Standard of Living, Minoans vs........

"Please dont say Roman/Han or the like because while the rich lived..richly, the poor lived...quite poorly, and they were the average. "

 

They don't even exist at the same time. And no, slave economy only holds true for Rome, but Qin's economy is free peasant based, and there were extremely prosperous times during the Han. During the time of Jin Di, the commoners could all affort meat, the strings of cash are said to be stacked like mountains in every household(not just the rich). All these was gone thanks to Han Wudi's wonton wars.

 

Well naturaly I knew that the larger empires I mentioned didnt even exist in the same millennium of the small minoan society. Also I didnt mean Slaves so much as societies dominated by a large workforce. Question simply was; out of all the ancient societies, which do you belive had the easiest lives on average?

Well as far as relationships go, the Minoans during their earliest years 3200-2500bce were pretty isolated and that allowed them to develope from neolithic to perhaps the most advanced non-river culture at the time. All disputes were most likely internal and very small scale at most. Trading {limited to Egypt and perhaps whatever culture was inhabiting Anatolia at the time}was also probably pretty undecicive so they were likely vunerable to local famine and crop/fishing falures.

In their later years they truly florished {2400-1700bce}dispite a strong rivalry to the Myceneans who lived mostly in the various Ageans Islands bordering the Med and fringes of greek and turkish mainlands.

The Myceneans copied alot of Minoan Art but developed a culture in almost compleat polarity to the inhabitants of Crete. They were extreamly warlike, were not very successful as traders. They seemed to envy the Minoans and tryed to compeat with Crete in overseas trade. When that didnt work they decided to simply confiscate trading vessles, why trade when you can simply take I suppose.

This didnt stop the Minoans from living very well. What did stop it was the eruption of Thera, this island had a healthy Minoan colony and layed just off the North coast of Crete, almost all ports and towns was whiped out. The Minoans held on for another 400 years before the last of them were assimilated into the Mycenean culture, this Culture was Greece till around 700bce.

Minoan interaction were compleatly trade based with other cultures such as Hittites, Egyptians, Philistine, Canaan and the those preceading the Etruscans and Samnites on the Latin penninsula.


all of this is just off the top of my head, and I'm very tired so forgive my mistakes/misspellings if there are any/many.

Originally posted by Sinshara Well as far as relationships go, the Minoans during their earliest years 3200-2500bce were pretty isolated and that allowed them to develope from neolithic to perhaps the most advanced non-river culture at the time. All disputes were most likely internal and very small scale at most. Trading {limited to Egypt and perhaps whatever culture was inhabiting Anatolia at the time}was also probably pretty undecicive so they were likely vunerable to local famine and crop/fishing falures. In their later years they truly flourished {2400-1700bce}despite a strong rivalry to the Mycenaens who lived mostly in the various Arenas Islands bordering the Med and fringes of Greek and Turkish mainlands. The Mycenaens copied alot of Minoan Art but developed a culture in almost compleat polarity to the inhabitants of Crete. They were extreamly warlike, were not very successful as traders. They seemed to envy the Minoans and tryed to compeat with Crete in overseas trade. When that didn�t work they decided to simply confiscate trading vessles, why trade when you can simply take I suppose. This didnt stop the Minoans from living very well. What did stop it was the eruption of Thera, this island had a healthy Minoan colony and layed just off the North coast of Crete, almost all ports and towns was whiped out. The Minoans held on for another 400 years before the last of them were assimilated into the Mycenaean culture, this Culture was Greece till around 700bce. Minoan interaction were completely trade based with other cultures such as Hittites, Egyptians, Philistine, Canaan and the those preceading the Etruscans and Samnites on the Latin penninsula. all of this is just off the top of my head, and I'm very tired so forgive my mistakes/misspellings if there are any/many.

Interesting! I spent one month at the museum of Cycladic Art to study; Greek and pre Greek art and culture. The Minoans are one of my favorite societies in history. This culture was amazingly equal in their relations with the opposite sex. They had a crude form of flushing toilets, a great sewage system and bath tubs, the average person had a flushing toilet and bath tub. This is unheard of till modern times. Their cities were totally unwalled, with a few exceptions but their navy was so powerful it acted as a wall in time of defense. I have heard various theories but nobody is for sure whether the Mycenaean Greeks took over by force or slowly took over politically, after Thera erupted. If I could go back in time and pick a culture to live in, I would pick the Minoans.
But, on a negative note they did find evidence of human sacrifice. Nobody knows if this was the normal practice or a reaction to Thera. I have been to Santorini (Thera) and it is awesome. It is still an active volcano but the chance of it erupting soon is slim.

Religion played an important role in Minoan society and women had a significant religious position. Minoan art, archaeological evidence, the power of priestesses compared to the power of priests and evidence from tablets supports this. It is difficult to assert the precise amount of power women held in Minoan society as many sources are contradictory and evidence comes almost entirely from material remains.

 

Despite that the palace kings were male; the society itself does not seem to have been patriarchal. While it cannot be confirmed that Minoan society was matrilineal, it is a compelling conclusion since the religion was goddess-based. Many writers suggest that the power of women in Minoan society reached outside the religious sphere, the participation of women in the practice of bull-leaping seen in frescoes might indicate this and confirm that there was gender equality in Minoan society however it is uncertain whether women played an equally important role outside the religious sphere.

 

In addition to animal sacrifices there is also evidence of child sacrifices at Knossos.

Edited by nerdynic