Knossos

Knossos was the chief city of the Minoan civilization. The Minoan civilization flourished from about 2000 B.C. to 1450 B.C., mostly on Crete. The Minoans are not technically Greek. They did not speak a Greek language. We know they had a writing system called Linear A, but it has yet to be deciphered. It was not quite an alphabet, but rather a syllabary where each symbol stood for a syllable. That was quite a bit of an advancement from the cuneiform of the near east, where every symbol stood for a word. With 1500 cuneiform signs to memorize, only the highly educated scribes could read. The Minoans simplified this to slightly under 100 characters to learn.

Sometime around 2700 B.C. the Minoan settlers developed metal tools and agriculture. These two advancements led to the development of a highly organized society by 2000 B.C. Knossos was their chief city and seemed to mainly focus on religious activities. Mostly these religious activities centered around fertility cults. Unlike later Greek cities, the Minoan cities did not have defensive walls. Knossos is not fortified and is approachable through gates on all 4 sides.

"Minoan" actually is not the real name of the people. We do not know what they called themselves. King Minos was the legendary name of the king of Crete. "Minos" was likely the title rather his actual name—like "Pharaoh." King Minos was also the king in the myth that had the labyrinth with the Minotaur. Its easy to see how the later Greeks may have come up with that idea since the remains of the four-story-high palace complex at Knossos would have looked a bit

like a maze, and the Minoans worshipped the bull.

Sometime around 1700 B.C. an earthquake destroyed many of the Minoan cities in Crete. The Minoans simply rebuilt them and their civilization flourished more than ever. Their empire was similar to the Mycaneans in that they made most of their money trading wine, grain, and olive oil. They traded mostly with the Egyptians. One of their frescoes contains a picture of a monkey and a papyrus plant. Both of these are native to Egypt but not Crete. Minoan paintings have also been found in Avaris, Egypt. The painting on the right is a reproduction of the fresco of the monkey picking papyrus.

The most impressive feature of Knossos is the plumbing system. The complex actually had running water. Water was collected from cisterns on the roof and then carried through the rooms in clay pipes. Several drainage ditches were dug to get rid of the used water. Not only that, they piped in water from two separate sources. Rain water collected in cisterns was used for cleaning clothes and such. Drinking water was piped in from a water source at a nearby mountain. Not only that, they had working toilets! In the picture to the left you can sort of make it out. The square hole in the ground drains to the outside of the living quarters. A pipe (this one is metal, to give you an idea of how it would have worked; the Minoans would have used clay pipes) would bring water from the cisterns on the roof four stories above. So sometime around 370o years ago, the Minoans would have had running water and flush toilets.

This would have been a huge deal since running water would have meant better hygiene. Adequate drainage without standing water would mean fewer mosquitoes and less malaria. Proper disposal of human waste would have meant less dysentery, which as anyone who has played Oregon Trail knows, will kill you.

Ultimately, the Minoan civilization fell when a volcanic explosion on the island of Santorini in 1450 B.C. devastated the surrounding islands (including Crete). Most of the destruction was the result of a powerful tsunami and earthquakes following the eruption. The people would eventually move into the mountains. Trade collapsed, and ultimately they were conquered by the Mycaneans, who adapted Linear A to their own Greek language. Examples of this writing, called Linear B, still survive. The picture to the right shows some examples of Linear A and Linear B.