The Minoans created the first European civilization. It was located on the island of Crete, which is now part of Greece, and it lasted from approximately 2000 BCE to 1400 BCE.
In the ancient Mediterranean world, trade and the growth of civilizations revolved around water transport. As an island culture in the eastern Mediterranean, Crete formed one of the leading stops on the region’s trade networks, and Minoan rulers became wealthy by taxing traders. A small ruling class flourished, building spectacular palaces where artists and artisans worked. The palaces had extensive water supplies and sewage systems. Nearby towns were large by ancient standards. Wealthy Minoans lived in smaller groups of homes called villas.
The Minoans had a writing system, which is now called Linear A. It has not yet been deciphered, so modern knowledge of Minoan culture comes mainly from the many colorful fresco paintings on surviving palace walls, as well as from statuettes and pottery. Many of these artifacts portray priestesses, who seem to have dominated Minoan religion.
Minoans practiced a unique and undoubtedly dangerous sport called bull-jumping, in which the athlete grabbed the bull by the horns and leaped along the animal’s back. This sport may have been an ancestor of bullfighting. The fact that both men and women appear as bull-leapers in the frescoes implies that women enjoyed considerable independence in Minoan society.
For several centuries, Minoan commerce and culture spread through the Mediterranean coasts of Greece, Italy, Egypt, and Canaan. In about 1400 BCE, a sharp decline occurred for reasons that are still not clear. The ruler’s palace at Knossos collapsed, the area’s residents fled, and the great age of palace-building ended. Some scholars and ancient writers have thought that the cause was a tremendous volcanic explosion on the nearby island of Thera (called Santorini today). Another theory says that an expanding civilization from mainland Greece, the Mycenaeans, destroyed Minoan civilization.
The Minoans created the first European civilization. It was located on the island of Crete, which is now part of Greece, and it lasted from approximately 2000 BCE to 1400 BCE.
In the ancient Mediterranean world, trade and the growth of civilizations revolved around water transport. As an island culture in the eastern Mediterranean, Crete formed one of the leading stops on the region’s trade networks, and Minoan rulers became wealthy by taxing traders. A small ruling class flourished, building spectacular palaces where artists and artisans worked. The palaces had extensive water supplies and sewage systems. Nearby towns were large by ancient standards. Wealthy Minoans lived in smaller groups of homes called villas.
The Minoans had a writing system, which is now called Linear A. It has not yet been deciphered, so modern knowledge of Minoan culture comes mainly from the many colorful fresco paintings on surviving palace walls, as well as from statuettes and pottery. Many of these artifacts portray priestesses, who seem to have dominated Minoan religion.
Minoans practiced a unique and undoubtedly dangerous sport called bull-jumping, in which the athlete grabbed the bull by the horns and leaped along the animal’s back. This sport may have been an ancestor of bullfighting. The fact that both men and women appear as bull-leapers in the frescoes implies that women enjoyed considerable independence in Minoan society.
For several centuries, Minoan commerce and culture spread through the Mediterranean coasts of Greece, Italy, Egypt, and Canaan. In about 1400 BCE, a sharp decline occurred for reasons that are still not clear. The ruler’s palace at Knossos collapsed, the area’s residents fled, and the great age of palace-building ended. Some scholars and ancient writers have thought that the cause was a tremendous volcanic explosion on the nearby island of Thera (called Santorini today). Another theory says that an expanding civilization from mainland Greece, the Mycenaeans, destroyed Minoan civilization.