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Rodney Castleden
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The Knossos Labyrinth 1st Edition

by Rodney Castleden (Author)
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 3 ratings
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Knossos, like the Acropolis or Stonehenge, is a symbol for an entire culture. The Knossos Labyrinth was first built in the reign of a Middle Kingdom Egyptian pharaoh, and was from the start the focus of a glittering and exotic culture. Homer left elusive clues about the Knossian court and when the lost site of Knossos gradually re-emerged from obscurity in the nineteenth century, the first excavators - Minos Kalokairinos, Heinrich Schliemann, and Arthur Evans - were predisposed to see the site through the eyes of the classical authors. Rodney Castleden argues that this line of thought was a false trail and gives an alternative insight into the labyrinth which is every bit as exciting as the traditional explanations, and one which he believes is much closer to the truth. Rejecting Evans' view of Knossos as a bronze age royal palace, Castleden puts forward alternative interpretations - that the building was a necropolis or a temple - and argues that the temple interpretation is the most satisfactory in the light of modern archaeological knowledge about Minoan Crete.
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  1. ISBN-10
    0415513200
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0415513203
  3. Edition
    1st
  4. Publication date
    November 11, 2011
  5. Language
    English
  6. Dimensions
    8.26 x 0.52 x 11.69 inches
  7. Print length
    230 pages
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

`Whatever view of Knossos the reader supports, anyone with an interest in Minoan Crete will find this an exceedingly interesting and thought provoking book which cannot be ignored or summarily dismissed.' - Minerva

`... a model for the sort of book archaeologists ought to write.' - Cambridge Archaeological Review

`... his book will serve as excellent background, as well as a very manageable guide for anyone about to visit the site.' - Sunday Telegraph

'In addition to offering a new and convincing perspective to the original understanding of Knossos, this fascinating book will also serve as a useful guide, giving descriptions and explanations for many of the surviving chambers and structures which will greatly assist future visitors.' -The Greek Gazette

About the Author

Castleden, Rodney

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Routledge; 1st edition (November 11, 2011)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 230 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0415513200
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0415513203
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 15.2 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.26 x 0.52 x 11.69 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 3 ratings

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Rodney Castleden

Rodney Castleden

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Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
3 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Gareth MacKenzie
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent!
Reviewed in the United States on July 31, 2017
Verified Purchase
Very compelling theory. It changes the way I look at Minoan archeology.
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Fredo
3.0 out of 5 stars Generally good
Reviewed in the United States on May 7, 2024
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In The Knossos Labyrinth, Castleden presents convincing evidence that the "palace" at Knossos was in fact a huge temple complex--the ground floor of it that is. The upper stories collapsed in antiquity. In some cases we know what was up there by what tumbled down but, for the most part, it's anyone's guess what was up there. Maybe the king's palace was upstairs. Castleden himself says "the king may have lived in an apartment within the Labyrinth, but there is no evidence that he did so." Most of the building has collapsed into rubble! What really perplexes me is this: "The only strong argument against the temple hypothesis is that the Labyrinth was a major gathering-place for produce, a storehouse, and an administrative centre of regional importance." Isn't that what we should expect of a temple? Drawing from different though nearby cultures, we see this in Bryce's The Life and Society in the Hittite World: "Hittite temples had a range of functions--administrative, economic, industrial--beyond the purely cultic." And we see this in Hess's Israelite Religions: "As suggested by the temples in Egypt, these [Semitic temples] were centers for the collection of agricultural and other taxes from the local lands under their control." In his book entitled Mycenaeans, Castleden himself argues that Mycenaean palaces were really temples, and yet the administrative functions of those buildings is already established by the contents of thousands of clay tablets. More of a quibble is the way the illustrations are used. Historians in my experience rarely guide the reader from the prose to the illustration that supports the prose. In other words, rarely in the prose do you see anything like "(Figure 3)". Castelden does sometimes reference figures in the text, but he seems to do so haphazardly. On pp. 82-83 we see both Figures 17 and 18, and we see the prose "... western side of the Central Court (Figure 17)" and "on one of the miniature frescoes, although ...". He never mentions Figure 18, and the best place to do so is right after the word frescoes. It's also a little frustrating to get to the end of the book and discover never-referenced appendixes and notes on the illustrations. The latter should have been incorporated into the figure's captions. (Technically the notes would follow the captions in the form of legends, though those two terms are often used for the two combined.) More broadly, there is quite a lot of speculation in The Knossos Labyrinth, mostly about cultic practices. The reader should remember that while we can read the Minoan's script, and for the most part pronounce the words, we do not know what the words mean. References to readable documents refer to those written in Linear B, and those are from the Labyrinth's later Mycenaean phase. Overall, however, Castleden convinced me that the ground floor was a huge temple complex and that, if you ever go to Knossos, you must have this book. Arthur Evans's fantasies are codified in the names he gave the Labyrinth's rooms. Those names are wholly misleading and--according to Wood in In Search of the Trojan War--the tour guides will be of little help.
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