving name of their own, so Evans called them the Minoans.

The palace was the center of Bronze Age Crete, in use from roughly 1900 BC until around 1350 BC. It had running water, drainage systems, and bright painted walls.

Evans did something controversial with what he found. He rebuilt large sections using concrete and steel, painting columns in red and adding roofs.

Archaeologists still argue about it. Some say he preserved the site, others say he invented too much of what visitors now see.

Walk through the reconstructed Throne Room, where the original gypsum throne still sits. Look for the bright frescoes of dolphins, bulls, and processions, though the ones outdoors are copies. Visit the Heraklion Archaeological Museum afterward to see the real originals up close.