MINOA : Aegean age maritimal power.

Snake Goddess is often called the most precious relic of Minoan civilisation.The most apparent characteristic of Minoan religion was that it was polytheistic and matriarchal.
The most popular goddess seems to be the “Snake Goddess,” who has snakes entwined on her body or in her hands. Since the figurine is only found in houses and in small shrines in the palaces, we believe that she is some sort of domestic goddess or goddess of the house (a kind of guardian angel–in many regions of the world, including Greece, the household snake is worshipped and fed as a domestic guardian angel).
But the household goddess also seems to have taken the form of a small bird, for numerous shrines are oriented around a dove-like figure. Most scholars believe that the principle female goddesses of Greek religions, such as Hera, Artemis, and so on, ultimately derive from the Minoan goddesses.

Knossos is the site of the most important and better known palace of Minoan civilization. According to tradition, it was the seat of the legendary king Minos. The Palace is also connected with thrilling legends, such as the myth of the Labyrinth with the Minotaur, and the story of Daidalos and Icaros.The Palace of Knossos is the largest of the preserved Minoan palatial centres. Four wings are arranged around a central courtyard, containing the royal quarters, workshops, shrines, storerooms, repositories, the throne room and banquet halls. Dated to 2000-1350 B.C.

They were primarily a mercantile people engaged in overseas trade. Their culture, from ca 1700 BC onwards, shows a high degree of organization, without a trace of the military aristocracies that have characterized the civilizations that followed. Many historians and archaeologists believe that the Minoans were involved in the Bronze Age’s important tin trade: tin, alloyed with copper apparently from Cyprus, was used in the manufacture of bronze. The decline of Minoan civilization and the decline in use of bronze tools in favor of superior iron ones seem to be correlated. Finds of objects of Cretan manufacture suggest the network of Minoan trade with mainland Greece (notably Mycenae), Cyprus, Syria, Anatolia, Egypt, Spain, and Mesopotamia.

The beginning of the Bronze Age, around 3100 BC, was a period of great unrest in Crete, but it also marks the beginning of Crete as an important center of civilization.
Around 1700 BC there was a large disturbance in Crete, probably an earthquake, although an invasion from Anatolia has also been suggested. After that, population increased again, and the palaces were even larger than before but with a different basic plan.
Around 1650 BC, 1628 BC, 1500 BC, or 1450 BC (still debated), the volcanic island Thera (Santorini), at about 70 km distance, erupted. The volcanic eruption and fallout was quite possibly larger than the Tambora eruption of 1815, the largest historical eruption on record. The eruption has been identified by ash fallout in eastern Crete, Egypt, and cores from the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean seas. The postulated sulfur dioxide and ash clouds emitted by the volcano are thought to have destroyed some settlements and resulted in volcanic winters and poor harvests for several years. The massive eruption of Thera also led to the volcano’s collapse, causing massive tsunamis which destroyed naval installations and settlements near the coasts. Some archeologists believe the Minoans may have lost their religious faith in the ability of the priests to control nature, possibly leading to the fall of Minoan civilization.
Around 1450 BC, the palaces were again disturbed. Some time later, around 1420 BC, the island was conquered by the Mycenaeans, who adapted Minoan script for their own proto-Greek language. After this, most Cretan cities and palaces went into decline; Knossos remained an administrative center until 1200 BC.
The palaces fulfilled a plethora of functions: they served as centres of government, administrative offices, shrines, workshops and stores (sometimes referred to as magazines, e.g. for grain).
Around 1100 BC the Mycenaean civilisation collapsed and the conquered remainings of Minoan civilization also collapsed with them. Numerous cities were sacked and the region entered what historians see as a dark age. During this period Greece experienced decreasing population and they lost their literacy. Historians have traditionally blamed this decline on an invasion by another enigmatic race of ship-faring riders called the Sea People.