The Minoan Civilization.

[Clockwork]

I'm also a History fan, so yes. This is a thread to discuss the Minoan Civilization, an ancient Bronze Age civilization that flourished on the Mediterranean island of Crete from around 2500 BC to 1450 BC, I believe. Eventually they were overrun by the Mycenaean people and in turn the Doric peoples.

We may use this place to discuss the civilization if you wish. If this thread is in the wrong forum, I would appreciate it if a moderator moved it. Thank you.

 

[Aztec Triogal]

Minoan culture is easily some of the deepest in the world. I absolutely love it to no end. Everything from the minotaur to their goddess worship to the bronze man is all cretin lore and Minoan history. It's great stuff. I think my favorite part of their history were the two major earthquakes they suffered. The first nearly wiped them out, the second threw them off guard so much that the Mycenaean's could take over.

I did a lot of research on their culture a few years back when I roughing out a concept for a video game I wanted to develop. lol

 

[Dionysos]

I love the Minoan civilisation. It's among the many late Bronze Age cultures I am studying at my uni course.
I don't think it is a given that the Mycenaeans invaded Crete though. They may have just filled in the gaps created by the disasters facing the Minoans (earthquakes, Theran eruption etc). Though is is quite possible that the Mycenaeans did take a route of conquest in Crete, as they were definately militaristic in nature (emphasis on warrior burials, lots more depictions of warriors and hunting).
And it's been theorised that the Dorians weren't so much migrating, but were already there. It's been suggested that with the upturned elite, the lower classes came into the spotlight for their turn, and that the "Dorians" were these lower classes.
It's still a big question today which people fight over and contradict each other with.

Back onto the Minoans, it's interesting because they're well attested in Egyptian architecture and records as well. They went by the name of Keftiu, and have many depictions in Egyptian wall frescoes and scenes including Egyptian standardised depictions of different foreign groups. There are bull leaping scenes on Egyptian walls depicting Aegean peoples for example, and what is more interesting is that one such depiction has a labyrinth (or pattern which resembles one) behind it. Sadly I can't find an image of it to post up here. It was at Avaris if you are interested, but google images doesn't throw anything back at me resembling it.

Anyway the Minoans and Egyptians were trade partners and had lots of contact, and there are quite a few records of them through Egypt. Why is this important? Because Egypt kept recording and writing during the period that Greece stopped, so there may be an element of a more concise and clear preserved memory via Egypt (if we are lucky enough to find it) of some of the Minoans history... Whereas in Greece it was transformed into myth via oral poetry, and hence we get Theseus and the Minotaur in the labyrinth etc.

There are bull leaping scenes on Egyptian walls depicting Aegean peoples for example, and what is more interesting is that one such depiction has a labyrinth (or pattern which resembles one) behind it. Sadly I can't find an image of it to post up here. It was at Avaris if you are interested, but google images doesn't throw anything back at me resembling it.

And here it is...