ABSTRACT
The palace of the king formed the focal point of city life. The palace functioned as an economic center where foodstuffs such as wine, corn, and oil were gathered, stored in enormous clay pots, and redistributed among the population. A large administrative class of scribes kept economic accounts, supervised agricultural production and manufacturing, and collected taxes. Writing evolved mainly as a way to keep tallies of stores recorded on soft clay tablets. The Minoans also developed a system of standardized weights and currency.
