Famed for the myth of King Minos and their elaborate site at Knossos, the Minoans lay claim to being Europe’s first state-level and literate society in the second millennium BC. The Minoans were a Bronze Age Aegean civilisation primarily based on the island of Crete, thriving from around 2700 BCE to 1450 BCE before coming to an end in 1100 BCE.
The term ‘Minoan’ refers to the mythical King Minos of Knossos, who was the first King of Crete as well as son of Zeus and Europa. Minos ordered craftsman Daedalus to build a labyrinth that was to home the Minotaur, a part man and part bull man-eating monster. Nearby Athens had been forced to send annual offerings of youths and maidens to satisfy the Minotaur until it was eventually defeated by Athenian hero Theseus.
There is another creature notable to the Minoan civilisation: the bull. An abundance of bull-related artefacts have been discovered around Minoan settlements, many depicting the practice of ‘bull-leaping’. This mysterious ritual is thought to involve an athlete leaping over a bull and grasping its horns, then performing stunts from the momentum of the bull’s movement. Perhaps the best contemporary illustration of Minoan bull-leaping is the fresco pictured above from the palace at Knossos.
Knossos is the largest and most prominent Minoan palace. Often many storeys high and featuring elaborate plumbing systems, palaces were largely administrative buildings. This is evidenced by the large amount of archives unearthed by archaeologists at palace sites. Palaces were often designed in such a way that the structure surrounded a central court; the space surrounding the court homed a variety of rooms and hallways. On the west side of the court and in the centre of the palatial complex at Knossos was a ‘throne room’, unearthed in the early 20th century by Arthur Evans. An alabaster seat sits in the chamber which Evans identified as a throne, leading to his conclusion that this area was the priest-king’s seat. Others suggest that the throne room was a sanctuary of a female divinity.
Minoan society was primarily mercantile, engaging in a large amount of energetic overseas trade. They established outposts throughout the Aegean, and the whole of Crete seems to have been united into a sort of confederacy under the overall control of Knossos. The spread of Minoan-manufactured goods imply a network of trade across mainland Greece, Syria, Egypt, Mesopotamia and as far as the Iberian peninsula. The sophistication of the Minoan trading capacity is evidenced by the presence of writing; Cretan Hieroglyphic and Linear A scripts have been found on many types of administrative clay tablets. Perhaps in order to record their business transactions, the Minoans developed a form of writing known today as Linear A. It has not been deciphered and seems to be a syllabic script. The Phaistos Disc (below) is one of the earliest examples of Minoan writing we have.
Minoan religious practice seems to have been centred around a Great Goddess, perhaps supporting the common view that Minoan society was matriarchal. The Goddess is often associated with animals, particularly the snake and the bull. It is thought that she was served by priestesses however there is no evidence that Minoan ritual involved public temples.
There is thought to be a darker side to Minoan religion pertaining to human sacrifice. Evidence of this has been found at three Minoan sites: Anemospilia, Fournou Korifi and Knossos. Archaeologists discovered four human skeletons in a building thought to be a temple at Anemospilia, including one of a young man found on a raised platform, implying he had ben presented on an altar for sacrifice. He was found with a bronze dagger amongst his bones and it is thought he died from loss of blood. Excavations at Knossos discovered mass burials and uncovered the practice of child sacrifice. Findings from the British School of Athens suggest some of the sacrificed children were also victims of cannibalism.
The best surviving examples of Minoan art is perhaps its pottery. Early Bronze Age ceramics were often reddish-brown washed vessels that were often mottled, often characterised by patterns of triangles and lines. In the Middle Bronze Age, with the introduction of the potter’s wheel, smaller and more delicate vessels could be produced. Decoration became bolder, and a range of naturalistic motifs were introduced, usually plants and marine forms. Liquid and granular supplies were stored in pithoi, large storage jars. Their decoration would likely have been matched to their intended use; common themes include spirals and waves.
Around 1500 BC, one of the largest volcanic explosions in recorded history took place on the island of Santorini. The extent to which this eruption affected the Minoans of Crete is largely debated and theorise range from proposals that volcanic ash decimated the plant life and starved the population to ideas that the eruption led to economic hardship, leaving the Minoans more vulnerable to conquest by the Mycenaeans. Around 1459 BC all the palaces except Knossos were destroyed (perhaps invaders saw the usefulness in preserving a building like Knossos) and the Mycenaeans established a centre in Knossos and appear to have been in control there until a final destruction, through unknown agents, in 1375 BC.