Power Relations in Minoan Palatial Towns

An Analysis of Neopalatial Knossos and Malia

Abstract

The palatial towns of Knossos and Malia offer good comparable evidence for an investigation into how we can reconstruct prehistoric urban power relations. The author builds upon recent work on heterarchies and factional competition, but argues that, in the case of Neopalatial Crete, it is better to retain the term ‘hierarchy’ and introduce a more sophisticated approach to power relations than that offered by the traditional hierarchical model. This approach emphasises the need to contextualise the palaces in their urban setting in order to understand the interdependent relationship between various elites and non-elites. Furthermore, it undertakes multi-data analyses, since the correlations among formal distribution patterns inform us more about social strategies than any individual distribution pattern alone. The article concludes that not only were there different kinds of tiers and urban groups at each site, but also that the relationships between these groups were dissimilar.