Minoan Crete

HSC Ancient History - Minoan Crete notes

Minoan Crete

A civilization that existed in the Mediterranean Sea, southeast of Greece during the Aegean Bronze Age.

Aegean Bronze Age

The period from around 3000 BCE to 1200/1100 BCE, during which the Minoan civilization thrived.

White Mountains

A mountain range in western Crete, known for its lower slopes covered in trees and forests.

Cypress

A type of tree commonly found on the lower slopes of the highlands in Minoan Crete.

Murex Mollusc

A type of mollusk found along the coast of Minoan Crete, used to extract purple dye.

Knossos

A significant site in Minoan Crete, known for its ruins of a neolithic settlement and a maze-like palace complex.

Phaestos

Another significant site in Minoan Crete, featuring old and new palaces, a Venetian church, and general architecture.

Malia

The third largest Minoan Palace, known for the presence of the kernos, a pottery ring or stone tray for offerings.

Zakros

A site with a key administrative layout and significant religious artifacts, such as the Bull's head rhyton.

Agia Triada

A site with a royal villa, cemetery, church, and the only stone sarcophagus ever found on Crete.

Identity and gender of the ruler

Initial research suggests a male ruler, but frescoes and artifacts depict women in positions of power.

Ellen Davis

An Aegean art historian who rejected the idea of a king as the central focus of Minoan architecture and art.

Helen Waterhouse

An archaeologist who theorized that priestesses held the power traditionally associated with a king.

Robert Koehl

An archaeologist who proposed the idea of multiple "priest-chiefs" answering to a "priest king."

Paul Rehak

An archaeologist who concluded that the majority of seated figures in Minoan art are women, suggesting a female ruler.

Helga Reusch

Proposed that the throne in the Throne Room fresco belonged to a goddess represented by a priestess.

Palace elite

Members of the ruling class, religious, and economic administration in Minoan Crete.

Linear B tablets

Clay tablets with lists of agricultural products and livestock under the control of the palaces.

Craft and agricultural workers

Various specialized roles, including carders, spinners, weavers, dyers, farmers, herders, and fishermen.

Palace economy

Based on agriculture, with palaces serving as centers for collection, storage, production, consumption, and regulation of goods.

Trade/Economic Exchange and Thalassocracy

Trade in Minoan Crete was directed by rulers or elites and often involved royal exchanges.

Diet and health of the Minoans

Women consumed more grains and legumes, while men consumed more meat. Tooth decay was a significant cause of death.

Minoan sacrifices

Performed to please the gods and win favor, typically in times of social unrest or natural disasters.

Libation

A liquid poured out in honor of the gods, often wine, juice, or oil, performed in temples, shrines, and religious spaces.

Minoan processions

Nanno Marinatos claims the existence of grandstands for onlookers and raised walkways for processions.

Dancing as a religious experience

Dancing was considered a religious connection and altered state of being for the Minoans.

Minoan technology, building, and water supply

Minoans used materials such as limestone, stone, wood, lime mortar, clay, mud, and reeds for construction.

Limestone pieces

Fragments of limestone used in the construction of Minoan houses.

Ben and But method

A construction technique in which houses were built in a spiral shape with a small corridor and a turn to the main rectangular room.

Agglutinative

A method of expanding existing houses by adding extra rooms, resulting in a non-symmetrical exterior.

Ashlar Masonry

Stone bricks cut with precision to reduce the amount of mortar needed in construction.

Lower walls of houses

Walls made of rubble, stones, and clay composite, often supported by wooden frames.

Second-storey construction

Construction of upper floors using lighter, sun-dried bricks plastered over with wooden frame support.

Staircases

Internal staircases made of wood, while external staircases were made of stone.

Wall finishes

Commonly used fresco plaster, alabaster, and gypsum for smooth and decorative surfaces.

Use of timber

Timber frames used in walls for additional support and elasticity during earthquakes.

Use of lime mortar

Lime mortar used as glue to support columns, connect rubble walls, and as a wall finish for frescoes.

Use of columns

Wooden columns with gypsum bases used to support upper floors, often decorated with ornamental capitals.

Pier and door partitions

Divisions that enabled large rooms to be divided into smaller rooms.

Light wells

Small, unroofed courtyards that provided light into the rooms of palace structures.

Windows

Mostly unglazed windows, some fitted with thin alabaster sheets to allow light in while preventing people from seeing in.

Roofs

Wooden beam framework covered with thatch and tamped clay, sloped for drainage.

Monotheism

Worship of a single god.

Polytheism

Worship of multiple gods.

Linear A and Linear B tablets

Tablets providing evidence of Minoan religious practices, including inscriptions of libation formulae and linguistic evidence for six Minoan deities.

Arthur Evans' proposal

Minoan religion was essentially monotheistic, centered on a goddess of fertility.

Preoccupation with birth and fertility

Depictions of female goddesses, female figurines, and female rhytons with pierced breasts symbolizing fertility and pregnancy.

Snake goddess artifact

Figurine with headwear, flowing gown, and snakes in her hands suggesting she could be a goddess or priestess.

Mistress of animals seal

Figure with headwear and animals below her, suggesting she is a god.

Labrys

A double-headed axe found in religious spaces.

Horns of consecration

Two arching horns depicting bull horns or mountain peaks, found in religious and public spaces.

The Bull

Depicted in bull leaping frescoes and sacrifices, represented by bull rhytons and figurines.

Snakes

Symbols of fertility in Minoan religion.

Trees

Symbol of agricultural fertility and indicative of the seasons in Minoan religion.

Birds

Symbols of the seasons, agricultural prosperity, and fertility in Minoan religion.

Libation

A drink or liquid poured out as an offering to a deity.

Rite of passage

A ceremony or ritual marking a significant life event.

Stalagmites

Naturally occurring pillars formed by dripping calcium salts in caves.

Votive offering

Objects placed as offerings to deities, such as figurines or tools.

Crypt

An underground vault used as a religious space or burial place.

Sacredness of caves

Caves were considered sacred due to their underground nature and natural phenomena like stalagmites, often used as religious spaces.

Peak sanctuaries

Used as religious sites to gain a "gods-eye view" and connected to the sky, evidence found in temples, symbols, and votive offerings.

Pillar crypts

Revered by the Minoans, believed to have originated from stalactites and stalagmites in caves.

Tripartite shrine

A shrine divided into three parts, likely used for communal worshiping.

Palace shrines

Featured benches, antechambers, and central features like altars or hearths.

Elite control of worship spaces

During the second palace period, the elite took over access to worship spaces inside the palaces.

Lustral basin

Assumed to be a religious space or bathroom, commonly associated with religious iconography.

Sacrifices

Performed to please the gods and win favor, blessings, and good fortune.

Human sacrifice

Only performed in times of social unrest, natural disasters, or dramatic events.

Animal sacrifices

After being sacrificed, the animals' meat was cooked and eaten by the worshippers.

Libation pouring

Pouring liquid offerings to the gods, taking place in temples, shrines, and religious spaces.

Minoan processions

Grandstands for onlookers, raised walkways, and evidence of written records.

Dancing as a religious experience

Depicted on seal stones and rings, believed to be a connection to altered states of being.

Evidence of dance in Minoan Crete

The "dancing place" in Knossos and a clay model depicting a similar scene.

Daimones

Spirits near the bodies of the dead.

Inhumation

Burial in the ground.

Minoan burial practices

Suggest belief in an afterlife, communal burials in shared tombs.

King Minos

Mythological figure associated with the Minoan civilization.

The Minotaur

Mythological creature, half-man and half-bull, imprisoned in the labyrinth.

The Labyrinth

Maze-like structure where the Minotaur was imprisoned.

Daedalus and Icarus

Mythological figures associated with the construction of the labyrinth and their escape.

Minos and Pasiphae

Mythological figures associated with the Minoan civilization.

Minoan art

Allowed for the development of uniform and widespread styles, tracked palatial periods, including Marine, Floral, Abstract and Geometric, and Alternating styles.

Distinguishing palaces from large houses

Cluster of connected buildings with multiple uses, too big for a single family and servants.

Planned palaces

Designed for expansion when necessary, decorated with frescoes and architectural features.

Minoan architects' building practices

Advanced drainage systems using terracotta pipes.

Features of palace courtyards

Central courts used for meetings and administrative purposes, evidence from written records.

Large halls in domestic quarters

Divisible by pier partitions, nearby stone-lined rooms used for water use or religious purposes.

Callender

She states that there is no clear sign that the rooms were for single-gender use, and that they were used for royalty.

Evans

He found very little remaining in the upper levels of the east and west wings of Knossos, other than staircases leading nowhere and some pillars.

Grand and Decorative Nature

Evans and other archaeologists reasoned that the west wing upper floors contained important rooms based on the grand and decorative nature of the staircases and the artifacts found in the remnants of the upper floors.

Workshops

These rooms are located in the North-East sector of the palace at Knossos. Three activities carried out in this part of the palaces are carpentry, pottery, weaving, and dyeing cloth.

Storage

Storerooms are identified by huge pithoi in pits in the ground, tablets with lists of goods, and markings on the wall indicating the specific goods stored in each area. There are 16 storerooms located on the West side of the palace in an enclosed, dark space with no windows.

Minoan Writing

Minoan hieroglyphic script remains unintelligible. The Phaistos Disc is most probably a hoax or a forgery. Most Minoan written sources have perished, and the written sources in Linear A script remain undeciphered. The written sources in Linear B script mainly consist of lists and inventories.

Thoth

Thoth is the Egyptian God of writing, usually depicted with an Ibis head and holding a scroll.

Cuneiform Script

Cuneiform script is a written language developed by the Sumerians and used across Babylonia and the Near East. It is relevant to Minoan civilization because it marks the shift from the use of cuneiform to the use of Minoan hieroglyphs, likely influenced by their contact with Egypt.

Three Forms of Writing

The Minoans had three different forms of writing:Minoan hieroglyphs, Linear A, and Linear B.

Surviving Written Sources

The problem with the written source material from Minoan Crete that has managed to survive is that much of it is untranslated, and the translated work mainly consists of administrative records with cattle or produce numbers.