A hypothesis on earthquakes and political power in Minoan Crete

Abstract

The seismic destruction of the first Minoan palace at Phaistos is preliminarily confirmed. The hypothesis is
then proposed that a change in the relationships a~nongth e powers in the Messarh plain was also produced by
the different capacity of the Phaistos centre to react to the 1700 B.C. seismic effects, as compared to that of
Knossos. This trend is thought to have continued after the second earthquake of the middle(?) of the XVII
century B.C., indirectly confirming Knossian leadership in the island's entire central region during the age of
the second palaces.