 It is believed that the first Cretan palaces were built soon after c. 2,000 BC, in the early part of the Middle Minoan period, at Knossos and other sites including Mallia, Phaestos and Zakro.These palaces, which were to set the pattern of organisation in Crete and Greece through the second millennium, were a sharp break from the Neolithic village system that had prevailed thus far.The building of the palaces implies greater wealth and a concentration of authority, both political and religious.