Minoan art.

It has recently struck me how insanely beautiful and fascinating these works of practical art found on crete actually are. The Minoan civilisation, which has been shown to have had wide reaching influence all through the mediterranean, even as far as Italy and perhaps Spain, was until the 20th century completely undiscovered and lost to Western culture. Arthur Evans, an insufferable and pretentious son of an equally insufferable and pretentious coin collector, bought the site of the palace at Knossos in 1900, and proceeded to excavate. It was known that a palace had existed there before, but the turkish government had vetoed any archeological work, delaying excavations till Cretan independence in 1898.



What he found was truly remarkable, an underground palace complex so maze-like, so labyrinthine that he declared it most likely the labyrinth King Minos presided over, into which Theseus ventured, and in which the Minotaur resided. Convinced that this was Minos' Palace, he labelled the culture Minoan. And the treasures that he found inside were unique, unlike any other culture in the mediterranean at that time, dating from 2800 BC - around 1400 BC. This is earlier than the earliest greek civilisation, when nearly all of europe was inhabited by societies that were unable to build much beyond wattle and daub mud huts, and had not even begun to produce sophisticated pottery. Only the Egyptians rivalled this cretan civilisation in sophistication, and in contrast to the dark world outside it, the Minoans were truly remarkable.



It is these works of art, made with such sophistication an incredibly long time ago that are among the most fascinating elements of the Minoans.



Probably more to come on the Minoans, because they are wonderful.