Minoa | |
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Cities | |
 Monemvasia island in southernGreece, the ancientMinoa | |
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| Country | Various |
Minoa (Greek:Μινώα,romanized: MinóaGreek pronunciation:[miˈnoa]) was the name of severalBronze-Age port cities on the coasts of theAegean islandsCrete,Paros,Siphnos,Amorgos andCorfu in Greece, as well as the Italian island ofSicily.[1] There was also a Minoa inGaza, whose name was a later introduction, brought by thePhilistines in 1200 BC.[2] It appears that settlements with the name Minoa were intended to support Minoa as athalassocracy, or sea-based empire. Austrian historianFritz Schachermeyr found evidence for this in the name of a settlement on theLaconic island now calledMonemvasia, and for the small island outside of the harbour ofMegara inGreece.[1][3]
The original meaning of the word remains unknown. Its root,min-, is linked to a group ofAegean languages, appearing elsewhere intoponyms likeMinya and Minassos, as well as in the name of theMinyans, anautochthonous group inhabiting theAegean region.[4] There may be a connection with the mythic king ofCrete,Minos, during the Bronze AgeMinoan civilization which flourished in Crete and in the Aegean islands inGreece between 2000–1470 BC. The inhabitants ofCrete were namedMinoans byArthur Evans, after the legendary king.[citation needed]
It seems that the Minoans travelled from Crete down to Egypt, Syria andMari ofEuphrates, toAsia Minor (Anatolia) and theBlack Sea through the Aegean islands,[5] and to the west up toLipari (Aeolian islands) to the north of Sicily.[6] Approximately in 1600 BC the routes to Italy and Asia Minor were gained by the rising Myceneans. They followed the same tradition with the establishment or use of commercial and supporting settlements in the Mediterranean coasts.[7]