The Minoans

Minoan Study

The Minoans

The Minoans are regarded as standing at the very beginning of European civilisation. They were regarded as being a people of magnificent social organization, culture, art and commerce. They thrived on their mercantile abilities and favoured "intense commercial activity". Their society was based on sea power and seaborne trade with evidence of links to Egypt, Syria, Sicily and Spain.

Evidence suggests they were orientated toward trade and bureaucracy rather than military forces or the structure of a military state. This came later with the Mycenaeans, whose society was oriented around a war chief and focused on a culture of battle and conquest. This may have had something to do with the eventual downfall of the Minoan civilisation. Bureaucracy Ð'- over 200 records have been found written in Linear A script on clay tablets. This information seems to be relating to accounts

Societal Structure

It appears during the Prepalatial period that there was little or no hierarchy in society and that it was largely decentralized. (Not having a central figure, i.e. a King). The theory regarding hierarchy has largely been placed on the burial practices of the period. Tombs (Tholos tombs) were used for whole villages, with old bones being moved out of the way for more recent burials. There do not appear to be powerful landlords or a centralized authority.

Around 2000BC, the first or Protopalatial period, a new political system was established with authority concentrated around a central figure or king. External influence was also established at this time with evidence of Minoan influence on Thera. The first palaces were founded which acted as centres for their respective communities. They developed a bureaucratic administrative system which permeated society. Distinctions between the classes led then to a social hierarchy. The palaces were destroyed by Earthquakes in 1700BC and grander palaces replaced them. Knossos, Phaestos, Malia and Zakros were built as well as many smaller palaces. Villas appeared in more rural areas, and were similar in design to the palaces. These served as lesser centres of power and homes for affluent landlords.

Administrative and economic unity appears to have existed during this time period. Women appear to have played an important role during the second palatial or neopalatial period. Evidence of an affluent upper class includes gold artefacts, seals and spears.

Daedalus and Icarus

Daedalus built the Labyrinth for King Minos, but afterwards lost the favour of the king, and was shut up in a tower. He managed to make his escape from the prison, but could not leave the island by sea, as the king kept strict watch on all vessels. "Minos may control the land and sea", said Daedalus, "but not the regions of the air. I will try that way." So he made wings for himself and his son Icarus. He made the wings with wax, and gave the whole a gentle curvature like the wings of a bird. When all was prepared for flight he said, "Icarus, my son, I charge you to keep at a moderate height, for if you fly too low the damp will clog your wings, and if too high the heat will melt them. Keep near me and you will be safe". Icarus then began to leave the guidance of his father and soured upward. The nearness of the blazing sun softened the wax which held the feathers together, and they came off. He fluttered with his arms, but no feathers remained to hold the air. While his mouth uttered cries to his father it was submerged in the blue waters of the sea which thenceforth called by his name. He buried the body and called the land Icaria in memory of his child. Daedalus arrived safe in Sicily, where he built a temple to Apollo, and hung up his wings, an offering to the god.

The Minotaur

 Minos was the son of Zeus and Europa

 He neglected the right to offer the finest bull in the royal herd to Zeus

 A white bull appeared in the herd, from Zeus and Minos sacrificed another in its place

 Zeus caused Minos' wife Pasiphae to fall in love with the bull and the Minotaur was born from their union

 Minos was shamed by this monster, which had the head and tail of a bull and the body of a man

 His engineer Daidalos made a prison for the beast so that no one could see him

 It was a maze like building called the Labyrinth and there the creature lived

 Aegeus the king of Athens had Androgeos, a son of Minos and Pasiphae murdered as he feared that he would make war against him

 As a result, every eight years seven young girls and seven boys were sent to Crete whom Minos would feed to the Minotaur

 On the second occasion that the Cretan fleet turned up to collect the tribute, Aegeus' only son, Theseus volunteered to go as one of the intended sacrificial victims

 He promised his father that he would slay the Minotaur and bring home his companions

 If he were successful, he would sail home with a white sail instead of a black one

 Ariadne, the daughter of Minos, saw Theseus and fell in love with him

 She showed him how to go through the Labyrinth on the condition that he took herself and her sister back to Athens. He took a ball of string with him

 After he killed the monster, he got Ariadne and her sister Phaedra

 King Aegeus was waiting on the headland for his son, Theseus forgot to change the sails and in grief and despair threw himself from the headland onto the rocks below.

 Now the sea is called the Aegean

Sir Arthur Evans

Arthur Evans was a British archaeologist who excavated the ruins of the ancient city of Knossos in Crete and uncovered evidence of a sophisticated Bronze Age civilisation, which he named Minoan; his work was one of archaeology's major achievements and greatly advanced the study of European and Eastern Mediterranean prehistory. In 1899 Evans purchased a tract of land that included the site of Knossos, and after a year's digging