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Concept
Minoan civilization
Summary
The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age culture which was centered on the island of Crete. Known for its monumental architecture and its energetic art, it is often regarded as the first civilization in Europe.
The Minoan civilization developed from the local Neolithic culture around 3100 BC, with complex urban settlements beginning around 2000 BC. After 1450 BC, they came under the cultural and perhaps political domination of the mainland Mycenaean Greeks, forming a hybrid culture which lasted until around around 1100 BC.
The Minoans constructed enormous buildings which their initial excavators labeled palaces. Subsequent research has shown that they served a variety of religious and economic purposes rather than being royal residences, though their exact role in Minoan society is a matter of continuing debate. The palaces consisted of a large rectangular court surrounded by multistory wings with
labyrinthine floorplans. The ruins of the palaces at Knossos and Phaistos are popular tourist attractions.
Minoan art included elaborately decorated pottery, seals, figurines, and colorful frescoes. They are believed to have invented true fresco, a technique which results in the pigment becoming part of the wall. Typical subjects include nature and ritual. Minoan art is often described as having a fantastical or ecstatic quality, with figures rendered in a manner suggesting motion.
Little is known about the structure of Minoan society. Social stratification is evidenced by burials and domestic architecture, but Minoan art contains no unambiguous depiction of a monarch, and Egyptian records suggest they may have had some other form of governance. Likewise, while some sites seem to have been politically and economically linked, it is not clear whether there was ever a unified Minoan state or states. Religious practices included worship at peak sanctuaries and sacred caves, but nothing is known for certain of their pantheon.
The Minoans traded extensively around the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean.
Official source
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