Minoan Civilization 2

Palaces were large scale structures commissioned by elites who had some control over the people living on Crete. The elites used 3 strategies to get the Minoan masses to accept their rule. First, benefits included being a part of a group with an impressive and immense structure used for rituals and gatherings and fortifications to towns for protection (Minoans of). Second and third, according to archaeologists, previous religious sites were replaced by the palaces or ‘state’ shrines, which implies the elites may have coerced people into abandoning their previous beliefs and pushed people to adopt a new ideology. These state shrines or palaces were large building complexes with multiple floors and specialized rooms. The elites that lived here enjoyed lavish lifestyles; bathrooms with wooden seats and possible flushing apparatuses leading to the main drainage system (First Aegean). In lower rooms, large ceramic jars indicate palaces were storage facilities used for storing, redistributing, and trading wine and olive oil (Minoans of). Evidence also shows the Minoans were in contact with Egypt, exchanging their cloth, timber, and foodstuffs, for copper, tin, gold, silver, and hippopotamus ivory (Minoans of).