Minoan Civilization
The Minoan Civilization was a bronze-age culture which arose around 3000 BC on the Greek island of Crete. Preceding the Mycenaean Civilization, it is usually divided into three periods: 1) the Early Minoan (3000 to 2300 BC); Middle Minoan (2,300 to 1,500 BC); and the Late Minoan (1500 to 1000 BC). The original people who created this culture are known as Minoans, called so after the legendary King Minos. Their kingdoms lasted for hundreds of years. At the end of the third period, the Late Minoan, the Mycenaeans would invade the island and they would found the Mycenaean Civilization around 1300 BC.
The people of the Minoan Civilization designed and built large palaces, such the ones at Knossos and Phaistos. Being polytheistic, they regarded bulls as sacred animals. Thus, they created the myth of the Minotaur, a deity that had the body of a man and the head of a bull. The Minotaur was trapped inside an impregnable maze, which was called the Labyrinth.
Economy
Cris-crossed by mountains and valleys, the island of Crete lacked a plain large enough for agriculture. Therefore, the Minoans grew olives, grapes, and fig on the slopes of hills, making oil and wine out of olives and grapes respectively. They also raised goats and sheep, which, along with fish, were the base of their nutrition. They bartered their products for wheat, metals, and linen cloth which came form other regions of the Aegean and Mediterranean Sea.
The ruins of the Minoan Civilization were discovered by a British archeologist, Sir Arthur Evans, around 1900.
Below, map of the Eastern Mediterranean, showing the island of Crete and Greece.
