Minoan

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Minoans (Tiếng Hy Lạp: Μινωίτες) là một nền văn minhCrete trong vùng biển Aegean, phát triển phồn thịnh vào khoảng từ năm 2700 tớ năm 1450 trước Công Nguyên. Sau đó nền văn hóa của họ bị thay thế bởi nền văn hóa Mycenaean. Minoans là một trong những nền văn minh hưng thịnh trong vùng Mediterranean trong suốt thời kỳ đồ đồng của Hy Lạp. These civilizations had much contact with each other, making it sometimes difficult to judge the extent to which the Minoans influenced or were influenced by their neighbors. Based on depictions in Minoan art, Minoan culture is often characterized as a matrilineal society centered on goddess worship.

The term "Minoan" was coined by the British archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans after the mythic "king" Minos associated with the labyrinth, which Evans identified as the site at Knossos. It is not known whether "Minos" was a personal name or a title. What the Minoans called themselves is unknown, although the Egyptian place name "Keftiu" (*kaftāw) and the Semitic "Kaftor" or "Caphtor" and "Kaptara" in the Mari archives apparently referring to the island of Crete. Much later, the Odyssey calls the non-Greek speaking natives of Crete Eteocretans i.e. 'true Cretans'.