Aegean Religions

Aegean Religions

AEGEAN RELIGIONS. The Aegean world is composed of three distinctive regions, all located at the Eastern edge of the Mediterranean: the island of Crete, the mainland of Greece, and the islands between the mainland and the coast of Anatolia. The people of the mainland, the Mycenaeans, were Greek-speaking. The inhabitants of the island of Crete were the Minoans, who spoke an as yet undeciphered language. The islanders were apparently non-Greek, and fell into the political and cultural orbit of the Minoans and later the Mycenaeans in the second millennium BCE. The Aegeans shared many cultural traits with the Near East, but retained a distinctive regional character. The Minoans and Myceneans had palace cultures shortly after 2000 BCE, but for the people of the islands, no such claim can be made.

Little is known about the religion of the islands north of Crete that are collectively called the Cyclades. Numerous marble figures and figurines have been found but most of them are without context. It is uncertain whether or not they were used for worship. Dearth of data makes a reconstruction of Cycladic religion next to impossible.

Minoan Religion

The religious beliefs of the Minoans are more accessible despite the absence of decipherable texts.