Minoan Civilization Overview

The island of Crete, which lies in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, has been heavily contest by differing refinements over the past three-thousand age. unless before archetypical conquests for the island began, a culture developed on the island to much(prenominal) an forward-loo king degree that it would become Greek legend. These first civilized inhabitants of Crete have become cognise as the Minoans, named later on force Minis. In the two-thousand years of the Minoan heap, they rose from uncomplicated furthestmers to a great civilization that came to a tragic end. The island of Crete provides a unique surround that is intumesce suited for unman civilization.Its mend in the Mediterranean provides its inhabitants with a commutation location for trade and military operations between Greece, t exclusivelyy, Egypt, and the Middle East. The sea itself is rich people in re descents, the lands of the Cretan plains atomic number 18 fertile, and the southern coastal areas , with their massive cliffs, provided a immanent obstruction against attack. The islands climate is very mild, much resembling the coastal areas that surround the Mediterranean. Although the island has no study rivers and experiences long consummations of dry weather, springs are as well abundant.These springs, which have decreased in umber, were a reliable source of fresh piddle for inhabitants of Crete. An otherwise study advantage of living on the island was the large forests that used to bilk the landscape. The first people of Crete came to the island during neolithic times. These settlers whitethorn have brought pares and domesticated animals with them to Crete. It is unknown where these settlers originated from nevertheless archeological evidence suggests areas near washout or Syria. The first inhabitants spread readily across the island, living in internal caves carved from the lime orchestra pit rock that made up the island or in liquidations atop humilia ted hills.These Neolithic inhabitants developed many of the tools that other people living near the Mediterranean used, such as stone axes, obsidian and jolly along blades, sickles, bows and arrows, and stone maces. They besides developed techniques for weave wool into cloth using looms. As the Neolithic people of Crete began to move into villages on the plains and coastal areas by the middle Neolithic era, caves took on the design of burial sites for everyone from village leaders, to children, to the common resident.As the Neolithic age came to a close and the Bronze Age began, Crete see a geological period of turmoil that seems to evoke an invasion that triggered technological and cultural developments, such as bronze working, advancements in pottery and tombs. Evidence from Greek myths suggests that these invaders were refugees from lands in the unification of the rising Egyptian Empire. It is possible that King Manner, the man who united Egypt, is the reason these people fled north into the sea. The period following(a) invasion is thought of as the beginning of the Minoan Age, whateverwhat BBC.During this period, the Minoan people began to hurl large cities which typically acted as freelancer city-states. Competition and inflict between these cities is not heavily evidenced, but it is known that during this primal Minoan age many immigrants from the mainland areas skirt the Mediterranean came to Crete to seek refuge, much care the original invaders. This period weared until approximately 2200 BC, after which the culture of the people of Crete shifted away from the self-reliant temperament of the city states to a much centralized society with power accumulate in a few major cities that were spread across the island.During the Middle Minoan Age, kingdoms began to develop and the first Minoan palaces were constructed in cities such as Knossos and Patios. Minoans began to develop colonies on nearby islands, some of which are well recorded in Greek legends. These colonies whitethorn be a sign of over-population on the island of Crete, which was a consequence of the Minoan civilizations speedy decent down the slippery position of farming.It is through these colonies that the Minoan culture would begin to convey signs of influence as far away as mainland Greece and possibly Egypt In the later factors of the Middle Minoan Age, the Minoan civilization began to reach its peak. It is also at this point in time that seismal activity on and near Crete begins to show its tangentially dangerous nature to the Minoans. several(prenominal)(prenominal) times during the Middle Minoan Age, palaces Were ruined by the earthquakes or fire that may have been caused by earthquakes. It was around this period of destruction in BBC that the Greeks began to settle on Crete, but their presence was minimal at best.The Minoans would recover from these innate(p) disasters and the civilization would appease to flourish until the Late Minoan Age, which began around 1550 BC. Around BBC, the volcanic island of There, still 70 miles north of Crete, exploded immediately following a series of earthquakes. The Minoan colonies on the island were buried under thick layers of volcanic rock and tsunamis caused major damage to coastal areas on the north of Crete and caused extensive crop damage on the eastern portion of the island due to ash. The inhabitants of Crete recovered, but the kingdoms were left in a weakened state.More earthquakes would strike the island potentially changing the landscape of the coastal areas. nigh Minoan coastal cities on the eastern and northern part of Crete lie downstairs several feet of weewee, and in the Western split of the island the coastal landscape actually appears to be much higher than it was in aboriginal Minoan times. The earthquakes may have also disrupted the supply of fresh water to Minoan cities. Wells, springs, and underground clay pipes all suffered damage due to the severe unstable activity. Knossos would grow to become the only major power on the island while other cities fell into decline.By BBC, the great city of Knossos, the last Minoan seat of power, was ravaged by war and conquered by the Greeks, ending the Minoan civilization. During the nearly 2000 years of the Minoan civilization, their culture grew to influence other people in Greece, Egypt, and the Near East. There are several chances of this culture and the most influential and historically important Of these are Minoan religion, architecture, genders role in society, and crafts. The Minoan government was theocratic, with two the king and queen having prominent parts in phantasmal and political affairs.The gods of the Minoan people, the most important of which were solar gods, would only communicate their will through the proud couple, who acted as the high priests and carried out religious ceremonies and political burdens. The kings and queens were also rated as divine organisms f ollowing their deaths since they were considered to be the follow children of the gods. It was also common for commoner and press down priests to experience a euphoric event by coming into contact with a sacred object such as a tree or a rock.Through these euphoric experiences, they would simply see the plaque of their gods or see messages that were delivered in natural form by animals or plants. The architecture of early Minoan cities consisted of simple earth, mishandle bricks, stone, clay, and wooden expressions, with religious, political, or elite construct being of generally higher laity. The legal residence of a commoner was usually a small, rectangular room with a fire-pit in the center and a raised stone platform for sleeping in a corner. As time passed, these homes became larger and some had multiple rooms that could have acted as storage or private quarters.As for purple palaces, they Were typically constructed from stone and wood with the character reference of w orkmanship varying from site to site. Whenever a palace was destroyed (typically by natural disaster) the new palace would be construct directly atop the ruins of the destroyed structure. Dcord wrong these complexes included culture of religious icons, murals, frescoes, and piece of furniture that was designed to show the divine nature of royalty. These palaces also served as temples for the gods, which is evidenced by the close association between the king and queen and their patron gods.Almost all building would be covered in a limestone-based plaster and some would then be painted with a red compound. An aspect of Minoan culture that breaks the norm for other civilizations at the time is the importance of women in society. In almost all of the Minoan art work recovered from the ruins, women are shown in important political and religious roles. Many other cultures from this time period simply depict women as being responsible for raising children. This difference in views can p robably be attributed to the meaning of the female solar gods in Minoan society.It is also thought that the common Minoan woman shared equal mixer status as her male counterparts, which was sort of different from other Mediterranean cultures, who located most social importance on the men. When the Greeks wrote of the ancient civilization of Atlantis falling at a lower place the sea after a lay waste to earthquake, it is entirely possible that they were actually talking about the Minoans. The genealogy, complex social structure, and wondrous cities that the Minoans developed could easily be the source of inspiration for the tale of Atlantis, which was written 600 years after the collapse of the Minoan civilization on Crete.