Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-lrblm Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-10T16:39:25.350Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

CHAPTER XII - THE ZENITH OF MINOAN CIVILIZATION

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2008

By
F. Matz
Edited by
I. E. S. Edwards ,
C. J. Gadd ,
N. G. L. Hammond  and
E. Sollberger
Get access

Summary

THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE LATE PALACE PERIOD (c:. 1700–1380 B.C.)

The palaces at Cnossus and at Phaestus were destroyed time and time again, but on each occasion they rose more splendid than before, bearing witness to the resilience and optimism of the inhabitants. Any traces of defensive building disappeared at an early date, which shows that the catastrophes were due not to enemy attacks but to natural causes. After an earthquake about 1700 b.c. the palaces were rebuilt, but this in itself is not an indication of the end of a period. Indeed a similar catastrophe occurred about 1575 b.c. at Cnossus, and it was at this point that Evans placed the division between Middle Minoan and Late Minoan, thereby coinciding with a general historical break which occurred with the expulsion of the Hyksos from Egypt, the beginning of the Eighteenth Dynasty and the New Kingdom in Egypt. It is tempting to assign the seventeenth century in Crete to the preceding phase, but this gives a distorted picture.

It is vital to understanding of the Early Palace Period to realize that during it the Minoans made their own decisive entry into the circle of the civilized world. Their rise had been based on their isolation and their ships, and they had become a seapower by contemporary standards. The eastern states had then no interest in disputing the position of Crete, and the Aegean world from which she had emerged was as yet no match for her.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Ancient History
, pp. 557 - 581
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1973

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alexiou, St. ‘Nέα Στοιχεῖα διὰ τὴν Ὑστέραν Aἰγαιακὴν Xρονολογίαν καὶ Ἱστορίαν.’ In Kρητικὰ Xρονικά 6 (1952).Google Scholar
Alexiou, St. ‘Zητήματα τοῦ Προἲστορικοῦ Bίου Kρητομυκηναἲκίν Ἐμπόριον.’ In Ephem. Arch. 1953/1954, part III (1961).Google Scholar
Bernabò Brea, L. and Cavalier, L. ‘Civiltà Preistoriche delle Isole Eolie.’ In B.P.1. n.s. 19 (1956).Google Scholar
Biesantz, H. Kretisch-Mykenische Siegeliilder. Stilgeschichtliche und Chrono-logische Untersuchungen. Marburg/Lahn, 1954.Google Scholar
Blegen, C. W. ‘A Chronological Problem.’ In Minoica, Festschrift für J. Sundwall. 1958. Pp. ff.Google Scholar
Bossert, H. Th. Altkreta. Ed. 3. Berlin, 1937.Google Scholar
Buchholz, H. G. ‘Der Kupferhandel im 2. vorchr. Jahrtausend im Spiegel der Schriftforschung.’ In Minoica. 1958. Pp. ff.Google Scholar
Buchholz, H. G. Zur Herkunft der Kretischen Doppelaxt. Munich, 1959.Google Scholar
Dessenne, A. Le Sphinx. Paris, 1957.Google Scholar
Dunbabin, T. J. ‘Minos and Daidalos in Sicily.’ In B.S.R. 16 (1948).Google Scholar
École Française d'Athènes, . Études Creétoises, I–XI. Paris, 1928–59.Google Scholar
Evans, A. J. The Palace of Minos at Knossos, I-IV and Index. London, 1921–36.Google Scholar
Furumark, A. ‘The Settlement at Ialysos and the Aegean History at 1550/ 1400 b.c’ In Opuscula Archaeologica., Acta Instituti Romani Regni Sueciae 6 (1950).Google Scholar
Hood, M. S. F. ‘Tholos Tombs of the Aegaean.’ In Antiquity 34 (1960).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hood, M. S. F. ‘Late Minoan Warrior Graves from A.Ioannis and the Hospital Site at Knossos.’ In B.S.A. 47 (1952).Google Scholar
Hood, M. S. F. ‘Another Warrior-Grave at A.Ioannis near Knossos.’ In B.S.A. 51 (1956).Google Scholar
Hood, M. S. F. ‘The Date of the Linear-B-Tablets from Knossos.’ In Antiquity, 35 (1961).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hood, M. S. F. ‘The Knossos Tablets. A Complete Version.’ In Antiquity 36 (1962).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kan tor, A. The Aegaean and the Orient in the Second Millennium. Bloomington, 1949.Google Scholar
Kenna, V. E. G. Cretan Seals. Oxford, 1960.Google Scholar
Malten, L. ‘Elysion und Rhadamanthys.’ In J d.I. 28 (1913).Google Scholar
Marinatos, Sp. and Hirmer, M. Kreta und das Mykenische Hellas. Munich, 1960.Google Scholar
Marinatos, Sp. ‘The Volcanic Destruction of Minoan Crete.’ In Antiquity 13 (1939).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marinatos, Sp. ‘Some General Notes on the Minoan Written Documents.’ In Minos, 1 (1951).Google Scholar
Matz, F. ‘Die Aegaeis.’ In Handbuch der Archaeologie, II. Munich, 1954.Google Scholar
Matz, F. Kreta, Mykene, Troia. Die Minoische und die Homerische Welt. Stuttgart, 1956.Google Scholar
Matz, F. Crete and Early Greece. The Prelude to Greek Art. London, 1962.Google Scholar
Matz, F. ‘Zu den Sphingen von Yerkapu in Boghazköy.’ In Mart. W. Pr. 1957.Google Scholar
Matz, F. ‘Göttererscheinung und Kultbild im Minoischen Kreta.’ In Abhandlungen der Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Math.-naturwiss. Klasse 1958, 7.Google Scholar
Monaco, G. ‘Scavi nella Zona Micenea di Ialiso (Trianda) 1935/36.’ In Clara Rhodos 10 (1941).Google Scholar
Nilsson, M. P. The Minoan-Mycenaean Religion. Ed. 2. Lund, 1950.Google Scholar
Palmer, L. R. and Boardman, J. On the Knossos Tablets. Oxford, 1963.Google Scholar
Pendlebury, J. D. S. The Archaeology of Crete. London, 1939.Google Scholar
Pernier, L. and Banti, L. Il Palazzo Minoico di Festos. I, 1935. II, Rome, 1951.Google Scholar
Platon, N. Συνβολὴ εἰζ τὴν Σπουδὴν τῆζ Mινωἲκῇζ Tοιχογραφίαζ, In Kρητικὰ Xρονικά 13 (1958), f.Google Scholar
Reusch1, H. ‘Zum Wandschmuck des Thronsaals in Knossos.’ In Minoica. 1958. Pp. ff.Google Scholar
Rodenwaldt, G. Tiryns, II. Athens, 1912. Pp. ff.Google Scholar
Vermeule-Townsend, E. ‘The Fall of Knossos and the Palace Style.’ In American Journal of Archaeology 67 (1963).Google Scholar
Wace, A. J. B. and Blegen, C. W. ‘Pottery as Evidence for Trade and Colonization.’ In Klio, 32 (1939).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weickert, C. and others. ‘Die Ausgrabungen beim Athena Tempel in Milet.’ In Istanbuler Mitteilungen, Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Abteilung Istanbul 7 (1957), ff.; 9/10 (1959/1960).Google Scholar
Zervos, Chr. L'Art de la Crète. Paris, 1956.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×