Throne Room in Palace of Minos

The Throne Room at the palace at Knossos is a small intimate room, able to hold no more than thirty people at a time, with a grand stone throne built against one wall. Theories of the purpose of the room range from religious to political to astronomical. Various scholars have noticed that at different times of the day, and at different times of the year (perhaps equinoxes and solstices), the light from the sun would highlight different elements throughout the room. In the mid-15th c. BCE, there was a moment of significant political change on the island, during which all the palaces other than Knossos were damaged or destroyed. After this period, Mycenaean culture seems to have had much greater influence on Crete, especially at Knossos, and some archaeologists believe that the stone throne and the other decorative features in the room should be dated to this phase of the palace's use.