Who Was When

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Minoan civilization

EuropeHeartland today: Greece

Before and after

  • In the Aegean:Came after: Mycenaean Greece

    From about 1450 BCE mainland Mycenaean Greeks dominated Crete; whether by conquest is debated.

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Meanwhile…

Europe's first literate civilization, centred on palaces such as Knossos on the island of Crete. Minoan traders and artists reached across the Aegean, but their own name for themselves is unknown, and their earliest script, Linear A, has never been deciphered.

Also alive at the same time

Key events

  1. The first palace complexes are built at Knossos, Phaistos and Malia

    Sources

  2. – Palace scribes develop Linear A, Europe's first known script, still undeciphered

    Sources

    • Younger, J.G. & Rehak, P. (2008). "Minoan Culture: Religion, Burial Customs, and Administration." In The Cambridge Companion to the Aegean Bronze Age, 165-185. Cambridge University Press.
    • Chadwick, John (1987). Linear B and Related Scripts. British Museum Press.
  3. – Knossos is rebuilt on a grander scale after earthquake damage, beginning Crete's most prosperous period

    Sources

  4. The volcano on Thera (Santorini) erupts, one of the largest eruptions of the last 10,000 years, burying the Minoan-influenced town of AkrotiriDisputed

    The radiocarbon date of c. 1600 BCE and the archaeological/historical date of c. 1500 BCE differ by roughly a century; this is the core of the high/low Aegean chronology dispute.

    Sources

  5. Knossos comes under Mycenaean Greek control, and Linear B, an early form of Greek, appears in the palace archivesDisputed

    Whether Mycenaeans took over Knossos before or after the Thera eruption, and by conquest or gradual influence, remains debated.

    Sources

    • Driessen, J. (2011). "Chronology of the Linear B Texts." In A Companion to Linear B: Mycenaean Greek Texts and their World, vol. 2. Peeters.
    • Younger, J.G. & Rehak, P. (2008). "Minoan Culture: Religion, Burial Customs, and Administration." In The Cambridge Companion to the Aegean Bronze Age, 165-185. Cambridge University Press.
  6. – Knossos, the last major Minoan palace, is destroyed by fire and not rebuiltDisputed

    The date of Knossos's final destruction is argued over by decades and tied to the same chronology dispute as the Thera eruption.

    Sources

    • Driessen, J. (2011). "Chronology of the Linear B Texts." In A Companion to Linear B: Mycenaean Greek Texts and their World, vol. 2. Peeters.
    • Cadogan, G. (2011). "The Minoan Palaces." In The Oxford Handbook of the Bronze Age Aegean, 106-117. Oxford University Press.