The great chest at Knossos
which was once decorated with the faience plaques was, of course,
part of the furnishing of a royal home, and we are not to suppose
that such magnificent pieces of furniture were common; but in their
own fashion the ordinary Minoan houses were doubtless quite adequately
appointed, and the great variety of domestic utensils which has
survived shows that life in the Bronze Age homes of Crete was by no
means a thing of primitive and rough-and-ready simplicity, but was
well and carefully organized in its details. It has been remarked
that 'cooking in Homer is monotonous, because no one eats anything
but roast meat'; but this accusation could not be brought against
the Minoans, who had evidently attained to a considerable skill
and variety in the way in which they prepared their viands for
the table. The three-legged copper pot which was the most common
vessel for cooking purposes was supplemented by stewpans with
condensing-lids, and a variety of other forms of saucepan, while
the number of different types of perforated vessels for straining
and other purposes shows the care with which the art of cooking
was attended to. Probably the Minoan kitchen, though we are still
much in the dark as to its form, was almost as well equipped for
its special functions as the kitchen of the present day.
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