General features of Aegean civilization
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Though writing from the era is sparse or nonexistent, the general features of Aegean civilization have been gleaned
from archaeological study.
Political Organization
The great Cretan palaces and the fortified citadels of Mycenae, Tiryns and Hissarlik, each containing little more than one great residence, and dominating lower towns of
meaner houses, point to monarchy at all periods on Crete. Independent local developments of art before the middle of the 2nd millennium BC suggest the early existence of independent units in
various parts, of which the strongest was the Minoan. After
that date the evidence goes strongly to show that one political dominion was spread for a brief period, or for two brief periods,
over almost all the area. The great number of tribute-tallies found at Knossos
perhaps indicates that the center of power was always there.
Religion
The fact that shrines have so far been found within palaces and not certainly anywhere else indicates that the kings kept
religious power in their own hands. Perhaps they were themselves high-priests. Religion in the area seems to have been essentially the same everywhere from the earliest period, consisting of
features like the cult of a Divine Principle, resident in dominant features of nature (sun, stars, mountains, trees, etc.) and of
controlling fertility. This cult passed through an aniconic stage, from which fetishes survived to the last, these being rocks or pillars, trees, weapons (e.g. bipennis, or double war-axe, shield), etc. When the iconic stage was reached, about 2000 BC, we find the Divine Spirit represented as a goddess with a subordinate young god, as
in many other east Mediterranean lands. The god was probably son and mate
of the goddess, and the divine pair represented the genius of Reproductive Fertility in its relations with humanity. The goddess
sometimes appears with doves, as uranic (heavenly), at others with snakes, as chthonic (earthly). In the ritual, fetishes, often of miniature form, played a great part:
all sorts of plants and animals were sacred: sacrifice (not burnt, and not human),
dedication of all sorts of offerings and simulacra, invocation, etc., were practised. The dead, who returned to the Great Mother, were objects of a sort of hero-worship. This early
nature-cult explains many anomalous features of Hellenic religion, especially in
the cults of Artemis and Aphrodite.
Social Organization
There is a possibility that features of a primeval matriarchate long survived; but there is
no certain evidence. Of the organization of the people under the monarch we are ignorant. There are so few representations of
armed men that it seems doubtful if there can have been any professional military class. Theatral structures found at Knossos and Phaestus, within the precincts of
the palaces, were perhaps used for shows or for sittings of a royal assize, rather than
for popular assemblies. The Minoan remains contain evidence of an elaborate system of registration, account-keeping and other
secretarial work, which perhaps indicates a considerable body of law. The line of the ruling class was comfortable and even
luxurious from early times. Fine stone palaces, richly decorated, with separate sleeping apartments, large halls, ingenious
devices for admitting light and air, sanitary conveniences and marvellously modern arrangements for supply of water and for
drainage, attest this fact. Even the smaller houses, after the Neolithic period,
seem also to have been of stone, plastered within. After 1600 B.C. the palaces in Crete had more than one story, fine stairways,
bath-chambers, windows, folding and sliding doors, etc. In this later period, the distinction of blocks of apartments in some
palaces has been held to indicate the seclusion of women in harems, at least among the
ruling caste. Minoan frescoes show women
grouped apart, and they appear alone on gems. Flesh and fish and many kinds of vegetables were evidently eaten, and wine and beer were drunk. Vessels for culinary, table, and
luxurious uses show an infinite variety of form and purpose. Artificers' implements of many kinds were in use, bronze succeeding obsidian and other hard stones
as the material. Seats are found carefully shaped to the human person. At least on Crete there was evidently a large-scale
olive- and vine-culture. Chariots were in use
in the later period, as is proved by the pictures of them on Cretan tablets, and therefore, probably, the horse also was known. Indeed a horse appears on a gem impression. Main pathways were paved. Sports, probably more or less religious, are often represented, e.g. bullfighting, dancing,
boxing, armed combats.
Commerce
Commerce was practised to some extent in very early times, as is proved by the distribution of Melian obsidian over all the
Aegean area and by the Nilotic influence on early Minoan art. We find Cretan vessels exported to Melos, Egypt and the Greek mainland. Melian vases came in their turn to
Crete. After 1600 B.C. there is very close intercourse with Egypt, and Aegean things had their way to all coasts of the
Mediterranean. No traces of currency have come to light, unless certain axeheads,
too slight for practical use, had that character. Standard weights have been found, as well as representations of ingots. The
Aegean written documents have not yet proved (by being found outside the area) to be epistolary (letter writing) correspondence
with other lands. Representations of ships are not common, but several have been observed on Aegean gems, gem-sealings and vases.
They are vessels of low free-board, with masts. Familiarity with the sea is proved by the
free use of marine motives in decoration.
Treatment of the Dead
The dead in the earlier period were laid (so far as we know at present) within cysts constructed of upright stones. These were
sometimes inside caves. After the burial the cyst was covered in with earth. A little
later, in Crete, bone-pits seem to have come into use, containing the remains of many burials. Possibly the flesh was boiled off
the bones at once ("scarification") or left to rot in separate cysts a while. Afterwards the skeletons would be collected and the
cysts re-used. Coffins are of small size, contain corpses with the knees drawn up to the chin. They are found in excavated
chambers or pits. In the later period, a peculiar "bee-hive" or "tholos"
tombs became common, sometimes wholly or partly excavated, sometimes (as in the magnificent Mycenaean "treasuries")
constructed domewise. The shaft-graves in the Mycenae circle are also a late type, paralleled in the later Minoan cemetery. The
latest type of tomb is a flatly vaulted chamber approached by a horizontal or slightly inclined way, whose sides converge above.
At no period do the Aegean dead seem to have been burned. Weapons, food, water, unguents and various trinkets were laid with the
corpse at all periods. In the Mycenae circle an altar seems to have been erected over the graves, and perhaps slaves were killed
to bear the dead chiefs company. A painted sarcophagus, found at Hagia
Triada, also possibly shows a hero-cult of the dead.
Artistic Production
Ceramic art reached a specially high standard in fabric, form and decoration by the middle of the 3rd millennium BC on Crete. The products of that period compare favorably
with any potters' work in the world. The same may be said of fresco-painting, and probably of metal work. Modelling in terra cotta, sculpture in stone and ivory, engraving on gems, were following it
closely by the beginning of the 2nd millennium. After 2000 BC all these arts revived,
and sculpture, as evidenced by relief work, both on a large and on a small scale, carved stone vessels, metallurgy in gold, silver and bronze, advanced farther. This art and those of fresco- and vase-painting and of gem-engraving stood
higher about the 15th century B.C. than at any subsequent period
before the 6th century. The manufacture, modelling and painting of faience objects, and the making of inlays in many materials
were also familiar to Aegean craftsmen, who show in all their best work a strong sense of natural form and an appreciation of
ideal balance and decorative effect, such as are seen in the best products of later Hellenic art. Architectural ornament was also
highly developed. The richness of the Aegean capitals and columns may be judged by those from the "Treasury of Atreus" now set up
in the British Museum; and of the friezes we have examples in Mycenaean and Minoan fragments, and Minoan paintings. The magnificent gold work of the
later period, preserved to us at Mycenae and Vaphio, needs only to be mentioned. It should be compared with stone work in Crete,
especially the steatite vases with reliefs found at Hagia Triada. On the whole,
Aegean art at its two great periods, in the middle of the 3rd and 2nd millennia respectively, will bear comparison with any
contemporary arts.
See also
This article was originally based on content from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica. Update as needed.
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