It is well-documented, through archaeological findings (or, as is relevant in this case, the lack thereof) and fresco images that the Bronze Age Minoan civilisation of Crete was:
i) Multi-ethnic, in that native Cretans, Greeks and other Aegean peoples, Anatolians, Levantines and Libyans were present on the island, and
ii) Civilised in the ‘High’ sense of the word, in that the Minoans lived in large cities with architecturally-accomplished palaces, avenues, plazas for ritual processions and public dances, drainage systems, writing systems and large storehouses with a system of distribution of goods, and with accomplished and skilful arts and crafts tradition (public and private), including improvements on previous and contemporary methods, particularly the faience ceramics, and
iii) Not predisposed to warfare, in that there is no evidence to suggest that the aforementioned Cretan cities possessed any kind of walled structures for defence, in stark contrast to all other contemporaneous civilisations, and that such weapons as have been found appear to have been used primarily ritually (judging by fresco images) or are completely absent.
Here, then, we have a unique society, which in the first two points, mirrors every other civilisation on Earth, including our own, but in the final point appears to be wholly idiosyncratic. The question remains: how was it that they did not require weapons and warfare for the continuation of their society? What fundamental drive of theirs differed from our own with respect towards violence, and why did they, in contrast to everyone else, not valorise or glorify it? How, unlike all their contemporaries in the Bronze Age, able to enter a collective culture in which internecine battles and the domination of one's enemies was an undesirable irrelevance?
Indeed, perhaps the question should be re-framed (since I believe the Minoans to have been saner than us in this and many other respects) – why do we feel the need to valorise and glorify war, and why do we feel the need to constantly seek to destroy ourselves and our perceived enemies through it? Why is war still relevant?
i) Multi-ethnic, in that native Cretans, Greeks and other Aegean peoples, Anatolians, Levantines and Libyans were present on the island, and
ii) Civilised in the ‘High’ sense of the word, in that the Minoans lived in large cities with architecturally-accomplished palaces, avenues, plazas for ritual processions and public dances, drainage systems, writing systems and large storehouses with a system of distribution of goods, and with accomplished and skilful arts and crafts tradition (public and private), including improvements on previous and contemporary methods, particularly the faience ceramics, and
iii) Not predisposed to warfare, in that there is no evidence to suggest that the aforementioned Cretan cities possessed any kind of walled structures for defence, in stark contrast to all other contemporaneous civilisations, and that such weapons as have been found appear to have been used primarily ritually (judging by fresco images) or are completely absent.
Here, then, we have a unique society, which in the first two points, mirrors every other civilisation on Earth, including our own, but in the final point appears to be wholly idiosyncratic. The question remains: how was it that they did not require weapons and warfare for the continuation of their society? What fundamental drive of theirs differed from our own with respect towards violence, and why did they, in contrast to everyone else, not valorise or glorify it? How, unlike all their contemporaries in the Bronze Age, able to enter a collective culture in which internecine battles and the domination of one's enemies was an undesirable irrelevance?
Indeed, perhaps the question should be re-framed (since I believe the Minoans to have been saner than us in this and many other respects) – why do we feel the need to valorise and glorify war, and why do we feel the need to constantly seek to destroy ourselves and our perceived enemies through it? Why is war still relevant?
No comments:
Post a Comment