There has been much debate about palaces in Mycenaean Greece. It is generally accepted that they were not exclusively, if at all, royal domiciles. It is agreed they were at least in part religious centres. The main area of the palace was a three-part rectangular building.

The first area was a portico or aithousa, which in Homer's Odyssey traditionally serves as a sleeping area for guests. The second room is the vesitbule or prodomos. The main chamber or domos was a large hall that would have been used for public gatherings, a central hearth at its heart. The area above the hearth was open to the sky, to allow the smoke from the main fire to be released. At the rear of the main chamber were also, on occasion, areas for religious or ceremonial preparations, which may also have had a separate entrance.

The rest of the palace complex comprised various chambers and outbuildings. In the palace at Iolcus these include rooms for the royal family and store-rooms. The conspirators systematically secure these in their coup and hunt for the royal family.