Who Were the Minoans?
Minoan civilization confirmed European by 2013 DNA study
This Bible History Daily article was originally published in May 2013. It has been updated.—Ed.
Who were the Minoans? The Minoan civilization is remembered for its ornate frescoes, including this Prince of the Lillies from the palace at Knossos.
Who were the Minoans? Their civilization in Crete has long been considered Europe’s first great Bronze Age society. The floruit of the Minoan civilization, which spread across Crete in the third millennium B.C.E., occurred in the 18th–16th centuries B.C.E., in the late Middle Bronze Age and the start of the Late Bronze Age. The island is dotted with magnificent palaces, including labyrinthine Knossos, Phaistos and Mallia, and Minoan art and traditions have captivated and influenced the Mediterranean world for thousands of years.
Despite their celebrated legacy, the Minoan civilization remains shrouded in mystery. We do not know what language was spoken on Crete, and the scripts of the early Minoan civilization—Cretan Hieroglyphs and Linear A—have eluded translation attempts for over a century. Despite extensive archaeological research exploring the history of Crete, the Minoan civilization has always kept close ties to the world of mythology. Sir Arthur Evans, the first person to carry out extensive excavations in Crete, named the society after the mythological king Minos. Crete’s landscape serves as the setting for countless legends, including the birthplace of Zeus, the labyrinth where Theseus killed the Minotaur and the prison that Deadalus and Icarus fled with their ill-fated wings.
But who were the people that left us with such grand mysteries and ornate palaces?
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Sir Arthur Evans claimed that the ancestors of the Minoan civilization came from North Africa, but more recent scholars have suggested dozens of additional forefathers. On May 14, 2013, Nature Communications published the study “A European population in Minoan Bronze Age Crete,” analyzing mitochondrial DNA from Minoan osseous tissue found in caves at the Cretan Lassithi plateau. It suggests that the Minoan civilization was comprised of local Europeans rather than outsiders. The Greek and American research team writes that “Our data are compatible with the hypothesis of an autochthonous development of the Minoan civilization by the descendants of the Neolithic settlers of the island” and that “shared haplotypes, principal component and pairwise distance analyses refute the Evans North African hypothesis.”
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Who were the Minoans? Knossos’s Ladies in Blue are genetically related to modern Europeans, according to a recent DNA study. Archaeological Museum of Iraklion.
The researchers examined over 100 bone samples from the third and second millennia B.C.E. and found a combination of distinctly European and uniquely Minoan characteristics—with no trace of African descent. The DNA samples are consistent with that of Neolithic, Bronze Age and modern European populations, especially Crete’s modern population. The Minoan people may be related to groups that migrated from Anatolia millennia earlier; if true, this would allow researchers to use cues from known Indo-European languages to help decipher the still-unknown language of the Minoan civilization.
While mysteries about the seafaring Minoan civilization remain, we are one step closer to answering the question: Who were the Minoans? As University of Washington geneticist George Stamatoyannopoulos says, “We now know that the founders of the first advanced European civilization were European.”
Read “A European population in Minoan Bronze Age Crete” in Nature Communications.
Related reading in Bible History Daily:
Bronze Age Collapse: Pollen Study Highlights Late Bronze Age Drought
Early Bronze Age: Megiddo’s Great Temple and the Birth of Urban Culture in the Levant
What Does the Aegean World Have to Do with the Biblical World?
Read more about Minoan civilization in the BAS Library:
The Minoans of Crete: Europe’s Oldest Civilization: Excavating Minoan Sites
Past Perfect: In Pursuit of Minoan Crete
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Hahaha Its not a mystery
The Minoans Ancient Greece
Archaeologist Manfred Bietak conducted extensive research on ancient Greek civilizations and their connections to ancient Egypt. Bietak unearthed evidence from artwork as early as 7000 B.C. that depicts the early people inhabiting Greece were of African descent.
The Minoan culture of Ancient Greece reached its peak at about 1600 B.C. They were known for their vibrant cities, opulent palaces and established trade connections. Minoan artwork is recognized as a major era of visual achievement in art history. Pottery, sculptures and frescoes from the Minoan Bronze age grace museum displays all over the world. Palace ruins indicate remnants of paved roads and piped water systems.
No such thing as african descent, just because one man said it. You can’t beat DNA testing, plus the first king of Egypt was descendant of Minoans. Hence his name Menes. Read Plato’s book Timaeus, as high-priests mentioned to Solon that early-Greeks settled in Egypt. Learn your facts from all corners.
Menes was the first Egyptian King and his name derives from Minoan. Minoans settled in early Egypt, around 9000BCE. Plato’s book Timeaus and other ancient historians clearly point out to the Minoans in sharing wisdom with Egyptians and travelling around the world settling in many places.
Minos historians agree that he was a king. Sir Arthur Evans is the first person to carry out extensive excavations in Crete, named the society after the mythological king Minos. The nearest word to Minoan is not settled. Here is a suggestion that shall be included as connected to Minoan. The word ‘mannavan’ in the Tamil language means a king even at the present times. When Linear A is deciphered this word ‘mannavan’ may be found.
The island of the Bronz age was know as Kouriti. It was named after the Kourites who were the Titans that guarded and protected baby Zeus in Greek mythology. In the hills of this ancient island the locals still call themselves Kourites. They still perform an ancient war dance performed by the mythological Kourites called Pentozali.
Many believe that the people of Thera were not Minoan but having the luxury of traveling to both Crete and Thera ( presently none as Santorini ) My personal belief is that the people of Thera were absolutely Minoans !! There are dug up ruins in the very south part of the island that was given the name Akratari ( sorry , can’t remember how it’s spelled ) anyway it’s a archaeological site of the remains of a city that had been covered and preserved under many, many feet of ash , note unlike Pompey in Italy . The architecture (not unlike the ruins of the Palace of Knossos on Crete ) is absolutely beautiful with streets running between two and three story buildings . This city had sewers and clay pipes that brought in water and many of these buildings actually had their own primitive toilets ( very , very rare fore any civilized people of the time . The incredible colors that were used and the exact same type of frescoes, same styles and depictions of the Minoan people themselves surrounded by nature ( flowers , birds , trees bearing fruit , dolphins swimming in the water , children playing games , beautiful women bathing and dancing also boys or men that appear to be playing some sort of sport ….running straight towards a bull then jumping and doing a somersault over the bull . I have never seen any other art such as Minoan . They appear to be one with nature . Every other ancient cultures I’ve ever seen always show soldiers or weapons , battles and the like . The Minoans seem to depict themselves as a peaceful people where as there closest cousins the Mycenaeans whom both share the same DNA are opposite and depict themselves more war like and wearing these crazy golden masks . Anyway getting back to the Minoans and the island of Thera . I believe that maybe some of the story of Atlantis might be speaking of the Minoans on Thera . There is even a old Minoan Frescoes depicting their city and what do you know it shows rings of land followed by rings of land and a mountain island with a building at the top right in the center . I don’t know how it can be seen any other way . Going back to the ruins topic, where as at Pompey’s ruins where many body remains had been found showing that a lot of people didn’t get away … on Thera they have never found any bodies. In fact it appears that perhaps they had some warning maybe day or weeks before the volcano blew its top . Now the Minoans were a Sea faring people and their territories were made up of hundreds of island as well as most likely having trading post all over the eastern Mediterranean , I suspect that when that volcano went off , where ever they were at they left in every direction seeking safety . Some may have headed for mainland Greece others forward Anatolia , some to Canaan , Egypt or Libya and just assimilated into the local cultures over time . Anyway I most say again how beautiful Minoan architecture was . Very modern style with a purpose for every part of its design weather be the ability for light access or for air to flow through the building to keep cool or to build multi story buildings when no other civilizations had the expertise to safely build like them for at least another thousand years or more …..The Great Minoans !!! Even had a written language that to this day , has still never been deciphered .