By: Stephanie Pappas,
LiveScience Senior Writer
Published: 01/15/2013 01:33 PM EST on LiveScience
Published: 01/15/2013 01:33 PM EST on LiveScience
The civilization made famous
by the myth of the Minotaur was as warlike as their bull-headed mascot, new
research suggests.
The ancient people of Crete,
also known as Minoan, were once thought to be a bunch of peaceniks. That view
has become more complex in recent years, but now University of Sheffield
archaeologist Barry Molloy says that war wasn't just a part of Minoan society —
it was a defining part.
"Ideologies of war are shown to have
permeated religion, art, industry, politics and trade, and the social practices
surrounding martial traditions were demonstrably a structural part of how this
society evolved and how they saw themselves," Molloy said in a statement.
The ancient Minoans
Crete is the largest Greek isle and the site of
thousands of years of civilization, including the Minoans, who dominated during
the Bronze Age, between about 2700 B.C. and 1420 B.C. They may have met their
downfall with a powerful explosion of the Thera volcano, which based on
geological evidence seems to have occurred around this time.
The Minoans are perhaps most
famous for the myth of the Minotaur, a half-man, half-bull that lived in the
center of a labyrinth on the island.
Minoan artifacts were first excavated more than a
century ago, Molloy said, and archaeologists painted a picture of a peaceful
civilization where war played little to no role. Molloy doubted these
tales; Crete was home to a complex society that traded with major powers such
as Egypt, he said. It seemed unlikely they could reach such heights entirely
cooperatively, he added.
"As I looked for
evidence for violence, warriors or war, it quickly became obvious that it could
be found in a surprisingly wide range of places," Molloy said.
War or peace?
For example, weapons such as daggers and swords show
up in Minoan sanctuaries, graves and residences, Molloy reported in November in The
Annual of the British School at Athens. Combat sports were popular
for men, including boxing, hunting, archery and bull-leaping, which is exactly
what it sounds like.
Hunting scenes often
featured shields and helmets, Molloy found, garb more suited to a warrior's
identity than to a hunter's. Preserved seals and stone vessels show daggers,
spears and swordsmen. Images
of double-headed axes and boar's tusk helmets are also common in
Cretian art, Molloy reported.
Even the yet-undeciphered
language of Minoan may hint at a violent undercurrent. The hieroglyphs include
bows, arrows, spears and daggers, Molloy wrote. As the script is untranslated,
these hieroglyphs may not represent literal spears, daggers and weapons, he
said, but their existence reveals that weaponry was key to Minoan civilization.
"There were few spheres
of interaction in Crete that did not have a martial component," Molloy
said.
Some of the violent nature
of Minoan society might have been missed because archaeologists find few
fortified walls on the island, Molloy wrote. It may be that the island's rugged
topography provided its own defense, he said, leaving little archaeological
evidence of battles behind.
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