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Follow me… to get to know the Minoans

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You managed to use the leaflet entitled “Follow

me… to the palace of Knossos” with success!

So now, follow me… to get to know the Minoans

and see some snapshots of their way of life.

The festival wall-painting was found in a small room fallen

from the upper storey, near the north entrance to the

palace of Knossos. Lots of men and women enlivened

the walls of the room, a freeze-frame from the life of the

palace, like a photograph from an album of the festival

that was just about to begin.

Look at the building in the centre of the picture.

The columns and the double horns on the

fac¸ade show that it is some kind of Sanctuary.

The ladies of honour or perhaps Priestesses are

sitting down chatting in a relaxed manner. They

are waving their arms gracefully or touching

each other. Younger girls are standing up on

platforms. Small groups of men and women

are crowded into the same space. The men

are tanned whereas the women’s faces are

powdered white.Can you work out which is which?Wall-painting in miniature, showing a festival, from the palace of Knossos.

New Palace period (1700-1400 B.C.). Herakleion Archaeological Museum.

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Sunshine and Crete’s mild climate played a definitive

role in the basic design principles of the palace.

Many of the spots you have visited were open areas

like courtyards, light-wells and verandas, which

captured air and light, diffusing them to the closed

areas of the palace. Some of the rooms had multiple

doorways (polythyra), that is walls with multiple

openings that could be closed off by means of

wooden doors depending on the weather conditions.

Walls were reinforced with a lattice of wooden

beams, which made them more flexible and resilient in

earthquakes.

Can you make out into how many zones the artist

has set the Sanctuary on the wall-painting? This

is the way the levels and storeys of the building

are depicted. Just imagine the ambience created by

the light and shadows of the interior spaces of the

palace.

In the New Palace period, the Minoans were a great power in the Aegean. They ploughed the Mediterranean in their ships and had close commercial ties with Egypt and other lands of the East Mediterranean. The palace of Knossos was the most important administrative and economic centre on the island. It was here that those who occupied important positions within the state and priesthood lived and worked. Minoan society also included all the other inhabitants of the cities that surrounded the palaces, like merchants, sailors, craftsmen, farmers, herdsmen and

fishermen.Is it easy to make out which social classes they belong to based on their position on the stands in the wall-painting?

The Minoans had slender bodies and black

hair. Women’s fashion meant colourful clothing,

long skirts and tight-fitting blouses with short

sleeves. Curls and braids, beads, ribbons or hats

ornamented their hair. They wore jewellery on the neck,

arms and ankles. The men covered their body from the waist

to the thighs with a loincloth (cod-piece). They also looked

after their hair-styles and wore jewellery as well.

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Nature, which is reborn annually so providing vegetation and

fertility to the plant and animal kingdom, was worshipped

as a woman by the Minoans ― the Great Goddess. In the

outdoors, they chose mountain peaks and caves to offer her

dedications asking her to protect their livelihood in return.

Later on, they created special cult places in their houses, like

the modern iconostasis (small shrine with icons). Religious

ceremonies were organized in honour of the goddess both in

halls of the palace and in the open-air courtyards, where lots

of people would congregate to take part in acts of worship

so that the goddess would appear and listen to their pleas

(theophany).

The bull was an animal sacred to the Minoans. The horns and the instrument used to sacrifice the bull, the double axe, were sacred symbols in Minoan religion. Both symbols are found in the rooms of the palace of Knossos since the complex was under the protection of the goddess. That is why the palace was identified as the Labyrinth, namely the place of the double axes, since Labrys means double axe.What do we mean by the word, labyrinth, today?

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Rhytons ware ritual vessels. They had an extra hole

in the base so that liquid offerings like honey, wine

and olive oil could flow towards the earth. On the Ayia

Triada rhyton, young athletes are depicted competing

in boxing, bull-leaping and wrestling. The games were

probably connected to the worship of the goddess and

the religious ceremonies held in her honour.

Can you observe the details of the face and body of

the athletes, which prove that they have been exerting

themselves?

Stone rhyton (a kind of vase) from the

Villa at Ayia Triada. New Palace period.

Herakleion Archaeological Museum.

Four men are dancing in a small dancing area enclosed by a low circular wall, arms over each other’s shoulders. The votive offering was found among other offerings in a tomb at Kamilari in the south of Crete. It accompanied the dead on his last journey and is connected either with snapshot from his life or with rituals such as the funeral meals that took place in honour of the ancestors. Can you make out the double horns among the dancers?

Clay model of a dance from Kamilari.

Early New Palace period.

Herakleion Archaeological Museum.

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The most dangerous and impressive sport of Minoan

Crete was the taurokathapsia or bull-leaping. Young

men and women in an incredible feat of daring and

dexterity, would perform the “vault of death” over the

horns and back of a raging bull. The athletes would

grab the animal’s horns, at the same time vaulting onto

its back from where, with a spectacular acrobatic leap,

they would end once more on the ground. The bull was

worshipped by the Minoans as a sacred animal because it

symbolized power and fertility. That is why bull-leaping

was probably part of the religious ceremonies held in the

courtyard of the palace or in suitably landscaped places

in the countryside.

The Harvester Vase from the villa of Ayia Triada. New Palace period. Herakleion Archaeological Museum.

It seems that the ostrich egg shape was the inspiration for

this stone rhyton. On the shoulder of the vase, twenty-

six men are walking to a rhythm and singing to the

accompanying music. An elderly man leads the procession

as it returns from a harvest festival, rakes for winnowing

the wheat held high. Nature has once again born fruit and

the farm-workers are very happy.

Can you imagine the lines of the song?

The bull-leaping fresco

from the East Wing of the palace of Knossos. Final Palace

period. Herakleion Archaeological Museum.

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General editing: Stella Chryssoulaki

Art editing – texts: Tonia Koutsouraki

Archaeological editing: Stella Mandalaki

Electronic editing: Spilios Pistas

Translation: Colin Macdonald

www.yppo.gr | tepe.dmeep@culture.grThe publication was sponsored by the Archaeological Receipts Fund

Bibliography (in Greek): Dimopoulou-Rethemiotaki, N. The Archaeological Museum of Herakleion, I.S. Latsis Foundation, Athens 2005 | The dawn of Greek art,

Collaborative work, from the series Greek Art, Athens Editions, Athens 1994 | History of the Greek Nation, volumes A and B, Athens Editions, Athens 1970, 1980 |

Πίνη, Ε., Pini, E., Knossos, Phaistos, Malia, Zakros, Investigative Editions, Athens 2004 | Chryssoulaki, St., Minoan Civilization, Educational series folder No 3, Programme

MELINA “The world of Antiquity”, Ministry of Culture – Ministry of National Education and Religious Affairs, Athens 1998 | http://odysseus.culture.gr, Knossos, Palace of

Knossos, 23rd Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities

The leaflet “Follow me… to get to know the Minoans” with ISBN 978-960-386-019-8 was created in 2011. It was processed in 2015 within the framework of Action code no. MIS 339815 “Updating and digitizing educational material to support the educational process, which is implemented by the Directorate of Museums as part of the

Enterprise Programme “Education and Lifelong Learning” and jointly funded by the European Union (European Community Fund) and by national funds.

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Copyright ©2015 MINISTRY OF CULTURE AND SPORTSISBN digital version 978-960-386-206-2