Crete 2: Malia

 Malia is the first Minoan palace we visited.  Our guide always used air quotes: "Minoan Palaces," because both words are problematic.

"Minoan" is the term coined for this civilization by Sir Arthur Evans who excavated Knossos.  He named it after Minos the king who was supposedly the stepfather of the Minotaur.  We have no idea what the people actually called themselves.  They actually did leave writing behind, Linear A, but not enough examples have been found to make decipherment possible.  Even if they were there is no guarantee we would learn much about names: The first writers were accountants, not historians nor poets.  It appears the texts in Linear A are inventories of supplies.

As for "palaces," that is also an Evans' term, based on Greek myths rather than reality.  Palaces are the places where royalty lived.  Minoan "palaces" appear to have been public complexes where meetings were held and supplies stored.  They don't appear to have had residences.  As our guide said "Nobody lived at city hall."   

Malia appears to have been built in the middle Bronze Age, destroyed by an earthquake in the late Bronze Age, and been  rebuilt.  This is the pattern for the other Minoan palaces on Crete.  

Next stop: Heraklion