The Minoan civilization arose on the island of Crete around 1700 BC and lasted until around 1100 BC. It was a highly advanced Bronze Age civilization that was rediscovered in the early 20th century through archaeological excavations. The Minoans built large palatial complexes that served administrative and religious functions. They engaged in extensive overseas trade and spread Minoan culture throughout the Aegean Sea. Minoan society placed great emphasis on art, architecture, and leisure activities like sports. The Minoan civilization declined around 1100 BC, possibly due to a volcanic eruption or invasion.

1. THE ISLAND OF CRETE
ORIGIN OF THE GREEKS

2. 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.

3. 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

4. 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 .

5. 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.

7. 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.

8. The "saffron-gatherers, saffron crocus
flowers, represented as small red
tufts, are gathered by two women
Minoans in Egypt

9. 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.

10. 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
SNAKE GODDESS
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.
DEITY-MOTHER GODDESS

11. 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.

12. • 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.
BULL JUMPING BOXING

13. • 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
KNOSSOS MURAL, THE SO CALLED
monarch seemed to be that of 'PRINCE WITH THE LILIES' OR 'PRIEST
"chief entrepreneur," or better yet. KING' FRESCO (KNOSSOS, C. 1500 BC)
• 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.
PHAISTOS DISC

14. 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.

15. FRESCOES

16. CERAMICS

17. 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.

18. 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.

19. 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 THE PALACE AT KNOSSOS
U SHAPE PLAN WITH A CENTRAL COURTYARD
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 RUINS
theaters.

20. 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.

21. 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.

22. Cyprus trees
Aerial view of the palace at knossos
THE CITY OF KNOSSOS Columns wider at the top
Timber framing
Rubble masonry

23. 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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