Chapter 10
Mediterranean Society: The Greek Phase
Arguably no society has cast a longer shadow over the Mediterranean,
European, and American worlds than that of the ancient Greeks. The influences of
Greek democracy, tragedy, and philosophy have transcended the centuries and
continue to shape minds today. At the core of the Greek mind was an inquiring
spirit and refusal to accept anything less than the truth.
After escaping near disaster in the Persian War, the Greeks went on to create one
of the world’s most glorious cultural epochs. In the end, unfortunately, the
Greeks’ own arrogance and warlike manner led to their destruction in the
Peloponnesian War. The conquests of Alexander of Macedon led to the creation of
the Hellenistic age and a perpetuation of Greek brilliance.
Early Development of Greek Society
In Crete, people came to the island from Anatolia around 6500 BC and
settled in the area near Knossos. These people lived in small communities
and were mostly farmers. This changed in about 2400 to 1500 BC when the
Minoan civilization, named for the legendary King Minos flourished.
Life in Bronze Age Crete revolved around a series of palaces, scattered
around the island whose design and complexity is unlike anything that
preceded it in Greece.
All of the Cretan palaces share a similar design with the largest one in
Knossos, which had been discovered by Sir Arthur Evans, an amateur
archaeologist, in the nineteenth century. These palaces were the part of a
system which included a number of sanctuaries in caves, on the mountains
and in houses.
Though little is known about the belief system of this ancient religion, (since
no sacred texts have been discovered, so far) from the figurines and shrines
it can be assumed that the Cretans, if they did not worship nature and human
beauty, held it in a very high regard.
The legend of the minotaur, the half-man, half-bull off-spring of Pasiphae,
the wife of King Minos and a bull, and other archaeological finds seem to
confirm the worship of the bull as some sort of divine being or symbol. It
has also been suggested that this could refer to the constellation of Taurus
and perhaps the commemoration of some event that occured.
