minoan economy
The economy
Palace economy
The Minoan economy and civilization heavily depended on the cultivation of wheat, olives, grapes and barley
Several industries within the Minoan society had been supported by the Minoan economy such as, textiles, pottery and metal work industries
Minoan palaces became the centre of economic activity and life where manufacturing industries were based in palaces
Produce had been collected, recorded and stored in palaces – evident through a large amount of pithoi vessels found in palace storerooms (farm produce had been recollected and redistributed for local and overseas trade)
Control of overseas trade came from the palaces made evident through Linear A and Linear B tablets consisting of commodities in archive within the Palace of Knossos
This suggests a highly organized bureaucracy and system of record keeping controlling all incoming and outgoing products
Trade
As leading sea traders of their time much of their economic prosperity had been built on the development and foundation of their trading wealth
Egypt, the Cyclades, Cyprus, Libya, Palestine, Asia Minor and mainland Greece were all regions of overseas trade
Trade during this period was based on the principle of barter (no form of coinage had been invented)
Crete became extremely self sufficient in basic necessities (exports balanced imports)
Permanent trading centres had been built around Melos, Keos, Rhodes, Kythera and Miletos on the Anatolian coastline
Imports:
Copper (Sardinia)
Amber (Britain and north west Europe)
Silver (Attica)
Emery (Naxos)
Metal (Messina)
Copper ingots (Cyrpus)
Tin, ivory and lapis lazuli (Levant and Anatolia)
Gold, amethyst and cornelian – semi precious stones (Egypt)
Linen, stone perfume, jars, beads (Egypt)
Exports:
Pottery
Serpentine stone lamps
Lead and bronze figurines (Southern Greece and the Aegean islands)
Gold and silver vessels (Mycenae and Thera)
Cypress timber (Greece, Egypt, Aegean
Palace economy
The Minoan economy and civilization heavily depended on the cultivation of wheat, olives, grapes and barley
Several industries within the Minoan society had been supported by the Minoan economy such as, textiles, pottery and metal work industries
Minoan palaces became the centre of economic activity and life where manufacturing industries were based in palaces
Produce had been collected, recorded and stored in palaces – evident through a large amount of pithoi vessels found in palace storerooms (farm produce had been recollected and redistributed for local and overseas trade)
Control of overseas trade came from the palaces made evident through Linear A and Linear B tablets consisting of commodities in archive within the Palace of Knossos
This suggests a highly organized bureaucracy and system of record keeping controlling all incoming and outgoing products
Trade
As leading sea traders of their time much of their economic prosperity had been built on the development and foundation of their trading wealth
Egypt, the Cyclades, Cyprus, Libya, Palestine, Asia Minor and mainland Greece were all regions of overseas trade
Trade during this period was based on the principle of barter (no form of coinage had been invented)
Crete became extremely self sufficient in basic necessities (exports balanced imports)
Permanent trading centres had been built around Melos, Keos, Rhodes, Kythera and Miletos on the Anatolian coastline
Imports:
Copper (Sardinia)
Amber (Britain and north west Europe)
Silver (Attica)
Emery (Naxos)
Metal (Messina)
Copper ingots (Cyrpus)
Tin, ivory and lapis lazuli (Levant and Anatolia)
Gold, amethyst and cornelian – semi precious stones (Egypt)
Linen, stone perfume, jars, beads (Egypt)
Exports:
Pottery
Serpentine stone lamps
Lead and bronze figurines (Southern Greece and the Aegean islands)
Gold and silver vessels (Mycenae and Thera)
Cypress timber (Greece, Egypt, Aegean