Minoans

Minoan civilization

Period	Bronze Age Europe
Dates	c. 3650 BC – c. 1450 BC
Major sites	Knossos, Gortyn
Preceded by	Cycladic culture
Followed by	Mycenaean Greece

Bronze Age This box:
↑ Chalcolithic
Near East (c. 3300–1200 BC) Anatolia, Caucasus, Elam, Egypt, Levant, Mesopotamia, Sistan, Canaan Bronze Age collapse South Asia (c. 3000– 1200 BC) Ochre Coloured Pottery Cemetery H Europe (c. 3200–600 BC) Aegean, Caucasus, Catacomb culture, Minoan, Srubna culture, Beaker culture, Unetice culture, Tumulus culture, Urnfield culture, Hallstatt culture, Apennine culture, Canegrate culture, Golasecca culture, Atlantic Bronze Age, Bronze Age Britain, Nordic Bronze Age China (c. 2000–700 BC) Erlitou, Erligang
arsenical bronze writing, literature sword, chariot
↓Iron Age

Near East (c. 3300–1200 BC)

South Asia (c. 3000– 1200 BC)

Europe (c. 3200–600 BC)

China (c. 2000–700 BC)

arsenical bronze
writing, literature
sword, chariot

The Minoan civilization was an Aegean Bronze Age civilization on the island of Crete and other Aegean islands that flourished from approximately 3650 to 1400 BC, belonging to a period of Greek history preceding both the Mycenaean civilization and Ancient Greece. The period was rediscovered at the beginning of the 20th century through the work of British archaeologist Arthur Evans. The civilization has been referred to as the earliest of its kind in Europe; historian Will Durant dubbed the Minoans "the first link in the European chain."

The term "Minoan" refers to the mythic King Minos, and was originally given as a description to the pottery of the period. Minos was associated in Greek myth with the labyrinth and the Minotaur, which Evans identified with the site at Knossos, the largest Minoan site. The poet Homer recorded a tradition that Crete once had 90 cities.

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