Though the destruction must have been a setback, Minoan culture continued to flourish, and with the palaces reconstructed on a still grander scale the society entered its golden age. It is the new palaces which provide most of our picture of Minoan life and most of what is seen at the great sites - Knossos, Festos,Malia.Zakros-dates from this period.

The architecture of the new palaces was of an unprecedented sophistication: complex, multi-storey structures in which the use of space and light was as luxurious as the construction materials. Grand stairways, colonnaded porticoes and courtyards, brightly frescoed walls, elaborate plumbing and drain- age, and great magazines in which to store the societys accumulation of wealth, were all integral, as were workshops for the technicians and craftsmen, and areas set aside for ritual and worship. Obviously it was only an elite which enjoyed these comforts, but conditions for the ordinary people who kepi Minos* and his attendants in such style appear to have improved too: towns around the palaces and at sites such as Gournia and Palekastro were growing as well.

Very little is known of how the society was organized, or indeed whether it was a single entity ruled from Knossos or simply several city states with a common cultural heritage. However, in an intriguing reference to Crete in his Politics Aristotle implied that a caste system had operated in the times of Minos. Clearly, though, it was a society in which religion played an important part. The great Corridor of the Procession fresco at Knossos depicted an annual delivery of tribute, apparently to a Mother Goddess; bud leaping had a religious significance too; and in all the palaces substantial chambers are set aside for ritual purposes. Secular leaders were also religious leaders. That Minoan society was a very open one is apparent too. There are virtually no defences, internal or external, at any Minoan site, and apparently the rulers felt no threat either from within or without, which has induced scholars to emphasize a military strength based on sea power.

As far as internal dissent goes it seems safe to assume that the wealth of the island filtered down, to some extent at least, to all its inhabitants: the lot of a Minoan peasant may have been little different to that of a Cretan villager as little as fifty years ago. Externally, maritime supremacy was further extended: objects of Cretan manufacture turn up all over the Mediterranean and have even been claimed as far a field as Britain and Scandinavia (amber from the Baltic certainly found its way to Crete). Behind their sea power the Minoans clearly felt safe, and the threat of attack or piracy was further reduced by the network of colonies or close allies throughout the Cycladic islands - Thira most famously but Arthur Evans named Minoan society after the legendary King Minos, but there is little doubt that Minos was in fact the title of a dynasty of priest/ kings, a word rather like Pharaoh.also at Milos, Naxos, Paros, Mikonos, Andhros and Dilos - and in Rhodes, Cyprus, Syria and North Africa. Nevertheless, this appears to have remained a trading empire rather than a military Cultural advances If the New Palace period was a high point of Minoan power, it also marked the apogee of arts and crafts in the island: again, the bulk of the objects you will admire in the museums date from this era.

The frescoes - startling in their freshness and vitality - are the most famous and obviously visible demonstration of this florescence. But they were just the highly visible tip of an artistic iceberg, ft was in intricate small-scale work that the Minoans excelled above all, Naturalistic sculpted figures of humans and animals include the superb ivory bull-leaper, the leopard-head axe and the famous snake goddesses or priestesses, all of them on show in the Iraklion Archaeological) Museum. The carvings on seal stones of this era are of exceptional delicacy - a skill carried over into beautifully delicate gold jewellery. Examples of stone vessels include the bulls head rhyton from Knossos and the three black vases from Ayia Triadha which are among the museums most valuable possessions. And pottery broke out into an enormous variety of new shapes and design motifs, drawing their inspiration especially from scenes of nature and marine life.

The other great advance was in writing. Anew form of script. Linear A, had appeared at the end of the First Palace period, but in the new palaces its use became widespread. Still undeciphered . Linear A must record the original, unknown language of the Minoans: it seems to have been used in written form almost exclusively for administrative records - stock lists, records of transactions and tax payments. Even were it understood, therefore, it seems unlikely that the language would reveal much in the way of history. The pieces which have survived were never intended as permanent records, and have been found intact only where the clay tablets used were baked solid in the fires which destroyed the palaces. It is possible that a more formal record, an abstract of the annual accounts, was kept on a more valuable but also more perishable material such as imported papyrus or even a paper produced from native date palm leaves-

The end
Around 1600 BC the island again saw minor earthquake damage, though this was swiftly repaired. But in about 1450 BC came destruction on a calamitous scale: the palaces were smashed and (with the exception of Knossos itself) burned, and smaller settlements across the island devastated. The cause of this disaster is still the most controversial of all Minoan fiddles, but the most convincing theory links it with the explosion of the volcano of Thire in about 1500 BC: a blast which may have been five times as powerful as that of Krakatoa, The explosion threw up great clouds of black ash and a huge tidal wave, or waves. Coastal settlements would have been directly smashed by the wave. and perhaps further burnt by the overturn of lamps lighted on a day made unnaturally dark by the clouds of ash. Blast, panic and accompanying earth tremors would have contributed to the wreck. And then. as the ash fell, it apparently coated the centre and east of the island in a poisonous blanket under which nothing could grow, or would grow again, for as much as fifty years.

Only at Knossos was there any real continuity of habitation, and here it was with Mycenaean Greeks in control, bringing with them new styles of art, a greater number of weapons, and above all keeping records in a form of writing known as Linear B. an adaptation of Linear A now used to write in an early Greek dialect. In about 1370 BC, Knossos was itself burnt, whether by rebellious Cretans, a new wave of Mycenaeans, or perhaps as a result of another natural disaster on a smaller scale.

Such at least is the prevailing theory. But it has its problems - why, for example, should Festos have been burnt when it was safe from waves and blast on the south side of the island? And why should the eruption that vulcanologists now date to 1500 BC have had such a dramatic effect only fifty years later - indeed there are signs that away from the worst effects of the devastation many areas on Crete experienced comparative prosperity after it. As the debate continues the best that can be said currently is that the volcano theory fits the available evidence better than most of its rivals. But many scholars still claim that the facts are more consistent with destruction by human rather than natural causes.

The main counter-theory assumes an invasion by the Mycenaeans, and points to some evidence that Linear B was in use at Knossos before 1450 BC. But if the Mycenaeans came to conquer, they would have gained nothing by destroying the society already flourishing on Crete; nor would they have subsequently left the former population centres deserted for a generation or more.

A third theory attempts to answer these inconsistencies suggesting that an internal revolt by the populace against its rulers (possibly in the wake of the chaos caused by the Thtra eruption) could provide an explanation. This theory would fit the evidence from sites such as Mirtos Pirgos on the south coast, where a villa dominating the site was burned down whilst the surrounding settlement remained untouched. Needless to say this theory does not find favour with those who see Minoan civilization as a haven of tranquil splendour, but it does fit with the later Greek tradition of a tyrannical Minos oppressing not only his own people but those abroad as well. Further archaeological investigation both on Crete and other islands in the Aegean may ultimately resolve this Minoan mystery.