The Palace of Phaestos
The Theatre consists of eight steps, where people may have watched rituals or dances. On the west side of the West Court you can see a couple of storage pits dating from around 1900 BC, which were probably used for storing grain.
The Grand Staircase was a flight of twelve shallow stone steps, which were slightly convex to let rainwater run off. This marvellous staircase leads up to the Great Propylon and colonnaded light well consisting of three columns. Both of them form part of the main entrance to the palace. To the north are the remains of the Peristyle Hall, a colonnaded courtyard.
After the Great Propylon and the light well with the three columns a stairway descends to the Antechamber of the Storerooms, a large room with two columns probably served as an office. Beyond this room you will see the storerooms, where archaeologists found storage jars, giant pithoi for olive oil and other products. A corridor separated the storerooms from the palace';s main Shrine, which was a room complex with benches, a lustral basin for purification and crypts with niches.
From the Antechamber of the Storerooms you can pass into the imposing Central Court, a paved courtyard, which was flanked on both sides by covered walkways with columns and niches. It offered exceptional views over the Psiloritis range to the north. In its northwest corner there is a stepped stone, probably used as a platform for athletic events or the bull leaping. To the southeast of the Central Court you can admire the remains of the first palace, which are mostly fenced off. Immediately after these remnants you will see the foundations of a Classical temple, which shows that the site was also occupied after the Minoan times.
The secluded East Wing had its own light well, peristyle hall, lustral basin and garden; therefore, archaeologists believe it might have been a Prince';s Apartment.
North of the Central Court a grand entrance and a corridor lead to a courtyard and after that to the royal apartments. The King';s Megaron and the Queen';s Megaron (now fenced off) were elaborate rooms made of luxurious materials, such as alabaster and marble. They had light wells, peristyle halls, beautiful floors, bathrooms and a lustral basin. North of the royal apartments you will see a building from the Old Palace Period, the so-called Archives Room, where the famous Phaestos Disk was discovered in one of a row of mud-brick chests. East of the site are the palace';s workshops.
The Phaestos Disc
The mysterious Phaestos Disc is a circular clay disc of 16 cm diameter, inscribed on both sides with hieroglyphic symbols that spiral from the circumference into the center. Despite a plethora of theories no one has yet been able to decipher its meaning. Scholars believe that it was possibly a sacred hymn to the Goddess Rhea. The disc is now displayed in the Archeological Museum of Heraklion.
