Aegean Neolithic and Bronze Age Civilizations: Minoan “Palaces” and Religious Beliefs
By Sally Mallam
Contributing Writer
In 1900, the famed archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans provided the first evidence of an extraordinary civilization there. He named it Minoan, after the legendary King Minos, son of Zeus.
Using wet pigments requiring quick execution, the Minoans painted walls with great skill and fluid brush strokes, which in their hands accentuated the movement of life in their world, where nature and man were inextricably intertwined. As was typical with pre-Axial peoples, their world was suffused with the divine and charged with religious meaning. They worshipped trees, sacred stones, and springs and their rituals included animal sacrifices. There is some evidence – at the sanctuary at Anemospilia (Archanes) some seven kilometers south of Knossos – that indicates human sacrifice as well.
In all likelihood, their descendants maintained their power over the “palaces.” They may have been inspired to erect these imposing, monumental structures after trade or diplomatic visits to the Near East or Egypt – suggestions have been made that the many labyrinthine rooms reflect those they may have seen in the Hawara Labyrinth Egypt Complex, mentioned by Heroditus.
These large and complex structures appear to have been built around the same period as the emergence and flourishing of writing, mass-produced, wheel-made pottery, and crafts – aspects of society only possible once an agricultural surplus allows people to take up full-time occupations other than farming. The organization of materials and labor, the planning and labor-intensive craftsmanship that had to have been involved implies a socially complex society that was almost certainly hierarchical.
Minoan palaces were three and four stories high, with large staircases, light wells, water and drainage systems, flush toilets, hot water heaters and hinged doors.
The “palace” of Knossos was undoubtedly the most important ceremonial, trade and political center of the Minoan civilization. It was 3.861 square miles in area, and 3 and 4 stories high, with about 1,500 interconnecting rooms, many below ground. Levels were supported by red columns, white floors and white walls, with beautiful frescoes that scholars agree must have held symbolic meanings for the inhabitants. There are seven or eight separate entrances to the building, including a huge main entrance, that lead to a maze of workrooms, living spaces, theatre spaces, anteroom, cult rooms and storerooms, and what Evans described as “lustral basins” thought to have been used for ritual initiation, perhaps a purification ceremony of some kind involving a symbolic descent into the earth. Since their depth is about 2 meters, and some appear to be in public places such as opposite the stone seat or “throne” at Knossos, it is unlikely that they were used for regular bathing. A central court the size of 4 tennis courts is situated at the building’s heart and thought to be a space for religious rituals.
Close to the palaces are much smaller groups of buildings to house members of the palace elite. They often exhibit the same artistic and architectural motifs as the palaces, though on a less magnificent scale. Palaces were generally situated in or near towns and cities where all the workers lived, as well as the traders and crews who manned the Minoan ships. The city of Knossos, adjacent to the great royal palace, was one of the largest urban centers anywhere in the ancient world.
The major diety appears to be a female Goddess, as Dr. Marinators states, “Whenever you have a seated figure it is a female – never a male.” Males in the same image appear young, strong, and athletic but smaller, which suggests a mother son relationship – this duality representing both genders. Since female is flanked by images belonging to an otherworldly landscape, one can infer that she is a Goddess rather than a human Queen, though in this region of the world during the Bronze Age, the monarchy were often regarded as both political leaders and earthly representatives of the divine. Their awe-inspiring palaces and temples viewed as a central axis within the cosmos.
It’s interesting to note here that these bulls are crossbreed aurochs that stood about 6ft high with hooves the size of a man’s head. They most likely signified power and fertility and bull-leaping ceremonies may well have been part of an initiation rite. (Bull-leaping has also been depicted from Hittite Anatolia, the Levant, Bactria and the Indus Valley.) Perhaps, as the historian Bettany Hughes suggests, bull-leaping was a feat that, when achieved, transferred some of the bull’s power to the participants and reminded all Minoans that “The bull charges because that’s what he does, man leaps because he chooses to.”
Conflict and Calamity
In 1628 BCE a massive volcanic eruption occurred on the island of Thera (modern day Santorini), 100 km north of Crete. It was one of the most violent volcanic eruptions ever since human beings have been on this planet. According to Robert Ballard, National Geographic Explorer, an estimated 14 cubic miles of magma belched out of the mountain’s crater, causing massive tsunamis and blackening the skies over 115,000 square miles. Waves from 60 miles away moved stone walls on Crete over 200 feet and buildings were buried in volcanic ash, cities were devastated, shock waves destroyed the island’s navy and volcanic ash killed its crops.
The myth of the lost continent of Atlantis was probably passed on to the Greeks from the Egyptians whose trading partners, the Minoans, suddenly stopped coming to visit their shores. Stories drifted southward about an island blown into the sea which the Egyptians assumed was Crete. This was in all likelihood Thera – a map found in Crete depicts Thera as similar in shape to the Atlantis described by Plato. He most likely got the story via Critias the Younger, a relative of Solon who may well have heard an original version while in Egypt. The story is found in its most complete form in Plato’s dialogues, Timaeus and Critias.
This eruption weakened the Minoans and left them vulnerable to frequent and growing raids from the Myceneans from the Greek mainland — administrative records from this next period are written in Linear B, the script of Mycenaean Greeks. Contemporary pottery shows a blend of Minoan and Mycenaean stylistic traits. The final end of the Minoan civilization was about 1200 BCE after which there is no evidence of the culture. The Mycenaean Greeks had taken over.