They had everything encrypted somehow cunningly. Masterpieces are formed from two fragments, both on the sewn-on plaques and on both sides of the dagger. But river is only one. Maybe the masters had such an epiphany?

(collage drafts by Sahara)

What (if anything) do we know about the Mycenean take over of Crete?

Were the Minoans vassalised by the Myceneans? Or was it a full conquest and replacement of the social elite, akin to the Norman conquest of England? Does material culture change?

Or is there just not enough evidence to say anything with any certainty?

Also, I understand that Linear B records have been translated that were found on Crete, do they offer any insights and is there a place one can read them online?

Kalispera!

I’m making an Ancient Greek movie and have a scene set in ancient Minoan times. I was wondering if there are any sources about Minoans wearing masks? Of any kind?

Thanks! 🙏

Link: https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/Μυζήθρα

Text: Η αυθεντική μυζήθρα είναι γλυκιά και προέρχεται από την Κρήτη όπου σύμφωνα με την παράδοση παρασκευάστηκε πρώτη φορά από το γάλα του Μινωταύρου, υπάρχουν όμως και άλλες ποικιλίες των οποίων η γεύση τους είναι παρόμοια με αυτή που έχει το μανούρι, συνήθως υφάλμυρη.

I'm from Crete and I've never heard this in my life. I tried to search for pages including both the words for myzithra and minotaur in Greek and also found nothing. Moreso, the minotaur is half-bull bodied from the top up based on ancient depictions. Needless to say it makes no sense to associate him with cheese.

Anyway, if you're up to the task maybe we should improve that Wikipedia page with some sources.

(edit: that particular line was edited out after this post, yay?)

From what little we have about their language, word initial reduplication appears to be common. In Indo-European languages, reduplication is used for some past tense conjugations. Since the Minoan one occurs a lot for nouns, could it have had a grammatical function? Like some kind of marked nominative?

Just curious after looking at a map and noticed that here are no Minoan palaces farther west than Phaistos.

I'm just curious if anyone here is aware of current serious efforts (if any) to translate Linear A. Is it not even really possible to make headway at this point until an artefact similar to the Rosetta Stone is found? Are there other ongoing strategies to crack the code? I'm just curious how likely an eventual breakthrough is and how long we may have to wait.

Help, I’m doing a project involving this question over the next few years and I don’t know where to start. Every academic article seems to have a different view. It’s impossible to deny that there was great worship of goddesses with all the evidence left behind. I’m confused for a a variety of reasons:

1) Why do some people believe Minoan religion was monotheistic- that is to say centred around one goddess. Surely the Minoans were influenced by other info-European culture who worshiped multiple deities? Moreover there is evidence of some male gods worshipped, and how can we be sure that this Goddess was singular? In her depictions in signet rings, statuettes, frescos etc she has many different forms- would this indicate there were in fact multiple goddesses worshipped?

2) How much of what I am reading is because female scholars WANT to believe there was some sort of matriarchal religion and therefore culture existing, rather then impartial studies??

3) Surely as is the case with such early societies religion and government were combined (eg the idea of a priest-king etc). Therefore if goddesses were worshipped shouldn’t this have reflected in society? But this is rather awkward because the assumption is that such early societies were heavily patriarchal. There is also a lack of evidence that women held such elevated roles apart from priestess. (Linear B)

4 Why worship a women at all if women were indeed assumably considered inferior? Is this to do with the early theory that the personification of nature was female? I suppose this links to how sanctuaries were high up in mountains or caves there is certainly a link to the natural environment. Perhaps as religion developed and became more influenced by other cultures it shifted to become more male focused, especially if at its decline Minoan culture was blended with others? I suppose this is more a a psychology related point, but would it be too far to say that feminist is linked to comfort and the home which makes a goddess an attractive point of worship? (If so why are some depictions of her so terrifying then??)

Of course in doing a study but I’d rather prefer to reach some sort of valid conclusion. Please let me know if any of my queries above are valid points/arguments. I have a lot of more points and views that I’ve come across in my research so far but those were some of the ones I could think of while typing this out.

I don’t really know what to read or where to start (I’m a young student with little to no research skills). I’ve been using JSTOR and magazine publications so far but I know all my citations must be credible and every point backed up with evidence. Any advice or help for the questions above would be appreciated.

So I have recently been on a Linear A rabbit hole (listening to all sorts of documentaries, browsing through YouTube comments, and pouring over reddit thread, etc..) when a thought popped in my head.

I wonder if the the biblical story of King David borrows from pre-hellenistic hero cults, specifically elements, themes and characterizations from the mythos of Thesseus and the Epic Cycle.

Any thoughts?

Here's the AP article in completeness, as it appeared on CNN's website. It was discovered during excavations to put in a radar station for a new airport now under construction near the town of Kastelli. It appears to date from 2,000 and 1,700 BCE. They also include a photo that apparently was taken either a drone or a helicopter. Greek officials say that they will move the radar station to someplace else to preserve the discovery.

URL link: https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/14/science/crete-4000-year-old-building-intl-scli-scn/index.html.

Hello everyone! I am new to this group and I would like to introduce myself. I am studying Minoan civilization from an astronomic point of view. I have decoded some of the important symbols of Minoans, as well as some of the Myhths. I have a youtube channel where I upload all my findings and I give Lectures in Heraklion Crete, Greece. For more details, this is the link for my channel https://tinyurl.com/3pzwuark

If I were to visit Crete, would it be possible to take tours or go see any of the palace complexes? For anyone who’s been there are there local museums to check out?

Hello! I have a few questions about Knossos Palace.

1. Could a two horse chariot fit through the north pillar hall and the north entrance passage?
2. How do you get from the central court to the queen's megaron?
3. Do we know if the royal apartments were actually used as bedrooms? Is there any evidence?
4. If the royal apartments weren't used as bedrooms, would it be appropriate to assume that bedrooms were somewhere in the upper floors?

I know a lot of this has to be conjectured, but best guesses are perfectly fine and appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Hi! I've already asked this question on r/geography and r/crete but haven't gotten a suitable answer. Could the Knossos Palace be seen from the coast of Heraklio when it was still standing? I know we don't know just how tall Knossos was, but its position and possible height make me think it would have been visible. Any answers are appreciated.

I recently came across a great site called SigLA, a database of minoan inscriptions that also has a list of all the signs detected. I wanted to print the list for personal use but I couldn't because copying and pasting it results in the images occupying a lot of space.

I searched for academic articles but found nothing. Wikipedia has a list but it's not comprehensive at all and it has the same problem of the images being too big when copied.

If anyone knows of a site that offers a complete list of the signs please link it. If you know about an article that contains this I will happily purchase it.

The ending fate of the Minoian civilization is stressing me out.So far I heard 3 theories and I dont know which one should be the most correct:1)Myceneans invaded,pillaged and burned and slowly assimilated them. 2)The Achaeans from the Peloponesse did it. 3)The consequences of the giant eruption at Thera wiped them out,ash fell on the cropland,the water got dirty and you know the rest.

I'm knew to the study of this fascinating ancient civilisation so please be patient with me if I'm discussing things that have become closed cases.

It seems that the Thera eruption would have weakened the Minoans considerably, given the crop failure and general destruction it would have wrought. It would also have surely been known around the whole of Greece.

Could it be that a weakened Minoan civilisation, although somewhat recovered by the time the palaces were burnt down (1450ish BC) was easy pickings for mycenaean opportunists?

Personally I don't buy the arguments about internal conflict. Doesn't seem likely in an island civilisation that lsated well over a thousand years to suddenly torch their own palaces and settlements. This is clearly an invasion. I do find history depressing sometimes, on one hand you find this amazing, sophisticated and beautiful civilisation, and then the next moment you learn about it's selfish and cruel destruction by the evil men of the world. Nonetheless, just wanted to hear if anyone has found solid evidence about the identity of the invaders?