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| QUICK LINKS: Palace of Knossos Phaistos Disk Bull leapers fresco – Palace of Knossos | Wall painting of grandstand or sacred grove and shrine from Knossos Minoan Vase – octopus design Harvest Rhyton |
The Bronze Age culture of Crete, called Minoan, after from Greek mythology, is one of the most vibrant and admired in all of European prehistory. The island is located at the intersection of Asia, Europe, and Africa.
Image source: history for kids
There were four distinct periods:
- Pre-palatial period: aka Early Minoan I – Middle Minoan IA (begins c. 3,000 BCE)
- Old Palace or Protopalatial period: aka Middle Minoan IB – Middle Minoan IIB (begins c. 1,900 BCE)
- New Palace or Neopalatial period: aka Middle Minoan IIIA – Late Minoan IB (begins after 1,730 BCE)
- Post-palatial period: aka Late Minoan IIIA-C (begins after 1,450 BCE)
(Source: khanacademy.org/humanities/ancient-art-civilizations/aegean-art1/minoan/)
[1147-10]
| The Palace of Knossos consists of different cultural layers (Neolithic through Byzantine), and has great popularity (the second most visited archaeological site in Greece after the Acropolis at Athens). It was one of the first large-scale scientific excavations in Europe, and contains some of the most contentious restorations in the ancient Mediterranean. It is now clear that the role of Knossos was at least as religious and economic as it was political, but it is still referenced as a palace. (Khan Academy) |   Image source: Wikimedia commons [1147-11] |
  Image source: Wikimedia commons [1147-12] | The Phaistos Disc, or Disk, is a disk of fired clay from the island of Crete, Greece, possibly from the middle or late Minoan Bronze Age, bearing a text in an unknown script and language. Its purpose and its original place of manufacture remain disputed. It is now on display at the archaeological museum of Heraklion. (Wikimedia Commons) |
Bull leapers fresco at the Palace of Knossos. Found very badly damaged, it is reconstructed, and shows three people leaping over a bull, one at its front, another over its back, and a third at its rear. (Khan Academy) |   Image source: Wikimedia commons [1147-13] |
  Image source: Wikimedia commons [1147-14] | Wall painting of grandstand or sacred grove and shrine from Knossos. It depicts Minoans attending cult in a sacred grove and around a large tripartite shrine or temple. (Wikimedia Commons) |
| Minoan Vase-octopus design. This vase, found at Palaikastro is aperfect example of elite Minoan ceramic manufacture. It is 27cm (10.5ins) high, , hand-painted, and meant to hold a valuable liquid—perhaps oil of some kind. Its shape is somewhat unusual, constructed by together, while still leather hard (clay that is not quite dry), two shallow plates made on a fast spinning potter’s wheel and with refined clay. (Khan Academy) |   Image source: Wikimedia commons [1147-15] |
 Image source: Wikimedia commons | The Harvest Rhyton (or Vase) was found at Hagia Triada, an elite site associated with Minoan palaces and dating to 1600-1450 BCE. The Rhyon displays a detailed and fascinating scene of men marching and singing in what appears to be a harvest celebration. (Khan Academy) |
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