Week 2 Essay History

Lesson 10
Write a summary of the history of Minoan Crete.

Summary: 488 words

CB.
History
3/14/17

    Homer's The Iliad uncovered the Minoan civilization thriving 5000 years ago; it was a prosperous civilization that was at its peak estimated from 3650 to 1400 BC, this belonging to a period of Greek history. It was a civilization existing before Mycenaean civilization and Ancient Greece. No one knew there was any civ. before the Mycenaean’s, it was a surprise. The Minoan civilization used to be a legend; the archeologists took a long time to find its secrets. They were on the island of Crete during the Bronze Age. We don’t know much about the Minoans religious practices, it's a mystery, as some information is lost with ancient history. Minoan civ. Stretched across their whole island. // They had their own writing system, which seems to be for categorizing and recording things. It’s called Linear A and has not yet been deciphered. There is not enough code to crack it, though even if we did understand Linear A, it would not tell us much of importance in religious beliefs or values. // They had impressive palaces which hints royalty lived there. But the evidence for Minoan kings comes later. // (some ideas contradict) Palaces may at first have been religious centers, shrines, and sacred caves, but we cannot make any sense of their religion and modern historians are still in the dark about it. Though we know they were devoted to their religion. Some religious practices were to be adopted by the Greeks and mixed in with their mythology. // They had a palace economy, one of redistribution, share the wealth. This means "give us what you make and we will evenly split it up." // In culture, the Minoans art was spread as far as Italy and Egypt. This means they had contact with various (far) places since we find their art there. It's a footprint in the dust. Their craftsmanship was popular.  Minoan pottery (or Kamares) was made eggshell thin, that shows the good craftsmanship. Mycenaean’s were greatly influenced by Minoan culture (they are a later civ.). On this minoan pottery, they had designs of different colors, precise, with great technique. For example, one piece had a picture of people bull jumping, this could allude to their religion, or maybe  entertainment/competition. Minoans weren't perfect. There was a dark side to the Minoan civilization, human sacrifices. Though based on their frescos they were not violent people in terms of fighting and war. // People say the Minoans were dominant in power. This is hard to determine now because, later, the Minoans adapted Linear B which is Greek. Code crackers have deciphered Greek. The Minoans thriving culture is then brought to a sudden end. That is also the end the "Minoan period". Their much more war-like neighbors take over. Their palaces are destroyed. Their civilization is gone. Other theories as to why they came to such a sudden disappearance float around. (A volcano, tsunami, etc.) Nonetheless, they ended.

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links:
Excavation site image: https://www.archaeology.org/images/MJ2015/Minoans/Minoans-Crete-Gournia-Aerial-Excavation.jpg

map of Crete:
http://www.humanjourney.us/images/MinoanCreteMap.gif (it's not a real gif..)

Frescos:
http://ritualgoddess.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/MinoanMuralTrans.jpg
http://www.irequireart.com/i/artwork/659-image-1600-1600-fit.jpg
http://bowenplace.com/travels/crete_2011/history/01d_bull-leaping.jpg

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beautiful but deadly:
https://knowridge.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/tsunamis.jpg 
tsunami