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wings are arranged around the main courtyard where the
“tavrokathapsia” (bull-leaping) used to take place. This was
a ritual where athletes grasped the bull’s horns and vaulted
over the animal’s back trying to sit on it.
I begin my tour from the West Wing and admire yet again
the big stone sacred-bull horns that used to adorn the
palace’s top. Continuing my tour the staircase leads me to the
Sacred Room or Piano Nobile (Floor of the Noble), as Evans
called it. The view of the other buildings is magnificent from
this spot. In the Throne Hall I catch myself day-dreaming
whilst admiring the frescos, the alabaster throne and the
expiation sink. Crossing the West Court –a rite area as well as
the Palace’s official entrance– the Procession Corridor of the
Southern entrance, reveals the reproduction of “The Prince
of the Lilies”, the famous relief fresco. Its original, along
with several other magnificent findings from the Palace, as
well as the Linear B archive of tablets, are exhibited in the
Archaeological Museum of Heraklion.
The royal apartments are located in the Palace’s East Wing.
A large stairwell leads to the Hall of the Double Axes and
the Queen’s Suite which is decorated with the famous
fresco with the dolphins, and comprises a bathroom and a
dressing room. I stand in the Corridor of Zatrikios –a kind
of chess– and I have the impression that I am listening to the
rustle made by the Queen’s dresses crossing it or the sounds
and laughter when she is playing the favorite game of the
Minoan people. In the North Wing, the entrance of which is
connected to the port, the Theater and the Customs House
prevail while the paved Royal Road leads to the Little Palace.
By the time the first visitors arrive I have already finished the
tour of the main area. I am thrilled and manage to convince
my friends to follow me to the neighboring edifices: the
Royal Mansion with the numerous doors and the double
stairwell, the House of Frescos, the Caravan Seraglio where
visitors used to stay, decorated with frescos representing
hoopoes and partridges. Further ahead, I shall visit the
Priest’s House with the stone altar with the double axes, the
Unexplored Mansion, the Royal Tomb where some Minoan
king rests, and the South Mansion with the three-storied
expiation sink. Naturally, I can’t miss the Villa of Dionysus,
built in Roman times, with Apollinaris’s famous mosaics
depicting Dionysus.
It’s now high noon. Our friends have already arrived at the
Lions (Morosini Fountain) the favorite meeting point of
the people of Heraklion. A coffee before lunch sounds like a
good idea, doesn’t it? The Ladies in Blue fresco.
Τοιχογραφία με τις Γαλάζιες
Η Κνωσσός πάντα με προσκαλεί κάθε φορά που έρχομαι Κυρίες.
στην Κρήτη. Ανεξάντλητη, ιερή, επιβλητική, μου
υπενθυμίζει τη χαρά της ζωής που χαρακτηρίζει την
κρητική γη. Η εκλεπτυσμένη πρωτεύουσα του κράτους
του βασιλιά Μίνωα χτίστηκε στο λόφο της Κεφάλας,
ανάμεσα σε ψηλά κυπαρίσσια, ελιές και αμπέλια. Το

164 GREC14N 2018