Minoan civilization

All about Minoan civilization

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Dating of Minoan civilization by n. Playton. He takes into
account not just pottery, but also stages in the life
of palaces, their building, destruction, rebuilding, and final catastrophe. Neolithic
period until twenty six hundred BC. Pre palatial period two

(00:24):
six o two thousand BC. Protopolatial period two thousand seventeen
hundred b C. Neo palatial period seventeen hundred fourteen hundred
b C. Post palatial period fourteen hundred eleven hundred b C.

(00:47):
The period from the introduction of copper until the building
of the first palaces at Nossos, Forestows and Mallia is
described as pre palatial. The protopilacial period covers the time
from their erection until the first great destruction around seventeen
hundred b C. Neopalatial runs from the rebuilding immediately after

(01:13):
this disaster to the final catastrophe at Nossos shortly after
fourteen hundred. The post palatial or Mycenaean period, during which
the three palaces seen to have been deserted, ends with
the Dorian conquest about eleven hundred BC. The Monoan civilization

(01:35):
was centred on the island of Crete, with additional settlements
around the Aegean Sea. Crete is located in the south
of the Aegean, situated along maritime trade routes that connect Europe, Africa,
and the Middle East. The term Monoan is derived from

(01:55):
the name of the mythical king Minus, who the classical
Greeks belot to have ruled Nossos in the distant past.
The three phases, Early, Middle and Late into which artor
Evans divided the Cretean Neolithic, are based on differences in
the pottery. The introduction of copper and its use in

(02:18):
tools and weapons put an end to the primitive Neolithic
way of life. In Crete, a new period began, characterized
by vigorous developments in seafaring and in foreign relations. Contacts
with Egypt, where civilization was further advanced than in Crete
since it had been flourishing since the Old Kingdom of

(02:41):
the Pyramids, but also with Asia Minor and through it
with Mesopotamia, benefited the development of Minoan culture. About two
thousand BC, for the first time, buildings large enough to
deserve the name of palaces were erected at Nossot for
Stows and Mallia. Their rulers were great landowners. The Ample

(03:07):
magazines for agricultural products such as wheat, wine and olive oil,
sometimes stored in vast jars pitoy afford. The proof slavery
already practiced in the East must doubtless have been obtained
in crete two. At the palaces of Nossos and for Stows,

(03:29):
a style of purely palatial character was created surely by
craftsmen employed in the royal workshops. The new pottery, a
marvelous development from the polychrome variety of the last pre
palatial years, is called Cameres. The hallmark of the cames
style is the fantastically the rich proliferation of spiral and

(03:53):
curvelinear designs, carried out in red and white on black ground.
The red pigment can vary in shade from cherry or
Indian red typical of the early phase to orange. The
light on dark technique is sometimes combined with the reverse
dark on light decoration on the same pot The variety

(04:18):
of shapes and af decorative elements is infinite spirals, tassels, rosettes, circles, ribbons,
stripes and lattices, Minoan thlasi, cre se or dominion resting
on sea power, echoes of which were preserved in the
writings of later Greek authors. Kmaer's pottery was found in

(04:42):
the town of Phylocopi in Melos, most probably a Minoan
settlement was already established there. The same pottery has been
discovered at Lerna in the Argolid Inigena. No doubt are
the comparable trading posts serving shipping and commerce existed on

(05:03):
other islands and at various suitable points on the Aegean coast.
In ports of proto palatial pottery in Egypt and Syria
that Biblos and Ugarit proved connections between crete and these countries.
I'm familiar with contacts that existed in Cyprus. At about

(05:25):
seventeen hundred b C. An appalling catastrophe overwhelmed all three palaces.
In all likelihood it was caused by an earthquake, since
many countries in Western Asia from the Troad to Central
Palestine were affected at the same time. The catastrophe of

(05:47):
seventeen hundred b C caused no break in the cultural tradition.
The palaces in the three chief centers of Nossos, for
Stows and Malia were immediately rebuilt. There followed the most
brilliant age of Manoan crete Minoan colonies. Minoan colonies or

(06:09):
trading stations of Neo palatial date existed in various places
in the Aegean, such as Cathra, Melos, Kia, Thera, Scopelos, Rhodes, Carpathos, Melito's,
among others, and probably also in Syria. The Manoans developed

(06:30):
two writing systems, known as Crete and hieroglyphs and Linear A.
Because neither script has been fully deciphered, the identity of
the Manoan language is unknown. Based on what is known,
the language is regarded as unlikely to belong to a
well attested language family such as Indo European or Semitic.

(06:55):
After fourteen fifty BC, a modified version of linear known
as Linear B was used to write Mycenaean Greek, which
had become the language of administration in Crete. Around fourteen
fifty BC, the catastrophe was caused by the terrible eruption

(07:16):
of the volcano of Thera, resulting in a series of
devastating earthquakes in a mighty tidal wave that swept the
north coast of Crete, shattering the Minoan fleet. After fourteen
fifty b C, considerable changes are evident at Nossos which
Evans already considered as proof of a change of dynasty.

(07:40):
The most striking innovation is the invention of new writing
through modification of the linear A script. The new script
linear B was used for keeping records of pallace property,
and the language of these texts is Mycene in Greek.
The first form of the Greek language is known to

(08:03):
us the final catastrophe of the Palace of Nossos around
fourteen hundred b C. The catastrophe was formally attributed either
to an earthquake, such as those responsible for previous disasters,
or foreign incursions by the Achaians rebelling against supposed Monoan
rule in Greece. The legend of theseus has been cited

(08:28):
in support of the second theory his killing of the
minot or symbolizing the destruction of Manoan power by its
former vassals. Eleven fifty b C. When the Hellenic tribes
from the northwest Dorian tribes who had occupied the Peloponis
sailed to Crete and brought and enter the island's ancient

(08:50):
and decadent civilization. The Manoan and Achian populations of Crete
did not disappear completely. They mingled with the intruders and
were gradually absorbed linguistically by the powerful, politically Dominanturian tribes.