The Minoan civilization was an Aegean Bronze Age civilization that arose on the island of Crete and other Aegean islands and flourished from approximately 3650 to 1400 BC. It belongs to a period of Greek historypreceding both the Mycenaean civilization and Ancient Greece.[1] It was rediscovered at the beginning of the 20th century through the work of British archaeologist Arthur Evans. Historian Will Durant dubbed the Minoans "the first link in the European chain,"[2] and their civilization has been referred to as the earliest of its kind in Europe.[3]
The term "Minoan" refers to the mythic King Minos, and was originally given as a description to the pottery of this period. Minos was associated in Greek myth with the labyrinth and the Minotaur, which Evans identified with the site at Knossos, the largest Minoan site. The poet Homer recorded a tradition that Crete once had 90 cities.[4]
The Minoan period saw significant contacts between Crete, the Aegean and the Mediterranean, particularly the Near East. As traders and artists, their cultural influence reached far beyond the island of Crete—throughout the Cyclades, to Egypt's Old Kingdom, to copper-bearing Cyprus, Canaan and the Levantinecoasts beyond, and to Anatolia. Some of its best art is preserved in the city of Akrotiri, on the island of Santorini, destroyed during the Thera eruption.
The Minoan language and writing system (Linear A) remain undeciphered and a matter of academic dispute, but seemingly convey a language entirely different from the Greek dialects in later periods. The causes of the changes to bring about the end of the Minoan period (around 1,400 BC) are unclear, though theories include an invasion from the mainland, or the volcanic eruption of Thera.
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