Orientations of the Minoan palace at Phaistos in Crete

Abstract

The primary orientation of the Phaistos palace, like that of the great majority of Minoan buildings and graves, is to the east within the limits of sunrise. There were two main building phases: near the end of the Middle Minoan IA period, ca 1900 BC (the Old Palace) and in the Middle Minoan IILA period, ca 1750 BC (the New Palace). The two phases are unique in showing a difference in orientation of the west facade of the central court from the earlier to the later building. Surprisingly, we cannot detect a systematic change in the alignment of other parts of the New Palace. Its walls seem largely to have the same orientation as the visible walls of the Old Palace.

Our study concentrates on three orientations of the palace: 1) The western side of the earlier central court is aligned to the westernmost peak of Psiloriti, the ancient Mt Ida; 2) The east-west orientation of the Old Palace is close to sunrise at the equinoxes; 3) The western side of the later central court is oriented to the highest peak in the south, behind which the bright star Canopus rose and set near the equinoxes when that side was re-oriented. We conclude that the new appearance of the star is the probable reason for the change in orientation when the New Palace was built. We conclude, further; that this re-orientation at Phaistos provides information concerning the formative period of Minoan astronomy.