In the days preceding the flourishing of the culture of Ancient Greece, the rich civilization of the Minoans ruled on the coast and islands of the Aegean Sea. The frescoes and myths about ancient Atlantis told by Plato that have survived from that era remind of the Minoan civilization.
Minoan Empire
The center of the empire was the large island of Crete. Possessing a powerful fleet, the Minoans traded with the countries of Europe, the Middle East and Egypt. Their technologies were advanced: writing, metallurgy, pottery, solar panel heating, plumbing and sewerage were well developed.
Minoans in ancient Greek myths
It is still unknown what the Minoans called themselves. Legends about them were told by the Greeks, in particular, the story of King Minos, the ruler of Crete at a time when the Greeks were subordinate to the Minoans and paid tribute to them. The huge palace complex of Knossos, the largest building in Europe of that era, was described in Greek myths as a labyrinth.
Minoan festivals, in which acrobatic youths performed performances by jumping over bulls, turned, in the stories of the Greeks, into sacrifices to a half-bull-half-man named Minotaur. In Greek myths, the Minoans owed much to the inventor of Daedalus, Leonardo da Vinci of the era who created the royal palace and aircraft. This legend indicates that the Greeks were deeply impressed by the invention and technology of the Minoans.
But the Greeks kept silent about what happened to the Minoan civilization.
Archaeological excavations show that the palaces in Crete were destroyed by an earthquake, followed by a period of decline. Several generations later, the palaces were burned down by the Mycenaeans, the forerunners of the ancient Greeks. The Mycenaeans conquered Crete in 1450 BC. and adopted from the Minoans their writing, architecture and art. The Mycenaeans are known to have taken part in the Trojan War in 1200 BC.
Destructive volcano 1600 BC
Thira volcano is located one hundred kilometers north of Crete. Natural disaster that occurred in 1600 BC during the volcanic eruption, contributed to the decline of the Minoan civilization.
The exact time of the death of the Minoan Empire is unknown, but earthquakes and famine could weaken it to such an extent that 50-100 years later they became easy to conquer.
Modern calculations show that the eruption of the volcano Tira in the Aegean Sea in 1600 BC. 4 times the strength of Krakatoa, which killed 36,000 people. It was not just an eruption. The center of the island literally flew into the air, and then exploded to pieces in a huge explosion.
The C-shaped ring of islands, called Santorini, are the remains of that ancient island of Thira, where the Minoan civilization once lived. This ring surrounds an underwater crater of the volcano with a diameter of 11 to 19 km. A pillar of ash from the volcanic explosion rose to a height of 10 km, crumbling into the eastern Mediterranean. Crete has also been hit by earthquakes.
The volcanic eruption triggered a devastating tsunami. There are many disagreements in the calculations, but the height of the giant waves reached several hundred meters. The disaster was more devastating than the disasters in Indonesia in 2004 and Japan in 2011.
Knossos and other upland settlements of Crete survived, but found themselves isolated, losing their fleet and coastal cities.
The death of the island of Thira
The main cities of the ancient island of Thira have been wiped out forever. But excavations at Akrotiri, a Bronze Age settlement on the outskirts of Santorini, indicate that it was not the only city on the destroyed island. The frescoes tell about this.
Akrotiri was buried under a layer of ash, like Roman Pompey, but the inhabitants managed to leave the city before the catastrophe. The settlement has been preserved in excellent condition, but no remains of people have been found in it. The houses are devoid of jewelry and other valuables that are visible in the frescoes of elegant ladies.
It can be assumed that the volcano woke up gradually. So the inhabitants of the city received a preliminary warning and prudently left the settlement. Perhaps they managed to swim to Crete and escape in one of the cities on a hill.
Given the scale of the catastrophe, it is not surprising that the memory of the destruction of Tyra lives on in the legends of Atlantis, told by Plato a thousand years later.
