Reply To: Lives of Leisure and War

[Allie Eby]

While I do agree that this is an oversimplification, there is some degree of artistic evidence that the Minoans seemed to have less of a cultural focus on war than the Mycenaeans. There is a much larger variety of artistic mediums and forms within Minoan art, and the Mycenaean pieces such as the lion gate seem to be more functional than simply artistic in nature. Several of the Mycenaean art pieces such as the warrior krater and the ceremonial dagger blades also portray scenes of combat and martial prowess, while Minoan art pieces in general show examples of abstract artistic ideas, portrayals of musicians and animal symbolism. I think that Crete being rich in resources and a hub of sea trade allowed the Minoan culture to become financially secure and have a richer economy, which gave more citizens the freedom to become more devoted to the arts as a potential career path. It is possible that the Mycenaeans did not have this luxury, and conflict was therefore harder to avoid, which would make it inherently more important to their culture to have a strong and capable military.