MINOAN CRETE

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History

• Early Minoan (EM) I-III, 3000-2000 B.C.
  • small towns; trade in obsidian
  • Early Cycladic, in Cyclades islands--marble figurines
  • Vasiliki ware--red/black mottled pottery, named for a major E Cretan town site
    
• Middle Minoan (MM) I-II, 2000-1750 B.C.
  • First Palace Period--palaces start MMIB, suffer earthquake damage end MM II
  • Kamares ware--distinctive red/black/white decorated pottery
  • records kept in Minoan (hieroglyphic script)
    
• MM III-Late Minoan (LM) IB, 1750-1450 B.C.
  • Second Palace Period--palaces rebuilt
  • period of Minoans' greatest prosperity and foreign contact
  • Marine Style pottery--diagnostic ware of LM IB
  • records kept in Minoan (Linear A script)
  • palaces all destroyed at end LM IB; it is not known how or why
    
• LM II-LM IIIA2, 1450-1375 B.C.
  • Crete under domination of Mycenaeans
  • Mycenaeans rebuild and occupy Knossos, keep records in Greek (Linear B script)
  • Mycenaeans also take over Minoan trading colonies

Culture

• chief Minoan palace site is Knossos in North Central Crete
  • palace--main elements
    • open-air central court
    • storerooms and shrines (West side of court)
    • theatral area--for performances, religious rites? (NW corner of court)
    • grand staircase, "men's hall", "queen's megaron" (East side of court)
    • heavily reconstructed by excavator, Sir Arthur Evans
      • evidence from plaques, paintings, house model
        
• beliefs
  • religious aspect of palaces extensive--reflected in wall paintings, stone vases, seal rings and sealstones
  • bull-leaping
  • a major female earth-mother deity; a youthful male deity; maybe lesser deities
  • much of religion involves nature, collecting flowers (including poppies, saffron, suggesting an ecstatic component to religion--intoxicants), harvesting
  • snake goddess
    
• extensive foreign contacts
  • trade with Egypt--shown in Egyptian paintings; Minoan pottery in Egypt; etc.
  • trading colonies at Miletus, on Rhodes
    
• Thera (Santorini) island, site of Akrotiri, Late Minoan/Cycladic IA
  • not a Minoan site, but has some Minoan features
    • Minoan: pier and door partitions, "horns of consecration", some pottery
    • Cycladic: no light wells, Cycl. pottery, most frescoes
  • very important as preserved when the volcanic island exploded c. 1620 or 1520
    • three storey buildings preserved in full; paintings on walls; furniture; etc.
  • wall paintings show Minoan type religious scenes, nature
    • Springtime fresco
    • Xeste 3 ("Building 3"): cult scene
      • women gathering flowers for goddess flanked by monkey, griffin
      • blood dripping from shrine door topped by "horns of consecration"
    • West House, upstairs Room 5: ship procession; shipwreck, marching armed men; also fishermen
    • painting of boxing children, next to painting of impalas