The Minoan civilization was a
bronze age civilization which arose on
Crete, an island in the
Aegean Sea. The Minoan culture flourished from approximately
2700 to
1450 BC; afterwards,
Mycenaean Greek culture became dominant on Crete. The term "Minoan" was coined by the British archaeologist Sir
Arthur Evans after the mythic
King Minos. Minos was associated in
myth with the
labyrinth, which Evans identified as the site at
Knossos. What the Minoans called themselves is unknown. It has sometimes been argued that the
Egyptian place name "Keftiu" (*kaftāw) and the
Semitic "Kaftor" or "
Caphtor" and "Kaptara" in the
Mari archives apparently refer to the island of Crete. In the
Odyssey which was composed after the destruction of the Minoan civilization,
Homer calls the natives of Crete
Eteocretans ("true Cretans"); these may have been descendants of the Minoans.
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