Historical Info for Historical Fiction Readers discussion

The Minoans were the people of Crete in the famous Greek legend of Theseus and the Minotaur.

1. Ethnography: Genetic evidence shows that the Minoans were not Greek, but Anatolian, having come over to Crete and displaced the original Neolithic inhabitants around 3000 B.C.

2. Literacy: The Minoan written language is called Linear A. It is still being deciphered.

3. Political Structure: Archaeologists and historians studying the Linear A tablets generally agree now that "Minos" is a title rather than a personal name. It is not known whether the Minos was a king or high priest, or the extent of his dominion; he may have ruled all Crete, or just the region around Knossos. Minoan Crete may have been a theocracy.

4. Architecture: The Minoan palaces were actually centers of religious administration. It is not known who sat on the throne discovered at Knossos, whether a king, priest, or even priestess.

5. Religion: The Minoans were polytheistic. They do not appear to have worshipped a single Great Mother Goddess, but many separate goddesses. There is little evidence of male deities outside the Bull (Poseidon) and a possible young male god (Hyakinthos? Diktaean Zeus?).

6. Economics: The Minoans specialized in importing raw materials and turning out luxury wares such as fine pottery, jewelry, and cloth. The Minoans were the first people to produce purple dye from murex farms near Kommos in southern Crete. Minoan artists may have been employed in the Nile Delta near Avaris, and in Mycenaean Greece.

7. Upheavals: The Late Bronze Age was a time of seismic upheaval. Knossos was destroyed by fire and earthquake at least twice in its long history, and was rebuilt, except for the final destruction around 1200 B.C.

The eruption of Thera (Santorini) around 1628 B.C. would have compromised the Minoan fleet and caused widespread devastation in the Minoan world (the ash cloud drifted east toward Canaan and Cyprus, but northern Crete was hit with devastating tsunamis).

The Mycenaeans invaded and took over Crete around 1450 B.C. Thus, the art and architecture one sees at Knossos actually has a Mycenaean flavor.

Fabulous post, Laura, thank you. Do you know of books on the subject? Either fiction or nonfiction are fine to mention.

I have just joined,so here goes! Excellent post Laura. Debra you might be interested in these books with a Cretan link----'The King Must Die' by Mary Renault (Fiction),and 'The Great Mysteries of Archaeology-Knossos' by R.Rossi(Non-Fiction,2007).

"The King Must Die" was excellent. I read it long ago; now Linda, you've made me want to read it again! Mary Renault is a favorite of mine.

Thanks, Laura, for the fascinating facts about Minoan Crete.

I myself am taking notes to write a book about Minoan Crete.

Thank you for a fascinating post :)

and I'll add "The King Must Die" to my TBR list

Thanks for the titles, Linda.

The sequel to 'The King Must Die' is 'The Bull From The Sea'. It is about the return of Theseus to Athens and his later life. Mary Renault was an inspired writer who does'nt get mentioned much now. I really like her Alexander series, especially the first 'Fire From Heaven' about Alexander's childhood---even the title is magical.

There may be some other books on the Minoans floating around out there. It's a fascinating culture that needs some love!

Maybe you will inspire someone who reads here to love it up and write a book.

Great post -- do you know when they started trading in murex dye or the earliest evidence of producing it in quantity?

Thank you, jsd

The first evidence for Minoan murex production is around 1900-1700 B.C.

Great, thank you!

A beautiful 1 inch scale doll based on the faience Snake Goddess figure. Apart from the firing and hair, this doll is my work.

The Minoan Snake Priestess:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v16...

Crafty. :)

Fabulous, Laura -- your image/doll reminds of illustrations in E. Barber's history of fibers,
Women's Work: The First 10,000 Years ( no link on GR ), nonfiction.

I just did an interview with Rebecca Lochlann on her book "The Year-god's Daughter." I wonder if she knows this thread is here. Her book is wonderful and I know she's conducted simply TONS of research.
http://vrchristensen.com/http:/vrchri...

http://rebeccalochlann.wordpress.com/

I'll see if I can get her to join us.

I reviewed The Year-God's Daughter as well and it is indeed wonderful! The research really shows with tons of fantastic historical detail, but it never feels like an infodump. It's a fantastic historical novel. I'm also planning to interview her on my blog -- just haven't figured out which questions I want to ask her yet! :)

Here's my review of her novel.

That's wonderful! Has she seen it? I'll send her a link just in case. She's great. A lot of fun to interview, and so down to earth.

V.r. wrote: "I just did an interview with Rebecca Lochlann on her book "The Year-god's Daughter." I wonder if she knows this thread is here. Her book is wonderful and I know she's conducted simply TONS of resea..."

Thanks for inviting her to join us, V.R.! I hope she will.

Welcome Rebecca!

Please feel free to give us some info about your books and a book cover link if you would like.

Welcome all.

I have been fascinated by the Minoan culture for many years, did a lot of reading and published book reviews on "all things Minoan" in a library of reviews


Most reviews are in German language, with a few in English as well:

Moyra Caldecott, The Lily and the Bull
Les Cole, The Sea Kings
Guttandin et al., Inseln der Winde
Judith Hand, Voice of the Goddess
Vince and Sandra Peddle, The Moon Maiden

All in all though, I found the archaeological reports more interesting reading than the novels, who focus too much on King Minos, Minotaur, Theseus and company; to my best knowledge these are all figures from a much later time.

And finally I decided to write my own book, trying to give a more realistic view into Minoan everyday life than the novels I have read so far. If you are interested, it's Pillar Island, available at Amazon

After more than a year of doing nothing for the book, just recently some people totally unknown to me left nice reviews. Shows to me: There are a few who buy it, who read it, who like it. What more can an author ask for?

I have finished my novel on Minoan Crete. Knossos by Laura Gill. I've also done some photoshoots with Minoan costume, because good Minoan stock photography is really hard to find. My images are at my journal: http://helens-daughter.livejournal.com

Laura wrote: "I have finished my novel on Minoan Crete. Knossos by Laura Gill. I've also done some photoshoots with Minoan costume, because good Minoan stock photography is really hard to find. ..."

Really great photoshoot, Laura. That must have been a lot of work.

Rebecca wrote: "Laura wrote: "I have finished my novel on Minoan Crete. Knossos by Laura Gill. I've also done some photoshoots with Minoan costume, because good Minoan stock photography is really ..."

Thanks.