MGFN+Socio-Political+Structure

media type="custom" key="3785981"


 * We know of the Minoans only through their ruins. Splendid as they are, with their remarkable architectural logic, their hypnotic art, and the richness of cultural artifacts, they spoke a language we don't understand and they wrote in a script which we can't read.
 * So the voices of the Minoans, their stories, their history as they understood it, is lost to us.
 * Even if we do by some miracle decipher their writing and penetrate the mists of their language, we may not end up with much of anything.
 * For all of their writing seems to be one thing: accounts and records.
 * The Minoans were, after all, a great mercantile people and they kept profoundly accurate records of their transactions.
 * The archaeological evidence points to only a few reasonable certainties about Minoan history.
 * Around 3000 BC, Crete was settled by a people who probably came from Asia Minor, who, by 2000 BC was already living in cities, trading with other nations in the Mediterranean, and employing a hieroglyphic system of writing, probably derived from Egyptian hieroglyphics.
 * This hieroglyphic writing would eventually evolve into a linear script. They built magnificent palace centers at Knossos, Phaistos, and Kato Zakros; these palaces seem to have dominated Cretan society.
 * We have no idea what language they spoke, but they certainly spoke a non-Hellenic language (that is, a language not closely related to Greek) and probably spoke a non-Indo-European language.
 * The Greeks called non-Hellenic languages "barbaric," from the word "barbar," which means "speaking nonsense" ("bar bar bar bar").
 * They called people who spoke barbaric languages, "barbarians"; so the Greeks in many ways distinguished themselves from other people by the language they spoke.
 * The Eteo-Cretans, then, originators of Greek civilization itself, had become the barbarians in the Greek world.
 * Minoan civilization was based on a society where there was little inequality amongst men and women (Hooker, 2009).
 * Women played an important role in public life as they served as priestesses, functionaries and administrators, and participated in all sports that Cretan males participated in (e.g. bull-jumping) (Hooker, 2009).
 * Women participated in all occupations that were available to men, including skilled craftswomen, entrepreneurs and bureaucrats (hooker, 2009).
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Cretan society was matrilineal (mother’s kinship recognized) (Hooker, 2009).
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';"> Sacred symbols include the bull and its horns, the labrys, the serpent, and nature (Hooker, 2009).
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Women traditionally wore clothing that left their breasts bare and a long skirt with a narrow waist, men wore a kilt or loincloth (Chadwick, 2009).
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">A social hierarchy was present dividing the people between nobles, citizens, and slaves (Hooker, 1996).
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">The majority of the population worked the land, as well as a small portion of Minoans produced crafts (Chadwick, 2009).
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Religiously, the Minoan civilization worshipped female goddesses (Chadwick, 2009).

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Chadwick, John. "Minoan Civilization." //Encyclopedia Americana//. 2009. Grolier Online. 18 Apr. 2009 <http://ea.grolier.com/cgi-bin/article?assetid=0272080-00>. __<span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">History of Minoan Crete __<span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">. Ancient Greece. 13 April 2009 [|http://www.ancient-] greece.org/history/minoan.html. Hooker, Richard. Ancient Greek Civilizations. (1996). 14 April 2009 < [] >. Hooker, Richard. The History of the Minoans. 14 April 2009 < [] >. Hooker, Richard. Women in Minoan Culture. 14 April 2009 [].

How were the different groups males/ females – aristocrats/commoners treated in the society? ** <span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;"> ·   The protopalatial era began with social upheaval, external dangers, and migrations from mainland Greece and Asia Minor. <span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;"> ·   During this time the Minoans began establishing colonies at Thera, Rodos, Melos, and Kithira. <span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;"> ·   Around 2000 BC a new political system was established with authority concentrated around a central figure - a king. <span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;"> ·   The first large palaces were founded and acted as centers for their respective communities, while at the same time they developed a bureaucratic administration which permeated Minoan society. <span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;"> ·   Distinctions between the classes forged a social hierarchy and divided the people into <span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;"> ·   nobles, peasants, and perhaps slaves. <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">media type="custom" key="3785999"
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Crete, so singular in everything else, seems to have avoided this.
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Not only does Crete seem to be a class-based society where there is little class inequality, archaeological evidence suggests that women never ceased playing an important role in the public life of the cities.
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">They served as priestesses, as functionaries and administrators, and participated in all the sports that Cretan males participated in.
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">These were not backyard sports, either, like croquet. The most popular sports in Crete were incredibly violent and dangerous: boxing and bull-jumping. In bull-jumping, as near as we can tell from the representations of it, a bull would charge headlong into a line of jumpers.
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Each jumper, when the bull was right on top of them, would grab the horns of the bull and vault over the bull in a somersault to land feet first behind the bull.
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">This is not a sport for the squeamish. All the representations of this sport show young women participating as well as men.
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Women also seem to have participated in every occupation and trade available to men. The rapid growth of industry on Crete included skilled craftswomen and entrepreneurs, and the large, top-heavy bureaucracy and priesthood seems to have been equally staffed with women. In fact, the priesthood was dominated by women.
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Although the palace kings were male, the society itself does not seem to have been patriarchal.
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Evidence from Cretan-derived settlements on Asia Minor suggest that Cretan society was **matrilineal**, that is, kinship descent was reckoned through the mother.
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">We live in a **patrilineal** society; we spell out our descent on our father's side—that's why we take our father's last name and not our mother's last name.
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">While we can't be sure that Cretan society was matrilineal, it is a compelling conclusion since the religion was goddess-based.

<span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">media type="custom" key="3786039"


 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">Since we have only ruins and remains from Minoan culture, we can only guess at their religious practices.
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">We have no scriptures, no prayers, no books of ritual; all we have are objects and fragments all of which only hint at a rich and complex religious life and symbolic system behind their broken exteriors.
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">The most apparent characteristic of Minoan religion was that it was polytheistic and matriarchal, that is, a goddess religion; the gods were all female, not a single male god has been identified until later periods.
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">Many religious and cultural scholars now believe that almost all religions began as matriarchal religions, even the Hebrew religion (where Yahweh is frequently referred to as physically female), but adopted patriarchal models in later incarnations.
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">What precipitated the transition from goddess religions to god religions is still subject to much debate and controversy, but the adoption of a sedentary lifestyle because of agriculture may have fundamentally reoriented society towards patriarchal organization and the subsequent rethinking of goddess religions.
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">It is certain, however, that urbanization dramatically precipitated gender inequality as human life suddenly assumed a double quality: public life and private life.
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">The domination of public life, that is, administration, rule, and military organization, by men certainly produced a reorientation of religious beliefs.
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">The Cretans, however, do not seem to have evolved either gender inequality nor adapted their religion to a male-centered universe.
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">The legacy of the goddess religion seems to still be alive today. Both Greece and Crete are Greek Orthodox Christian.
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">In Greece, however, only women regularly swear by the name of the Virgin Mary, while in Crete both men and women swear by her name, particularly the epithet, "Panagia," or "All-Holy."
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">The head of the Minoan pantheon seems to have been an all-powerful goddess which ruled everything in the universe.
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">This deity was a mother deity, that is, her relationship to the world was as mother to offspring, which is a fundamentally different relation than the relationship of the father to his offspring.
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">This is an impossibly difficult difference to really understand, but Sigmund Freud in //Moses and Monotheism// hints at its fundamental aspect.
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">The relationship between a mother and offspring is a real, biological relationship that can be concretely demonstrated (the child comes from the mother).
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">The relationship to the father is also a biological relationship, but it can only be inferred (because the child doesn't come directly from the father's body).
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">It is inferred symbolically, that is, the child looks like the father.
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">One aspect of goddess religion, then, is a fundamentally closer relationship, kinship and otherwise, to the deity, wheras god religions tend to stress distance.
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">These, however, are only guesses because so little comes down to us about goddess religions of antiquity.
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">The world for the Minoans seems suffused with the divine; all objects in the world seem to have been charged with religious meaning.
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">The Minoans particularly worshipped trees, pillars (sacred stones), and springs.
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">The priesthood seems to have been almost entirely if not totally female, although there's evidence (precious little evidence) that the palace kings had some religious functions as well.
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN;">The Minoans worshipped goddesses <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">. <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN;">There seem to be several goddesses including a Mother Goddess of fertility, a Mistress of the Animals, a protectress of cities, the household, the harvest, and the underworld, and more. <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Minoan sacred symbols include the bull and its horns of consecration, the labrys (double-headed axe), the pillar, the serpent, the sun-disk, and the tree. <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN;">It was assumed for many years that the Minoans were a non-violent and peaceful people. <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Recently, however, archaeologists have uncovered evidence which raises doubts about many of the long held conceptions of Minoan Crete. <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Recent finds, for example, uncovered at a temple structure near one of the palaces suggest to some that the Minoans might have engaged in human sacrifice. <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Although not all agree that this was human sacrifice. <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">

<span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Hooker, Richard. The History of the Minoans. 14 April 2009 <http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/MINOA/HISTORY.HTM>. Hooker, Richard. Minoan Religion. 14 April 2009 <http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/MINOA/RELIGION.HTM>. __<span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">Minoan Civilization __<span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">. Phantis. 14 April 2009 < [] >.

<span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">media type="custom" key="3786049"media type="custom" key="3786059" <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">All archaeological evidence suggests that the Cretan states of the first half of the second millenium BC were bureaucratic monarchies . <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">While the government was dominated by priests and while the monarch seemed to have some religious functions, the principle role of the monarch seemed to be that of "chief entrepreneur," or better yet, CEO of the Cretan state. <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">For the Cretans operated their state as a business, and entrepreneurship seemed to be the order of the day. While the bulk of the population enjoyed the wealth of international trading, the circumstances of that trade was tightly controlled from the palace. <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">Beneath the king was a large administration of scribes and bureaucrats who carefully regulated production and distribution both within the state and without. <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">This administration kept incredibly detailed records, which implies that they exercised a great deal of control over the economy. <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">

The Minoans of Crete. <span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;"> 14 April 2009 < [] >.

<span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">media type="custom" key="3786063" <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">Was a a matriarchy
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">Was controlled by several city-states, the palaces, which were ruled over by a king and queen or a king and queen working with either a senate or a council of elders
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">Built housing for all their citizens not just royalty
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">Was a society of free citizens based on several classes of income
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">Gave their women just as many rights as their male counterparts
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">Gave their slaves the same rights as other Minoans minus the permission to participate in religious ceremonies
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">Used collective tombs for burial and both the rich and royal were buried along side one another

<span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">media type="custom" key="3786071" <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">Worshipped one goddess with many faces, most likely, or multiple goddesses
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">Had no gods in their religion until late in their history and the gods that eventually appeared only appeared to serve as the husbands and sons of their goddesses
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">Worshipped nature in all its forms such as trees, springs, hillsides, etc
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">Not only had temples of worship in almost all their houses but they also had temples throughout Crete usually on a hilltop over looking bodies of water, a grove of trees, etc
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">Used the courtyards of their palace centers for religious ceremonies

<span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">media type="custom" key="3786079"
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN;">The Minoans had their own language now referred to as Eteocretan, though little is known about it. It was written in a number of different scripts over the centuries. <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Approximately 3,000 tablets bearing writing have been discovered so far, many apparently being inventories of goods or resources. <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Between around 1900-1700 BC, hieroglyphics were used by the Minoans; this was succeeded by the Linear A script (1700-1450 BC), and [|Linear B] (1450-1400 BC). <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">

__<span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">Minoan Civilization __<span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">. Phantis. 14 April 2009 < [] >.

<span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-ansi-language: EN;">media type="custom" key="3786081"
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-ansi-language: EN;">Minoan men wore loincloths and kilts. Women wore robes that were open to the navel and had short sleeves and flounced skirts. The patterns on clothes emphasized symmetrical geometric designs.
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA; mso-ansi-language: EN;">The statues of priestesses in Minoan culture and frescoes showing men and women participating in the same sports (usually bull-leaping) lead some archaeologists to believe that men and women held equal social status, and that inheritance might even have been matrilineal. The frescos include many depictions of people, with the sexes distinguished by colour: the men's skin is reddish-brown, the women's white. The colour serves as an identifying code in the pictures.

__<span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">Minoan Civilization __<span style="font-size: 12pt; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-CA;">. Phantis. 14 April 2009 < [] >.



Violet. __Reclusive Leftist.__ 10 May 2009 [].

<span style="display: block; font-size: 140%; font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; text-align: center;">Back to Notes Page