Greece Investment Immigration provides a detailed guide to Greece: The civilization of Crete, also known as the Minoan civilization of Crete, is named after the legendary King Minos. It was not until the late 19th century that people began to believe that this civilization truly existed. The stories of heroes and gods narrated by Homer in the epics "Iliad" and "Odyssey" were previously dismissed by scholars as mere folklore. However, the German Romantic writer Heinrich Schliemann firmly believed in these stories. He vowed to find and excavate the site of the ancient city of Troy, where the Greeks and Trojans fought for Helen. He obtained the necessary funds by smuggling tea to Russia and began his explorations in 1870. He achieved great success, discovering the ruins of Troy in Asia Minor and Mycenae in the Peloponnese. Although some of his findings were disastrous for archaeology—due to his excessive enthusiasm and lack of expertise, he disappointingly collected artifacts from several cultural layers indiscriminately and chaotically—this proved that a civilization existed in Greece before the classical period. In the late 19th century, British archaeologist Arthur Evans discovered the center of Minoan civilization at Knossos on the island of Crete.
In the early third millennium BC, when immigrants from Asia Minor or Syria arrived on the island of Crete with new technologies, local Neolithic villages had already been established for a long time. The land they discovered was fertile, famous for its abundant fish, fruits, and especially olive oil. It is located in the middle of the eastern Mediterranean, surrounded by calm seas, and the climatic conditions are suitable for navigation by oars or sails, making its geographical position ideal for commercial trade. Sailors from Crete could sail north to the Greek mainland and the Black Sea, east to various countries and islands in the eastern Mediterranean, south to Egypt, and west to the central and western islands and coastal areas of the Mediterranean; no matter which direction they sailed, land was almost always in sight. It is no surprise that Crete became a trade center in the Mediterranean region. Its geographical position was not only ideal for commercial development but also for cultural development. The Cretans were close enough to the outside world to be influenced by various factors from Mesopotamia and Egypt; yet they were far enough to maintain their characteristics and express their individuality without worry. This allowed them to achieve great success, and undoubtedly, the civilization of the Cretans is one of the most beautiful and distinctive civilizations of the ancient world.
The artists of the Minoan civilization did not attempt to attract attention merely by the size of their artworks, nor were they concerned with distant, awe-inspiring gods or sacred kings. They depicted the life around them on everyday utensils, the walls of their homes, and their own artistic creations. In their view, there were models everywhere—natural scenes such as flowers, birds, seashells, and various marine life, and daily life scenarios such as farmers returning from the fields, warriors wrestling with bulls, and women dancing gracefully in reverence to the goddess. When the Cretans built their structures, they were not concerned with their appearance but rather with personal comfort. The palace of Knossos was grand in scale, complex in structure, with numerous doors and winding passages, clearly built over several centuries. Inside, there were not only the king's throne room, reception rooms, and living quarters but also numerous warehouses and workshops occupying a large part of the palace, which is consistent with a trading nation. The most remarkable feature was the complex water supply and drainage system installed by the Cretans, which has not been surpassed until modern times. The drainage system was cleverly designed; when it rained, rainwater would wash through the sewers, keeping them clean; the sewer entrances were large enough for craftsmen to enter for repairs.
Women seemed to enjoy the same freedoms and social status as men. From certain frescoes, it can be seen that women filled the open-air stands of the bullfighting arena and actively participated in the bull-leaping activities. Some women even participated in wars, which was different from the situation in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and classical Greece, where women were largely confined to the home, centered around family life.
The Cretans did not seem to build grand temples for their gods or erect huge monuments, but instead left a few square feet in their homes for private places of prayer. The palace of the king of Knossos was grand, yet it had only a small room for a chapel. The main places of worship were in nature—mountaintops, forests, or limestone caves. The most important deity was a goddess, the ancient Mother Earth, and the priestess, rather than a male priest, served as the officiant during the rituals for the Mother Earth. There is no evidence of human or large animal sacrifices; the most common offerings were agricultural products.
Undoubtedly, the majority of Cretans were farmers, but to be precise, their civilization had both maritime and terrestrial characteristics. They mastered naval power, and their civilization was a maritime civilization. The mountainous areas of the island were covered with forests, providing timber for building long-distance sea vessels. They sailed single-masted ships, laden with grain, ivory, and glass from Egypt, horses and timber from Syria, silver, pottery, and marble from the Aegean Islands. Copper from Cyprus, olive oil, and pottery from their own island were traded back and forth across the Mediterranean. Whenever possible, the Cretans undoubtedly engaged in piracy. In the epic "Odyssey," it is written that once King Nestor politely asked Odysseus's son Telemachus, "Are you a merchant or a pirate?" Both professions were regarded as highly respectable at the time, with little distinction, merely two methods by which sailors could acquire what they needed.
Cretan villages, both socially and economically, seemed to practice more egalitarianism than those on the mainland. Unlike the mainland, where a few grand temples and palaces were surrounded by slums, Crete was primarily composed of villages, which were large, and the places of worship were outdoors, serving as the center of village life. Households typically lived in separate houses made of wood and plaster. There may have been household slaves, but their numbers were likely small, and to date, no specialized housing for slaves has been discovered on the island. Therefore, the single-deck sailing ships of Crete were probably rowed by free men. Cities did not have fortifications, indicating that the Cretans believed their naval power was sufficient to protect the island's safety, and it also indicated that the various villages of Crete coexisted peacefully, in stark contrast to the traditional warring cities of Mesopotamia. Overall, it is understandable that ancient writers referred to Crete as the "great, wealthy, and well-fed island of the blessed."