Crete's island was covered with mountains and valleys. The rich soil and mild climate made Crete a good place to live. Their technology called the plow made it easy to grow more crops in rain-watered regions and civilization was able to spread beyond the river valleys. People living by the sea and ocean can supplement agriculture by fishing. In the eastern Mediterranean, these factors contributed to the rise of civilization on the island of Crete.
Although scholars still have not figured out the origins of the first people of Crete, it is obvious that around 2000 BC the Cretans had made a strong civilization. Their civilization was all about great palace complexes, the famous one at Knossos. Historian named the civilization Minoan, after the legendary king minos.
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At the top of Minoan Society stood the rulers of the different palaces. These rulers governed all aspects of Minoan society. Under them were nobles, followed by a class of artisans, merchants, farmers and herders, and a specially trained class of scribes who served as the ruler's bureaucracy. By looking at the lack of weapons displayed in Minoan art or found in their tombs, the Minoans were not violent and did not wreak their cities against invaders.
The Minoans built structures that were technologically and architecturally advances, because Crete lies on an active fault zone and suffers a lot of earthquakes. Most families had timber and stucco houses. The royal and rich families had running water and lavatories. Homes were usually decorated with nice looking frescoes. Frescos are painting made right on the plaster walls. Many frescoes are of animals and plants from Mesopotamia and the Nile valley, suggesting trade contacts with these other regions.
Minoan Men and women may have had the same status. Frescoes shoe women and men being in sports games like boxing and bull leaping in special bullrings. Minoan religion also showed the status of women.
