Between the Land, Sea, and Sky: Some Words on the Art of the Minoan Civilization of Bronze Age Crete

Usually, our knowledge of history, society, and culture is based
on the written sources. However, the Minoan texts are extremely few.
Thus, the Minoan art appears to be almost the only source of our knowledge
of the Minoan civilization and culture. This paper attempts to
analyze the phenomenon of the Minoan art of Bronze Age Crete. Discovered
by A. Evans, the Minoan civilization|an Aegean Bronze Age
civilization|
ourished on the island of Crete and some other Aegean
islands, in particular on Thera/Santorini with its settlement of Akrotiri.
For quite a long time, the Minoan civilization had been labeled as peaceful
making reference to Minoan Thalassocracy, \Pax Minoica", and a rather
small number of forti cations. The lack of written information has given
vent to researchers' fantasy and the idea of the Minoan culture as the Golden
Age of humanity was not accidental: the Minoan artists portrayed life
as a continuous
ow of beauty, an endless game, in which
eeting emotions
and joy become the spring of happiness. Later, the conception of peaceful
Minoans was re-evaluated. Evans's reconstructions were subjected to serious
criticism from the standpoint of contemporary archeology. However,
we can \throw out the baby with the bath water". We do not have to
accept everything Evans stated about the Minoans, but we should be grateful
for his profound inquiry into the unknown world of the human past.
The Minoan art is important for contemporary humans because it draws
attention to a harmonious life in the world of here and now; it carries an
incredible power of inspiration and beauty; it brings a feeling of lightness,
joy and a happy
ight of a soul into our lives. And that really matters.