So, the most important conclusion regarding the emergence of the Minoan civilization is this: the early Minoan culture is not directly related to the Neolithic culture of Crete, but was brought by newcomers from Asia, from the east, through the lands of Anatolia. In Mesopotamia, for example, there are numerous analogues of the Minoan culture.
In the Palace of Knossos, wonderful frescoes were discovered depicting acrobats - boys and girls jumping over a rapidly running long-horned bull. They are all dressed the same - a band on the hips, metal belts at the waist. The images highlight their agility, flexibility and fearlessness. The width of the chest, the thinness of the waist, the muscles of the arms and legs are also emphasized. Apparently, all this was considered a sign of beauty. As for the meaning of such dangerous exercises, not only the spectacular, but also the sacred meaning is obvious. It is interesting that among the many Cretan frescoes, only these acrobatic scenes are distinguished by such vital truthfulness as the frescoes depicting nature. The rest contain much more convention.
However, any frescoes by Knossos are beautiful in their own way. How many here, for example, we see female figures and in fact they are all … "Parisians"!
But the formation of the Minoan culture was also influenced by the culture of mainland Greece ("Pelasgians"). For example, the characteristic ornaments of Minoan vases have much more in common with pottery ornaments in mainland Greece (for example, the “Vinca culture”) than with the poor ornaments of the Ubaid culture from the east.
Pomos idol of the Eneolithic era. (Benaki Museum in Athens)
My own Pomos idol from the island of Cyprus. (Original at the Cyprus Archaeological Museum in Nicosia) Obviously, the area of their distribution was the entire territory of the Aegean culture.
It can be considered proven that in the third millennium BC. NS. the Minoans had already sailed to Sardinia. In any case, the ancient tradition says that the Sardis were immigrants from Crete, but so many cultures have changed on this island that it is no longer possible to isolate the Cretan one.
The head of a female figure from the Cyclades. Early period (2700–2300 BC). (Louvre)
The origin of the Minoan (Eteocritian) language is still a linguistic mystery. The fact is that the Cretan letter has only been partially deciphered. This made it possible to determine only some of its morphological characteristics, so it can be argued that it does not belong to Indo-European, nor is it related to Etruscan. As before, so that all sorts of speculators on history do not assert there, the Phaistos disc and all the texts written by "Linear A" cannot be deciphered.
Marble female idols of the canonical type from the Cyclades. The largest is 18.5 cm high. (Museum of Cycladic Art, Athens)
A group of three marble idols. Found in Crete at Tekka near Knossos. (Archaeological Museum of Heraklion)
Interestingly, ancient Egypt was an ally of the Minoans for many years. And on the contrary, their contacts with the opponents of Egypt (the same Hittite kingdom) were not recorded.
It is known that immigrants from Crete also settled in Cyprus. And no wonder why - there are rich deposits of copper ore. The Cretans also colonized a number of islands in the Aegean Sea (for example, the same Cyclades), but then their expansion most likely ran into resistance from the Pelasgians. But with Greece, contacts were established after Crete was captured by the Achaeans. Before that, they apparently had little interest in her.
The so-called "ring of King Minos" (1450-1400 BC). Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out to be a bit harsh. (Archaeological Museum in Heraklion, Crete)
But it is known that the Minoans traded with Ancient Egypt, and exported copper from the island of Cyprus. Egyptian borrowings are seen, for example, in architecture, where the Cretans began to use the column after the Egyptians. But the Minoans, unlike the Egyptians, did not build religious buildings at all. All their religion, apparently, was carried out "on the street" or, in extreme cases, within the walls of the palace. The ability to erect multi-storey buildings up to five stories high indicates that they were able to develop the knowledge of an earlier era, and what they saw in Egypt - to creatively use.
Bull heads are a traditional motif of the culture of ancient Crete. (Archaeological Museum in Heraklion, Crete)
Some are very beautiful, and some are whipped up - the main thing is to look like a bull. (Archaeological Museum in Heraklion, Crete)
And these are bull heads from Chatal-khuyuk. (Museum of Anatolian Civilization in Ankara).
But the actual beliefs of the Minoans were very different from those of the Egyptians. The Egyptians lived for the sake of death and directed all their thoughts to ensure that they provide themselves with an afterlife in the kingdom of Osiris. The cult of the bull was widespread among the Minoans. The essence of the ritual was the ability to jump over the bull or make a stand on his back. The worship of the bull and playing with the bull was characteristic of the peoples of ancient Syria, the Indus Valley, and has survived to this day in Spain in the form of a bullfight.
A sacred vessel in the form of a bull's head from Crete. Stone (black steatite), gold. Rhinestone eyes. XVI century BC, that is, it is 3600 years old. By the way, it was this vessel that served as the prototype of the bull-Zeus for the artist Serov. (Archaeological Museum in Heraklion, Crete)
Archaeological data also indicate that in the Minoan religion (as in other spheres of life), women could play a dominant role. For example, these were the priestesses of the Goddess with snakes, whose figurines were repeatedly found in Crete. There is a hypothesis that the bull represented the masculine principle among the Cretans, and the snake - the feminine one. But it is impossible to verify this, and all attempts to "recreate" the religion of the Minoans, as well as statements that someone has already succeeded in this - pure speculation, designed for the profane. But the most popular motive in the design of ceramics in the late Minoan era was the image of an octopus and … what does it mean, or what does it mean?
The famous Cretan "Goddess with snakes". Height 34, 3 cm. Faience. C. 1600 BC A figurine from the Archaeological Museum in Heraklion.
Today, historians can no longer do without genetic data, and this is what their data say: the settlement of Crete by the male population was associated with people - carriers of the Y-chromosomal haplogroup J2, and its maximum concentration is still observed in Crete. Well, its carriers have their roots in the western regions of Asia Minor, from where its carriers moved to the island in the middle of the 3rd millennium BC. NS.
As for the research of mtDNA, it turns out that the ancestors of the Minoans in the female line are not at all from North Africa, say, from Libya or the same Egypt, but Europeans who arrived in Crete about 9000 years ago from the Peloponnese. This is proved by the maternally inherited mtDNA of the Minoans, which is also found in the modern inhabitants of the island. Moreover, the majority of Minoans had mitochondrial haplogroups H (43, 2%), T (18, 9%), K (16, 2%), and I (8, 1%). The time difference clearly indicates that there were two waves of population on the island, not one. And from this, by the way, such an important conclusion follows that the mysterious Phaistos disc cannot in any way be written in the Slavic language, since its carriers were simply absent in ancient Crete. Recent studies, carried out literally just now, that is, in 2017, show that the inhabitants of the island have Y-chromosomal haplogroups J2a1 (n = 3) and G2a2b2 (n = 1) and mitochondrial haplogroups U, H, X, K.
Another figurine of the "serpent goddess". Both figurines were found by Sir Arthur Evans during his excavations in Crete in 1903. They are made of earthenware and covered with glass glaze, painted with bright reddish-brown and yellowish-green pigments, and were later fired to acquire a glass luster. Today they are in the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion.
The snake goddess from the Walters Art Museum. Another masterpiece of Cretan small sculpture, made of ivory and gold (17 cm high). Her slender figure is dressed in a traditional Cretan ruffled dress, but her arms are raised. A number of clothing details are made of sheet gold, that is, this figurine was most likely of greater value than the two previous ceramic ones.
Interestingly, figures of goddesses with snakes were found in a room next to the palace sanctuary, in special hiding places (boxes made of stone), along with many objects of a clearly cult nature: votive images of women's clothing, painted shells, figurines of flying fish and a marble cross.
An important discovery is the clarification of the dating of the disaster on the island of Santorini, which was carried out by Danish scientists from the University of Aarhus. Thanks to their work, the time of this event is known today with an accuracy of a quarter of a century - between 1627 and 1600 BC. NS. (or 100-150 years older than previously thought).
Labrys - gold this time. Another very important symbol of Minoan culture. (Archaeological Museum in Heraklion, Crete)
To clarify the dating, a petrified olive branch found by archaeologists was used. First of all, it was possible to establish precisely that the tree died precisely during this fatal volcanic eruption. Well, dating itself was carried out by two methods at once: dendrochronological and radiocarbon, and they both gave similar results.
