Minoan Civilization — One Even a 21st-Century Person Would Want to Live In

The Greeks themselves did not believe in the existence of an advanced civilization on Crete before their own. When they saw the ruins of structures on the island, they attributed them to Minos, a mythical king who had ordered Daedalus to build the Cretan Labyrinth.

Palace of Minos in the ancient city of Knossos on Crete

The Minoan civilization belongs to the broader Aegean culture that spanned the Aegean Islands, Crete, mainland Greece, and Asia Minor between 3000 and 1000 BC.

Crete was a peaceful civilization that achieved a high level of daily life, culture, and technology. Its inhabitants even bathed in tubs with hot water. None of the palaces on Crete had defensive fortifications, and the Cretans maintained active contact with Egypt.

They managed to pacify and culturally influence the Achaeans, creating with them the unified Creto-Mycenaean culture of the 16th–11th centuries BC.

The only people they could not “civilize” were the Dorians. Ultimately, the Hellenes assimilated the Cretans only in the 4th–3rd centuries BC.

Agia Triada, Crete (1370–1320 BC)

The Study of the Civilization

Beginnings

In the 1830s, the British antiquities enthusiast Robert Pashley tried to pinpoint the exact location of the polis Kydonia. This marked the start of research into Minoan civilization. Although Kydonia was founded by the Minoans, it was located on the territory of an autochthonous Cretan ethnicity — the Kydones — who had lived there even before the arrival of the Minoans from Asia Minor or the Balkans.

In 1878, the amateur archaeologist Minos Kalokerinos excavated part of the Knossos palace. He found a grain storeroom and determined the palace had suffered a fire. Artifacts he discovered would later be destroyed during the anti-Turkish uprising of 1897–1898.

Minos Kalokerinos (1843–1907), the discoverer of the Palace at Knossos

Heinrich Schliemann also wanted to conduct excavations on Crete but could not pay the required fee.

Official excavations of the Knossos palace began on March 16, 1900, led by British archaeologist Arthur Evans.

Subsequent excavations were directed by Italian archaeologists Federico Halbherr, Luigi Pernier, and the Briton John Pendlebury. Pendlebury was executed by German paratroopers on Crete in May 1941.

Deciphering Cretan Writing

In the 1950s, the self-taught English linguist Michael Ventris, together with his colleague — British specialist in Ancient Greek John Chadwick — deciphered Linear B.

Michael George Francis Ventris (July 12, 1922 — September 6, 1956) was an English architect. He is better known as the self-taught linguist who, together with John Chadwick, deciphered the latest form of Cretan writing — Linear B.

The decipherment made it clear that, in the later period, the Minoans, along with the newly arrived Achaeans, used this script. It is written in Greek but employs a local syllabary.

Deciphering Linear B also opened the way to studying the earlier Linear A, although only the signs of Linear A are understood; its meaning remains unclear. To this day, we do not know what language the ancient Cretans actually spoke.

As for the Minoan (pre-Achaean) language of Crete, we only know of its vocabulary from Egyptian hieroglyphs, which were used to write a few texts in the Cretan language. In particular, we know the Minoans called themselves Kaftor and named their cities Knossos, Amnis, and Pylos.

Thanks to the decipherment of Linear B, it has become evident that the Pelasgians and Achaeans gained a dominant position on Crete even before the Mycenaean culture was fully established at Mycenae. Therefore, the British classicist Sir William Ridgeway considered the term “Minoan civilization” inaccurate. He believed that King Minos was not a native Cretan but rather an Achaean or Pelasgian.

Tiryns (14th–13th century BC)

Periodization

The Greek archaeologist Nikolaos Platon proposed a “palatial” periodization:

1. Pre-Palatial Period — 2600–2000 BC
2. Old Palatial Period — 2000–1700 BC
3. New Palatial Period — 1700–1400 BC
4. Post-Palatial Period — 1400–1100 BC

During the Pre-Palatial period, the indigenous Cretans lived in dwellings carved out of rock. Many such dwellings can still be found near the settlement of Matala in southern Crete.

Matala

In this same period, the cultic “Archanes script,” the earliest form of Cretan hieroglyphs, was developed.

During the Palatial periods, Linear A emerged in Phaistos south of the island and gradually supplanted the older Cretan hieroglyphs.

The palace complex at Phaistos

A volcanic explosion on the island of Santorini occurred between 1628 and 1500 BC, forming the basis of the legend of Atlantis.

That disaster weakened the Minoans, allowing the Achaeans and Pelasgians to seize Crete after 1450 BC. They became dominant, which led to the rise of Linear B.

During this time, the Pelasgians spread widely across Crete, and a general Mycenaean culture emerged throughout Hellas.

Map of Mycenaean states

During the Trojan War, the Dorians destroyed the Mycenaean civilization. They invaded Crete, forcing the local population to flee to highland settlements such as Karfi. The Cretans, as an ethnic group speaking the Eteocretan language, survived until the 3rd century BC.

The Origin of the Minoans

The Western Anatolian Hypothesis

The characteristic Minoan images of the bull and an “orans” (arms-raised) goddess have been common in Western Anatolia since the Ceramic Neolithic (6500–5500 BC). At the ancient site of Arslantepe in Anatolia, seals characteristic of Crete date to the 4th millennium BC. At the ancient Anatolian site of Beycesultan, archaeologists discovered a palace similar to those on Crete, complete with “heated floors,” dating to the 3rd millennium BC.

“Snake Goddess”: possibly a priestess performing a ritual

According to one hypothesis, the Eteocretans were descendants of peoples from the Halaf culture in Syria and the Fikirtepe culture in Turkey. They moved to Crete under pressure from the Sumerians (the Ubaid culture).

Further evidence of an Anatolian connection is the prevalence of marriages between cousins among the Cretans.

Marriages between cousins were popular in the Bronze Age on Crete and other islands.

Evidence pointing to the Halaf culture includes the Cretan double axe — labrys — later adopted by Mycenaean culture. The goddess worship in the “orans” pose points back to Fikirtepe.

Ornamented golden Minoan labryses

The Pelasgian Theory

Another theory posits that the Eteocretans were the same as the Pelasgians. In fact, Homer mentions the Pelasgians as one of the peoples inhabiting Crete alongside the Eteocretans.

Likewise, Minoan vase decorations bear a striking resemblance to the pottery of the Vinča culture, the aboriginal inhabitants of the Balkans with whom the Pelasgians had close ties.

Knossos (1580–1530 BC)

Contacts with the Peoples of the Mediterranean

The Minoans themselves may have founded the Ozieri culture on Sardinia, as suggested by similar vase decorations.

They established colonies on Cyprus, the Cyclades, and Ugarit (Syria). The colony on Cyprus was later conquered by the Teucrians, one of the “Sea Peoples.”

Possible Cretan inscriptions have also been discovered in Troy.

However, before the Achaean invasion of Crete, the Eteocretans did not interact with mainland Greece.

Fresco from the Knossos palace, “Prince of the Lilies,” ca. 1550 BC

Way of Life

The Minoans exported copper from Cyprus and adopted columns from the Egyptians in palace construction. The main weapon of Cretan infantry was the double axe, labrys.

They worshipped the bull cult, known as Taurokathapsia, staging ritual games involving jumping over bulls. Therefore, there were no formal temples; all rituals took place outdoors.

The Minoans smelted bronze produced high-quality pottery (which was in demand throughout the Mediterranean) and built five-story palaces: Knossos, Phaistos, and Malia.

Women — particularly priestesses — occupied a prominent place in Minoan religion, as evidenced by surviving figurines of the Goddess with Snakes.

In the arts, one of the most popular motifs was the depiction of octopuses.

Minoan vase with an octopus design, 16th century BC

Thus, the Minoan Civilization left a wealth of archaeological and artistic evidence behind. It possessed a powerful trade and craft-based economy, displayed exquisite taste in art, and created remarkably comfortable living conditions comparable to modern standards.

At the same time, the Minoans were not an aggressive people and did not seek conquest. They managed to inspire the incoming Achaeans with their own zest for life, which the Achaeans then spread further into mainland Greece. But with the Dorians, the Minoans could not find common ground.

Unresolved issues in the study of Minoan civilization include:

1. The lack of a complete decipherment of the native Eteocretan script (the original script of Crete)
2. The absence of written accounts of historical events
3. Uncertainty surrounding the origin of the Cretans

Overall, the Minoan Civilization is astonishing in its level of development. Scholars are still not entirely sure how advanced it really was, but even I, a 21st-century person, would love to have lived in that era on Crete.

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