Mediterranean Bronze Age - Minoans

Key Information:

• The island of Minoa is acknowledged as the first great civilisation in Europe
• The Minoans were peoples of the Bronze Age and archaeological time period at the end of the Prehistoric period
• The Minoans were located on an island in modern times is known as Crete which is found in the southern Agean Sea

Context -->

• The Bronze Age in Greece is dated from c.BC3200 - c.BC1100 starting with the rise of the Cycladic civilisation, followed by the development of Minoan civilisation in c.BC2700 - c.BC1500 and the Mycenaean in c.BC1900 - c.BC1100
• In 1900 British archaeologist Dir Arthur Evans began excavations at the site of Knossos on the northeastern coast of Crete where he discovered within months of the excavation what he named the 'Palace of Minos' 
  • The civilisation was named Minoa, Minoa being derived from Minos; either being a dynastic title or after the Greek myth and legend of King Minos

• The Minoans lived almost 5,000 years ago between c.BC3000 - c.BC1100 [narrowest estimated puts this civilisation between BC2700 - BC1500]
• Crete became the foremost site of Bronze Age culture in the Aegean sea, and in fact it was the first centre of hight civilisation in that area
• Minoan civilisation was remarkable for its great cities and palaces, its extended trade throughout Levant and beyond, and its use of writing
• Its sophisticated art included elaborate seals, pottery [especially kamares wares with its light-on-dark style of decoration] and above all else: delicate, vibrant frescoes found on palace walls 
  • These frescoes display both secular ad religious scenes, such as magical gardens, monkeys, and wild goats or fancifully dressed goddesses that testify to the Minoans predominantly matriarchal religion
• Among the most familiar motis of Minoan art are the snake, symbol of the Goddess, and the bull; the ritual of bull-leaping, found, for example on cult vases, seems to have had a religious or magical basis

"Minos, legendary ruler of Crete, was said to be the son of Zeus, king of the gods, and son of Europa - a Phonecian princess and the personification of the continent of Europe. Minos obtained the Cretan throne by aid of Poseidon and Knossos [Gortyn] and gained control over the Agean islands, colonising many of them and ridding the sea of pirates. He married Pasiphae, the daughter of Hellios, who bore him among others, Androgenous, Ariadne, and Phaedra."

Geographically:

• Crete is a mountainous island in the Mediterranean with natural harbours 
• During the ancient period, the island was wracked by earthquakes, volcanic erruptions, and winter storms --> These climate issues later contributed to the demise of Minoan civilisation [Tsonis, et al. 2010]
  

Landscape:

• According to Homo, Crete had 90 cities, of which Knossos [where Sir Arthur Evans excavated] was the most important of all
• Archaeologists have found palaces in Phaistos and Malia as well
• The island is assumed by archaeologists and historians to have probably been divided into four political units:
  • The north governed by Knossos; the south from Phaistos; the central estern region from Malia and the estern tip from Kato Zakros
• Smaller palaces have also been found in other locations --> Remarkably though, none of the Minoan cities had walls, and few weapons have been excavated

• It is believed that the Minoans arrived on the island after migrating from Anatolia, where modern Turkey is today
• That migration would have occured in the Middle Palaeolithic at c.BC128,000
• However, the civilisation documented today is ackowledged to have only started to grow after they mastered agriculture which did not occur until c.BC5000
• In the Early Bronze Age the Minoans began to develop a culture based upon the new sea trading they established by using their incredibly advanced ships for the first time
  • Minoan ships were known to be elaborate and robust, able to carry many foods and goods which allowed them to sail for days on end at sea
• The Minoans traded with Anatolia, Phonecia, Greece, Egypt and Africa which allowed their culture and emerging  civilisation to flourish
  • Another contributing factor to this was the fact that geographically Crete provided natural protection, allowing this civilisation to grow without the threat of invasions
• By c.BC2000 the biggest form of income for the Minoans was their agriculture as the produced items such as olive oil and wine, as well as fine ceramics with beautiful paintings

Kamares ware was a style of pottery associated with the palace culture that flourished on Crete during the Middle Minoan period [BC2100 - BC1500] 

Surviving examples include ridged cups, as well as small, rount spouted jars and large storage jars [pithoi] 

On these jars were typically combinations of abstract curvilinear designed and styleised plant and marine motifs, painted in white and tones of red, orange and yellow on black grounds

Fresco painting was a method of painting water-based pigments on freshly applied plaster, usually on wall surfaces

The colours, which are made by grinding dry-powder pigments in pire water, dry and set with the plaster to become a permanent part of the wall

Fresco painting is ideal for making murals because it lends itself to a monumental style, is durable, and has a matte surface