20th July 2024 31st August 2024 By Victor Rouă In

The Enigmatic Minoans – Europe’s First And Eldest Civilisation

The Minoans were an ancient European civilisation native to the island of Crete in the southern Mediterranean which thrived by means of trade, agriculture, and fishing for a long time and expanded territorially during the Bronze Age to the nearby islands in the Sea of Crete and the Libyan Sea as well as to the Cyclades to the north in the Aegean Sea, establishing colonies which flourished in this archipelago of ancient Greece. Discovered during the early part of the 20th century by English archaeologist Arthur Evans and named as such after the legendary King Minos, the Minoans are often regarded as the first European civilisation, therefore being the eldest on the European continent.

Geographic location of Crete, the centre of the ancient Minoan civilisation in Antiquity, and its adjacent smaller islands in the southern Mediterranean and as part of Greece. Image source: Wikimedia Commons

Background

Renowned for their beautiful and intricate art, with vividly-painted frescoes depicting their love and admiration for the sea, sports, and women, the Minoans are equally enigmatic to this day, bewildering scholars and researchers regarding many aspects of their bygone culture. While previously believed to have had origins from North Africa (i.e., ancient Egypt), relative recent genetic studies had proved the fact that they were native Indo-Europeans, closely related to other ancient Greeks. It is probable, however, that their ancestors migrated in Neolithic times from Anatolia and the Levant to Crete and, after 2200 B.C./B.C.E., they established a series of impressive and imposing urban residential complexes which were unfortified palaces.

The remains of the royal Minoan palace of Knossos (adorned with a fresco depicting a bull, an animal prominently featured in Minoan art) which served as the cultural, administrative, and religious centre of Crete and the capital of the Minoan civilisation during Antiquity, being also associated with the myth of the Greek hero Theseus, the famed labyrinth, and the Minotaur. Long ago, Knossos could accommodate as many as 80,000 inhabitants, being therefore a large urban settlement for its time. Nowadays, the remains of the royal Minoan palace of Knossos can be visited in the picturesque city of Heraklion, Crete. Image source: www.pexels.com

The Minoans did not fortify their palatial urban settlements given the fact that they did not have the need to do so since they were a primarily peaceful and commercial civilisation, being prosperous after trading with the neighbouring civilisations in the basin of Mediterranean Sea for centuries. Hypothetically speaking, in the event of a foreign invasion, the Minoans would had known well in advance because their commercial fleet was relatively well distributed around Crete and their colonies. Nonetheless, there are depictions of a double-aged axe on some of their frescoes.

The famous and very beautiful ‘Ladies in Blue’ fresco (dated circa 1525–1450 B.C.) from the ancient Minoan palace of Knossos on Crete, associated with the myth of the Greek hero Theseus and the Minotaur. This is perhaps the most well known, popular, and representative fresco of Minoan art. Image source: Commons Wikimedia

The Timeline Of The Minoan Civilisation

The Minoan civilisation’s timeline can be divided into several ages as follows, closely related to the development of their palaces: the Prepalatial Epoch (spanning from 3650 to 1900 B.C./B.C.E.), the Protopalatial Epoch (spanning from 1900 to 1700 B.C./B.C.E.), the Neopalatial Epoch (spanning from 1700 to 1425 B.C./B.C.E.), and, finally, the Postpalatial Epoch (spanning from 1425 to 1170 B.C./B.C.E.).

The Religion Of The Minoans

Not that much is known about the religion of the Minoans, however, it is clearly known that they valued and worshiped female goddesses very much, more than male gods. These female goddesses could had been different aspects of the same supreme mother goddess. Perhaps the most well known goddess of the Minoans is the Snake Goddess whose statue you can see below:

A statue of the Snake Goddess of the Minoans. Image source: Commons Wikimedia

The fact that the Minoans worshipped female goddesses more than male gods can indicate that women also had a very important religious role in their society, being esteemed priestesses. This further reinforces the theory that the Minoans had a matriarchal society.

The Rise And Downfall Of The Minoan Civilisation

The Minoan civilsation underwent territorial expansion on the nearby islands of Crete as the Minoans themselves became more and more advanced in navigational regards. The Minoans also colonised the Cyclades in the Aegean Sea to the north. One of their most notable colonies was Akrotiri which was established on the island of Santorini (formerly known as Thera) which was shattered by a tremendous volcanic eruption (one of the largest in mankind’s history) in 1550 B.C. This volcanic eruption unleashed tsunami waves southward towards Crete, partly destroying the Minoan civilisation on their main island. The island of Crete was also affected by earthquakes which shattered the palatial complexes of the Minoans.

Minoan fresco (dated circa 17th century B.C./B.C.E.) depicting a Minoan fleet and the settlement of Akrotiri, a Minoan colony established on the island of Santorini, southern present-day Greece. Image source: Commons Wikimedia

Nevertheless, after some time, the Minoans started to rebuild their palaces but were very likely subdued by foreign invaders from mainland Greece, more specifically the Mycenaeans, who conquered the island when the Minoans were still recovering from the aforementioned natural disasters. The Minoan culture co-existed for a certain period of time along with that of the Mycenaeans, yet it gradually faded away throughout the passage of time, being largely assimilated into that of the latter invaders and conquerors.

Minoan fresco depicting dolphins. Image source: www.pixabay.com

Mysteries Revolving Around The Minoans

Perhaps the most mysterious aspect regarding the Minoan civilisation to this day is their language which hasn’t yet been fully deciphered. Their language was initially noted down using a system of hieroglyphs (which were possibly influenced by merchants stemming from ancient Egypt, also known as Cretan pictographs). Subsequently, the Minoans developed two more complex writing systems known as Linear A and Linear B. To this day, the Minoan hieroglyphs/pictographs and Linear A are still puzzling linguists. Another mystery regarding their civilisation is the sports they played (although we have a slight glimpse of a bull-leaping stunt thanks to a fresco which you can see below, at the end of this section). Last but not least, their civilisation’s exact demise still remains rather mysterious to date, with competing theories amounting to a mixture of both natural disasters and a foreign invasion, but no certain consensus reached upon this matter yet.

Bull-leaping on a Minoan fresco. Image source: www.pexels.com

Trivia

The Minoans were featured in the 1997 real-time strategy-based video game Age of Empires I (along with its expansion pack released one year later in 1998 and entitled The Rise of Rome) developed by Ensemble Studious and published by Microsoft. Their two main strong points are represented by their archers (most notably by the Minoan Composite Bowmen, a later upgraded military unit) and navy. They are a playable Mediterranean civilisation with the Greek architectural style (the same as the Greeks proper and the Phoenicians in the game) which does well on sea maps, naturally given their naval nature. The Minoans were subsequently included in the Return of Rome DLC (i.e., downloadable content) for Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition (this particular DLC can be equally perceived as an Age of Empires I port for Age of Empires II as well as an additional expansion of Age of Empires I). Below you can listen to their theme song from the aforementioned DLC, both enigmatic and captivating at the same time:

Documentation sources and external links:

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