The course elaborates on the archaeology of Minoan Crete and the interrelation between topography and architecture in particular. Architectural construction, spatial distribution, intra-site associations and regional sequences regarding settlements, cemeteries, sanctuaries and different types of site-networks during the Pre-palatial and the Palatial Eras of Cretan Prehistory are examined. The arts that constitute part of architecture are also considered in association. Minoan civilization is ultimately examined within its home ground, the island of Crete, as well as its orbit of influence in the Aegean and the Mediterranean routes and signposts. Explanatory or theoretical approaches regarding qualitative aspects of the rise and fall of the earliest palatial culture in the Aegean are discussed and weighed in close connection with the data in question. - The Neolithic background: Tracing the “Minoan” from the 7th to the 3rd millennia B.C. - Island Geography, Bronze Age chronology, pottery and stratigraphy, terminology and culture sequences. - Types of culture and the character of the 3rd millennium B.C. From the island of Crete to the Aegean and the Mediterranean ports. - The Palatial network of sites, the role of religion and iconography in palace complexes. Discussing the character of the major palatial centres of Phaistos and Knossos. - Mycenaean Crete and the Late Bronze Age Creto-Mycenaean component until LM IIIC.