Linear A Digital Sketch, Clay Tablet, Palace of Knossos © Sage Starwalker. All rights reserved. (based on scanned photo, Prehistoric Documents of Crete)

"Much of our knowledge of Minoan culture comes from 3000 clay tablets dating from two different time periods. The older tablets (written in Linear A) from around 1750 BC have not yet been deciphered. The newer tablets span a period from 1400 BC to 1150 BC and were deciphered in 1952 by Michael Ventris and John Chadwick, who identified the language, Linear B, as an early Greek dialect. As these tablets provide our only written accounts, much of what we surmise about Minoan civilization is based on the elaborate wall paintings and floor mosaics that survived. These provide much of our assumptions about Minoan social relationships and religion." (Wikipedia)

Minoan language is a unique type of "Mediterranean" language.

• Written
• Linear A, which has not been deciphered
• Linear B, a later script (considered to be a very archaic form of Greek) similar to Linear A, that appeared at the time of the decline of the Minoan civilization (following the volcanic eruption on the island, Thera, around the 15th century BCE and the arrival of the Achaeans after 1450 BCE)
• Spoken
  Though this early Greek of the Aecheans became the official language, the earlier Minoan language continued to be spoken into the 5th century BCE by the Eteocretans ("the true Cretans"). We know this because Eteocretan inscriptions dating from this time were discovered in East Crete, where Homer acknolwedged them. Dating from the 6th and 5th centuries BC, 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
  • Sources
    • pictures of Linear A and Linear B
    • Linear B Syllabart
• Art
  • Though we don't know the spoken (or really, the written) language of the Minoans, they left a record of themselves in their rich and prolific art. The esthetic and content of their art differs significantly from the art of other Mediterranean and Near East cultures. The esthetic has been perceived and described as "modern." The primary content of Minoan art is the daily life of its people (including religious/ceremonial life), and their habitat, recorded In Its frescos (wall paintings made directly on wet plaster). Most walls in Minoan buildings are large, brightly-colored frescos.
  • The "daily life" aspects of this art are in contrast to the artistic content of other cultures, which usually reflect royal life, military life, and formal religious life (usually linked politically to one or both of the other two). Think of Egyptian art, for example, with its governmental and royal content. Though Minoan religious life is reflected in its art, it appears as an integrated part of that life, not as an elevated category of behavior.
  • Art historians say that Minoan art is distinguished from the art of other ancient cultures by its lack of functional/administrative purpose. It appears to exist for the sake of beauty alone and not as a visual record-keeping device.
  • "Minoan art (is) void of the political propaganda, such as, for example, ruler portraits and commemorations of kings smiting their enemies" (Return to the Labyrinth)
  • Minoan art is full of plant life -- papyrus, asian poppy -- and animal life -- octopus, dolphin, dog, cat, deer.
  • "In the early minoan period Minoan ceramics were characterised by linear patterns of spirals, triangles, curved lines, crosses, fishbone motives and such. In the middle minoan period naturalistic designs such fish, squids, birds and lillies were common. In the late minoan period, flowers and animals were still the most characteristic, but the variability had increased. The 'palace style' of the region around Knossos is characterised by strong geometric simplification of naturalistic shapes and monochromatic painting." (Wikipedia)