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Minoan art is often described as having a fantastical or ecstatic quality, with figures rendered in a manner suggesting motion. Little is known about the structure of Minoan society. Minoan art contains no unambiguous depiction of a monarch, and textual evidence suggests they may have had some other form of governance.
The poppy goddess type, with a round vessel-like "skirt", and two raised hands, and attributes rising from the diadem, a late one Minoan example. Some human figures are quite large, and also painted clay animals, up to the size of a large dog, used as votive substitutes for animal sacrifices ; there is a group from Hagia Triada which includes ...
The inhabitants of Crete were named Minoans by Arthur Evans, after the legendary king. [citation needed] It seems that the Minoans travelled from Crete down to Egypt, Syria and Mari of Euphrates, to Asia Minor and the Black Sea through the Aegean islands, [5] and to the west up to Lipari (Aeolian islands) to the north of Sicily. [6]
The early palaces were destroyed during Middle Minoan II, sometime before c. 1700, almost certainly by earthquakes to which Crete is prone. By c. 1650, they had been rebuilt on a grander scale and the period of the second palaces (c. 1650 – c. 1450) marks the height of Minoan prosperity. All the palaces had large central courtyards which may ...
Minoan wares were already familiar from finds on the Greek mainland, and export markets like Egypt, before it was realized that they came from Crete. In most 19th-century literature they are described as "Mycenaean", and the recognition and analysis of styles and periods had gone some way on this assumption.
The palaces' function is a topic of continuing debate in Minoan archaeology. Despite the modern term "palace", it is generally agreed that they did not primarily serve as royal residences. They are known to have contained shrines, open areas for communal festivals, industrial workshops, as well as storage magazines for large agricultural surpluses.
Akrotiri was buried by the massive Theran eruption in the middle of the second millennium BCE [5] (during the Late Minoan IA period); as a result, like the Roman ruins of Pompeii after it, it is remarkably well-preserved. Frescoes, [6] pottery, furniture, advanced drainage systems and three-story buildings have been discovered at the site. [7]
17th-century engraving of Scylla falling in love with Minos. Minos appears in Greek literature as the king of Knossos as early as Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. [2] Thucydides tells us Minos was the most ancient man known to build a navy. [3]