---Minoans--- 

#LEADER LIST (Calgacus)

Satur I the Great
Archedios
Gortus
Kydon
Tektamos
Asterios
Rhadamant the Great
Minos the Great
Katreios
Deukalion
Idomeneios
Leucos



#CITY LIST (Ad Hominem)

Knossos
Phaistos
Zakros
Malia
Gortys
Olus
Komos
Amnessos
Nirou
Myrtos
Arkhanes
Ierapytna
Vathypetro
Lindos
Gournia
Rithymna
Males
Rhytion
Miletos
Lycastos
Lindos
Tylissos
Helephthairna
Anopolis
Glamia
Dreros
Lato
Ierapolis
Katri
Grammion
Amphimalion
Istros
Ertaea
Dragmos
Petra
Illatia
Phalaserna
Myrina
Itanos
Keratos
Panormos
Pharai
Dreros
Gortyn
Lato
Mallia
Tylissos
Hagia Triada
Monastiraki
Palaikastro
Hierapetra
Molochos
Petsofa
Gourina
Karphi
Messara
Komo
Zakro
Amnios
Pseira
Lasithi
Piscokephalo
Psychro
Kamares
Eileithyia
Kandia


#CIVILOPEDIA (Thamis)

#RACE_Minoans
^The Minoans are $LINK<industrious and commercial=GCON_Strengths>. 
^They build $LINK<???>.
^
^To find the roots of the Minoan civilization we'd have to travel through the mist of the late Neolithic era. The first inhabitants of the island of Crete seem to have arrived there during the 6th millennium BC. There is no clear evidence where they came from. Asia Minor looks like a good candidate, but it's not the only one.    
^The new inhabitants of Crete had already the knowledge of cultivating the soil and kept domesticated animals. They also knew how to make fine pottery. They also travelled to the nearby Cyclades islands in seek for obsidian, which they used to create tools and statuettes.    
^The Neolithic civilization was followed by the bronze age civilization, which is actually what we call today "Minoan civilization". This civilization lasted over 1500 years, from 2600-1100 BC, and reached the height of its prosperity in the 18th - 16th centuries.    
^Very little was known about Minoan Crete before the great excavations of Greek and foreign archaeologists that began about 1900, and the discovery of the palaces of Knossos and Phaestos, with their astonishing architecture and wonderful finds.    
^Its history had passed into the realm of legend and remained a distant memory in Greek tradition and mythology.    
^The ancient authors speak mainly of Minos, the king who had his capital at Knossos, and was a wise lawgiver, a fair judge (who therefore judged souls in Hades after his death, along with Rhadamanthys and Aiakos) and a great sea - dominator. Homer calls him "..companion of mighty Zeus..", and Thucydides informs us that he was the first man to hold sway over the Aegean with his fleet, and that he captured and colonized the Cyclades, driving out the Carians, and freeing the seas from piracy.    
^Plato speaks of the heavy tribute that the inhabitants of Attica were compelled to pay to Minos - the historical basis of the myth of Theseus can easily be recognized - and Aristotle attributes his thalassocracy to the geographical position of Crete.
^This position was, in fact, particularly favorable, both for the Minoan domination of the sea, and for the growth
and development of their wonderful civilization. It was the crossroads linking three continents, and the racial
#DESC_RACE_Minoans
^
^elements and cultural strands of Asia, Africa and Europe met and mingled here to produce a new way of life, a new philosophy of the world and an exceptionally fine art that still strikes one today with its freshness, charm, variety, and mobility.
^The mixture of racial elements in Crete is demonstrated by the different skull - types discovered in the excavations there.    
^In general terms, however, the Minoans form part of the so - called "Mediterranean type", they were of medium height and had black curly hair and brown eyes.    
^Their language is not known, for the written texts have not yet been deciphered, but it appears to have belonged to a separate category of the Mediterranean languages.    
^After 1450 BC when the Achaeans had established themselves in Crete, a very archaic form of Greek was used as the official language and gained some dissemination. This is the language that may be read in the Linear B texts that are already deciphered.    
^Homer was aware that the inhabitants of Crete were divided into a number of tribes, and mentions the names of five of them: the Pelasgians, the Eteocretans, the Kydonians, the Achaeans and the Dorians, adding that each spoke its own language. He also emphasizes how densely populated Crete was, with its 100 cities, and mentions some of them, such as Knossos, Phaestos, Gortys, Lyttos, Kydonia, and Rhytion.    
^Excavation has demonstrated the truth of Homer's comments, revealing a host of Minoan sites, four of which were "palace" centers, developing around a large palace. Those known today, apart from Knossos and Phaestos, are at Malia and Zakros.    
^The Minoan civilization had reached a point of great strength and power in the eastern Mediterranean, and they had regular contacts and trade with the Egyptian kingdoms of the same era. They also sailed as far as the British islands, according to some historical evidence.    
