Processions and the Making of the Minoan City
(2025) Urbanism in the Iron Age Levant and Beyond — ISBN: [978-3-16-164199-2], p. 457-478, published
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- Authors
Driessen, Jan 
- Abstract
- Bronze Age or Minoan Crete (3000–1200 BCE) is well-known for its developed public and private architecture with some settlements developing an urban character that is entirely innovative where the Aegean is concerned. In this contribution, I try to recognize the roots of this development in the 3rd millennium BCE and the incentives behind it. Taking a bottom-up perspective, I argue that it was their role as ceremonial hubs that pushed a limited number of settlements to generate a series of public amenities that facilitated the access to and the use of public buildings for large-scale, integrative rituals that formed the backbone of society. The mechanisms put into place – a combination of raised walks that served as red carpets and open and enclosed courts – functioned as permanent reminders of these rituals. With the disappearance of these rituals, the urban character was also given up.
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Citations
Driessen, J. (2025). Processions and the Making of the Minoan City. In Aren Maeir, Shira Albaz, and Angelika Berlejung (ed.), Urbanism in the Iron Age Levant and Beyond (Research on Israel and Aram in Biblical Times VII, p. p. 457-478). Mohr Siebeck Tübingen. https://doi.org/10.1628/978-3-16-164200-5