The Minoans: The First Great European Civilization (The legend of Atlantis) - See U in History

on the edge of the aegean sea there is a large island it was named creed and was home to one of the most incredible and developed civilizations of the bronze age this civilization almost remained forgotten in history and its discovery was the consequence of major efforts of arthur evans arthur john evans was an english archaeologist he inherited his father's fortune who was also an archaeologist he traveled to greece to study the rubble of the city of maisine in his studies he found evidence of an unknown civilization at the time which led him to different places

in greece in search of answers finally arthur reached the island of crete where guided by stories of the population found the site of the legendary palace of gnosis which belonged to king minos of the legend of the minotaur the excavations of the site yielded discoveries that would make arthur dedicate his entire life to his research arthur evans called the people he discovered minoans it was named after king minos who according to greek myth was the son of zeus the minoans likely arrived in crete from anatolia where turkey is today that migration also occurred in the

middle paleolithic period in 128 000 bc however the minoan culture only started to develop after having mastered agriculture which occurred around 5000 bc as the bronze age advance the minoans began to develop a culture based on sea trading using their incredibly advanced ships for the first time the minoan vessels were elegant and robust they could carry food and goods thanks to their ability to sail for days at sea the minoans began to trade with people from anatolia phoenicia greece egypt and africa its culture soon began to flourish in many ways since the island of crete

offered natural protection it did not endure invasions from other peoples for centuries around 2000 bc the biggest source of income for the binoans was agriculture they produced olive oil wines and ceramic items with beautiful paintings minoan art highlighted all the sophistication of those people their paintings had a unique style and exhibited a deeply advanced artistic level the beauty of women was exalted in several depictions with large dark and wavy hair colorful dresses and lip and eye makeup men were usually depicted with dark skin athletic bodies and defiant posture the minoans also produce gold and silver

jewelry even pieces made of crystal although they did not have a war orientated society the minoans used warriors to protect palaces and ships to fight pirates and possible invaders the minoans were deeply attached to physical and athletic development they had sports competitions like swimming boxing and racing the most impressive sport was perhaps dancing around and jumping over an angry bowl this practice is called taro cathapsia and consisted of grabbing the horns of the bull during its attack when the bull shook its head up in an attempt to free himself the athlete took advantage of the

impulse to make acrobatic jumps over the animal to the minoans the bulls were sacred creatures constantly exalted in sculptures and paintings the religion of the minoans appeared to be matriarchal with the figure of a goddess holding two serpents as the supreme divinity during the excavations of arthur evans clay slabs were discovered with unknown writing a large part of which cannot be translated to this day to arthur surprise and all those involved in the excavations the palace of gnosis was much bigger than expected nasa's palace has over seven hundred thousand square meters three times larger than

buckingham palace in england the excavations discovered the possible throne of king minos the oldest in all of europe the oldest paved road in europe was also discovered it was located at the entrance of the city divided into streets surrounding the houses and temples some parts of the city had a water drainage system which worked as a sewer and something surprising was found below the palace a labyrinth labyrinth contained several massive jars used to store grain and wine some parts seem to have been used as a dungeon for prisoners designs of mazes and the minotaur were

also engraved on their coins emphasizing the odd legend about this monstrous creature the island of crete is in a seismic region to this day there are earthquakes and strong sea waves around 1750 bc there was an earthquake in crete that destroyed much of the minoan buildings the minoans remained on the island and rebuilt their palaces and houses historians herodotus and the cities claim that the minoans became lords of the aegean sea ending piracy in the region they colonize other islands near crete the cities tells that king midos sent his sons to rule these islands by

the middle of 1700 bc the minoans were already a famous and respected people even the kingdoms that arose in greece such as mycenae and athens recognized the independence of the minoans creeds had become a must-see stop for countless boats coming from many regions merchant boats from egypt were selling their products in crete from there these products were taken to greece and anatolia the same happened with products from other regions in minoan society the imbalance between rich and poor was not clear the people were always depicted working together women were also portrayed as an important part

of the kingdom and not just wives or daughters as in other cultures of the same period but what does the history of the minoan civilization have to do with the legendary atlantis atlantis appeared in a story written by plato between 428 to 347 bc plato found inspiration in something that happened 1000 years before his time during plato's period the minoans were already part of ancient stories due to this and because it was based on exaggerated tales plato imagined and described an ancient kingdom more advanced and powerful than the kingdoms of his own time but not

everything was a product of plato's imagination the minoans were indeed advanced and ingenious people there were many theories of where atlantis would be most likely it was the minoan city on the island of santorini the island of santorini was one of the most important for minoan trade there was a huge volcano on it when the volcano erupted it almost completely destroyed the island and its buildings a large part of the island sank into the sea dragging everything with it which greatly affected the minoan trade with northern kingdoms as if that were not enough a huge

cataclysm occurred shortly after a strong earthquake followed by a tsunami with waves of up to 20 meters affected all of greece and especially the island of crete the devastation was much greater than that caused by an atomic bomb the houses and palaces were yet again destroyed with such seismic activity the volcano of the island of santorini erupted again despite the distance its ashes invaded the island of crete blocking the sunlight and generating a toxic mist that killed crops and animals and famine brought revolts and violence throughout crete it reached a point of despair and there

were reports that the minoans resorted to cannibalism unfortunately for the minoans not even they could fight against the forces of nature one of the most advanced societies of their time fell into savagery a disaster of such proportions served as inspiration for plato to create his story about atlantis there probably never was the city of atlantis which is a myth the minoan people were brave and still attempted to rebuild their cities but the economy was already feeble and the minoan kingdom was losing its wealth while other kingdoms were growing the greek kingdom of mycenae kept conquering

almost all of greece already moving towards the aegean islands it is unclear whether maisine took crete by force or offered help in exchange for giving up the territory the fact is that minoans and mycenaean merged their cultures two centuries later started to recover the island of crete according to homer in his epic poem about the trojan war the mycenaean ships commanded by king agamenon set sail for troy from the island of crete in 1200 bc the mycenaean empire went into decline largely due to pirate attacks that destroyed everything in their path even the mighty egypt

suffered great losses against the aegean sea pirates the last inhabitants of creed abandoned their cities and took refuge for over a century in the mountains of the island this allowed other peoples from greece to occupy the ancient minoan cities no longer able to withstand invaders one of the most splendid cultures of the ancient world came to an end the minoans are considered to be the first european civilization their influence was enormous for the greek people who appeared afterward due to them as well the trading and relationships of many civilizations became possible in the bronze age

great civilizations do not disappear overnight as in the legend of atlantis but their stories can be as incredible and rich as those imagined by the best writers [Music] you