🏛 MINOAN AND MYCENAEAN BEGINNINGS
PAGE 1 OF 5, THE MINOANS OF CRETE
ISLAND CIVILISATION
EUROPE'S EARLIEST GREAT SOCIETY
Long before Classical Athens, the Minoans built a rich civilisation on the island of Crete. Their name comes from the legendary King Minos, but archaeologists know them from palace ruins, painted walls, and fine pottery. From about 2000 to 1450 BCE they ran a palace-centred society without massive stone fortresses like later mainland kings. At Knossos, the largest palace, rulers stored grain, tracked trade goods, and organised craft workshops. Minoan ships linked Crete to Egypt, Cyprus, and the Aegean. Later Greek traders such as the Phoenicians would sail similar routes, but the Minoans were among the first to weave the eastern Mediterranean into one trading world.
🏛 CRETE
The Minoans are named after Minos of myth, but their real power sat in palaces like Knossos during the Middle and Late Bronze Age.
PALACE!
KNOSSOS
- Knossos covered a huge maze-like palace complex.
- It had storage rooms, workshops, and drainage systems.
- Colourful frescoes showed athletes, animals, and sea life.
BULL
- Bull images appear everywhere in Minoan art and sport.
- Wall paintings may show bull-leaping as a dangerous ritual.
- Later Greeks turned the bull into the myth of the Minotaur.