Most people have heard of the Ancient Romans and even the Ancient Egyptians but fewer people have heard of the Minoans, which is interesting, considering we have a lot to thank them for. The Minoans were incredible craftsmen and constructed some beautiful buildings include the Palace of Knossos. This palace was amongst the first buildings in the ancient city of Knossos in Crete to have running water and functioning drains. These drains were much simpler than the ones we have today. But, they functioned in a similar manner. In fact, you can be sure that a CCTV Drainage Surveys company would probably have monitored their drains much in the same way as they do today. CCTV drainage surveys by Wilkinson Environmental would probably have found very different issues with their drains though.
The Minoans are one of the earliest Greek civilizations that we know about and they lived on the island of Crete back in the Bronze Age. They are named after King Minos who in Greek mythology was the son of Europa and Zeus. This name was given to them by the archaeologist, Sir Arthur Evans who first discovered their artefacts. He chose the name due to the location of the items found. Kind Minos is thought to have built a labyrinth in Knossos, where the palace mentioned above was found. So the name seemed fitting.
The era that the Minoans dominated in was affected by lots of natural phenomena such as volcanic eruptions, tsunamis and earthquakes and it is these such events that are thought to have affected their building of the palace and is one reason why there appears to have been extensive renovation work on the building during this time period.
The Minoan civilisation was based primarily on trade and their location on the island meant that they were able to accept the trade from lots of other areas. It is thought that they used to trade tin as it was incredibly useful at the time as when combined with copper it made bronze. Lots of settlements have been found on the island including tombs and cemeteries as well as three other palaces – Phaistos, Malia and Zakros. These, along with the Palace of Knossos, were centres for administration, trade, politics and religion.
The religious practices of the Minoans were conducted primarily by women who were put into positions fof Priestesses. They would carry out rituals to honour the goddesses that they worshipped. This often involved holding beautiful ceremonies and festivals in the name of the goddess.
