Discovered only recently in the late 19th century, there is little known about the ancient Minoan Crete civilization. It is referred to as “Minoan” because of King Minos, a mythical king who supposedly ruled during the era. Until the uncovering of Minoan Civilization by Sir Arthur Evans, historians thought there were no even partially civilized peoples on the island of Crete.  

In 1899, the ancient city of Knossos in northern Crete was uncovered and was found to date back to around 2000 BC. At Knossos, there was an elaborate palace, with other settlements all over the island also having similar structures. The Minoans’ religion is unknown, although there is some evidence of human sacrifices across the island. The Minoans used the language known as Linear A, but it is largely undeciphered and shares no symbalance to modern Greek, unlike Linear B, which was the language used by the Myceneans who lived on the Greek mainland during the same time. 

Many historians believe the Minoans were a peaceful people, as there is little knowledge of them having any weapons or anything of that sort. Although this might have eventually led to their downfall, as there is substantial evidence that they were invaded by the Mycenaeans. For one, they seemed to have later adopted the Linear B script which was being used by the Mycenaeans at the time. Secondly, there is evidence of destruction of the palaces, suggesting that the civilization was invaded and pillaged. Even though the Minoans did not leave behind much for us to remember, they did have a unique pottery style, which they traded with the Egyptians and Mycenaeans and the Mycenaeans would come to adopt. Mycenaeans would adopt.