The Minoans

Europe's first advanced civilization sprang not from a well-watered river plain as was the case in Mesopotamia, Egypt, India or China but from the craggy landscape of the Aegean. Islands such as that of Crete became part of a vast center of commerce - an interaction sphere based on ideal standards of life - Plato called it a utopian life.

The beginnings of Cretan history are lost in the darkness of the Neolithic period (5000 - 2600 B.C.). During this long era, the island seems to have been completely isolated from its neighbours, and, as can be seen from the pottery of the period, its culture was stagnant and monotonous.

The Pre-Palace period which followed (2600 - 2000 B.C.) was characterized by a cultural change, evidently due to the arrival on the island of new settlers who brought with them a knowledge of bronze-working. There was a rapid development of all forms of art (pottery, metalwork, gold work, stone carving, seal engraving), showing that the social and economic life of the island was beginning to take on a more complex form. The script in use at this same period was hieroglyphic.

The first great age of Minoan Crete was the Old Palace period (2000 - 1700 B.C.), during which huge labyrinthine palaces were built at Knossos, Phaistos, Malia and Zakros. In these palaces the power and wealth of the island were concentrated, and around them the political, social, economic and religious life of the island revolved. The manner in which these buildings and their various servicing systems were constructed is quite remarkable. In 1700 B.C. a great earthquake shook the island and the palaces were laid in ruins. In a very short time, however, new palaces were built on the ruins of the old in an architectural style expressive of the Minoan love of nature and desire to live in a world of light and charm.

Thus begun the "golden age" of Crete, the New Palace period (1700 - 1450 B.C.). The Palace of Knossos was the largest & grandest of the palaces. It covered an area of 22,000 sq. metres & consisted of a maze of rooms of all sizes, large halls, storerooms, workshops,staircases and corridors. In the eastern wing there were four storeys of royal apartments, and in the western wing the official "Throne Room," the throne from which has been preserved intact. Next to the Throne Room were shrines and other sacred areas, showing that the King also acted as the High Priest, the embodiment of the deity. The halls of the palace were decorated with splendid frescoes.

The other three palaces (at Phaistos, Malia & Zakros) are in a similar architectural style, with a few local features. On the basis of the finds from these palaces and from various other centres (villas, etc.) we can build up a complete picture of Minoan life and art. The Minoans were a peace-loving people and their economy was based on agriculture, "manufacturing" industries, shipping and trade, particularly with Egypt, the East, the Cyclades and the rest of the Greek world. At the end of the New Palace period the great palace centres were destroyed for the second and the last time. The cause of the disaster on this occasion was a series of earthquakes and tidal waves resulting from the eruption of the volcano on Thera (c. 1450 BC). The Mycenaeans took this opportunity to establish themselves on the island. The Palace of Knossos was the only one rebuilt and became the centre of Mycenaean power. The culture of the island now became imbued with a new, more martial, spirit. Shortly after 1400 B.C. the Palace of Knossos was destroyed for the last time.

In the Post-Palace period (1400 - 1100 B.C.) the importance of the island waned. Minoan traditions continued un- broken despite Mycenaean influences, but art, apart from a few flashes of brilliance, underwent a steady decline.

In ways, far ahead of their time with running water and even perhaps the first ever flush toilets, Minoan culture thrived in reality and later in the lore of Plato as Atlantis. Only in the early 20th century did the island's history come to light.

In 1894, Arthur Evans, a wealthy Englishman with a passion for antiquities, traveled to Crete to investigate the source of some engraved gems and seal stones he had found in Greek bazaars. Pottery sherds on the ground persuaded him to buy a six-acre site at Knossos, where he embarked on large-scale excavations in 1900. Within months, Evans and his crew uncovered the remains of an elaborate palace. Terraced into a hillside for protection against earthquakes, the multistoried palace was built around a large open courtyard and contained two floors of underground chambers and passageways. Thousands of artifacts identified the functions of various rooms: kitchens, residences, workshops, ceremonial rooms, storerooms, and even bathrooms with toilets. Pottery, stone and metalwork, and colorful frescoed walls attested to the skill of the builders and artisans.

Evans called these ancient people Minoans, after Minos, the legendary king who kept the half-bull, half-man Minotaur trapped within a labyrinth. Mazelike Knossos, it turned out, was the most important of the four largest Minoan palace cities. First erected around 2000 B.C., Minoan palaces were rebuilt and enlarged after probable earthquake damage around 1700. Soon after, palace culture reached its zenith. However Minoan influence was to end shortly afterwards.

Minoan history is still not fully understood. We know they were great sailors, plying the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean, trading timber, pottery, and farming products for gold, ivory, gemstones, and establishing outposts. Minoan influence is evident in remains at Akrotiri on the island of Thera, 70 miles north of Crete. An immense volcanic eruption in the 17th century B.C. buried this town under layers of ash, pumice, and rock, preserving its Minoan heritage. Vivid frescoes painted on the walls of Theran houses tell us of a people very much like those of Knossos. They led a peaceful and idealized life from what we can tell.

Yet the life on Thera with all its grandeur ended abruptly with a fiery destruction in 1628 B.C. This cataclysmic eruption spread a cloud of ash across the world and sent a tidal wave nearly half the height of the Empire State Building in New York City onto the coast along the Mediterranean. Yet it was not this eruption that led to the destruction of the Minoan civilization. The evidence now points to conquest by the warlike peoples from the Greek mainland who eventually began to dominate the region that Plato once called Atlantis.

The story of Atlantis one of lore and yet it is a story that doesn't come from the Chariots of the Gods but the stuff of archaeology.