Minoan civilization - Revision history

Lazarus at 13:40, January 17, 2006

2006-01-17T13:40:49Z

Irlandos: /* Technology */

2006-01-17T12:15:34Z

Technology

Irlandos: /* Warfare and "The Minoan Peace" */

2006-01-17T12:15:07Z

Warfare and "The Minoan Peace"

Irlandos: /* Religion */

2006-01-17T12:13:20Z

Religion

Irlandos: /* Chronological history */

2006-01-17T12:11:55Z

Chronological history

Irlandos: /* Note */

2006-01-17T12:10:26Z

Note

Irlandos: /* Art */

2006-01-17T12:08:24Z

Art

Irlandos: /* Agriculture */

2006-01-17T12:08:08Z

Agriculture

Irlandos: /* Palaces */

2006-01-17T08:30:48Z

Palaces

Irlandos at 08:30, January 17, 2006

2006-01-17T08:30:25Z

@@ Line 161: / Line 161: @@
 ==External links==
+{{Credit wikipedia}}
 ===Sources===
 *Nanno Marinatos, 1993.  ''Minoan Religion: Ritual, Image, and Symbol''.  Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press.
@@ Line 204: / Line 204: @@
 *Walter Burkert, 1985. ''Greek Religion''. J. Raffan, trans. Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Press.
-{{Credit wikipedia}}
 [[Category:Crete]]
 [[Category:Minoan civilization]]

@@ Line 132: / Line 132: @@
 The Minoan cities were connected with stone-paved roads, formed from blocks cut with bronze saws. Streets were drained and water and sewage facilities were available to the upper class, through clay pipes.
-Minoan buildings often had flat tiled roofs; [[plaster]], wood, or flagstone floors, and stood 2-3 stories high. They would construct the lower walls of stone and [[rubble]] and use mudbrick for higher elevations. Ceiling timbers would hold up the roofs.
+Minoan buildings often had flat tiled roofs; plaster, wood, or flagstone floors, and stood 2-3 stories high. They would construct the lower walls of stone and rubble and use mudbrick for higher elevations. Ceiling timbers would hold up the roofs.
 ==Archeological Sites==

@@ Line 120: / Line 120: @@
 Regarding Minoan weapons, however, archaeologist Keith Branigan notes that 95% of so-called Minoan weapons possessed hafting (hilts, handles) that would have prevented their use as weapons (Branigan, 1999).  However more recent experimental testing of accurate replicas has shown this to be incorrect as these weapons were capable of cutting flesh down to the bone (and scoring the bone's surface) without any damage to the weapons themselves.  Archaeologist Paul Rehak maintains that Minoan figure-eight shields could not have been used for fighting or even hunting, since they were too cumbersome (Rehak, 1999).  And archaeologist Jan Driessen says the Minoans frequently show ‘weapons’ in their art, but only in ritual contexts (Driessen 1999).  Finally, archaeologist Cheryl Floyd concludes that Minoan “weapons” were merely tools used for mundane tasks such as meat-processing (Floyd, 1999).  Although this interpretation must remain highly questionable as there are no parallels of 1 meter long swords and large spearheads being used as culinary devices in the historic or ethnographic record.
-About Minoan warfare in general, Branigan concludes that “[T]he quantity of weaponry, the impressive fortifications, and the aggressive looking long-boats all suggested an era of intensified hostilities.  But on closer inspection there are grounds for thinking that all three key elements are bound up as much with status statements, display, and fashion as with aggression….  Warfare such as there was in the southern Aegean EBA [early Bronze Age] was either personalized and perhaps ritualized (in Crete) or small-scale, intermittent and essentially an economic activity (in the Cyclades and the Argolid/Attica)” (1999, p. 92).  Archaeologist Krzyszkowska concurs: “The stark fact is that for the prehistoric Aegean we have no [sic] direct evidence for war and warfare per se [sic]”  (Krzyszkowska, 1999).
+About Minoan warfare in general, Branigan concludes that “[T]he quantity of weaponry, the impressive fortifications, and the aggressive looking long-boats all suggested an era of intensified hostilities.  But on closer inspection there are grounds for thinking that all three key elements are bound up as much with status statements, display, and fashion as with aggression….  Warfare such as there was in the southern Aegean EBA [early Bronze Age] was either personalized and perhaps ritualized (in Crete) or small-scale, intermittent and essentially an economic activity (in the [[Cyclades]] and the [[Argolis|Argolid]]/[[Attica]])” (1999, p. 92).  Archaeologist Krzyszkowska concurs: “The stark fact is that for the prehistoric Aegean we have no [sic] direct evidence for war and warfare per se [sic]”  (Krzyszkowska, 1999).
 Furthermore, no evidence exists for a Minoan army, or for Minoan domination of peoples outside Crete.  Few signs of warfare appear in Minoan art.  “Although a few archaeologists see war scenes in a few pieces of Minoan art, others interpret even these scenes as festivals, sacred dance, or sports events” (Studebaker, 2004, p. 27). Although warriors armed with spears and shields being stabbed in the throat with swords may not entriely fit this festive interpretation.
-Although on the Mainland of Greece at the time of the Shaft Graves at Mycenae, there is little evidence for major fortifications among the Mycenaeans there (the famous citadels post-date the destruction of almost all Neopalatial Cretan sites), the constant warmongering of other contemporaries of the ancient Minoans – the Egyptians and Hittites, for example – is well documented.
+Although on the Mainland of Greece at the time of the Shaft Graves at [[Mycenae]], there is little evidence for major fortifications among the Mycenaeans there (the famous citadels post-date the destruction of almost all Neopalatial Cretan sites), the constant warmongering of other contemporaries of the ancient Minoans – the Egyptians and Hittites, for example – is well documented.
 This Victorian picture of Arthur Evans has willingly been adopted by interested groups with little critical understanding of the material record that they are dealing with, and this prejudicial agenda continues to silence an important aspect of a powerful civilisation through basic self-interest.  It is unfortunate as this vision of Minoan peace is exploited in the modern world for modern purposes, which essentially denies the Minoan civilisation the right to dynamic investigation, and perpetuates antiquated modes of thinking to the detriment of seeing the human reality of this great civilisation.  In complex civilisations there are ambiguities, contradictions and anomalies and we should therefore be cautious about dogmatically denying any aspect of their world, and therefore the arguments for the role of warfare or peace in Minoan society should not be seen as mutually contradictory.

@@ Line 103: / Line 103: @@
 Minoan sacred symbols include the bull and its horns of consecration, the [[labrys]] (double-headed axe), the pillar, the serpent, the sun-disk, and the tree.
-It was assumed for many years that the Minoans were a non-violent and peaceful people.  Recently, however, archaeologists have uncovered evidence which raises doubts about many of the long held conceptions of Minoan Crete. Recent finds, for example, uncovered at a [[temple]] structure near one of the palaces suggest to some that the Minoans might have engaged in human sacrifice.  Although not all agree that this was human sacrifice.  The highly esteemed archaeologist Nanno Marinatos, for example, says the man supposedly sacrificed actually died in the earthquake that hit at the time he died.  She notes that this earthquake decimated the building he was found in, and also killed the two Minoans who supposedly sacrificed him.{{ref|marinatos}} This is not a widely held interpretation, as the young man was trussed up much like the bull in the sacrifice scene on the Agia Triadha sarcophagus. Additionally, a dagger was found among his bones and the discoloration of the bones on one side of his body suggests he died of blood loss. It is not the only evidence suggestive of human sacrifice. As Geraldine Gesell notes in "The Place of The Goddess In Minoan Society", fragments of a human skull were found in the same room as a small hearth, cooking-hole and cooking-equipment in the sactuary-complex of Fournou Korifi. In Knossos, the bones of at least four children (who had been in good health) were found which bore signs that "they were butchered in the same way the Minoans slaughtered their sheep and goats, suggesting that they had been sacrificed and eaten. The senior Cretan archaeologist Nicolas Platon was so horrified at this suggestion that he insisted the bones must be those of apes, not humans." (Joseph Alexander MacGillivray, "Minotaur: Sir Arthur Evans and the Archaeology of the Minoan Myth" 2000)....
+It was assumed for many years that the Minoans were a non-violent and peaceful people.  Recently, however, archaeologists have uncovered evidence which raises doubts about many of the long held conceptions of Minoan Crete. Recent finds, for example, uncovered at a temple structure near one of the palaces suggest to some that the Minoans might have engaged in human sacrifice.  Although not all agree that this was human sacrifice.  The highly esteemed archaeologist Nanno Marinatos, for example, says the man supposedly sacrificed actually died in the earthquake that hit at the time he died.  She notes that this earthquake decimated the building he was found in, and also killed the two Minoans who supposedly sacrificed him.[2]  This is not a widely held interpretation, as the young man was trussed up much like the bull in the sacrifice scene on the Agia Triadha sarcophagus. Additionally, a dagger was found among his bones and the discoloration of the bones on one side of his body suggests he died of blood loss. It is not the only evidence suggestive of human sacrifice. As Geraldine Gesell notes in "The Place of The Goddess In Minoan Society", fragments of a human skull were found in the same room as a small hearth, cooking-hole and cooking-equipment in the sactuary-complex of Fournou Korifi. In Knossos, the bones of at least four children (who had been in good health) were found which bore signs that "they were butchered in the same way the Minoans slaughtered their sheep and goats, suggesting that they had been sacrificed and eaten. The senior Cretan archaeologist Nicolas Platon was so horrified at this suggestion that he insisted the bones must be those of apes, not humans." (Joseph Alexander MacGillivray, "Minotaur: Sir Arthur Evans and the Archaeology of the Minoan Myth" 2000)....
 ==Warfare and "The Minoan Peace"==

@@ Line 31: / Line 31: @@
 Around [[1700 BC]] there was a large disturbance in Crete, probably an earthquake, although an invasion from [[Anatolia]] has also been suggested. After that, population increased again, and the palaces were even larger than before but with a different basic plan.
-Around [[1650 BC]], [[1628 BC]], [[1500 BC]], or [[1450 BC]] (still debated)<!--distracting and self-conscious:give a date range-->, the volcanic island [[Thera]] (largest island of the volcanic archipelago [[Santorini]]), at about 70 km distance, erupted.  The volcanic eruption and fallout was quite possibly larger than the Tambora eruption of 1815, the largest historical eruption on record.  The eruption has been identified by ash fallout in eastern Crete, Egypt, and cores from the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean seas.  The postulated [[sulfur dioxide]] and ash clouds emitted by the volcano are thought to have destroyed some settlements and resulted in volcanic winters and poor harvests for several years.  The massive eruption of Thera also led to the volcano's collapse, causing massive tsunamis which destroyed naval installations and settlements near the coasts.  Some archeologists believe the Minoans may have lost their religious faith in the ability of the priests to control nature, possibly leading to the fall of Minoan civilization.
+Around [[1650 BC]], [[1628 BC]], [[1500 BC]], or [[1450 BC]] (still debated)<!--distracting and self-conscious:give a date range-->, the volcanic island [[Thera]] (largest island of the volcanic archipelago [[Santorini]]), at about 70 km distance, erupted.  The volcanic eruption and fallout was quite possibly larger than the Tambora eruption of 1815, the largest historical eruption on record.  The eruption has been identified by ash fallout in eastern Crete, Egypt, and cores from the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean seas.  The postulated sulfur dioxide and ash clouds emitted by the volcano are thought to have destroyed some settlements and resulted in volcanic winters and poor harvests for several years.  The massive eruption of Thera also led to the volcano's collapse, causing massive tsunamis which destroyed naval installations and settlements near the coasts.  Some archeologists believe the Minoans may have lost their religious faith in the ability of the priests to control nature, possibly leading to the fall of Minoan civilization.
 Around [[1450 BC]], the palaces were again disturbed. Some time later, around [[1420 BC]], the island was conquered by the [[Mycenaean]]s, who adapted Minoan script for their own proto-Greek language. After this, most Cretan cities and palaces went into decline; Knossos remained an administrative center until [[1200 BC]].

@@ Line 156: / Line 156: @@
 ==Note==
 #1 Nanno Marinatos, Minoan Religion, University of South Carolina Press, Columbia, SC, 1993, p. 147
-#{{note|marinatos}} ''ibid'', p. 114.
+#2 ''ibid'', p. 114.
-#{{note|laffineur}}Robert Laffineur, Ed., Polemos: Le Contexte en Egee a L'Age du Bronze, Actes de la 7e Recontre egeenne internationale, Universite de Liege, 14-17 avril 1998, Universite de Liege and University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX, 1999.
+#3 Robert Laffineur, Ed., Polemos: Le Contexte en Egee a L'Age du Bronze, Actes de la 7e Recontre egeenne internationale, Universite de Liege, 14-17 avril 1998, Universite de Liege and University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX, 1999.
-#{{note|branigan}}Keith Branigan, "The Nature of Warfare in the Southern Aegean During the Third Millennium B.C., " in Polemos (above), p. 92.
+#4 Keith Branigan, "The Nature of Warfare in the Southern Aegean During the Third Millennium B.C., " in Polemos (above), p. 92.
 ==External links==

@@ Line 71: / Line 71: @@
 :''Main article:[[Minoan pottery]]''.
-In the Early Minoan period ceramics were characterised by linear patterns of spirals, triangles, curved lines, crosses, fishbone motifs and such. In the Middle Minoan period naturalistic designs such as fish, [[squid]], birds and lilies were common. In the Late Minoan period, flowers and animals were still the most characteristic, but the variability had increased.  The 'palace style' of the region around Knossos is characterised by a strong geometric simplification of naturalistic shapes and monochromatic paintings. Very noteworthy are the similarities between Late Minoan and [[Mycenaean]] art.
+In the Early Minoan period ceramics were characterised by linear patterns of spirals, triangles, curved lines, crosses, fishbone motifs and such. In the Middle Minoan period naturalistic designs such as fish, squid, birds and lilies were common. In the Late Minoan period, flowers and animals were still the most characteristic, but the variability had increased.  The 'palace style' of the region around Knossos is characterised by a strong geometric simplification of naturalistic shapes and monochromatic paintings. Very noteworthy are the similarities between Late Minoan and [[Mycenaean]] art.
 ==Culture==

@@ Line 49: / Line 49: @@
 ==Agriculture==
-The Minoans raised cattle, sheep, pigs, goats, and grew wheat, barley, vetch, [[chickpea]]s, cultivated grapes figs, olives, and grew poppies, for poppyseed and perhaps opium. The Minoans knew domesticated bees, and adopted pomegranates and quinces from the Near East, though not lemons and oranges  as is often imagined.
+The Minoans raised cattle, sheep, pigs, goats, and grew wheat, barley, vetch, chickpeas, cultivated grapes figs, olives, and grew poppies, for poppyseed and perhaps opium. The Minoans knew domesticated bees, and adopted pomegranates and quinces from the Near East, though not lemons and oranges  as is often imagined.
 Farmers used wooden plows, bound by leather to wooden handles, and pulled by pairs of donkeys or oxen.

@@ Line 56: / Line 56: @@
 The first palaces were constructed at the end of the Early Minoan period in the third millenum BC ([[Malia]]). While it was formerly believed that the foundation of the first palaces was synchronous and dated to the Middle Minoan at around 2000 BC (the date of the first palace at Knossos), scholars now think that palaces were built over a longer period of time in different locations, in response to local developments. The main older palaces are Knossos, Malia and Phaistos.
-The palaces fulfilled a plethora of functions: they served as centres of [[government]], administrative offices, shrines, workshops and stores (sometimes referred to as magazines, e.g., for grain), although it should be kept in mind that these distinction would probably have seemed entirely artificial to the Minoans.
+The palaces fulfilled a plethora of functions: they served as centres of government, administrative offices, shrines, workshops and stores (sometimes referred to as magazines, e.g., for grain), although it should be kept in mind that these distinction would probably have seemed entirely artificial to the Minoans.
 The use of the term 'palace' for the older palaces has recently come under criticism, meaning a dynastic residence and seat of power and the term 'court buildings' was proposed instead. However, the original term is probably too well entrenched to be replaced. Architectural features like ashlar masonry, orthostats, columns, open courts, staircases (implying upper stories) and the presence of diverse basins have been used to define palatial architecture. Often the better known, younger palaces have been used to reconstruct the older ones, but this may have hidden fundamental functional differences. Most older palaces had only one story and no representative facades. They were generally smaller than the later palaces, but with a big central court. The plan was U-shaped.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-The '''Minoans''' were a  pre-[[Hellenic]] [[Bronze Age]] civilization in [[Crete]] in the [[Aegean Sea]], prior to [[Helladic]] or [[Mycenaean Greece|Mycenaean]] culture (i.e., well before what we know as [[Classical Greece]]).  Their civilization flourished from approximately [[2600 BC|2600]] to [[1450 BC]].
+The '''Minoans''' were a  pre-[[Hellenic]] Bronze Age civilization in [[Crete]] in the [[Aegean Sea]], prior to [[Helladic]] or [[Mycenaean Greece|Mycenaean]] culture (i.e., well before what we know as [[Classical Greece]]).  Their civilization flourished from approximately [[2600 BC|2600]] to [[1450 BC]].
 Their name was coined by the British archaeologist Sir [[Arthur Evans]] after the mythic "king" [[Minos]], associated with the [[labyrinth]], which Evans identified as the site at [[Knossos]].  It is possible, though unsure, that Minos was a term for a Minoan ruler.  What the Minoans called themselves is unknown, although the Egyptian place name "Keftiu" and the Semitic "Kaftor" or "Caphtor", both evidently referring to Minoan Crete, are suggestive.
-The Minoans were primarily a mercantile people engaged in overseas trade. Their culture, from ca 1700 BC onwards, shows a high degree of organization. Many historians and archaeologists believe that the Minoans were involved in the Bronze Age's important tin trade: tin, alloyed with copper apparently from [[Cyprus]], was used in the manufacture of [[bronze]]. The decline of Minoan civilization and the decline in use of bronze tools in favor of superior iron ones seem to be correlated. The Minoan trade in saffron, which originated in the Aegean basin as a natural chromosome mutation, has left fewer material remains: a fresco of saffron-gatherers at [[Santorini]] is well-known. This inherited trade pre-dated Minoan civilization: a sense of its rewards may be gained by comparing its value to [[frankincense]], or later, to pepper. Archaeologists tend to emphasize the more durable items of trade: ceramics, copper, and tin, and dramatic luxury finds of gold and silver.
+The Minoans were primarily a mercantile people engaged in overseas trade. Their culture, from ca 1700 BC onwards, shows a high degree of organization. Many historians and archaeologists believe that the Minoans were involved in the Bronze Age's important tin trade: tin, alloyed with copper apparently from [[Cyprus]], was used in the manufacture of bronze. The decline of Minoan civilization and the decline in use of bronze tools in favor of superior iron ones seem to be correlated. The Minoan trade in saffron, which originated in the Aegean basin as a natural chromosome mutation, has left fewer material remains: a fresco of saffron-gatherers at [[Santorini]] is well-known. This inherited trade pre-dated Minoan civilization: a sense of its rewards may be gained by comparing its value to frankincense, or later, to pepper. Archaeologists tend to emphasize the more durable items of trade: ceramics, copper, and tin, and dramatic luxury finds of gold and silver.
 Objects of Minoan manufacture suggest there was a network of trade with mainland [[Greece]] (notably [[Mycenae]]), [[Cyprus]], Syria, [[Anatolia]], Egypt, Spain and Mesopotamia.
@@ Line 17: / Line 15: @@
 Crete is a mountainous island with natural harbors. There are signs of earthquake damage at Minoan sites.
-[[Homer]] recorded a tradition that Crete had 90 cities. The site at [[Knossos]] was the most important one. [[Archeologist]]s have found palaces in [[Phaistos]] and [[Malia]] as well. The island was probably divided into four political units, the north being governed from Knossos, the south from [[Phaistos]], the central eastern part from [[Malia]] and the eastern tip from [[Kato Zakros]]. Smaller palaces have been found in other places. It is remarkable that none of the Minoan cities had city walls, and few weapons were found.
+[[Homer]] recorded a tradition that Crete had 90 cities. The site at [[Knossos]] was the most important one. Archeologists have found palaces in [[Phaistos]] and [[Malia]] as well. The island was probably divided into four political units, the north being governed from Knossos, the south from [[Phaistos]], the central eastern part from [[Malia]] and the eastern tip from [[Kato Zakros]]. Smaller palaces have been found in other places. It is remarkable that none of the Minoan cities had city walls, and few weapons were found.
 '''Periods of Minoan history:'''
@@ Line 81: / Line 79: @@
 ==Language and writing==
-The Minoans had their own language now referred to as [[Eteocretan]], though little is known about it. It was written in a number of different scripts over the centuries. Approximately 3,000 tablets bearing writing have been discovered so far, many apparently being inventories of goods or resources. Between around 1900-1700 BC, [[hieroglyphic]]s were used by the Minoans; this was succeeded by the [[Linear A]] script (1700-1450 BC), and [[Linear B]] (1450-1400 BC). The latter was a very archaic version of the [[Greek language]] and was successfully deciphered by [[Michael Ventris]] in the 1950s, but the earlier scripts still remain a mystery.
+The Minoans had their own language now referred to as [[Eteocretan]], though little is known about it. It was written in a number of different scripts over the centuries. Approximately 3,000 tablets bearing writing have been discovered so far, many apparently being inventories of goods or resources. Between around 1900-1700 BC, hieroglyphics were used by the Minoans; this was succeeded by the [[Linear A]] script (1700-1450 BC), and [[Linear B]] (1450-1400 BC). The latter was a very archaic version of the [[Greek language]] and was successfully deciphered by [[Michael Ventris]] in the 1950s, but the earlier scripts still remain a mystery.
 ==Politics==
@@ Line 157: / Line 155: @@
 ==Note==
-#{{note|marinatos147}} Nanno Marinatos, Minoan Religion, University of South Carolina Press, Columbia, SC, 1993, p. 147
+#1 Nanno Marinatos, Minoan Religion, University of South Carolina Press, Columbia, SC, 1993, p. 147
 #{{note|marinatos}} ''ibid'', p. 114.
 #{{note|laffineur}}Robert Laffineur, Ed., Polemos: Le Contexte en Egee a L'Age du Bronze, Actes de la 7e Recontre egeenne internationale, Universite de Liege, 14-17 avril 1998, Universite de Liege and University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX, 1999.