The Ancient Greeks

The first European civilisations were in Greece, populated by seafarers migrating from Turkey. The Minoans and the Mycenaeans were developing at the same time as other early civilisations.

The Minoan people were peaceful and they lived in Crete and some Islands near there, whereas the Mycenaeans were war-like and they lived on the Balkan Islands and the mainland. They both had their own languages; Linear A was the Minoan’s language and Linear B was the Mycenaean’s language. Linear A has not been deciphered but Linear B was deciphered in around the 1950s.

The Minoans were named after their King, King Minos who had a palace in Knossos with supposedly more than 1,000 rooms in it. There was also a labyrinth with a Minotaur inside it, a half man, half bull which was one of King Minos’ sons. You see, the god Poseidon demanded that the bull be sacrificed to him, but Minos thought it was such a fine creature that he decided to keep it for himself and sacrifice another animal in its place. The gods were angry, and decided to punish Minos by making his wife Pasiphaë fall in love with the bull and King Minos decided to use the Minotaur in his labyrinth.