Minoan Culture

Minoan Study
The Minoans
The Minoans are regarded as standing at the very beginning of European civilisation. They were regarded as being a people of magnificent social organization, culture, art and commerce. They thrived on their mercantile abilities and favoured "intense commercial activity". Their society was based on sea power and seaborne trade with evidence of links to Egypt, Syria, Sicily and Spain.

Evidence suggests they were orientated toward trade and bureaucracy rather than military forces or the structure of a military state. This came later with the Mycenaeans, whose society was oriented around a war chief and focused on a culture of battle and conquest. This may have had something to do with the eventual downfall of the Minoan civilisation. Bureaucracy – over 200 records have been found written in Linear A script on clay tablets. This information seems to be relating to accounts

Societal Structure
It appears during the Prepalatial period that there was little or no hierarchy in society and that it was largely decentralized. (Not having a central figure, i.e. a King). The theory regarding hierarchy has largely been placed on the burial practices of the
period. Tombs (Tholos tombs) were used for whole villages, with old bones being moved out of the way for more recent burials. There do not appear to be powerful landlords or a centralized authority.

Around 2000BC, the first or Protopalatial period, a new political system was established with authority concentrated around a central figure or king.
External influence was also established at this time with evidence of Minoan influence on Thera. The first palaces were founded which acted as centres for their respective communities. They developed a bureaucratic administrative system which permeated society. Distinctions between the classes led then to a social hierarchy. The palaces were destroyed by Earthquakes in 1700BC and grander palaces replaced them. Knossos, Phaestos, Malia and Zakros were built as well as many smaller palaces. Villas appeared in more rural areas, and were similar in design to the palaces. These served as lesser centres of power and homes for affluent
landlords.

Administrative and economic unity appears to have existed during this time period. Women appear to have played an important role during the second palatial or neopalatial period. Evidence of an affluent upper class includes gold artefacts, seals and spears.

Daedalus and Icarus
Daedalus built the Labyrinth for King Minos, but afterwards lost the favour of the king, and was shut up in a tower. He managed to make his escape from the prison, but could not leave the island by sea, as the king kept strict watch on all vessels. "Minos may control the land and sea", said Daedalus, "but not the regions of the air. I will try that way." So he made wings for himself and his son Icarus. He made the wings with wax, and gave the whole a gentle curvature like the wings of a bird. When all was prepared for flight he said, "Icarus, my son, I charge you to keep at a moderate height, for if you fly too low the damp will clog your wings, and if too high the heat will melt them. Keep near me and you will be safe". Icarus then began to leave the guidance of his father and soured upward. The nearness of the blazing sun softened the wax which held the feathers together, and they came off. He fluttered with his arms, but no feathers remained to hold the air. While his mouth uttered cries to his father it was submerged in the blue waters of the sea which thenceforth called by his name. He buried the body and called the land Icaria in memory of his child. Daedalus arrived safe in Sicily, where he built a temple to Apollo, and hung up his wings, an offering to the god.

The Minotaur
 Minos was the son of Zeus and Europa
 He neglected the right to offer the finest bull in the royal herd to Zeus
 A white bull appeared in the herd, from Zeus and Minos sacrificed another in its place
 Zeus caused Minos' wife Pasiphae to fall in love with the bull and the Minotaur was born from their union
 Minos was shamed by this monster, which had the head and tail of a bull and the body of a man
 His engineer Daidalos made a prison for the beast so that no one could see him
 It was a maze like building called the Labyrinth and there the creature lived
 Aegeus the king of Athens had Androgeos, a son of Minos and Pasiphae murdered as he feared that he would make war against him
 As a result, every eight years seven young girls and seven boys were sent to Crete whom Minos would feed to the Minotaur
 On the second occasion that the Cretan fleet turned up to collect the tribute, Aegeus' only son, Theseus volunteered to go as one of the intended sacrificial victims
 He promised his father that he would slay the Minotaur and bring home his companions
 If he were successful, he would sail home with a white sail instead of a black one
 Ariadne, the daughter of Minos, saw Theseus and fell in love with him
 She showed him how to go through the Labyrinth on the condition that he took herself and her sister back to Athens. He took a ball of string with him
 After he killed the monster, he got Ariadne and her sister Phaedra
 King Aegeus was waiting on the headland for his son, Theseus forgot to change the sails and in grief and despair threw himself from the headland onto the rocks below.
 Now the sea is called the Aegean

Sir Arthur Evans
Arthur Evans was a British archaeologist who excavated the ruins of the ancient city of Knossos in Crete and uncovered evidence of a sophisticated Bronze Age civilisation, which he named Minoan; his work was one of archaeology's major achievements and greatly advanced the study of European and Eastern Mediterranean prehistory. In 1899 Evans purchased a tract of land that included the site of Knossos, and after a year's digging he had unearthed palace ruins covering 5½ acres (2.2 ha). The size and splendour of the findings indicated that Knossos had been an ancient cultural capital. Over the next 25 years, Evans pursued his investigations. Digging below the Bronze Age ruins, he discovered remains of a Neolithic civilisation, thus helping to place Mycenae in historical perspective. His discovery of Egyptian artefacts dating from known historical periods helped him establish the periods of Minoan civilisation. Evans received many honours for his discoveries and was knighted in 1911.

Harriet Boyd
Boyd is best known as the first director of an archaeological excavation to discover and excavate a Minoan settlement and palace site on the Aegean island of Crete. Between 1901 and 1904, Boyd discovered and excavated the Minoan town at Gournia. She was the first woman to direct a major field project in Greece, her crew consisting of over 100 workers.
Excited

Minoan Palaces
Article – Peter M. Warren
- "One of the best sources of information about the social structure and culture of Bronze Age Crete is not linguistic but architectural: the Minoan Palaces"
- General features: Central Court, Palace surrounded by a township off the court  storage, religious areas, function areas
- "Great power was concentrated in these elaborate structures: both the secular and the religious authorities of Minoan societies lived in them"
- Palaces had religious, political and secular function, as well as economic activity
- Function: political, economic, religious
Economic: Foreign Trade and agriculture
Political: society ruled by someone operating out of the palace
- "Bronze age society on Crete was hierarchical but not divisive"  lived in relative harmony
- Geography and outline of Knossos, Phaestos, Malia and Zakros
- All palaces located on coastal zones
- "The fact that all these unfortified sites are in the coastal zone raises the possibility that Crete's geographic situation was a significant factor in the development of civilisation there"
- 1st Trend: establishment of closely knit agricultural settlements
- 2nd Trend: communities formed subunits of village
- 3rd Trend: establishment of territories around
- 3 social trends in the development of palaces
- "The unthreatening physical setting at the palaces suggests they were built with the collective acceptance of the rest of the community"
1. Harmonious existence
2. Not worried about other villages attacking
3. No fear of invasion
Collective acceptance of this social hierarchy

- Age of palaces: 1930-1450 BC (ended with "massive episode of destruction") height of design of palace: 1450 BC  kept on improving design and architecture
- Influenced by other near eastern civilisations: Mesopotamia and Egypt  architecture
- Knossos 2x size of Malia and Phaestos, 4x Zakros
- Mycenaeans occupied  not purely Minoan
- "When their economic, religious and political functions are taken into account, the palaces must be considered the chief material expression of the structure of Minoan society"
- Unsure whether absolute control in palace, or operated independently (did the palaces control the towns?)
- "The major question in relation to the trade of the Minoan economy is that of control"
CHAPTER ONE: AN INTRODUCTION TO MINOAN CRETE

• First encounter with Minoan Crete  legends told by Greeks  Minotaur Myth

Geography
 Crete is 260 kilometres from east to west, and no more than 60 km from north to south.
 The surrounding waters have always provided the Cretans with food: fish, octopus and shellfish. The sea also offered safety, for invaders needed to provide themselves with large numbers of ships in order to have any chance of success.
 The Minoans evidently did not feel the need to build walls around most of their towns, and there are very few sites where defence walls have been found.
 The absence of fortification made Minoan settlements very different from the cities of other people during the Bronze Age.
 Crete is very mountainous; the three most important mountain ranges are the White Mountains, in the west of the island, the Ida range in central Crete, and the highlands around Mt Dikte in eastern Crete. All these ranges exceed 1800 metres in height, and some peaks reach as high as 2400 metres.
 The lower slopes of the highlands were thickly covered with threes, especially cypress. These trees provided wood for building works, and it is likely that some of the timber was exported to Egypt, which has always been short of timber.
 The Minoans used stone to make walls and exteriors for their buildings, pave their courtyards and pathways, and provide the material for the beautiful stone vessels they used so extensively. The mountains of Crete are pocketed with caves, and Cretans have been used for shelter, burials and refuge.
 The Cretan coast contains good farming land, where Olives, grapes, lemons, mulberries, pears and other fruits, almonds and a wide range of vegetables were grown. Above the valleys are a number of plateaux, and Cretans cultivated crops such as barley, emmer, wheat, olives and grapes.
 They also hunted wild fowl and game. The diet of the people was wider in variety than those that many societies of the time could provide.

CHAPTER 2: SOCIETY IN BRONZE AGE CRETE

Society
 Homer said that in Crete there were many different peoples living in no fewer than ninety cities, and that at Knossos there was a great city where Minos was king. There, according to Homer, Minos began a new cycle of rule every ninth year.
 Another piece of written evidence providing information about early Cretan society is the Gortyn Law Code. This list of laws tells us what the laws were for the different classes of Cretans living in the early sixth century BC. We do not know how old the laws are, so we cannot be sure if Bronze Age Crete had the same social structure as it did in the 6th Century, although at least one major scholar thinks that there were parallels.
 Herodotus tells us that nearly all the Cretans left Crete in about 1400 BC and went to live on the island of Sicily. Then, because Crete's population had dropped so much, other people came to live on Crete. A short time later, plague and famine hit the island and again the population was reduced. Herodotus concludes that the Cretans of the 5th Century BC were a mixture of the older Cretans and the settlers who had arrived after the time of the famine.
 Thucydides (460-401BC), said that the Cretan king ruled over all the people in the Aegean and that he maintained control by the use of his ships. Archaeologists have not been able to find evidence of Minoan colonies in the Cycladic Islands. While these three Greek writers have given us interesting information about the tradition of Bronze Age Crete, each one of them lived long after the collapse of the civilisation.

WRITTEN SOURCES:
 Homer 500 BC
 Herodotus 495 BC
 Thucydides 460 – 401 BC
(All written after the time of Bronze Age Crete)
 Gorton Law code – written evidence, list of laws tells is what the laws were for different classes of Cretans living in the early 6th Century BC – do not

ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOURCES:
 Frescoes
 Artefacts
 Architecture – palace (size of dwellings) – townships (position of dwellings)

Scholar Information
Homer o Island, fertile o Language mixed with language o Many people, 90 cities o Knossos great city ruled by Minos o Minos began a new cycle of rule every 9th year (either new ruler or renewal of rule by some special rite or ceremony – similar to Egypt)
Herodotus o Cretans left Crete 1400 BC and went to Sicily then more people came to live on Crete o Plague and famine hit and made population go down again o Multicultural thriving port
Thucydides o 5th BC Greek historian. Cretan king ruled over all people in the Aegean o Maintained control by the use of ships. First person to establish navy o Family ties important (nepotism – appointing family and friends) o Shows hierarchy – Minos powerful, navy can expel people o Organised society o Wealth, sophistication o Government structure advanced – system of taxation o Thalassocracy  although not enough evidence o Sensationalised evidence  actors

The Archaeological evidence

The ruler • Name or title Minos
• Cannot be sure if kings existed in the Bronze Age Crete (only from fresco fragments and myth)
• Palace  king?
• Perhaps "temple tomb", throne room  could be female due to broad buttocks – equality of females
• Can by represented as the god or ‘protector of the site'
EVIDENCE:
 Prince of the Lillies Fresco
 Throne room  Griffin in the background – female figure so female ruler? Broad buttocks
 Master Impression Seal found in ruins of Khania – super large figure of a man above an elaborate shrine or palace. Size and pose – god in role of protector of site – King
 Temple tomb – Mycenaean but unsure of specific grave
 Seal of the Mother of the Mountains
 Grandstand Fresco
 Sacred tree and dance fresco – shows nobles and wealth
 Ruler portrayed as protector of the site on clay seal
 Intricate painting of the ruler on a vase – said to be only painting of Minos ever found
The wealthy class EVIDENCE:
 Seals, rings and in frescoes (wealthy or privileged class) – well dresses with jewellery
 Aghia Triadha Vase
 The Sacred Tree and Dance Fresco – men as a troop of soldiers being directed by a captain
 Harvesters Vase – elderly man leading a band of singing men in an agricultural festival, farming
 Rich jewellery found in tombs
 Large luxurious houses
- Women are portrayed as bigger sometimes  women of status within the Minoan people
- People in general are portrayed bigger than others
- Admirals Fresco on Akrotiri
- Comparisons of houses in Gournia to the villas and palaces
- Throne in throne room near the courtyard
- Men with long gowns and worn like a toga – priests with axes (labyrs – double headed axe) (sacrifices) many women of wealthier class prominent in scenes  jewellery, layered skirts, little jackets and ornate hairstyles (priestly or adorant roles – detected in gold ring pictures)
Scribes
(role to record transactions in the palace, they had an administrative role) • Most knowledgeable people concerning various industries, because one or more scribes would record all the information relating to that industry (big responsibility therefore height on social ladder)
• Administrative role
EVIDENCE:
 Discovery of the clay tablets with information on them – can differentiate between them by handwriting
 Phaestos Disc
Artisans and Artists • Skilled workers (from Masons – cut stone blocks and sheets for rich buildings..to workers in faience, gold and bronze) – particularly skilled were artisans who engraved stone seals – "gem cutters"
• Assume that they were ranked more highly than other because the work was difficult and requires skill
• Some probably had small farms where they grew their food and took on craft work for extra income
EVIDENCE:
 Artefacts, buildings
Farmers • Important animal-husbandry economy  relied on herding and farming for their basic means of survival
• Lived in clusters of houses in small farming communities
EVIDENCE:
 Products listed on tablets and dockets – were attached to storage jars and boxes (Linear A and Linear B)
 Harvesters Vase
 Geological and natural resources, fertile land etc
 Clusters of houses found in farming and fishing communities
 Harding and farming for survival
 Refuge towns found in hills for grazing during summer months
 They had farm animals and bulls – someone had to care for them
 The fact that tombs were built on infertile land shows knowledge about the earth and where is good for cultivation
 Koulouras found at Knossos and other palaces suggest means of storing grain and produce
 Products listed on tablets and dockets
 Zakro Rhyton – gold leaf – depicts top shrine with wild goats, hawks and rocky landscape
Fisherman • Fish not in tablets but presumption  presence on pottery of sea creatures and plants (therefore very familiar with the sea)
• Place could have been Zakro – purple dye industry which relied on shellfish  murex mollusc (provided the dye had to be harvested in great numbers from the sea)
EVIDENCE:
 Geographic attributes of Crete would make us presume that they would revolve around the sea
 Presence of sea creatures and plants in Minoan pottery shows familiarity to the sea
 Clusters of houses in farming and fishing communities
 Fishhooks
 Products listed on tablets and dockets
Labourers • Labouring jobs in quarries and forests
• Laboured for others on larger farms e.g. Vathy Petro
EVIDENCE:
 Harvesters vase portrays ordinary farm workers – farming
Slaves • Cannot be sure about the Minoan period
EVIDENCE:
 Large storage in palaces and villas – more than for the people who simply lived in the palace
 To have the palace system that was present at Knossos – needed to have slaves to run
 Large buildings or clusters of buildings too large for single wealthy family
 Tablets use word ‘doelai' which mean slaves or servants
 Linear B tablets used word for ‘slave' – "slaves" are "slaves of god" – might mean servant
The Family • No representation of family groups in Minoan Art
• Family shared conditions, buried together in family and clan tombs
Women • Played important role during 2nd palatial period (Neo palatial)
• Not clear from evidence what specific role
• Occupations: women weavers (EVIDENCE: Linear A and B tablets from palatial archives), potters (EVIDENCE: Frescoes – lighter skin depicted)
• Participated in social events
• Priestesses
• Athletes
• Wealthy Class
• Cult of Mother Goddess
EVIDENCE:
 Snake goddess statue
 Sphinx/Griffin in the background in throne room
 Throne too wide to be for a male
 Special shower and quarters within the palace of Knossos
 Mother of mountain seal – represents Demeter – prominent mother goddess

Permeated: spread through every part of
Theocracy: a government ruled by or subject to religious authority (a system where religion was an important part of the government)

Who ruled Crete?
- could have been priest king  someone who ruled like a god on earth, priestess and priest
EVIDENCE:
 Mother of Mountain Seal – showing power, hierarchy, asking gods for blessing – priestess

EVIDENCE FOR A MALE RULER:
 Painting found on pot- thought to be Minos
 Master of Impression Seal
 Homer and Thucydides accounts of Minos
 Legend of Minos and Minotaur

EVIDENCE: FOR A FEMALE RULER:
 Throne in the room at Knossos is slightly too wide for a male – wider hips and buttocks for a woman
 The mother of the Mountain Seal because women had power, hierarchy, asking gods for blessing, represents goddess, animals respecting her below her – male showed power but females showed nurturing – on her sacred mountain flanked by lions, left is a shrine with sacred bulls horns on the right, man salutes the goddess
 Living quarters at Knossos palace with the shower room and the Dolphin Fresco
 Sphinx/Griffin – female symbol
 Snake goddess faience statuettes found at Knossos a – found at homes and small shrines – house goddess, domestic ‘mother figure' again, snake symbol of the earth and home
 Votive offering of clay human figurines are always female (one site exception) – symbolises importance
 Tablets as evidence (Lady of the Labyrinth)
 Faience statuette of the ‘Mother Goddess' – made of glazed pottery or faience, 35 cm tall, found at Knossos. Wears a tall hat or crown with a snake coiled around it, arms stretched out in front of her, each hand has a snake
 Ring bezel found in shaft grave at Mycenae – woman goddess seated under a tree – female worshippers bringing poppies as offerings
 Karphi Goddess with the upraised arms – slashed poppies in her crown
 Sacred tree and dance fresco – shows nobles and wealth, females dancing, sacred tree which represents Eastern Goddess Asherah – symbol of the tree ‘ishassara' – celebrating the female goddess
 The ring of Minos – depicts priestesses steering a shrine laden boat across the bay. On the shore there are three separate shrines or temples shown, one with a presiding goddess indicating sacred horns on her alter and two with sacred trees growing out of them. Points to existence of a sea shore cult of the sea to religion – again depicts importance
 Linear A script says ‘Potnia' – name for Mother goddess (double axe and possibly snake and pillar her symbols)

Polytheistic  more than one god
Prist King  a ruler who was also a religious leader – theocratic leader

CHAPTER THREE: HOUSES AND PALACES

There is no doubt that the Minoans derived many of their ideas from the Near East (e.g. the concept of towns, the idea of administration, the use of cylinder seals. Writing on clay tablets, figurative motifs in art etc). It is also clear that the presence of an internal courtyard within a large building was a Near Eastern idea. Given the strong possibility that Minoans originally migrated from some place in Anatolia, it is not surprising that they should adopt and adapt ideas from the Near East. However it is clear from the architecture and masonry evident within these early palaces that the Minoans developed their own palatial concept, for the Prepalatial structures at Myrtos and Vasilike contain many elements that appear in the earliest palaces.

The first palaces were built around 2000 BC. Knossos seems to have been the first, but Phaestos and Malia were also very early constructions. Archaeologists are hampered by the fact that few First Palace remains have been found, while many structures

Origins of the palaces
• Inspiration and building techniques derived from the Near East (Anatolia and Egypt) – some say just larger than houses built in pre palatial
• Derived many ideas from near east  EVIDENCE: concept of towns, idea of administration, use of cylinder seals, writing on clay tablets, figurative motifs in art and internal courtyards (adaptive structure)  Minoans may have migrated from Anatolia – always travelling there
• Not many palaces found because destroyed
Insulae  apartment blocks, proto palaces

First Palaces  2000BC-1700BC • Knossos then Phaestos and Malia
• Grouped around courtyard in clusters – ‘insulae' – apartment blocks
• Later constructions like these to form a continuous façade
• 1700BC earthquake/volcanic upheaval destroyed palaces
• Mixture of remains due to instant rebuilding of first palaces with the second palaces
Second Palaces  1700BC-1450BC • Rebuilt on grader scale and new ones (Aghia Triadha, little palaces, Arkhanes, Galatos)
• Central courtyard made larger and rectangular, rooms surrounding joint in façade
• Light wells – more decorative architectural elements – grand staircase and propylon
Pillared portico (entrance) framed 2 sides of courtyard – columned court
Mycenaean Settlement  1450BC – 1375BC • Majority of palaces abandoned
• Knossos, Little Palace and Khania reoccupied
• Rebuilding done not as fine (Throne room in good shape)
• Major palatial administrative centre at Khania after 1375 BC

Architecture of the Palaces
• Made up of multi storey apartments, four wings around an enormous rectangular central court – large reception halls, banqueting halls, shrines, workshops, storerooms, luxurious quarters
• External areas – paved courts, Theatral areas
• Palaces were administrative and economic centres – politicians and religious leaders lived and
• treasures stores – not fortified – security

Courts • Multiple activities conducted here
• Workrooms, numerous religious activities, public meetings and spectacles
• Open air religious ceremonies – conducted in relative privacy Grandstand Fresco
• Sacrifices and processions
• Large area where public activities could have taken place – generally rectangular but variations at Gournia and Aghia Triadha
Complexity • Palaces = much larger and much more complex than villas. Many rooms, light wells, more sophisticated drainage facilities. Large storage areas, (good for paying wages and trade)
• Religious rooms and areas, open altars, pillar rooms and adytons
Frescoes • Damage caused by earthquake and fire. Richer villas as well
• Ritualistic or religious character – Aghia Triadha and Knossos
Building practices • Planned palaces to be practical  agglutinative for expansion – central focus permitted this
• Knossos – rooms spread out from it
• Standard unit of weights and a standard unit of length (Minoan foot 30.36 cm)
• Design differed from one palace to another
Theatral Areas • Knossos, Phaestos, Aghia Triadha, Gournia and Malia
• Occasionally combined with central courts
• Shallow steps for audience to sit and watch
 Remains of fresco pieces found at Knossos – can see that public displays took place in such places, shows Theatral area
• Religious, dancing – earliest forms of religious expression. Public displays
Drainage and Water supplies • Palaces and villa – open cut channels made of stone as well as terracotta pipes
• At Knossos all courts and light wells linked via conduits under the floor level – excess water was thus drained from the palace – prevent flooding
• Water supply coming from hills nearby. Via conduits
• Zakro – freshwater cistern and a fountain – votive offerings – religious purpose
• Arkhanes and Knossos – large circular reservoirs with descending steps – water supplies
Domestic quarters • Roomy apartments
• Adyton will be found in near proximity to each of the Minoan Halls
The upper floors • Seldom survived
• Royal family upstairs where it was light and airy – countryside views – upper storeys have important rooms e.g. banquet halls, rooms for relaxation – keep prized religious items were kept in storage here – papyrus rolls and Linear A and B tablets
• Column bases from upper levels – rooms large enough to need columns
Workrooms • Extensive areas that functioned as workrooms for artisans – weaving upstairs, where light was good
• Phaestos – workrooms found – furnace
• Knossos – kiln
• Bronze working – in all the palaces – only occasional evidence
• Zakro and Aghia Triadha – clay foundries. Malia – slag deposits
Storage • Storage rooms (magazines) – east to identify, huge pithoi or pottery jars  tablet records of what was stored in jars (linen rolls, clothing, oil, wine beans and chickpeas)
• First palace – Koulouras
• Storerooms (Knossos, Malia, Phaestos) magazines – enormous capacity – W. Magazines at Knossos – oil – pithoi would hold 60 000 litres – linen and wool and had room for stockpiles of wine, honey, pulses and grain
• Valuable items e.g. gold and ivory – specially lined cavaties in the floor
• Others for palace archives – Linear A and B tablets have been found
• Important elements of the architecture of the palaces
Architecture • 1900 BC – architecture took shape – innovations  light wells, polythra and door frames near corners, columns, alternating columns, pillars and staircases  inspired by the same aesthetic principals that dominated Minoan Art
• Polythryra and light wells = strong contrast of light and shade, variety of colour and rich decoration = atmosphere of constant motion
• Façades – monumental entrances, roofs of varying heights – impressive and picturesque – external mass softened by light and colour, contours made looser and perfectly adapted to surrounding nature
• Palace architecture reflected needs of a hierarchical and centralised society – planning and functionalism reveal influence from Middle East and Egypt

CHAPTER FOUR: ARTISANS AND ARTISTS

Artisans:
• Found remnants of the work and tools of artisans. They were attached to palatial centres
• Linear B tablets refer to men and their work. There were female artisans too – most in the textile industry
• Through archaeology, Minoan artisans pursued a large range of activities: scribes, potters, metal workers, leather workers, glass and faience artists, painters, sculptors, engravers and jewellers
• Building trades: carpenters, plumbers, plasterers and roof tilers (may have been specialist or may have been a master of several trades)
• The town of Gournia shows many trades: fishing, weaving, bronze castings, stone – vase making and carpentry
• Every palace contained areas specifically set aside for artisans and their workrooms (Phaestos and Knossos, they were situated in the NE section of the palace) at Zakro, grouped in the S area and in the SW section of the palace, also among houses in the town
• In Malia, people worked in the town as well as the work places in the northern area of the palace

The olive-oil industry
Commodity (product)  used in trade • One of the most important activities was the production of olive oil
• Some oil siphoned off for use in perfume industry (luxury item)
 Olive presses used to extract oil found in Vathy Petro near Arkhanes and in other places
 Large numbers of oil jars found destroyed in palaces
Smaller industries (with only a few workers in each area e.g. members of a family group • Purple dye industry – ‘tyrian purple' – small luxury industry. Known establishment in Kastro (Minoan settlement on island of Kythera) and in Zakro palace (where basins were set into benches)
 Also large deposits of crushed murex mollusc shells show that purple due had first been extracted in Crete
Perfume industry  clean dirt from the body (soap), sprinkled on clothing for aesthetic reasons. Important luxury items of Minoan trade
 Perfume workshop in room XLVII in South Wing of Zakro palace
 Evidence of small jars, crucibles and fire boxes in Zakro too
 Olive presses found in Vathy Petro
 Large numbers of oil jars found destroyed in palaces
The bronze industry – commodity  bronze artefacts trade  Compound metal (alloy) usually made from a mixture of copper and tin, though other elements are sometimes added to the copper
 Furnaces found in Aghia Triadha, Phaestos and Zakro (show Minoan bronze industries)
 Traces of slag found in NW area of Malia show that bronze making operations were flourishing in many of the places
 Imported copper and tin and made bronze ingots for other people
 Linear B tablets record a specialist sword workshop at Knossos in Mycenaean times. Swords travelled widely throughout the Aegean from here. Large numbers found in the warrior grave burial around Knossos (LMII) with spearheads and daggers (a lot of bronze work just for burials)
 At Knossos; bronze cauldrons, labyrs, votive figurines, knives, cleavers and small bronze tools
 Further indication of bronze weapons from the Sword Tablets at Knossos (50 swords or daggers)
 Large numbers of weapons listed on the tablets therefore Knossos palace had an arsenal of weapons, distributed to warriors during any emergency (tablets also mention chariots – produced by skilled artisans. Wheels dismantled and stored separately (e.g. Tut's tomb) bodies painted crimson and decorated, wheels made of willow and elm wood (according to tablets) chariots stored at the palace in Mycenaean times)
 Egyptian tomb paintings show the Keftyw (thought to be Minoans) giving such ingots to the Egyptian king as a gift.
The stone carving industry • Carving of special types of stones to make vase and lamps
• Workshops easily identified
 Vases and lamps numerous examples found in palaces and palatial villas
 Chips of marble and partly worked blocks of coloured marble used by stone carvers – One in NE quarter in Knossos palace and Malia and Zakro
The wine industry  Linear A – suggests only small amounts therefore commodity for wealthier classes
 Linear B – increased quantities of wine in Mycenaean times
 Vessels used for processing grapes found in villas

Artists:
• Painters constitute a special category
 Tell el Dab'a, Egypt's Delta in the Hyksos palace – fragments of Minoan pottery  familiar bull leaping people in Minoan dress also chunks featuring the Knossian maze pattern with images of animals, plants and flowers in Minoan paintings in Crete

Must be Minoan because technique differs from that of other nationalities living there at the time. Secret to lay a final coat of fine lime plaster prior to painting. Colour rangy typically Minoan and buon fresco (wet) and fresco secco (dry) techniques used.

 Tell Kabri in Israel – frescoes depicting Minoan themes – plant motifs
 In Syria – fresco fragments from Prince Yarim – Lin's palace at Alakh – grasses waving in the wind. Bull horn fragment recovered from this site, technique indisputably Minoan
 Tell Kabri – palace with rooms with two plastered floors. One painted grid pattern and figures and other with wall and floor fresco work. Yellow and white checker board floor, marbling effect known for Minoan and Theran art. Chains of iris blossom – typical Minoan.

CHAPTER FIVE: INDUSTRIES

The Textile Industry
• Earliest evidence of Minoan textiles dates back to 2300BC (sheep herded all over Crete)
• Myrtos SE of Crete  evidence for wool as well as linen textile manufacture – many loom weights, spindles (for spinning thread), characteristic spinning bowl with an internal handle that was used all over the Mediterranean for the wetting and keeping taut of linen thread during the spinning process
• Textile expert claims trade with Egypt in about 2000 BC
• Linear B (Mycenaean tablets – 1950s John Killen) – knowledge about Minoan textile industry. Woollen industry based on the farming of weathers = provided the raw wool for the textile industry at Knossos (weather = long fleece and fine wool, kg wool)
• On tablets, 100 000 sheet listed at Knossos per year
• Mostly run by women, female overseers. Male workers handled rugs
• Textiles made in an assembly line arrangement – groups of specialised workers – only focused on one aspect of production (‘specialised division of labour')
• Carders combed fleece to get rid of dirt and plant material, some washed, spinners (spinning the flax or wool into thread) weaving, finishing and dyeing
• Bronze Age loom weights all over Crete. Some disc shaped, some cuboid, some round
• Tablets show that women expected to produce different types of cloth (some coarse, fine, special weave). Finishers of embroiders for extra attention, stored in palace magazines. Males handled heavy rugs
• Workers paid rations  Almost certain the textile workers and their children were slaves
• A series of tablets  no. of textile workers at Knossos above 500 (Killen says over 1000). Realised some tablets like the ones we have must have been destroyed
• Very numerous industry – palace controlled industry

The Pottery Industry
• Important for dating historical periods and understanding how they lived (freq. changes in pottery style = sequence of dates) – dating completely based on changing Minoan pottery styles (Evans)
• Earliest pottery in Crete was probably made by women, because they needed pots for the preparation of foods and textiles
• These types of vessels changed very slowly – women tied to their families to homes and village centres but men had much more exposure  new ideas from outside village
• Palaces were focal point for craftwork b/c trade centres – needed large numbers of vessels for the storage and transport of items being traded
• An age where specialisation of craft was necessary, male potter had more time to refine pottery design and decoration therefore many different varieties of Minoan pottery in palace times  thus advertising for trade
• Attractive pots helped sell the goods they contained, changed in packaging attract new and previous buyers, therefore designs changes every generation or so
• This rapid change is good – use decorated pottery vessels and fragments to give us dates for the various periods of Minoan history
• EM II – time of social reorganisation, technological changes and changes in pottery
• At Myrtos, found potters turntables – invented this time. Also the Koumasa ware appeared as well as the mottled-brown and reddish ware produced near Vasiliki  produced by raising and lowering temperature of kiln during firing (bird shaped vase popular)

Pottery industry had to be the most intensive and biggest because:
 Must have been mass produced because it began as a necessity for preparation for food and textiles
 They became focal points of craftwork when the palaces came into being, because they were the distribution points of trade in Greece
 Became to foci for trade beyond Crete and needed a large number of vessels for storage and transport of the items being traded
 Pots became bought for attractivity as well – as they helped sell goods and changes in packaging attracted new and previous buyers, designs changes every generation or so – proof that there was demand because it went on for generations as well as the fact that it could change its style constantly show its scale
 Potters turntables in EM II (Myrtos) – new styles still appearing e.g. Koumasa and the mottled brown and reddish ware produced near Vasiliki
 New techniques developed in EM II – raising and lowering the temperature of the kiln during firing – so many different techniques and styles (white on dark designs in EM III)
 As living standards improved, new styles and invention of the potters wheel – suggests that the volume of work was increased
 Consistent shape and size of the utilitarian cups indicate that someone was imposing standards for the potters to follow – effect of palace organisation (MM I)

CHAPTER 6: SCRIBES AND WRITING

A literate society?
• Very few civilisations had writing
• First Europeans to develop writing (advanced and sophisticated, not war like – had time to develop culture)
• Mycenaeans influence by Minoan style of writing
• Only palaces needed to keep records in Bronze age times – people did not even need to write their names because they stamped their records with seals that had pictures on them

Hieroglyphic script  a form of writing in which pictures are used to represent words
Scribes  an official who could read and write and kept administrative records

1. Sources of writing have mainly been found in palaces and some large villas (therefore scribes lived and worked in the palaces)
2. Must of their writing seems to be accounts and records, they kept very accurate records of transactions  organised, structure gave the palace and the King a great deal of control over the economy, sophisticated
3. Initially employed a hieroglyphic script which involved a linear script
4. 3 different forms of writing:
a) Hieroglyphic
b) Linear A
c) Linear B

The Phaestos Disc and hieroglyphic script  Terracotta disc, featuring the earliest form of writing on Crete – hieroglyphs – undeciphered but suggests the sophistication of the Minoans
 The only lengthy piece of writing found
 Script – pictorial character – earliest examples found on seals
 Small number of surviving texts (Knossos, Phaestos, Malia)
 Script is undeciphered (45 different symbols)
 No uniformity in the direction the script is written
 Major archaeological source is the Phaestos disc (one of the most lengthy pieces of writing and earliest)
Linear A (1650 – 1450 BC)  Similarities with pictographs on Phaestos disc – gradual progression shown
 Local variations
 Use up to neo-palatial period (2nd palace)
 Composed with lines not pictures
 Wide distribution of use – 20 different sites, different objects and materials (e.g. papyrus  Egyptians only use papyrus, shows trade and relationship) And different islands e.g. Thera (shows trade, migration and travel) predominantly found on clay (mortars, door jambs, gold artefacts, bronze table)
 Written on damp clay with a stylist
 200 inscriptions found
Linear B (from 1400 BC)  Mycenaean script (takeover of Crete)
 Evidence from 1400 BC
 Most prolific number of tablets found on Crete are Linear B
 Is a form of early Greek but does employ some principles of Linear A (Minoans still present)
 Provides evidence of Mycenaean control

CHAPTER 7: ADMINISTRATION

Bureaucracy and Bureaucrats
• Lack of a key for deciphering Linear A
• The well organised distribution of space in palace reflects a strictly hierarchical and centralised administrative system
It is a Minoan Bureaucracy  government officials appointed rather than elected
Bureaucratic administrative system which permeated society  over 200 records found written in Linear A relating to accounts

Type of administrative system  a palace orientated bureaucracy (organised government which focused around the palace) we know from tablets found

Pre-Palatial • First took place before the palaces were built – do not completely understand the system
• Early administrative signs – hieroglyphic script used by officials – very few records found
• Town of Malia – built close to palaces, divided into quartiers (sectors) and given Greek alphabet names. Quartier Mu = biggest collections of pre-palatial written records
• Few scribes, some worked recording quantities of goods arriving in houses
• Scribes stamped clay nodules with crescent shaped seal stones to show that the good had been received
• Earliest sealings on tablets, medallions, nodules and cones but early records do not have holes which they could have been attached to goods
• Similar to Linear A administration and Linear B records in the Hieroglyphic stamps or written logos. Thus, system of administration was developed in the pre palatial period
• Clay tablets, palm leaves or papyrus
• Phaestos disc found in Palace of Phaestos
Proto/Second Palatial • Linear A script, many words, numbers and signs. Deciphered by Faure on a Pithos found in Zakro. They had a numerical system, Linear B based this on Linear A
• Most records found in palaces and some important houses
• Gaining sophistication in administration – trade growing e.g. 2 vases with Linear A found in Troy
• System really conducted through palaces
• Development of numerical system – vital for administration
Third Palatial • 1450 BC Mycenaean took over Minoan system of administration
• Language was Mycenaean Greek using Minoan scribes (LM II – LM III B)
• Knossos palace – largest amount of Linear B tablets. Pylos in Greece has huge stores of administrative material in Linear B
• Linear A had numerous transactions on one tablet but Linear B groups its subjects on each tablet, and most tablets draw lines between rows of records
• Purpose to control textiles and bronze industry, to record amount of taxation coming into palaces
• Taxation charged in kind (goods not money) – different areas paid by local products e.g. honey and barley, flax or wool