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Minoan Era

Learn about Minoan culture

	Minoan Culture 3000-1100BC Crete appears to have been first inhabited during the Neolithic period (new Stone Age), from the 6th millennium BC (whilst the Neolithics in northern Europe were just starting to build tombs and beakerware). The earliest people may have come from Asia Minor and they were early agriculturalists with domesticated animals. These people had good craft making skills and made burnished pottery that was often decorated with incised geometric motifs. Metal working was initially unknown and tools and weapons were made of stone, including obsidian from the Cycladic Island of Milos. Simple figurines have been found that suggest they worshipped a female fertility goddess. At the start of the Bronze Age, about 3000 BC, the Minoan civilization, based on the island of Crete, achieved political and economic dominance of the Eastern Mediterranean at their height of power. They were a sophisticated culture that was generally peaceful and enjoyed the profits of a healthy trade economy as trading ties existed to Egypt and the Turkish coast, as indicated in the writings on Egyptian temples and by artefacts found. Once the Bronze Age arrived in Crete via new immigrants, they used bronze for creating jewellery, tools, and weapons. The use of bronze rapidly spread on the island and the new mix of peoples became the Minoans. Not much is known about the Pre-Palace settlements, but there were strongly built houses of stone and brick These Pre-Palace period people left many tombs behind that have provided many artefacts from the period. Arts and crafts continued to develop and the pottery styles include the famous Vassiliki wares. The Vassiliki style pots have a striking mottled decoration, produced by the firing, and sophisticated shapes, like the "teapot" and the tall, beaked pitchers. The first polychrome pottery makes its appearance towards the end of the period along with jewellery, particularly goldsmithing, and early examples of seal stones made of ivory and steatite appear. They also produced fine vases and vessels of stone and faience; seal stones of precious or semi-precious stones, with hieroglyphics and dynamic natural scenes; elegant weapons and tools; vessels of bronze or silver; jewellery of marvellous technique ("the Bee Pendant" above); and charming miniature sculpture. Also, sacred horns and the double axe is a recurring theme in Minoan artefacts. The Minoans left no written histories, although they had two types of writing known as Linear A and Linear B. Clay accounting tablets have survived (baked accidentally in the fires that periodically destroyed the palaces), that tell of their economic wealth. Linear B was recently deciphered, but Linear A is still one a mystery. The gods and goddesses were closely associated with the king and queen. The male god was associated with the sun and the goddess with the moon. Certain animals like the bull, the wild goat, and the snake had sacred significance for the Minoans - the snake was a beneficent spirit that protected the home. The bull horns and the double axes are sacred symbols that appear everywhere in the palaces. The significance of the double axe is that it was used to sacrifice bulls to the divinity. Other sacred symbols include a knot, a figure-eight infinity symbol, a cross-in-a-wheel symbol and a holy tree symbol. The places of worship of Minoan Crete were in caves, on mountain peaks, in small domestic shrines, and in special sections of palaces. Worship often consisted of offerings to the god, such as grain, figurines, animal models, double axes, weapons and pottery. Such offerings have been found in several caves on Crete.


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