The West Court is paved and has causeways for processions. The three stone built pits (“kouloures“), are thought to have been used as rubbish pits for discarded sacred objects or as depositories in some phase; the two Altars were built in the last phase of the palaces.
A causeway leads from the Court to the West Porch, which may have been where the king himself received foreigners.
A double door opened into the Corridor of the Procession, so called because of the long procession of men and women giftbearers painted on the walls. The Corridor, interrupted today on the south, originally led to the Southwest Entrance, at which an imposing Stepped Portico ended.
Further south is the South House, which belonged to the high priest. The Corridor of the Procession turns east¬wards and leads towards the South Propy¬laeum, where the procession ends (this was where the splendid fresco of the Rhyton Bearer was found).
© Photo credits by Phileole under CC-BY-2.0
Another approach to the Palace is by the South Porch, which leads into the north-south corridors and from them into the Central Court. Near Corridor were found the remains of the Prince of the Lilies. The Central Court, into which Corridors 5 and 5a lead, was the heart of the political, religious and economic life of the Palace.
From the Corridor of the Procession a polythyron (partition of pier-and-doors) opens into the South Propylaeum. Here, in the Neopalatial period, as we have said, the Procession of approximately 500 giftbearers, including the Cup-bearer, ended.
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