REVISIONI FESTIE II

Abstract

This article continues the programme of revision of the stratigraphies, chronologies and functions of the Protopalatial spaces and buildings uncovered by Levi at Phaistos, and focuses on the so-called BastioneOvest. This is a building located on the N-W border of the west court, which represented the ceremonial area par-excellence in MM IB-MM II. Re-examination of the excavation notebooks and of the materials associated with the various architectural structures of which it is comprised has allowed us to detect two major phases of use characterised by a distinct plan and internal articulation, both within MM II. The position of the building, its relationship with Vasca XXX in both phases, and the composition of the scarce floor assemblages, suggests that BastioneOvest should be attributed to the same liturgical sphere as Vasca XXX, and Levi’s hypothesis that its main function was to host a group of soldiers so as to defend the palace should be rejected. Although it was destroyed after the MM II earthquake, the N-W corner of the building was partially re-used in the so-called fasedeiSacelli as a modest service room. One of the most important outcomes of this research is a new proposal for the plan and function of the later building, the back wall of which coincided with the eastern wall of the earlier building. Stratigraphy and a few materials attributable to the new structure (building CIV) allow a chronology to be proposed within MM IIIA, and suggests that it had inherited the function of the Protopalatial building.