THE ISLAND OF CRETE

ORIGIN OF THE GREEKS

PREHISHTORIC PERIOD 6000BC-2600 BC

The earliest traces of human habitation in Crete go back to the Neolithic age. The first inhabitants of the island lived in caves, which later became places of worship and in houses with stone foundations and brick walls. These people were farmers and shepherds. They used simple tools and utensils made of animal bones and stone, many of which have been turned up during archaeological excavations.

We know very little about their religious beliefs. It is hypothesized that they worshipped Goea, the goddess of fertility. Many figurines showing this female form have been found in Crete and throughout the eastern Mediterranean basin. For many centuries afterwards Mother was the most important symbol for the cultures of the Mediterranean lands.

Minoan Civilization Around 1700 BC, a highly sophisticated

culture grew up on Crete: the Minoans. What they thought, what stories they told, how they narrated their history, are all lost to us. All we have left are their palaces, their incredibly developed visual art, and their records

The  Minoan civilization  was a Bronze Age  civilization that arose on the island of  Crete.

It was rediscovered at the beginning of the 20th century through the work of the British archaeologist  ARTHUR EVANS. Will Durant  referred to it as "the first link in the European chain”.

GEOGRAPHY

Crete is a mountainous island with natural harbors located midway between Turkey, Egypt and Greece. On the island, the climate is comfortable and the soil fertile; as an island, it was isolated from the mainland of Asia Minor, the Middle East, and Egypt . There are signs of earthquake damage at many Minoan sites and clear signs of both uplifting of land and submersion of coastal sites due to tectonic processes all along the coasts .

CHRONOLOGY AND HISTORY• Rather than associate absolute calendar dates for the Minoan period,

archaeologists use two systems of relative chronology. The first, created by Evans •Early Minoan period(EM) 2,600 B.C.- 2,000 B.C.•Middle Minoan period(MM) 2,000 B.C. - 1,580 B.C.•Late Minoan period (LM) 1,580 B.C. - 1,100 B.C.

Another proposed by the Greek archaeologist Nicolas Platon, is based on the development of the architectural complexes known as "palaces" Minoan period into Prepalatial, Protopalatial, Neopalatial, and Post-palatial periods.

TRADE• None of the earliest great cultures of the ancient world were seafaring

cultures, so Crete was spared the great power struggles that troubled other ancient cultures.

• However, as an island, resources were limited. As the population began to thrive, it also began to increase, and it is evident that the resources of the island became increasingly insufficient to handle the increased population. So the Cretans improvised.

• Some migrated, populating other islands in the Aegean Sea. In doing so, they took their growing civilization with them and spread Minoan culture, religion, and government all over the Aegean Sea. For this reason, the Minoan culture is also called the "Aegean Palace civilization."

• The Cretans who remained on Crete turned to other economic pursuits in particular, they turned to trade. Crete became the central exporter of wine, oil, jewelry, and highly crafted works; in turn, they became importers of raw materials and food. In the process they built the first major navy in the world; its primary purpose, however, was trade, not war or conquest.

The "saffron-gatherers, saffron crocus flowers, represented as small red tufts, are gathered by two women

Minoans in Egypt

CLOTHING• Minoan men wore loincloths and kilts.• Women wore robes that had short sleeves and

layered flounced skirts. These were open to the navel allowing their breasts to be left exposed, perhaps during ceremonial occasions. Women also had the option of wearing a strapless fitted bodice.

• The patterns emphasized symmetrical geometric design.

RELIGION• Minoan sacred symbols include the Bull, Bull's Horns

of Consecration, Double Axe, Pillar, Snakes, Sun, and Tree.

• There are numerous representations of goddesses, which leads to the conclusion that the Cretans were polytheistic, while others argue that these represent manifestations of the one goddess.

• The most popular goddess seems to be the "Snake Goddess," who has snakes entwined on her body or in her hands. Since the figurine is only found in houses and in small shrines in the palaces, it is believed that she is some sort of domestic goddess or goddess of the house.

SNAKE GODDESS

DEITY-MOTHER GODDESS

MINOAN SACRIFICE with a slaughtered bull in the middle, two terrified animals below him and a woman offering on the right. Notice the double axe and horns of consecration next to the altar.

• It seems to be the first "leisure" society in existence, in which a large part of human activity focused on leisure activities, such as sports. In fact, the Cretans seem to have been as sports addicted as modern people; the most popular sports were boxing and bull-jumping. Women actively participated in both of these sports.

BOXINGBULL JUMPING

• Concentration of wealth played a large role in the structure of society. Multiroom constructions were discovered in even the ‘poor’ areas of town, revealing a social equality and even distribution of wealth.

• Cretan states of the first half of the second millennium BC were bureaucratic monarchies.

• While the government was dominated by priests and the monarch seemed to have some religious functions, the principle role of the monarch seemed to be that of "chief entrepreneur," or better yet.

• Minoans had a written language known as Linear A.

• The famous Phaistos disc, a fired clay tablet discovered at the Minoan palace of Phaistos by Italian archaeologist Luigi Pernier in 1908, is believed to be an early form of pictograms reminiscent of Egyptian hieroglyphics.

KNOSSOS MURAL, THE SO CALLED 'PRINCE WITH THE LILIES' OR 'PRIEST KING' FRESCO (KNOSSOS, C. 1500 BC)

PHAISTOS DISC

MINOAN ART• The immense concentration of wealth in such a small population led to an

explosion of visual arts, as well. Unlike the bulk of the ancient world, the Minoans developed a visual art culture that seems to have been solely oriented around visual pleasure.

• The Minoans seem to have been the first ancient culture to produce art for its beauty rather than its function

• The Minoans, however, not only decorated their palaces, they decorated them with art. To walk through a Minoan palace was to walk through room after room of splendid, wall-sized paintings. Minoan art frequently involves unimportant, trivial details of everyday life, such as a cat hunting a bird, or an octopus, or representations of sports events (rather than battles, or political events).

• The Minoan art is generally in the form of frescoes and ceramics. Ceramics were characterized by linear patterns of spirals, triangles, curved lines, crosses, fishbone motifs, and like. In the Middle Minoan period naturalistic designs such as fish, squid, birds, and lilies were common.

FRESCOES

CERAMICS

ARCHITECTURE• The Minoan cities were connected with stone-paved roads, formed from

blocks cut with bronze saws. Streets were drained and water and sewer facilities were available to the upper class, through claypipes.

• Minoan buildings often had flat tiled roofs; plaster, wood, or flagstone floors, and stood two to three stories high. Typically the lower walls were constructed of stone and rubble, and the upper walls of mudbrick. Ceiling timbers held up the roofs.

• The materials used in construction varied; could include sandstone, gypsum, or limestone. Equally, building techniques could also vary between different constructions; some palaces used ashlar masonry while others used roughly hewn megalithic blocks.

• The palaces and towns of the Cretans seem to have only minor defensive structures or forts. The presence of only a small amount of defensive works in the archaeological record leads us to a tentative conclusion: the Minoans throughout much of their history were relatively secure from attack. This conclusion helps to explain every other aspect of Minoan history: their concentration of economic resources on mercantilism, their generous distribution of wealth among their people, and, unfortunately, their downfall.

THOLOS TOMBS For centuries the Minoans used Tholos Tombs and sacred caves, along with

pithoi(storage jars) and larnakes(ash-chest) for burial of their dead.

MINOAN VILLAS The Late Minoan I villa at Ayia Triada in Crete functioned as part of a larger administrative system. It was the center of an estate. Produce and other items from this estate were collected and dispersed as rations and wages to local workers and as tax payments to the palace of Phaistos. Neopalatial Crete was organized into an extensive system of such manorial estates which contributed to the palatial centers.

MINOAN PALACES• They provided a forum for gathering and

celebrations, while at the same time they offered storage for the crops, and workshops for the artists.

• They were built over time to occupy low hills at strategic places around the island in a manner so complex that they resembled labyrinths to outside visitors.

• There were expanded drainage systems, irrigation, aqueducts, and deep wells that provided fresh water to the inhabitants.

• They were laced with impressive interior and exterior staircases, light wells, massive columns, storage magazines, and gathering outdoor places -- the precursor to ancient theaters.

THE PALACE AT KNOSSOSU SHAPE PLAN WITH A CENTRAL COURTYARD

RUINS

THE PALACE AT KNOSSOS

Construction on the palace at Knossos, according to legend the palace of King Minos, was begun perhaps as early as 2000 B.C., and by 1900 BC, it was fairly close to its final form--a large single building with a central courtyard.

During the Second Palace period, 1700-1450 BC, the Palace of Minos covered nearly 22,000 square meters (about 5.4 acres) and contained storage rooms, living quarters, religious areas, and banquet rooms. What appears to be a jumble of rooms connected by narrow passageways probably gave rise to the myth of the Labyrinth; the structure itself was built of a complex of dressed masonry and clay-packed rubble, and then half-timbered.

Aerial view of the palace at knossos

Cyprus trees

Columns wider at the topTimber framingRubble masonry

THE CITY OF KNOSSOS

DOWNFALL• The island of Santorin, 70 miles north of Crete to the wealthy Minoan

seaport of Akrotiri, a place where the wall paintings discovered portray their landscape with happy animals and farmers harvesting saffron. But the Minoans had built their prosperous city on one of the most dangerous islands on earth, next to the volcano Thera. Around 1600, B.C., Akrotiri was shaken by a violent earthquake. Some time later, an eruption occurred. The Theran eruption was one of largest in human history — blasting more than 10 million tons of ash, gas, and rock 25 miles into the atmosphere. Incredibly, despite Crete’s close proximity to the volcano, the debris from Thera largely missed the major Minoan towns.50 years later the civilzation was wiped out.

• Earthquakes and fires destroyed Knossos and the other palaces and the towns were deserted.

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