Europe’s first great civilization.
Who were the Minoans?
The Minoans built cities on the island of Crete from around 3500 BCE to 1100 BCE. They are mainly remembered for their impressive architecture, such as the Palace of Knossos and its intricate, expressive frescoes. The Minoans also developed a form of writing known as Linear A, although it remains undeciphered to this day.
Their culture was highly sophisticated; they had a strong trading network across the Mediterranean Sea and built impressive ships for long-distance travel. They mainly worshiped female deities, practiced bull-leaping rituals at religious festivals, and enjoyed music performed on flutes.
The legacy of Minoa lives on in modern Europe: they were Europe’s first great civilization and laid down many of the foundations upon which modern Europe is based.
Modern studies
The Minoan civilization was completely unknown to modern historians until the end of the 19th century, when Minos Kalokairinos, a Cretan archaeologist, performed some excavations. This work was built upon by British archaeologist Arthur Evans, who was astonished by the things he found.
Evans’ work has been continued by modern scholars who have studied the remains of Minoan cities such as Phaistos and Gortyn, uncovering more evidence about their economy, religion and social structure. A writing system has also been discovered: two scripts referred to as Linear A and Linear B.
The civilization became known as Minoa, named after King Minos of Crete – the legendary king in Greek mythology whose son was the fearsome Minotaur.
The origins of Minoa
The Minoans were accomplished metalworkers, and were early pioneers of the Bronze Age. This enabled them to create tools and weapons that allowed them to dominate their environment.
Urban centers began to form, where commerce and craftsmanship thrived. These cities exploited the ocean for resources, as well as the fertile Messara Plain. Ships set forth across the Mediterranean, trading extensively with other cultures, including the contemporary Ancient Egyptians.
They imported gold and silver, and began to craft intricate bracelets and necklaces, as well as finely decorated weapons. The Minoans were a resourceful society, but a creative one too, which encouraged visual arts.
Extravagant palaces
The Minoans erected extravagant palaces in their major cities. Five have been discovered so far, with the largest at the city of Knossos. The palace at Knossos is thought to have been built not long after 2000 BCE; it had an impressive courtyard for hosting events, as well as several storeys of passages and chambers: workshops, shrines, bedrooms.
These palaces served as residences for royalty, while also functioning as centers of government and religious worship. Many palaces featured elaborate frescoes depicting scenes from everyday life on Crete. These pictures provide us invaluable insight into the lives of the people who lived there.
The construction of these grandiose buildings demonstrates the structure of Minoan society. Great wealth and power must have been centralized in the hands of a ruling class, as is often the case in highly advanced societies.
A bump in the road
The history of Minoa included major hurdles. At some point before 1700 BCE, the Minoan palaces were completely destroyed, but historians have struggled to work out how this happened.
At Knossos and Phaistos, evidence suggests that an earthquake may have caused their destruction, but at other palaces, there is evidence of violent destruction – charred beams and broken pottery – suggesting that these sites were the victims of foreign invaders.
Whatever the cause, these events had a devastating impact on Minoan civilization. As well as destroying many of its most important buildings, it also disrupted trade networks and weakened the Minoans’ political power. The civilization managed to recover, but this was a major bump in the road.
The Minoan renaissance
It took the Minoans a few decades to recover from the collapse of their palaces, but as soon as their society restabilized, they rebuilt the places in a stronger, more resilient form.
They also began to spread outwards from Crete, building a sea empire in the Mediterranean. Minoan pottery has been found in Egypt, Syria, Turkey and mainland Greece. The people of Greece were particularly influenced by Minoan culture. They built palaces of their own in places like Pylos and Tiryns, and also adopted the Linear B writing system.
Cultural exchange also took place in the opposite direction, with Egyptian artwork influencing the style of Cretan frescoes. Linear A and B may also have been influenced by Egyptian hieroglyphs, but this theory is unconfirmed.
Famous frescoes
Minoan art was inspired by exchanges with other cultures, but it was uniquely expressive compared to other civilizations at the time. They painted in vivid, violent colors, often using these colors to differentiate between genders: men were red-brown, and women were snow white.
As well as humans, Minoan paintings would often depict animals and landscapes. They were found on pieces of pottery, as well as large frescoes on the walls of palaces. Each painting provides a glimpse into Minoan culture, and the way they viewed the world.
For example, the famous *Prince of the Lilies* shows a figure adorned with an extravagant headdress. This figure was probably a priest or king. It has reddish skin, which means the figure was probably male.
Bull-leaping ceremonies
A common image in Minoan frescoes is bull-leaping: acrobatic humans – both male and female – leaping over the horns of a charging bull and then vaulting onto its back.
This was probably some kind of ritual or ceremony, with links to Minoan religion. As a culture, they seem to have venerated bulls, which they may have associated with strength or fertility. The reverence shown towards these animals is further evidenced by archaeological finds such as bronze figurines depicting bulls’ heads or horns.
There is a chance that bull-leaping rituals never took place. Painting a fresco of an event is not the same as performing that event in person. But most historians believe that bull-leaping was an important part of Minoan culture, and may have been performed in the large courtyards at the heart of royal palaces.
The decline of Minoa
The Minoan civilization eventually declined due to a combination of natural disasters and foreign invasions – events which echoed the destruction of their palaces hundreds of years earlier.
One theory suggests that the eruption of Thera, an island volcano not far from Crete, was the major cause of their decline. The eruption is believed to have been one of the most powerful in human history, with its ash cloud seen as far away as Egypt.
This would have had devastating consequences for Minoan society, causing crop failure and famine. Other cultures may have taken advantage of this situation and invaded Crete, taking control of their resources and trading network. This idea provides a plausible explanation for the collapse of Minoan civilization, but as with many theories about the ancient world, it is difficult to prove for certain.
The legacy of Minoa
The Minoans left a lasting legacy on the world, with their unique art and culture inspiring many European civilizations, including the later Ancient Greeks.
The Greeks painted similar frescoes, and even included bull-leaping scenes reminiscent of the ones in Minoan art. They also built Minoan-inspired palaces, and learned from their metalworking techniques. They also told stories inspired by the Minoans, such as the story of the Minotaur, which took place on the island of Crete.
In the future, historians hope to decipher the Minoans’ Linear A script, which has perplexed people for more than a century. This would open up a new window into this ancient culture, and help us to better understand it.
