Minoan
 AEGEAN:  [Cyclades]  [Crete]  [Minoan] [Mycenaean] 

See also:  [Art Periods]
           [Greece]
                  [Art History (index)]
                  [TIME LINE]  (brought to you by Acme Time Conveyor Products)




On this page:  {The Usual Suspects} (art thingies)
               {Religion}
               {Chronology}

Minoan

The island of crete supported what is commonly called 
the Minoan civilisation. It was named this by the great 
archaelogist Sir Arthur Evans who mounted expeditions to
Crete starting 1900 - seeking the legendary -[Palace of Knossos.
Thus, he named the civilisation in honor of King Minos whose 
name was passed down thru Greek mythology and tradition.
Evans is credited with the first attempts to decode Minoan
script and to begin placing object into a historical time-line.

The so-called Theran Hypothesis maintains that around 1450bce
an island volcano exploded in the island of Thera (Thira) and
as a result wiped out the Minoan civilisation. Some geological
evidence indicates that this explosion could have occured as
early as 1630bce. Regardless, the study of Minoan civilisation
(partiuclarly the bronze age) is divided into the "Old Palace"
period (before 1700bce) and "Second Palace" (following 1700bce).
Stokstad (as of 2002) gives these dates as:

      Old Palace 1900 - 1700bce
   Second Palace 1700 - 1450bce
     Late Minoan 1450 - 1375bce

[Stokstad, P. 131] - which she reminds us, that we are bound to 
encounter different dates from various sources, since much of
the dating is relative (based on layers of deposit) rather then
absolute (radiological) evidence. Thus, "All dates are approximations".

Wise words indeed for *all* time travelors.

With the stability of a large island and close trading partners
in the West (Greece), North (the Cyclades), and East (the Anatolia
mainland) it is little wonder that art forms on Crete progressed
so quickly and to such great heights. 


Images

Chief among the accomplishments of the Minoans must surely be
that of the Palace at Knosis. The feat even more impressive 
since the entire region is subject to earthquakes.  [Note 1]



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Chronology

Notes


[1] According to an article by CIESIN scholoars (see ref below)
    an earthquake on Crete itself (rather than the Theran volcanic
    erruption) might have accounted for catastrophe. They estimate
that the quake may have affected the then population  of between 
10_000 to 18_000 in much the same way as recent earthquakes. As 
such, even if a large number of people survived, the devestation 
to the culuture (especially without any external source for 
emergency relief) was most probably as devestating as traditional 
historians have supposed. 

As they point out:

     Earthquake situation on Crete is very different 
     [ie, more earthquakes than the comparison study
     in Pennsylvania] since Crete is located in active 
     subduction zone next to Hellenic arc. Therefore, 
     Crete constantly experiences multiple earthquakes. 
     The Advanced National Seismic System (ANSS) 
     catalogue maintained by the USGS contains 49
     records of seismic activity since 1900 that exceed 
     magnitude of 5.0 with highest magnitude of 6.3 
     in 1972. [P. 5]

 Ref: Y. Gorokhovich* and G. Fleeger**
      *Center of International Earth Science Information 
      Network (CIESIN) at Columbia University, 61 Rt 9W,
      PO Box 1000, Palisades, NY 10964, USA 
      (E-mail: ygorokho@ciesin.columbia.edu)
      **Pennsylvania Geological Survey, Department 
      of Conservation and Natural Resources
http://www.iwaponline.com/ws/00701/0245/007010245.pdf


They go so far as to (using the following map - see note)

   
  [Local figure 3]. Cretan [sic] palaces in releation to 
                  elevations (derived from SRTM) and
  "hydrologic islands" derived from relief values. 

to put forward the idea that local earthquakes *might*
[empahsis mine] supply a model for the events on Crete.

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