2. Ruler/s
female?
Minoan
Society
Autonomous
political units
Elite woman
prominent at
Knossos
Priesthood –
sacrifice +
priestesses
Craftspeople
– farmers /
herders
Agriculture
important –
goats and
sheep
3. PROBLEMS WITH EVIDENCE
Fragmentary evidence = hypotheses
Evidence society was ‘stratified’:
Comparisons with similar societies of the time = Near
Eastern and Egyptian = ruler / elite
Palaces, large country houses and the remains of
simple houses = different class groups
4. EVANS
‘Minos’ – title like pharaoh
Ruled like a ‘priest king’ –
evidence “Prince of the
lilies” fresco + the
“chieftain cup” – young
Minoan prince
Influenced by other
civilisations & Frazer –
‘The Golden Bough’
5. PALACES
Palaces: Knossos, Mallia Phaistos, Zakros
Knossos is the largest – influence over others?
Colin Renfrew: society organised as a series of
‘chiefdoms’ – economy / political / religious
Robert Koehl: each palace - own aristocracy
6. PALACES
Peter Warren: political structure based on
‘hierarchy of built structures’ – size of building
related to status of occupants
Concept of ‘high king’ in Knossos and tribal leaders
in other areas
Period of peace allowed investment + unfortified
palaces means no threat – social acceptance of
ruler?
7. WA-NA-KA = WANAX (KING)
Mycenaean control – late
period Crete (1450 BC -)
– Linear B
Male? Minoan?
Mycenaean? Puppet
ruler?
Occurs in the singular –
ruled over Crete?
Found at Knossos
8. GENDER
Evans: Male king?
Context? Early 20th
century – sexist?
Patriarchal
assumptions
Jane Harrison (1903):
matriarchy (ignored)
Revisionist historians
have interpreted
evidence that supports
Harrisons’ theory
‘Ruler’ often
represented as female
Warren: Religious?
Politician? – Female
Waterhouse: No
apparent signs of
warfare or struggle –
lead by priestesses?
Boulotis: kingship was
the ‘norm’ – ‘master
impression’ evidence
10. PALACE ELITE
Palace – large house / villa relationship – met with
palace occupants – aristocrats?
Koehl: Banquets? Communal dining halls and
resting rooms (Mallia / Knossos / Phaistos – have
large halls north of central court)
Evidence of food debris and cooking utensils
‘Camp stool’ fresco - Knossos – elite male
gathering?
11. BUREACRACY
Administrative need – palace office structure
showed need for organisation
Administer rations / assign flocks + herds / regulate
collection of raw materials and produce
Supervise scribes who kept records – clay tablets,
papyrus, parchments
Clay seals - evidence of bureaucratic control
12. PRIESTS AND PRIESTESSES
Evidence – seal stones e.g.: short cropped hair, a
garment draped around body or a sacrificial axe
carried over the shoulder
Women – full time? elite women? Social elite?
Young women of child bearing age – associated
with the pouring of libations, making offerings and
performance of sacrifices
Belief that religion was focussed on gaining ‘divine
favour’ = prosperity
13. CRAFT + AGRICULTURAL WORKERS
Meaning is inferred – objects / buildings / remains
Masons, carpenters, potters, painters, carves of
stone and ivory, metalworker – cauldrons or
jewellery
Part – time? Not clear if it was gender specific
Spent significant amount of time farming
Palace craft workers – fulltime?
Evidence of intensive farming
Linear B tablets – produce and cattle numbers
Assigned flocks? Indentured labour?
‘Harvester vase’ – farmers in procession?
14. SLAVES
‘Likely’ that slaves existed – common in Bronze age
Eastern Mediterranean
Owned by elite? Traded?
Attached to palaces? Skilled craftspeople?
Evidence: Linear B tablets – Mycenaean – ‘do-e-rola’
– connected to ‘doulos’ (Slave – Greek) –
contracts for sale of slaves