Minoan (Cretan) culture, Middle
Culture | Defunct
2160 BCE to 1600 BCE
In the late third millenium BCE, several localities on the island of Crete develop into centers of commerce and handwork.
This enables the upper classes to continuously practice leadership activities and to expand their influence.
It is likely that the original hierarchies of the local elites were replaced by monarchist power structures - a precondition for the creation of the great palaces.
At the end of the MMII period (1700 BCE), there is a large disturbance in Crete, probably an earthquake, or possibly an invasion from Anatolia.
The palaces at Knossos, Phaistos, Malia, and Kato Zakros are destroyed.
With the start of the Neopalatial period, population increases again, the palaces are rebuilt on a larger scale and new settlements were built all over the island.
This period (the 17th and 16th centuries BCE, MM III / Neopalatial) represents the apex of the Minoan civilization.
There is another natural catastrophe around 1600 BCE, possibly an eruption of the Thera volcano.
Even this disaster doesn’t discourage the Minoans: the palaces are again rebuilt and were made even greater than before.
The influence of the Minoan civilization outside Crete manifests itself in the presence of valuable Minoan handicraft items on the Greek mainland.
It is likely that the ruling house of Mycenae was connected to the Minoan trade network.
After around 1700 BCE, the material culture on the Greek mainland achieves a new level due to Minoan influence.
Connections between Egypt and Crete are prominent.
Minoan ceramics are found in Egyptian cities and the Minoans import several items from Egypt, especially papyrus, as well as architectural and artistic ideas.
The Egyptian hieroglyphs serve as a model for the Minoan pictographic writing, from which the famous Linear A and Linear B writing systems later develop.
Related Events
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Near East (2,637 – 910 BCE) Bronze and Early Iron — Delta Kingdoms, Aegean City-Coasts, Arabian Caravan Seeds
Geographic and Environmental Context
The Near East includes Egypt, Sudan, Israel, most of Jordan, western Saudi Arabia, western Yemen, southwestern Cyprus, and western Turkey (Aeolis, Ionia, Doris, Lydia, Caria, Lycia, Troas) plus Tyre (extreme SW Lebanon).-
Anchors: the Nile Valley and Delta; Sinai–Negev–Arabah; the southern Levant (with Tyre as the sole Levantine node in this subregion); Hejaz–Asir–Tihāma on the Red Sea; Yemen’s western uplands/coast; southwestern Cyprus; western Anatolian littoral (Smyrna–Ephesus–Miletus–Halicarnassus–Xanthos; Troad).
Climate & Environment
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Nile floods oscillated; Aegean coastal plains fertile; Arabian west slope aridity increased, highland terraces scaled slowly.
Societies & Settlement
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Lower/Upper Egypt (full Pharaonic cores just south but contiguous influence); Aegean Anatolia (Minoan/Mycenaean interactions; later Aeolian/Ionian/Dorian successors).
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Levantine Tyre (within this subregion) arose as Phoenician node; Arabian west oases supported caravan precursors; Yemen west highlands nurtured terrace farming and incense beginnings.
Technology
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Bronze widespread; early iron in Anatolia/Levant; sail-powered shipping matured; terracing and cisterns in Hejaz–Yemen highlands.
Corridors
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Nile–Delta–Aegean maritime bridge; Tyre connected to Cyprus/Anatolia; Red Sea coastal cabotage began; Incense path seeds in Yemen–Hejaz.
Symbolism
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Egyptian temple cosmology radiated north; Aegean cults at capes; Tyrian Melqart/Asherah; Arabian highland local cults.
Adaptation
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Floodplain–coastal–terrace redundancy stabilized economies; incense gardens hedged aridity.
Western Southeast Europe (2,637 – 910 BCE) Bronze and Early Iron — Cetina Maritime, Vučedol, and Illyrian/Dalmatian Horizons
Geographic and Environmental Context
Western Southeast Europe includes Greece (outside Thrace), Albania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Kosovo, most of Bosnia, southwestern Serbia, most of Croatia, and Slovenia.-
Anchors: Cetina maritime culture (Adriatic), Vučedol (Sirmium–Vukovar), Glasinac (Bosnia), Iapodes/Liburnians (northern Dalmatia/Istria), Pannonian plains.
Climate & Environmental Shifts
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Variable rainfall; river avulsions; good pastures in uplands/forelands.
Subsistence & Settlement
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Vučedol metallurgists (c. 3000–2200 BCE) on Sava–Danube; Cetina seafarers exploited maritime routes; Illyrian tribal formations emerged (Glasinac plateaus).
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Mixed farming, herding, and maritime economies.
Technology & Material Culture
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Bronze swords, sickles, ornaments; Vučedol ceramics; Illyrian helmets and gear late; early iron by 1st millennium BCE.
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Coastal shipbuilding traditions matured.
Movement & Interaction Corridors
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Adriatic cabotage tied Istria–Dalmatia–Ionian; Sava–Drava moved metals and grain; Vardar–Morava linked Aegean/central Balkans.
Cultural & Symbolic Expressions
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Tumuli and warrior graves; hillfort sanctuaries; maritime cults along capes.
Environmental Adaptation & Resilience
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Agro-pastoral and maritime redundancy buffered droughts/floods; hillforts provided refuge.
These civilizations posses writing, the Minoans writing in an undeciphered script known as Linear A, and the Mycenaeans in Linear B, an early form of Greek.
The Mycenaeans gradually absorb the Minoans, but collapse violently around 1200 BCE, during a time of regional upheaval known as the Bronze Age collapse.
This ushers in a period known as the Greek Dark Ages, from which written records are absent.
Minoan frescoes and mosaics display an increasing naturalism, the formerly rigid conventions of Egyptian painting giving way to fluid design and spirited action.
Two powerful Aegean civilizations, the Minoan in Crete and the Minoan-influenced Mycenaean on the mainland, will evolve during the second millennium BCE.
The art of goldsmithing reaches Crete from western Asia.
Minoan goldsmiths influenced by west Asian and (possibly) Egyptian styles employ sophisticated Asian granulation and filigree techniques.
Minoan art begins to evolve from primitive but varied pottery styles to stone vases, seals made of stone, bone, ivory, and jewelry of gold and silver.
The Minoans begin to construct the palaces that are to become their trademark.
From the end of the third millennium BCE, a great palace (named the Palace of Minos by Sir Arthur Evans, who will excavate it in 1900-05) occupies the original hill settlement of Crete, now known as Knossos.
The sprawling palace's elaborate plan and winding corridors may have been the reality behind the myth of the labyrinth constructed for Minos by Daedalus.
While it was formerly believed that the foundation of the first palaces was synchronous and dated to the Middle Minoan at around 2000 BCE (the date of the first palace at Knossos), scholars now think that palaces were built over a longer period in different locations, in response to local developments.
The main older palaces are Knossos, Malia, and Phaistos.
Some of the elements recorded in the Middle Minoan 'palaces' (Knossos, Phaistos and Malia, for example) have precedents in earlier styles of construction in the Early Minoan period.
These include the indented western court, and the special treatment given to the western façade.
Minoan Kamares ware pottery of the Middle Period features graceful and varied shapes with a profusion of floral and geometric motifs in red and white on a lustrous black background.