Knossos

Definition: Legend says King Minos lived at Knossos where Daedalus built the famous labyrinth to house the minotaur, the monstrous offspring of King Minos' wife Pasiphae. Theseus came from Athens as one of the sacrificial victims for the dinner of the half-man half-bull creature in the labyrinth. Lucky for Theseus, Minos' daughter, a half-sister of the minotaur, named Ariadne, gave Theseus a string with which he was able to find his way around the maze, kill the beast, and run away with his savior. The Bronze Age civilization in Crete is known as Minoan after King Minos.

Knossos is a Bronze Age city and archaeological site in Crete. In 1900, Sir Arthur Evans bought the site where ruins had been found, and then worked on the restoration of its Minoan palace.

There were two sets of palaces at Knossos, the second, built following what is believed to have been an earthquake in around 1700 B.C., was inhabited from the 16-14th centuries B.C. In about 1450, Knossos was partially destroyed and then settled by Mycenaeans from mainland Greece. Archaeologist Kris Hirst says that a new theory is gaining favor about the end of the Minoans. They think there was an insurrection in the 15th century rather than an invading force. This is based on comparisons of radio isotopes of strontium within human burials near Knossos that proved the people buried in tombs before and after the fall of Knossos were from Crete, rather than Mycenaean invaders.

Source: www.culture.gr/2/21/211/21123a/e211wa03.html (Knossos)

More on Knossos: Archaeologist Kris Hirst @ About.com: The Palace of Minos at Knossos
The End of the Minoans: A Cretan Insurrection?

Alternate Spellings: Knossus, Cnossus, Gnossus