Religion In The Minoans

Historians do not think that agricultural workers had a high position in the Minoan social hierarchy. This is due to the fact that we do not have a lot of sources which depict agricultural workers. This suggests that they were not seen as important.

“For them ‘religious rituals and beliefs are the language and method of many forms of cultural transmission,’ reflecting the concerns of the society as a whole.” Moffett, Mark W. "Human Identity and the Evolution of Societies." Human Nature 24, no. 3 (2013): 219-67.

From the ancient Mesopotamian civilizations to the Muslim world, antiquity has always been filled with religions of all sorts. These religions helped guide how ancient peoples lived life and came about doing even the most common tasks that people like us do today. Religion impacted the civilizations of the ancient world by greatly influencing how peoples of ancient civilizations acted, how they thought about the world around them, how civilizations were organized and maintained, and how they interacted with civilizations of another religion.

The origin of the Roman mythology is based on the Etruscan religion and the Greek mythology. The religion or belief system could shape with geography and influence by it. Roman culture was born and grew on the civilizations of the Etruscans and Greeks so that the mythology of Romans is based on Etruscan religion and the Greek mythology. Etruscans who were settled in Italy before the Romans were not a local folk, due to this fact their religion had distinctive rituals and myths when it is compared with that region’s traditions. One of the distinguishing features of Etruscan religion is having prophets in their culture.

Acrobatics was used in most leisure activities that the Minoan people used to keep themselves entertained, as running and leaping supplied to success in warfare ad hunting.

Religion had an enormous impact on almost all aspects of life in the medieval world. In the Christian belief, the first two people that were created by God were Adam and Eve. They were provided with a paradise to live in,the garden of Eden, and were only given one rule that they had to follow to not eat from the tree of good and evil. If they did eat fruit from the tree, then they would have to leave the paradise. Eve was tempted by Satan, and ate the fruit. She then gave some of that fruit to Adam, and they were banned from the garden. For this reason, women were seen as dangerous temptresses. This story showed that women were morally weaker, and were likely to lead their spouses into sin. They became known as the “weaker” sex, for it was a woman who first consumed the fruit in the Garden of Eden.

Women acted as priestesses, made official decisions in and amongst the community, and were responsible for organizing commune functions (Witcombe 10). These responsibilities and duties were not often jobs of men in Minoan civilization, “Moreover men are rarely seen in commanding positions, despite attempts to identify them in such positions” (Witcombe 10). It is suggested that the reason why women played such a huge role in Minoan civilization was due to the fact that in Minoan religion they worshiped goddesses and they were greatly influenced by them. It is believed that The Snake Goddess was an important figure in Crete at this time, and was worshiped along side of the Huntress, and The Mountain Mother. Mainly focusing on The Snake Goddess she represented a strong, powerful female deity, who overall acted as an icon for women. The influence The Snake Goddess had on women was substantial. Women became more than just members of the community, and gained a place in society. It was no longer a man’s world but a world run by women. Even ancient frescoes and other forms of Minoan artwork provide evidence of women being more vital than men, because depictions of women were more common than men (Witcombe 10). After examining women’s key roles in Minoan civilization it becomes apparent that The Snake Goddess influenced women in Crete in many different ways and played a significant part in Minoan civilization.

According to Kevin Hendricks 91% of American’s celebrate Christmas but only 47% of American’s attend Christmas Eve mass. This statistic shows that even during special holidays people don’t choice to practice their religion. Some families’ most important tradition is religion but as years pass there is less and less people practicing their religion. Despite that the Morocho family from generation to generation has always kept their faith in religion especially on Christmas Eve. Every generation of the Morocho family grows up catholic and with that in mind they go to Christmas Eve mass to practice their religion. The most essential tradition in the Morocho family is celebrating Christmas Eve by gathering with the family to practice their

Centralized power in myriad amounts of ancient cultures serves as a ‘norm’ for most. In times during the Minoan civilization, and the Mycenaean civilization, the idea of having a centralized power, or at least some sort of hierarchy that is evident, had had multiple disputes to whether or not such a government was favored. Minoans and Mycenaean’s often had problems with such centralized powers, that it caused a focal discussion of whether or not a hierarchy of such should be established. For both sides of the argument, there served multiple points of validity for and against a centralized government, especially referring to shipping goods, the manufacturing and usage of the goods, and the culture behind either one.

Religion had a very significant role in ancient civilizations like Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Ancient Israel. The religious system in both Egypt, Mesopotamia were polytheist, meaning they recognized more than one god, and Ancient Israel was monotheist meaning only one god. Yahweh was the chief god to the Hebrews, but by no mean the only one.Yahweh however was reinstated as the only god in all province by the Judea Jews. The chief god for Egypt was gods of the sun Amun and Ra, which was later joined together to form Amun-Ra, Osiris was god of life after death. In Mesopotamia some of the most important gods are Inanna goddess of love, Marduk king of

The origin of the Etruscans is a mystery, still unsolved by modern man. Ancient peoples held an almost unanimous opinion on the subject, based on the account of the first great Greek historian, Herodotus, who wrote in about 800 B. C. as follows:

Boccaccio also infused The Decameron with his opinions on the Catholic church, which even at that time was Italy’s primary religious institution. Catholicism may have been popular, but Boccaccio was very blatant in showing that he did not approve of the Church’s conduct. In The Decameron, religion was practiced by fools, the church was a breeding ground for mischief, and “marriage” was a transaction devoid of meaning.

Chapter 2 which is called The Greek world focuses on different aspects of Greek culture thorough the years. It starts off by telling us about the bronze age culture of the Aegean .The Cyclades which were a group of more than one-hundred tiny islands configured into a circular like shape were elaborated on. Even though there are no written proof of the inhabitants of the Cyclades left archeologists have found different artifacts scattered in and around the various burial chambers. Various Minoan myths were talked about including "The legend of Minos and the Minotaur" Which featured a king who would brag about getting anything he wanted for from the goods, When he wished for a bull to come from the sea it did. The bull was white and he loved

218-219). So nobility or at least an early form of it was present at this time due to knowledge that they were religious centered I think it could be possible that they could have had a semi-theocratic like situation. It is assumed that they are a fetish or symbol of a deity and it was discovered that to the Minoans it had a meaning close to that of a modern greek word for the weapon of the thunder god to the Greek but in to those of Minoan Crete, a Mother Earth god(Nilsson, 1950, p. 220).

The Minoan civilization formed on the island of Crete during the middle of the Bronze Age. During this time they were known for their architecture and unique art style. They also significantly contributed to other Western European civilizations through trade of pottery, stone vases, and gold jewelry (Cartwright, 2018).