Causes Of Minoan Civilization

Women acted as priestesses, made official decisions in and amongst the community, and were responsible for organizing commune functions (Witcombe 10). These responsibilities and duties were not often jobs of men in Minoan civilization, “Moreover men are rarely seen in commanding positions, despite attempts to identify them in such positions” (Witcombe 10). It is suggested that the reason why women played such a huge role in Minoan civilization was due to the fact that in Minoan religion they worshiped goddesses and they were greatly influenced by them. It is believed that The Snake Goddess was an important figure in Crete at this time, and was worshiped along side of the Huntress, and The Mountain Mother. Mainly focusing on The Snake Goddess she represented a strong, powerful female deity, who overall acted as an icon for women. The influence The Snake Goddess had on women was substantial. Women became more than just members of the community, and gained a place in society. It was no longer a man’s world but a world run by women. Even ancient frescoes and other forms of Minoan artwork provide evidence of women being more vital than men, because depictions of women were more common than men (Witcombe 10). After examining women’s key roles in Minoan civilization it becomes apparent that The Snake Goddess influenced women in Crete in many different ways and played a significant part in Minoan civilization.

One may ask, who are the Minoans? Well they are considered by many Historians and Archeologists to be the first great European Civilization. Some people believed that this was the mythical land of Atlantis. They were located near the Aegean Sea and lands such as Greece, Troy and Asia Minor. One interesting fact is that these people never called themselves the Minoans. There wasn’t any name listed in the history books for these people but the Ancient Crete Civilization. They were known as the Crete Civilization because they lived on the island of Crete which is now part of Greece. It wasn’t until a 19th century British Archeologist, Sir Author Evans gave them the name, The Minoans. He gave them this name because he believed he had found the legendary palace of King Minos. There has been many civilization collapses over the World’s history, but most can be explained in great detail. There are some that are very mysterious and not definitively explained. The collapse of the Minoan people happens to be one of those mysterious collapses which ranks 3rd in the top ten most mysterious collapses of the world and is still to this day debated on what actually caused their demise. There are many factors that go into the collapse of a civilization, but this kind of catastrophe doesn’t just happen in a blink of an eye this is something that happens over a long period of time. This paper will touch on the climate and environment, the time period and culture, how they became

The Minoan Snake Goddess or Priestess is an ancient piece of pottery, approximately 11 5/8 inches tall, found on the Island of Crete. It was discovered by a British archeologist named Sir Arthur Evans in 1903 in a presumed Temple on the island. Like many Minoan pieces it is faience, which is tin-glazed pottery or earthenware. Because of the lack of records regarding the Minoan timeline, it is believed to have been created between 1800-1550 B.C.E. This particular sculpture was not recovered in its entirety. The head and neck are actually reconstructions based on depictions of women in Minoan frescoes from the time period. The headpiece is also reconstructed

The ancient Egyptian and ancient Greek civilizations are two of the oldest known civilizations in our history. The Egyptian civilization, based in the eastern part of North Africa, is believed to have started around 3150 BC and continued till the end of the Pharaoh rule in 31 BC. The ancient Greek civilization is believed to have been in effect from 1100 BC till about 146 BC. Many similarities and differences existed between these two civilizations, as even though they co-existed during a certain timeframe (1150 BC to 146 BC), they were located in different geographical areas. Because of these differences in geography, both these civilizations were subjected to different kinds of exposure, which included contact with other civilization and cultural inheritance. In the political sphere, we find that the Egyptian civilization had stronger emphasis on central authority, while the Greeks had a more decentralized structure, where powers were distributed over the cities and the states as well. As far as art is concerned, we find that the Egyptians were more involved in creating great monumental and gaudy structures, while the Greeks were more involved in creating smaller, more literary pieces of art.

The Mycenaeans were the first Greek speaking culture to pop up in the region surrounding the Aegean Sea. They developed a written language using the Greek alphabet. The written language was not used to keep their historical records, but rather they show a complex form of documentation and record keeping of goods that flowed into and out of their cities. These detailed records show the complex system of regional collection and distribution that made up the economy of the Mycenaeans. Internal warfare and riots from the peasant class would eventually lead to the downfall of the Mycenaeans. The next few hundred years would come to be known as the “Dark Age” in Greek

(Bright, Hilda, and Helen Pocock.) The Minoans were the first advanced society in Europe 's history. The Minoans were found throughout mainland Greece and throughout the Mediterranean Sea and the island of Crete. Around the year 6500 the Cretans were documented in hunting, fishing, and engaged in pagan worship. In the year 3000 B.C. and the years following, immigrants from Northern Africa came to Crete. They were skilled in Bronze making. This would soon lead to the Bronze Age and the Greek empire would grow and become more powerful. In the years after 2000 B.C. is when most of the palaces and the other artifacts that are still visible today were made. (Kyriakopoulos, Victoria. pg. 23-24)

The Minoan civilization was named after King Minos and was influenced by the civilizations of Egypt and Mesopotamia. They were most likely destroyed later on by the Mycenaean civilization.

In 1950, V Gordon Childe drew up a list of traits of to what he considered to be the common characteristics of early civilizations. According to Fagan & Scarre, a recent archaeologist Charles Redman divided Childe’s list into primary and secondary characteristics. The primary characteristics included cities and states, together with full-time specialization of labor, concentration of surplus, and a class-structured society. For the secondary, the characteristics included symptoms or by-products of these major economic and organizational changes: monumental public works, long-distance trade, standardized monumental artworks, writing, and the sciences (arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy)(Scarre and Fagan 2003). One of the most common characteristics involve was a large, dense population living in a city. This essay well state and describe two early cities in Mesopotamia and explore the layouts and characteristics of these two cities. Also, whether each city is unique or share common characteristics with each other. The two cities are Maskan-shapir and Ur.

In the text Black Athena by Martin Bernal, Bernal provides a contemporary and interesting perspective in relation to the discussion and examination of Ancient Greece’s development as a society as well as a culture. Throughout Black Athena, Bernal discusses the Ancient Model and Aryan Model, which are the two models that have been constructed and utilized to assist historians in understanding the reality and truth of how Ancient Greece developed to the society and culture it has become (Bernal, 1). Bernal specifies the clear distinctions when he discussing how both models have influence modern historians’ and their perceptions towards Ancient Greece; furthermore, he discusses how Ancient Greece has been examined and interpreted through the utilization of the Aryan model, which is viewing Ancient Greece as being influenced by Europeans (Bernal, 1). However, Bernal holds a completely different viewpoint on how Ancient Greece grew into the civilization it is. Through the examination of the linguistic and cultural similarities, Bernal argues the invasions by the Egyptians and the Phoenicians laid out the foundation for the development of Ancient Greek civilization and culture (Bernal, 2). In other words, he emphasizes how Ancient Greece’s development should be examine through what he calls the “Revised Ancient Model” (Bernal, 2), as he makes it evident that this model effectively shows the true and “complex reality” (Bernal, 3) of Ancient Greece.

The Minoans were a civilization who flourished from 3000 BCE until 1100 BCE on the island of Crete, were greatly influenced by the Phoenicians, Egyptians, Syrians and the Anatolians (Britannica Encyclopedia). This civilization made major contributions to Western European development in the areas of language, architecture and art. It was the famous archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans who made the astounding discoveries at Knossos in the early 1900’s that introduced to the world the fascinating and wonderful sophistication of these early Greeks (Britannica Encyclopedia). The history of the island has been molded by its proximity to the Aegean Sea. Its geographical location gave it control over the sea and the lucrative trade routes. The Minoans traded with Egypt, the Levant, the Aegean, and beyond to Italy, and Sicily.

2. In the Aegean world, Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations emerged. Minoan civilization on the island of Crete was influenced by eastern civilizations as shown in the textbook, “the distribution of Cretan pottery and other artifacts around the Mediterranean and Middle East testifies to widespread trading connections. Egyptian, Syrian, and Mesopotamian influences can be seen in the design of the Minoan palaces, centralized government, and system of writing” page 76,

Minoan civilization was advanced for their time and they had many great achievements. As a result of being an island nation, they built a large sea empire based on trade. There were two versions of Minoan writing: An older script called Linear A, which has never been deciphered. Newer than Linear A, but much older than ancient Greek, which it is the earliest form of, was Linear B, which has been deciphered. The center of their empire was a huge palace located in a place called Knossos. Knossos had a working plumbing system. The palace was between 3 and 4 stories tall, which was large for the time. The minoans painted frescoes on walls of the palace and created art on

In this essay I will be considering only but one of the many questions that archaeologists analyse when researching the human past. As the title suggests, did civilization, or, a term preferably used by scholars; social complexity, arise from a conflicted band of nomadic people or from a mutual consensus among them? As well as my own thought’s, I will be discussing the ideologies of a number of professionals, both in archaeology and social anthropology, focusing mainly on the early development of the archaic Mesopotamian and Mesoamerican civilisations.

In daily, weekly or yearly occurrences we can pick out days of balance, days of chaos and then days where we an adjusting from our mistakes or the the problems that we are facing at the time. In most chaos we have the ability to get back on our feet, make some new inventions to fix the problems, places or move away, dominate to get what you want, work together or tolerate the situation. In the case of the Minoans, once a balance, healthy, strong and inventive culture. Where life was more than good, one day had their chaos. Their chaos was something that could not be easily stopped when in came to seeing the problem. There was not a sign of a war, there was not any political issues in sight and there was not a shortage of food. What they were about to face, no person, god or goddess could have ever foreseen. The Minoans were going to face a natural disaster so large in nature that it ultimate set their once beautiful culture so far back that the people of Minoa could not adjust back to the point of balance.

Frescoes are the wellspring of the absolute most striking symbolism passed on to us from the Minoan human progress of Bronze Age Crete (2000-1500 BCE). Further, without composed records, they are regularly the main source, alongside adorned ceramics, of exactly how the world appeared to the Minoans and give us enticing looks of their convictions, social practices and stylish