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Palace Style

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
An amphora in the Palace Style from Knossos, at the Heraklion Archaeological Museum.[1]

The Palace Style is an archaeological term, coined by Sir Arthur Evans,[2][3] for a style of Minoan pottery. It flourished during the Late Minoan II (LMII) period, from approximately 1450 to 1400 BC.[2] This "magnificent" style[4] disappears after the final destruction of the Knossos palace around 1400 BC.[5]

The style is characterized by a "grandiose and increasingly formal character"[2] as well as "geometric severity" and "rhythmic, balanced" designs.[6][7] It is often described as "grand, formal, tectonic, and rather cold" compared to the "fresher" Minoan styles that preceded it,[8] such as the Floral Style and Marine Style.[2] It represents a shift toward more schematic, symmetrical, and "stiff" designs,[2] losing the "vibrancy" of earlier naturalistic art.

Etymology

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The term "Palace Style" was chosen because the pottery, primarily large, high-quality storage vessels, was found almost exclusively in the vicinity of the Palace of Knossos.[3][2]

Characteristics and evolution

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The Palace Style is a monumental style that adapts earlier naturalistic motifs into more stylized designs.[6] Motifs are often inspired by decorations found on the palace walls, and many designs reproduce details from metalwork models.[2]

Common motifs include:

  • Stylized plants, especially the papyrus (often seen with wave patterns), lilies, and reeds.[2][6]
  • Marine life, such as the octopus and dolphin.[2][6]
  • Architectural elements and sacred symbols, such as 8-shaped shields, helmets, rosettes, and elaborate double axes.[2][6]
  • Auxiliary linear and geometric patterns.

New ceramic shapes also appear, including large vessels like amphorae, pithoi, and prochoi.[9] The style also saw the adoption of mainland shapes, such as the Ephyraean goblet,[8] as well as the krater, the squat alabastron, and bowls with horizontal handles.[6][10]

As the style evolved, floral stems became depicted "as thin as threads" and leaves were often replaced by rosettes. Around 1400 BC, it was succeeded by a final Minoan pottery phase in which the decorative themes "degenerate and lose their organic unity."

Earlier "Palace Style"

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Arthur Evans also identified an "Earlier 'Palace Style'" dating to the Middle Minoan II (M.M. II) period.[11] This style was similarly defined by its "decorative motives to a great extent architectonic in their origin," with designs on pottery reflecting the decorative motifs of the palace's wall paintings.[11] Evans saw an "anticipation" of the later L.M. II Palace Style in an M.M. III jar that combined natural plant forms with "purely conventional excrescences."[12]

Distribution and interpretation

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Mycenaean association

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The "spirit of this style is rather foreign to Minoan Crete"[2] and is widely interpreted as evidence for the presence of Mycenaean Achaians at Knossos.[13][6] This Achaean ruling class is believed to have introduced the style,[2] as "Mycenaean taste dominates the Knossos palace" in this period.[8] The Palace Style at Knossos is described as "indistinguishable from the contemporary style at Mycenae."[8]

This interpretation is supported by several factors:

  • The pottery's "formalism, monumentality and tectonic composition" is seen as an Achaian influence.[14]
  • The appearance of new, mainland-inspired vessel shapes, such as the Ephyraean goblet.[8][6]
  • The "splendid vases"[15] are found in "Warrior Grave" type tombs near Knossos, such as at Katsambas (Herakleion) and Ayios Ioannis,[which?][15] which contain "new kinds of weapons" of mainland type (e.g., thrusting swords and helmets).[15][10]
  • The contemporary introduction of the Linear B script, an adaptation of Linear A used to write Mycenaean Greek.[14]

The "Palace Style paradox"

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While Evans named the style for the Palace of Knossos,[3] more recent analysis has pointed to a "serious paradox." According to archaeologist Emily Townsend, the Palace Style pottery is "not actually found inside the palace at all, much less stratified upon its final floors."[16]

Instead, the great jars are found in depots and buildings outside the palace's proper limits, appearing most densely to the west:[16]

  • In houses such as the "Little Palace"[16][8] (which Vermeule suggests was "apparently the residence of a prominent Greek"[8]).
  • In the "Warrior Grave" tombs along the harbor road.[16][15]

While these jars were skillfully made in local Knossian workshops, they were "not the common pottery of the palace in its final days."[16]

Arthur Evans proposed two explanations for this absence:

  1. The palace court may have preferred to use more valuable metal vessels, while the "lesser townspeople" used these clay jars.[17]
  2. The jars, being "rather splendid," may have been "kept locked up in special west magazines when not being used."[18]

References

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  1. ↑ Davaras 1976, p. 242.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Davaras 1976, p. 241.
  3. 1 2 3 Evans 1935, p. 298.
  4. ↑ Vermeule 1963, p. 67.
  5. ↑ Vermeule 1963, p. 74.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Hiller 1995.
  7. ↑ Vermeule 1963, p. 71.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Vermeule 1963, p. 69.
  9. ↑ Maroniti, Polka & Touloumi.
  10. 1 2 Willetts 1977, p. 135.
  11. 1 2 Evans 1921, p. 237.
  12. ↑ Evans 1921, pp. 609–610.
  13. ↑ Davaras 1976, pp. 1, 241.
  14. 1 2 Davaras 1976, p. 1.
  15. 1 2 3 4 Vermeule 1963, p. 68.
  16. 1 2 3 4 5 Townsend 2024, p. 144.
  17. ↑ Townsend 2024, pp. 144–145.
  18. ↑ Townsend 2024, p. 145.

Sources

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  • Davaras, Costis (1976). Guide to Cretan Antiquities. Eptalofos S.A. ISBN 0-8155-5044-8.
  • Evans, Arthur (1921). The Palace of Minos: A Comparative Account of the Successive Stages of the Early Cretan Civilization as Illustrated by the Discoveries at Knossos. Vol. 1: The Neolithic and Early and Middle Minoan Ages. Macmillan and Co.
  • Evans, Arthur (1935). The Palace of Minos. A comparative Account of the successive Stages of the early Cretan Civilization as illustrated by the Discoveries at Knossos. Vol. 4, Part 1: Emergence of Outer Western Enceinte, with new Illustrations, Artistic and Religious, of the Middle Minoan Phase. London: MacMillan.
  • Hiller, Stefan (1995). "Der SM II-Palaststil. Ausdruck politischer Ideologie?" [The SM II palace style. Expression of political ideology?]. In Laffineur, Robert; Niemeier, Wolf-Dietrich (eds.). Politeia. Society and state in the Aegan Bronze Age. Proceedings of the 5th International Aegean Conference. Aegaeum. Vol. 12. Liège: Université de Liège. pp. 561–576.
  • Karantsavelou, Litsa K. (1968). "Ανακτορικός" [Palace]. Νέα Ελληνική Εγκυκλοπαίδεια «Χάρη Πάτση» (in Greek). Vol. 5. p. 390.
  • Maroniti, D.N.; Polka, L.; Touloumi, K. "Αρχαϊκή Επική Ποίηση: Kεραμική και αγγειογραφία" [Archaic Epic Poetry: Pottery and Vases]. greek-language.gr (in Greek). Centre for the Greek Language. Retrieved 2025-11-16.
  • Niemeier, Wolf-Dietrich (1985). Die Palaststilkeramik von Knossos. Stil, Chronologie und historischer Kontext. Archäologische Forschungen (in German). Vol. 13. Berlin: Mann. ISBN 3-7861-1184-7.
  • Sakellarakis, Jannis A. (1990). Heraklion. Das archäologische Museum. Ein Bildführer (in German). Athen: Ekdotike Athenon S.A. ISBN 960-213-038-5.
  • Townsend, Emily (2024-05-31). Greece in the Bronze Age. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-85355-0. Retrieved 2025-11-16.
  • Vermeule, Emily (1963). "The Fall of the Knossos Palace". Archaeology. 16 (1): 67–75. JSTOR 41667232.
  • Willetts, Ronald F. (1977). The civilization of ancient Crete. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-03406-6.
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