In the oldest phase
of Greek history we should not believe
that it is mainland Grece to hold some cultural primacy
over the rest of the Greek world instead the beautiful islands
overlooking the Aegean Sea are the cradle of a whole series of events and fermentations from which sprang new and original forms
of civilization a significant example calls into question
the well-known Cycladic civilization just developed in the Cycladic Islands
archipelago located in the Central Aegean
during the Early Bronze Age the Cycladic civilization
was distinguished by a peculiar form of artistic production that left us a whole series
of stylized marble figurine with probable
funeral destination the most important civilization is the one developed in the geographic area of the island of Crete the Minoan civilization owning its name to Minos the legendary king whose the ancient tradition
has well preserved the memory towards the end of the third millennium
B.C. among the other things in Crete occurred many changes of considerable importance first of all the construction
in various locations of the island Knossos, Phaistos, Mallia of the first palaces around which they begin
to develop real urban agglormeration kind of macro event, in short which for scholars began
the so-called proto-palatial period, destined
to prolong until 1700 B.C. it will only be in the next phase the neo-palatial one
between 1700 and the mid XVth century BC that the Minoan civilization
reaches its peak of maximum splendor as a result of an
unfortunate series of highly destructive events happened for reasons that are
not yet clear most likely, earthquakes,
external attacks or internal turmoil the Cretan palaces were fully rebuilt and expanded in addition, several monumental
structures of the same type seem to interest as well other parts of the region where new buildings are built a typical feature that is somewhat the hallmark of this second neo-palatial phase is a strong cultural homogeneity acting as a common denominator
of the various centres of the island which, according
to many scholars might be the result
of the progressive affirmation of a certain political
hegemony the one exercised by Knossos
over the rest of the island the function of the palaces whose complex and labyrinthine structure probably gave rise to the myth of the Labyrinth it seems to cover multiple aspects as well as being the residence
of the king and therefore embodying the emblem
of political power the palaces become absolutely
relevant centers also in the economic
and sacred field as evidenced by the presence
of food warehouses shops and environments
whose destination clearly refers to the cult
as if to emphasize the control that the
palace exercised on economic activities something which is consistent with the use of writing for administrative and accounting purposes various remains that archaeology unearthed in the archives of these palaces unequivocally attest the presence
of two different graphic systems produced by the Cretans
themselves in the Proto-Palatial period
is widely documented the presence of a syllabic alphabet that consists of ideograms and conventionally defined as "hieroglyphic" but parallel to the hieroglyphics another syllabic system is also attested and intended to remain in use until the end of the palatial phase we are talking about
the so-called Linear A attested not only in Crete but also in many other Aegean islands both the system show examples of a language which is not for sure a Greek language it is probably a language from Anatolia of which we cannot say nothing sure one hundred per cent as for the both of them the deciphering key is still missing today therefore, in the absence of indications
from written sources only the archaeological remains represent the only attested base that allows a plausible reconstruction of what Minoan society was a fair evidence that archeology has brought to light is the remarkable prosperity of the Cretan civilization reflected in the refined ceramic objects in particular the ceramics of Kamares decorated with naturalistic designs we also have seals in stone and ivory jewelry and metallurgy related manufacturing clearly attesting the existence of specialized craftsmanship and characterized by a high degree of technical perfection another interesting aspect that archeology brought forth is the lack of attention towards the military aspects of life in Crete the Cretan palaces unlike those of the Near East and those of the Mycenaeans later on oddly they did not show any fortifications and even the warlike representations seem quite rare in figurative documentation as we can say for the rest about the presence of weapons in funerary related contexts we can probably see at this point that the civilisation that developed in
Crete was a peaceful and non-belligerent one however, we cannot be so sure when we talk about the concept
of Minoan kingship where the documentation
is particularly deficient nothing certain can be said
about Minoan regality when compared, for example,
to the Eastern world in the case of Crete there are no iconographic testimonies of the sovereigns and the theories formulated in this regard with specific reference to a peculiare one which seems to postulate the existence of a kind of theocracy headed
by a priest-king cannot be considered founded due to the lack of documentary
support to confirm consistent are also the uncertainties that make it difficult a plausible
reconstruction of religious beliefs in Crete if on the one hand it is true
that the cult scenes occupy a significant place
in figurative representations providing, among other things,
specific indications on ceremonies, sacrifices
and rituals such as the well-known
bullfighting however, on the other hand,
they say very little that can help us identifying precisely what were the gods taking part
of the Minoic Pantheon a typical example
is the goddess of snake whose identification remains
somewhat problematic as well as other similar figures who are gods for sure but it is not yet clear whether they are distinct deities or a single deity
represented in its many aspects the Minoan civilization,
especially in the palatial phase is widely spread in the Aegean
area and this is a fact as a lot of material production
was found in various places mainland Greece, Cyclades,
Dodecannese the Anatolian coast, Kythera, Rhodes and Miletus recalling also the frequent, intense
and prolonged relations with Egypt that the documentary Egyptian sources attest referring to the Cretans with the term "ketfiu" naturally cultural irradiation related phenomena are not always necessarily accompanied by as many phenomena of political action I mean, the two things do not go together by default if we just take into account the tradition that some ancient sources reports about the thalassocracy
of King Minos i.e. the Cretan dominion over the sea the sources clearly attest that Minos with its powerful fleet not only had imposed his lordship to the Cyclades but he also
eradicated the piracy too reading this material the first instinctive deduction is to admit the existence of a real Cretan maritime empire of immense dimensions in the central eastern Aegean area however, if we turn to archaeology we do not find any evidence at all that seems to highlight or give confirmation of this maritime empire of Crete as a matter of fact, the decline of Crete
did not take long to arrive if we consider that in the mid 15th century BC all the palaces on the island,
except for Knossos were destroyed without being rebuilt historians hypothesized a catastrophic volcanic eruption such as to cause a kind of tsunami which wiped out the Cretan civilization the epicenter of the event
was identified on the island of Thera today Santorini located 100 km north of Crete actually this theory has been discredited nowadays in a certain way this violent earthquake, according
to some historians in reality it might date back to an earlier period of more than a century if compared to the time when the Minoans
became extinct as a matter of fact, thanks to the technological progress precise archaeometric analysis advanced another hypothesis the destruction of Cretan palaces could date back to the end
of the seventeenth century BC carefully examining the appearance of specific variants in the culture of Crete especially the material one
making reference, for example to a new way to bury the dead which shares several features with the one attested in mainland Greece as well as the presence of weapons in the tombs of the dead all of this constitutes an element
of total novelty for a peaceful people therefore these variables seem to suggest
quite another explanation about the collapse of the
Minoan civilization explanation that calls into question
the conquest of the island by an invader of continental origin the Mycenaeans around 2000 B.C. Indo-European groups settled
in Greece and it is precisely these peoples
that history considers the ancestors of the first
millennium Greeks naturally between indigenous people and foreign peoples a progressive fusion took place that would then bring the culture
of the pre-existing populations who had already suffered the Minoan influence to integrated into the orginary cultural substratum the culture of the invaders giving birth to a peculiar civilization that flourished between the 16th and 12th centuries BC we are talking about a very rich civilization as it is clear from archaeology making reference
to the exceptional discovery of some graves that indeed revealed the great wealth of these people the year in question is 1876 and the name of the archaeologist
is quite famous Heinrich Schliemann his excavations in Mycenae,
in the Peloponnese have largely contributed to the definition of "Mycenaean civilization" despite in Mycenae had been found the remains of an important fortified palace however Mycenae was not the only center
of this civilization remains of fortified buildings of Mycenaean age were also found in
Tiryns and Pylos always in the Peloponnese as well as in Thebes and Gla in Boeotia passing through Athens,
the largest centre in Attica and finally to Iolcus in Tessaly and it is also common to various sites the presence of monumental tombs or graves the famous "tholos" tombs probably associated to characters of high status or people of princely lineage therefore archeology would confirm the wealth of this civilization that is also attested in Crete itself around the mid 15 th century BC human groups from mainland Greece they seem to be imposing
their dominion on the island and the palace
of Knossos is the only surviving palace after the destruction that ruined the main palatial centers in the island of Crete the palace of Knossos thus becomes
a Mycenaean potentate even though, later on during the first half of the 14th century BC for reasons not yet clear,
it will also be destroyed in addition to archaeology further information on the Mycenaean civilization come from written sources for example, a conspicuous series of more than 4600 tablets
engraved in clay found in various continental palatial sites such as Pylos, Mycenae, Tiryns and Thebes but also in Crete itself they all date back apart from Knossos to the thirteenth century B.C. immediately before the palaces
were destroyed by fires the importance of this material is also and above all connected to a syllabic alphabet deriving from linear A and commonly defined by linguists as "linear B" fortunately deciphered in 1952 by the English architect
Michael Ventris who discovered by deciphering
the linear B that that language could
be considered an archaic form of Greek although not everything
has been deciphered most of the texts are clear
and their content would identify them as
archival documents containing recordings of various type type, inventory of people,
objects agricultural production,
offers, taxes and even land leases thus providing
interesting information though sectoral on the administrative life
and organization of Mycenaean centers the Mycenaean palaces
also represented the political, administrative
and religious center of independent territorial states, endowed with a certain territorial coverage
and governed by a king the socio-political structure
of these kingdoms however complex and stratified it has been partially reconstructed at last the model is pyramidal at the top we have a ruler the wanax, a term echoing the Greek word anax wanax means king, lord who, however should not be understood in the sense of an absolute monarch along the lines of the oriental king and royalty related definition in the East the Mycenaean wanax is actually surrounded by an aristocracy of dignitaries the leading person among them is the lawagetas whose social status immediately follows the king the lawagetas could probably be associated with the army commander relevant figure then there are a whole series of soldiers including the Hequetai having functions and rules similar to the Equites or the knights of the Roman world given the common Indo-European
origin of Greek and Latin these soldiers probably made up the royal military corps and they are clearly distinguished from the notables different actors are the telestai i.e. the owners of large land plots including in the pyramid of Mycenaean society also the civil servants who represent the bureaucracy of palace having specific expertise in terms of local administration in the texts found in Pylos some of these officers are referred to as "korete" and "porokorete" and we are still in the middle-upper strata of the social pyramid whereas the bottom is the place for artisans and specialized workers recruited by the King of the Palace finally at an even lower level of the social scale we find the slaves, the doero douloi in the Greek language of a later period human beings completely deprived
of their rights and assimilated to things to such an extent that society considered them as a property both of private individuals as well as of gods hence the expression "sacred slavery" in the tablets are also reported two interesting words because destined to to have such a great relevance in the later history of the Greek world Damo and Qasireu, the first "damo" is quite clear as it echoes the corresponding Greek term "demos" which means people indicating in fact a territorial district in which the community living there seems to enjoy a discreet administrative autonomy more complex is the interpretation of the word "Qasireu" which does not refer to a monarchical figure like the Homeric correspondent word: "basileus" Qasireu could rather be applied to a character of substantially lower rank perhaps the head of a district or of an artisan guild a document that was found in Pylos as well it writes that the Qasireu is supported by a kerosija a word that corresponds to the term "gherusia" of the classical Greek meaning "the council of Elders" but the tablets provide indications on the various other aspects of Mycenaean life as well above all due to the texts recovered in Pylos and Knossos we have acquired a more detailed documentation on the economic activities thoroughly controlled by the palatial bureaucracy and interesting data on agriculture as well that, along the lines of later periods production was essentially based on the well-known Mediterranean triad cereals (mainly barley and wheat ) wines and olives agricultural activities also seem to proceed in parallel with livestock breeding sheeps basically bred by professional shepherds working under the careful supervision of the Palace thus explaining the flourishing production of woolen products the tables also attest the presence of a small rather lively industry the sector of craft and manufacturing related activities was actually quite developed besides textile industry (wool and linen) it stands out the metallurgical industry the working of bronze, to be specific as well as the production of perfumed oils the Pylos tablets
are also rich in in very precious information on the land regime and they seem to confirm the existence of various statutes of the lands although some passages are still difficult to interpret as Mycenaean lexicon is not always very easy to grasp in addition to the lands, emerge from the tables several news related to the military equipment as well some tablets found in Knossos specifically report real inventories of war chariots whose use finds a perfect correspondence in the iconographic documentation a correspondence which disappeared in the Greek world of later periods and we finally conclude with the testimonies about religious practices for which some rooms in royal palaces seem to be set and addressed among other things, in the Mycenaean age a Pantheon of Mycenaean gods finally appears and alongside the unknown ones the gods of ancient and classical Greece already emerge to distinguish the cultural and religious categories of later times Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Dionysus and still others even though, considering the peculiar nature considering the peculiar nature of the cited documentation it is not always easy to establish whether these Mycenaean gods already had the same traits that will feature them later on there are many differences to be honest and to have an idea about that let's recall that during the Mycenaean dominion it was a normal practice in cult human sacrifice a barbarism which was far away on the contrary from the Greek world it seems actually that archeology has brought back several remains of human bones outside the tombs a thing that might suggest skeletons of sacrificial victims information confirmed, for instance, in a text found in Pylos explicitly mentioning men and women offered to gods the tablets would also seem to highlight the prominent role that the wanax or king probably had in the sacral field he supervised the celebration of rites and sacrifices without being himself a cult object as it was instead in the case of the East as a matter of fact the Mycenaean civilization did not live only within the wall of the Palace but they had been capable of creating a very dense network of intense relationships with the other regions of the Mediterranean an evidence which is absolutely confirmed bythe archaeology that once again really represents a valuable and preferential source of information for the ancient history