What can be said is that some decades after the destruction in Crete in about B,C. Say it in Linear B. It is the change in writing system that indicates top-down change at Knossos. The earliest writing in Crete dates to the early Bronze Age and was hieroglyphic. That was followed by a syllabic writing system called Linear A , one of the oldest known in the world, which remains undeciphered to this day. But starting around B. Possibly, the Minoan administrative apparatus at Knossos was taken over by Greeks from the mainland; or Knossos came under outright control of Greek mainland centers, perhaps even Mycenae.
New discoveries by the Greek Archaeological Service at the turn of the 21st century, at the west Cretan site of Chania, included a cemetery with Mycenaean-style burials. Linear B writing also appears in Chania, though in the 13th century B. Another change after B. This was a practice throughout the region , not a local invention. The bottom line is that by the 14th century B. Mycenaean material culture became ubiquitous in the south Aegean Sea, where once Minoan influence had been strong.
It was quite the reversal of fate. In the centuries before the eruption, Cretan culture had exercised notable influence on the Greek mainland. With the administration, perhaps even religious authority collapsed. If the eruption did not break the backbone of Minoan civilization, it may have fractured its economy, and Mycenae - the powerhouse of mainland Greece — exploited that.
This theory is supported by the fact that the eruption destroyed the Theran port that had been aligned with Crete and Knossos, plausibly enabling the Mycenaeans to develop their own trading hubs, such as the other largest site in the Cyclades, namely Phylakopi, on Milos. There is no doubt that Phylakopi was instrumental in promoting the Mycenaean Greek language and writing, Linear B, as the lingua franca of Aegean economy after the eruption.
Human sacrifice and King Minos the Terrible. By the time of the classical authors of Greece and Rome B. Epimenides, a Knossian philosopher and soothsayer of the 7th century B.
Even so, the ancient Greek myths refer to Crete time and again - perhaps because of their common origin. As Minoan culture and trade radiated across the Aegean, communities on the islands of the Cyclades and the Dodecanese near the coast of modern-day Turkey were radically changed through contact with Crete. Cretan fashions became very popular in the eastern Mediterranean. Local island elites first acquired Cretan pottery and textiles as a symbol of prestige.
Perhaps the clearest sign of Minoan influence was the appearance of its writing system in the languages of later cultures. One of the oldest was discovered by Arthur Evans and is now known as Linear A. Despite not yet being deciphered, scholars believe it is the local language of Minoan Crete. But it must have been an important regional common language of its day, as Linear A has been found inscribed on many of the clay vessels discovered on islands across the Aegean.
The other script, called Linear B, evolved from Linear A. Deciphered in the s, Linear B is recognized as the oldest known Greek dialect.
The Minoans also maintained trading relationships with Egypt, Syria, and the Greek mainland. Their trade routes may have extended as far west as Italy and Sicily. Certain locations had especially close ties with Crete and its sailors. The city of Akrotiri on the island of Thera modern-day Santorini is one of the best preserved of these Minoan settlements.
A volcanic eruption around the 16th century B. Its walls boasted stunning murals of brightly colored, stylized images of sparring boxers, climbing monkeys, swimming dolphins, and flying birds.
The quality of the paintings uncovered at Akrotiri suggests that artists either from Crete or influenced by its culture had set up workshops in this city. Other Aegean settlements bearing clear evidence of Minoan influence include the Cycladi islands of Melos and Kea, and islands in the Dodecanese, such as Rhodes.
The settlement of Kastri, on the island of Cythera, south of the Peloponnesian peninsula of the Greek mainland, is another example of Cretan cultural power. Built to exploit the local stocks of murex—a mollusk highly prized for its purple ink used for dyeing cloth—Kastri is purely Minoan in its urban planning. But even this town was not a colony. There is no evidence that these places were politically subject to Crete, as it is not believed that they paid any kind of tribute beyond the money exchanged when trading goods.
Minoan civilization declined by the late 15th century B. One theory is that the volcanic eruption on Thera damaged other cities along Minoan trade routes, which hurt Crete economically.
Taking all the evidence available, the volcano did not directly affect life on Crete—about 70 miles to the south. No damage from the eruption has been found there.
Four times more powerful than the devastating Krakatoa volcanic eruption of , the volcano on Thera modern-day Santorini exploded around the 16th century B. It buried cities, killing thousands, and—some say—led to the collapse of Crete. Stories of the Minoan decline are believed to have morphed into the legend of Atlantis as described by the Greek philosopher Plato circa B. Archaeologists have uncovered evidence of an invasion in the midth century B. Many sites, including several large palaces in central and southern Crete were burned, and many settlements were abandoned shortly thereafter.
Despite its abrupt ending, the influence of Crete survived. Its vibrant culture made a major impact on the rising new regional power: the Mycenaean Greeks, who lauded King Minos and Crete in their mythology. Linear B, the Cretan writing system adopted by the Mycenaeans, would be the basis for the Greek in which the poet Homer would write his two masterpieces.
All rights reserved. It was home to thousands and a flourishing trading post for the Minoans until disaster struck. So massive was the volcano it had an extraordinary effect, preserving forever the town of Akrotiri. Mysteriously, no skeletons have ever been found on the island.
Akrotiri's chief archaeologist, Christos Doumas, believes the people of Akrotiri didn't survive, and that the bodies are still to be uncovered, huddled at the harbour where they were trapped by the eruption as they waited to escape. He believes it's highly unlikely that scores of boats were waiting in the harbour to save them.
He believed these waves travelled across the open sea to batter the northern coast of Crete - but proof was hard to find. He drilled deep into the mud at an inland marsh near Malia in Crete, and took the mud core he found back to England for analysis. The mud had been deposited, layer upon layer, over thousands of years.
At one place, deep in the core, Dr Dominey-Howes found a type of tiny fossilised shell that only lives in very deep sea water. He felt sure the shells were brought into the marsh by an ancient tsunami. A Minoan palace near the marsh was buried at the same level as the shells, suggesting the tsunami could have hit soon after the palace was built.
If a tsunami had been unleashed by the eruption of Thera, Floyd McCoy wanted to know how big it might have been. Professor Synolakis grew up on Crete, playing amongst the palace ruins as a child.
He became one of the world's top predictors of tsunamis, travelling the world with his computer models to predict the waves of tomorrow. Professor Synolakis can also use his technology to determine the size of a wave from the ancient past. He estimated that waves from Thera battering northern Crete could have been up to 12m high in places. Such waves would have destroyed boats and coastal villages, even travelling up rivers to flood farmland. But however terrifying these waves, they can only have been part of the story.
McCoy was convinced the volcano must have had wider effects. A remarkable discovery by a British geologist gave rise to a new theory - that the volcano already classed as one of the most devastating of the last 10, years could have been even bigger than scientists had previously thought.
Professor Steve Sparks of Bristol University found clues in the smallest fragments of evidence. He was surprised to find clumps of fossilised algae high on the cliffs of the volcano. These algae only live in shallow waters, and their presence suggested there was once a shallow sea inside the crater of the volcano.
If there had been a shallow sea, Professor Sparks realised, the shape of the volcano could have been entirely different, and a differently shaped volcano could have produced far more ash.
His hunch was that the volcano could have been twice as powerful as geologists had suspected.
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