Aegean sea map. The earliest civilization in Europe appeared in Crete, a narrow island at the southern entrance of the Aegean Sea. Crete is a long and narrow island, about 250 kilometers long from east to west and about 12~60 kilometers wide from north to south. It spans between Greece and North Africa, with Egypt, the oldest civilization center in Africa, in the south and West Asia, which produced great civilizations such as Sumer, Akkad and Babylon in the east.
Minoan residents of Crete usually store their food in this huge clay pot. Crete fought alone at sea, and it was not until 8000 BC that it entered the new clock era. Pottery has appeared in Crete since about 5700 BC. Due to the development of social production in Crete, people have to use pottery to preserve surplus grain and food. The development of social production has stimulated the growth of population and the improvement of living conditions. In Knossos, the residential area of residents reaches 4000 square meters; Houses began to appear and improve, the walls were smooth and flat, and they were often reinforced with stones, and the number of pottery also increased a lot. At the same time, settlements on Crete are increasing. By the middle of the 5th century BC, the whole island of Crete was inhabited by human beings. At this time, Crete people kept close contact with the outside world by sailing.
From about 2800 BC, Crete entered the era of stone tools and stone tools coexisting, and metal tools appeared and gradually replaced stone tools, wood tools and bone tools. The appearance of metal tools shows that Crete has taken an important step in the transformation to a class society. The rise of palace buildings in Knossos and other places clearly tells us that Crete has been divided into classes and the country may sprout.
Since then, Crete has entered a class society. The position of the ruler has been quite consolidated, and hereditary system may also appear. As early as the former imperial palace period, the tombs in Crete had shown an obvious trend of polarization between the rich and the poor. Most people's cemeteries are small, and most of them are built of raw bricks. There are few graves, most of which are made of stone. In Maya, the difference between tombs is even more obvious. Among the funerary objects in the tomb, there are many silverware, jewels, ivory, pottery, and even crown, scepter and other items that show the identity and status of the tomb owner.
Tombs in the 8th century BC decorated the palace of Knossos. The most famous mural is the image of the prince of Athens. The prince in the painting is life-size, wearing a crown decorated with lilies and peacock feathers, holding a flag in his right hand and a flag in his left hand. By the end of the palace period, the class differentiation in Crete was more obvious: the building area of Knossos maze reached 6.5438+0.2 million square meters, and the surrounding ancillary buildings occupied more than 20,000 square meters. It is beautifully designed and luxuriously decorated. The palace is built on a mountain, with thick columns and thin columns. There are all kinds of colorful paintings on the walls of halls and corridors. Most of their themes are about daily life, some are bullfighting, some are holding celebrations, and some are creatures in the sea. One of the paintings depicts a young man grabbing the bull's horn and trying to jump on its back by taking advantage of the sudden rise of its head. The anger of cows and the freedom of people are vivid. Its exciting action makes modern matadors afraid to try. More interestingly, most of the characters in the painting are dressed in modern clothes, with curly hair, low coat neckline and topless upper body, so that some people call them/kloc-the Parisian lady of the 0/8th century.
As a part of the bronze sculpture group, the main economic activities of Crete are agriculture and animal husbandry. Crete cultivated land with wooden plows, and also used double-edged axes, double-sided pickaxes, sickles, chisels, hoes and so on. Besides barley, wheat and lentils, there are also grapes, olives and figs. These two crops have great influence on later generations, and olive oil has become the most important edible oil for Greeks. Wine became the main drink of the Greeks. Sheep, goats, pigs, dogs, cows and other animals were also domesticated at this time, and people's hunting activities were relatively small, which was the animal husbandry at that time.
It has become a trend for Cretes to divide handicrafts. There are different occupations, such as potter, tanner, coppersmith, stonemason, ivory carver and bookkeeper, and there are also a certain number of craftsmen among the people. However, at different levels of social production development at that time, they did not make a living by handicrafts, but also worked as farmers or herders. Handicraft is only their sideline in slack season.
The artistic genius of Crete people painting on bottles with black modeling style is amazing. There are very beautiful murals in palaces in Knossos and other places. The characters in the painting have different postures and vivid expressions, and a few strokes often make the characters jump on the wall. Knossos Palace has thousands of households and twists and turns. The facilities in the palace are perfect, even the bathroom and toilet are carefully designed.
However, around 1700 BC, the palaces around Crete were severely damaged by invaders from Greece or Asia Minor. After this great destruction, all the palaces were rebuilt. The new palaces are very similar to the previous palaces in design and architectural style except for the expansion in scale.
The reconstruction of the mural palace in the temple of Crete marks the most prosperous period of Crete civilization. Its products are sold to all parts of the ancient Greek mainland, and the city-states of the ancient Greek mainland are deeply influenced by Crete.
Crete civilization flourished for more than two centuries. In the 0/5th century BC/KLOC, palaces in Knossos and other areas were destroyed by volcanic eruption on the island of Terra near Crete. This eruption divided Crete into three parts. The earthquake caused by volcanic eruption seriously damaged the palace in Crete, and the tsunami caused by the earthquake destroyed the navy in Crete. Volcanic ash floating in the wind destroyed almost everything on the island, causing Crete to fall into a serious famine. Just as the power of Crete declined sharply, the Greeks on the mainland robbed the island and invaded Crete, becoming the new owner of the island. Since then, Crete has been occupied by the Greeks. The primitive culture of Crete only existed in a few marginal areas, and the Mycenae civilization of Greece took its place.
The Aegean Sea is still there, and Crete is still there, but the once glorious Greek civilization here is gone. Only these upright stone pillars and residual walls are silently telling what happened here.