Customer Reviews

Minoan Life in Bronze Age Crete

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The book has a nice bibliography and is useful for looking up sources for research. However, anyone reading this as an introduction to Minoan civilization will me mislead on several key points. 1. The author refers to the Minoan "palaces" throughout as "temples". This is confusing to the reader. Granted, Minoan "palaces" were much more complex buildings with many functions than this accepted scholarly term implies. But simply changing the term doesn't help anything.
2. The author discounts the well accepted idea that the Mycenaeans ever ruled at Knossos. The period of Mycenaean sovreignty is treated as a continuation of Minoan civilization with no break. Most people of Crete were the same and went on living as they had been in Minoan times. But the ruling class changed, as evidenced by the change in administration language at Knossos. The author makes no mention of the change and in fact uses the Linear B tablets from Knossos and even Pylos(!) as evidence for Minoan social institutions.
3. The author displays a real lack of understanding about Minoan religious life. Strange considering how many buildings he refers to as "temples". For those interested, see Nanno Marinatos' "Minoan Religion".
The book makes an interesting read as an overview or for light reading, but shouldn't be taken too seriously.

I read this book with deep interest and found that most of his impressions were right on the mark. I agree that to survive in the rough world of the Bronze Age the Minoans were very skilled fighters and raiders rather than flower sniffing pacifists pictured by Evans and other discoverers. But not every building was a temple. Each "palace" I agree was a temple in part. The west side of every major "palace" has been shown to have cultic significance since the time of Sir Arthur Evans. However, the east side of the central courts resemble Minoan residental architecture from all over Crete and from Thera. Is it not possible that the rulers (be they kings, priest kings, or a ruling priestess)still needed places to live! I feel that many of the so called villas in Knossos that Castledon calls temples are just very large homes with a home altar or a sacred room.

Still an interesting book with a lot of ideas that I feel will change our views on the Minoan civilization. However, I feel he could have balanced out his views with some good sense. A ruler has to live somewhere? Has Castledon ever come across these sites yet? He makes the argument that just like Egypt and Assyria, monumental temples existed on Crete and these are the so-called "palaces" However, every other major civilization in the Bronze Age had monumental structures that housed the rulers of the state, and why should Minoan Crete be any different there either. Could it be that the palaces of Minoan Crete served both purposes? I would appreciate other readers views on this matter.

Books about ancient cultures tend to be either slightly soft-focus and "fluffy" or dry and almost excessively scholarly; neither approach succeeds in bringing a culture to vivid life for the interested lay reader. This book, however, does just that. It has scholarly evidence in detail, but also fleshed-out conclusions, and unflinchingly looks even at evidence that doesn't "fit" our modern image of ancient peoples we want to like, in its quest to bring us a living, breathing image of the Minoans. (It also has illustrations in plenty; I feel a bit juvenile to admit this, but I very much appreciate illustrations, as no verbal description can quite convey the brushstrokes, the maze-like floor plans, the quality of line.)It's not a perfect book---I agree with another reviewer who complained that people probably had more houses and fewer temples than Mr. Castleden concludes ---but it is an excellent one, especially for an "armchair archaeologist".

Aegean Prehistory has lacked authoritative introductions but now see Cynthia Shelmerdine, Cambridge Companion to Aegean Prehistory, 2008. Soon also Eric Cline's comparable book for Oxford. All contributors are leaders in their field.

Beware! If you read this book, know that it misrepresents the Minoans terribly.

Let's begin with the cover. The vast majority of humans depicted in Minoan art are women. Furthermore, for every man shown in a (possible) leadership position, there are thirty Minoan women shown in such positions. Most scholars concede that the political leader of the Minoans could very well have been a woman. So what does Castleden plaster on the front of his book? Not only a man, but the only male figure that's ever been suggested as a remotely possible leader. If this isn't blatant dishonesty of the worst kind, I don't know what is.

And who is Castleden, anyway? I've looked high and low, and can't find credentials for him. There are none listed in (or on) his book. He isn't an archaeologist. He doesn't seem to be a scientist or academic. He doesn't seem to have any training in anything. Did he even graduate from high school? If so, no one's saying.

As the Library Journal reviewer above points out, Castleden spends quite a bit of time blasting "traditional" theories about the Minoans. In his mind, almost every "traditional" theory is a "wrong" theory. But as the the LJ reviewer also notes, Castleden offers little or no evidence to support his "new and improved" theories.

Take for example the Anemospilia data. Not every archaeologist agrees that "human sacrifice" happened at this Minoan site. Yet Castleden assures us that he KNOWS it did, and, furthermore, that this translates into the Minoans generally practicing human sacrifice (!) He knows they did, by golly! He, the "expert" with the mystery credentials, tells us point blank that "the archaeological evidence is not susceptible of any other interpretation" (p. 171, 1994 edn). Excuse me, Mr. C., but have you read the imminent archaeologist Nanno Marinatos?!? No? I thought not. Marinatos gives that "other interpretation" you so haughtily assure us does not exist.

And then there's war. The traditional view is that the Minoans maintained peace for 1000 years unbroken. So of course Mr. C. knows this has to be wrong. Again Mr. C. refrains from mentioning that not all experts (of which he is not one) agree with him here. He passes the Minoans off as confirmed warriors (in certain time periods at least), and himself as one with the credentials to know.

I wholeheartedly agree with the Library Journal reviewer: "Castleden frequently proposes scenarios drawn more from psychosocial inference than evidence, yielding arguments less compelling than the originals. A nation of addicts could scarcely have had the energy to execute drug-induced creativity, much less to develop the commercial empire that was ancient Crete under the Minoans...."

Lastly, nothing in this book is referenced. We are forced to rely on Castleden's memory, integrity, and/or intellect about almost every thing he says. He gives us nowhere to go to check up on his accuracy -- a sure mark of an inexperienced amateur.

~ Jeri Studebaker, author of Switching to Goddess: Humanity's Ticket to the Future

I expected an accurate review of Minoan civilization but instead found an odd seemingly out-of-touch and misleading review. I have no gripe with the author wishing to emphasize the religious aspect of Minoan civilization but he actually conflates Minoan and Mycenaean things in a most misleading way. These two peoples were quite distinct and to use late Linear B texts as explanations of early Minoan culture is quite misleading - he even quotes such texts from Pylos as allegedly shedding light on Minoan ways. In one place he even states that the wars between city-states in Crete in Roman times shed ligth on their alleged interactions 1000 years earlier! Not only does this book contribute nothing new to our knowledge of Minoan civilization it is actually a negative contribution regarding understanding by the interested layman. Consult the works of McEnroe and Fitton if you are really interested in the Minoans.

As the author points out, this book is not so much a presentation of new information on the archaeology of Minoan Crete as it is a reinterpretation of what is already known. That said, individuals who know nothing about the subject will find the book an acceptable overview of the literature. The author cites a number of works, both older material and more recent, some on archaeology and some on the "history" of the Minoans, to complete his own project here. Thus the new comer will find ample resources for further investigation which I would encourage.

Those who know something of the field will probably find little new other than a perspective change. Here rather than "palaces" the extant Minoan ruins are interpreted as "temples." This change allows new ideas regarding the character and accomplishments of the Minoan people to be aired, always a good thing since it allows new discoveries to test the reliability and likelihood of alternate hypotheses.

I probably don't need to caution the reader familiar with the literature that there is little material or written evidence to go on with respect to the Minoans; something the author observes as well but only belatedly in the last chapters of the work. For those less initiated, I would like to flag the author's most significant words: "perhaps," "possibly," "maybe," "should," "could," and "might." All of these modifiers are significant, and they encourage the reader to keep an open mind; in short, other interpretations than these are also possible.

I've studied ancient history, including the Minoans, and have been to a number of sites that figured highly in my studies. It was almost a matter of "pilgrimage." One of the sites I went to was Knossos where I expected something of an epiphany; well, I had one but not that which I had expected.

In treading the corridors and staircases of this very famous archaeological site, I noted that much of what was standing had been rebuilt, the modern materials composing it being abundantly apparent. This is as expected with archaeological reconstruction properly done. Seeing the vast degree to which the standing remains owed their existence to interpretations placed on them by Sir Arthur Evans, I was rather shocked. Admittedly such reconstructions are not based on nothing, but even what they are based on can be subject to preconceived ideas, personal biases, societal or cultural objectives, and other even less substantial influences. The very extent to which the site of Knossos was the result of interpretation and thus to such influences was what was surprising. This fact was very significant to me, since it is not always apparent from books on the topic, and books had been my primary resource on the culture until my visit. It made me realize how important an actual visit to an archaeological site is for anyone studying its history.

Lest the uninitiated think that this type of introduced bias in writing about the past might well be said of any ancient civilization, I would point out that there are far fewer contentions over Egyptian history, where archaeology and written history are able to reinforce and correct one another. This is not the case with Minoan Crete, where although there are written documents in at least four different scripts, their type and frequency are not always helpful to the historian. One can learn something about a person from their laundry and grocery lists perhaps, but not enough to say one actually "knows" them and definitely not enough to say one knows what they "think" or "mean."

I welcome the new perspective and lament the lack of newer field research.

I have long been fascinated with the discovery of the Minoans and their culture and way of life. This books is an excellent resource for anyone wishing to learn more about this historical topic. The author, Rodney Castledon, is incredibly knowledgible on the subject, yet presents his book in a manner that is friendly to read by professional archaeologists and laymen observers of history, alike. Much is presented that disuades Arthur Evans original view of the Minoan's as a peace loving and flower-power culture. This is based largely on discoveries made since Evan's time, which show without a doubt, a darker side to the Minoan's and their bronze-age way of life. Although incredible care is still given to preserve the fact that they were an immensely sophisticated, articulate, and advanced civilization. The book addresses everything from town life to city affairs, agriculture, the arts, religious rites, and many other facets of Minoan existence, as witnessed by solid scientific and archaeological evidence. The books is also richly illustrated with both plates and figures throughout each chapter, and an intensive figures reference section at the end. All in all I enjoyed reading this book a great deal and can't wait to recomend and loan it to friends with interests in the same subject. I also plan on further reading by the same author, who has another book specifically about the labyrinth at Knossos, to which this book is actually a follow-up. Highly recomended.

I am almost finished reading this interesting overview of an early civilization. The book is straightforward, perhaps a little dry, but nonetheless very informative. It covers all phases of the culture, and presents the Minoan Civilization in a a very positive light. I was looking for an insight into what a very early community would look like and this satisfies my curiosity. As a matter of fact, they sound more civilized than what exists in much of the world today.

Now one may say that we do not have much evidence for life in the Bronze age, but surely we have more than what Castledon is using. Written for a more mainstream audience, I would not use as a text for undergraduates. Instead, read it to see if it pushes you to think differently about any "fact" from that most ancient time.