Cultural Comparison & Contrast Between
Minoans and Classical Athenians

The Athenians build no palaces. However, Pericles said he wanted Athenians to be "lovers of beauty without extravagance..." With that in mind, let us look at Athens' main buildings and statues. In the Acropolis alone, there is the Parthenon, the enormous statue of Athena Promachos, another large statue of Athena inside the temple, the Propylaia (with its temple to Athena Nike), and the Erechtheion. Elsewhere there is the temple of Hephaistos, the Odeion, the Theater of Dionysos, the temple of Poseidon, and the hall for the celebration of the Mysteries at Eleusis. I would hate to see what Pericles considered 'extravagant.'

These temples and sculptures are usually huge and raised up, making the viewer seem small and insignificant as a consequence. The monolithic columns that frame them are usually of one of three standard styles or 'orders.' These orders determine what style the temple will be. The frieze will be of oversized sculpture, usually of a religious theme associated with the temple's deity or some bit of warfare or hero the Athenians wish to glorify. I could go on, but it becomes tedious -- and I have some specific quotes later in my speech, so I'll go on. Over time, one can see that Athenian sculpture develops an excessive emphasis on technical skill for its own sake -- and artists almost always sign their works.

One feature of Cretan society that the Athenians seem to find remarkable, and that sharply distinguishes us from other "high" civilizations, is our rather equitable sharing of wealth. Here, centralization of government does not bring with it autocratic rule. Nor does it entail the use of advanced technology only for the benefit of a powerful few or the kind of exploitation and brutalization of the masses that is so striking in several of our neighbors. In Crete there is an affluent ruling class, but it is not enforced with massive armed might. Furthermore, the standard of living -- even of what you call "peasants" -- is high. This is not to say that Crete is richer than, or even as rich as, Egypt or Babylon. But in view of the economic and social gulf between those on top and those on the bottom in other 'high' civilizations, it is important to note that the way we use and distribute our wealth is markedly different (Eisler 32). Indeed, we enjoy more personal liberty than any other civilized people (Muller 79).

We use writing to keep track of things, and there are people whose job it is to keep records in order. Governmental revenues from our island's increasing wealth are judiciously used to improve living conditions, which are (even by your Western standards) extraordinarily "modern." All urban centers have perfect drainage systems, sanitary installations, and domestic conveniences. Extensive public works -- paid for out of the royal coffers -- are undertaken in Minoan Crete: viaducts, paved roads, look-out posts, roadside shelters, water pipes, fountains, reservoirs, and more. We even have large-scale irrigation works with canals to carry and distribute water (Platon 15). Our royalty, instead of building huge, repetitious, oppressive monuments to their greater glorification, focuses time, money, and effort on public works -- which is why even our common people live quite comfortably.

Aside from our vast multi-storied palaces, we also have villas, farmsteads, harbor installations, networks of roads crossing the island from end to end, organized places of worship and planned burial grounds (Platon 15). Knossos itself is connected to the south coast ports by a fine paved highway, the first of its kind in the world. Its streets, like those of other palace centers such as Mallia and Phaistos, are paved and drained, fronted with neat two or three floor houses that are flat-roofed, sometimes with a penthouse for use on hot summer nights (Hawkes 58). The handsome vases and house furnishings of ordinary merchants in small provincial towns testify that our wealth and culture are widely diffused (Muller 80).

Crete is dotted with bustling towns -- according to Homer there are a hundred of them, swarming with multitudes - - in which small, private merchants thrive and adorn their homes with lovely works of art. Their personal seals can be seen everywhere -- we value both trade and tradespeople. Technology and crafts are held in great esteem here. The ports are home to a large mercantile fleet that sails the entire Mediterranean, greatly contributing to the economic prosperity of the country. The inner towns surrounding the palaces are well designed for civilized living (Hawkes 123), with a high degree of refinement and comfort. The houses are adapted to all practical needs of life, and an attractive environment is created around them. Minoans are very close to nature and, as I pointed out before, our architecture is designed to let us enjoy it constantly (Platon 15).

The classical Athenians do not take houses very seriously. They think that public buildings -- temples, theaters, law-courts, fountains -- are more important than private houses. This seems a bit sad, considering that the women spend all their lives in these makeshift houses. The normal Greek house, in both town and country, is made of sun-baked bricks on a stone foundation and has very flimsy walls. Often it has a partial second story, and is roofed with tiles. There is usually a courtyard, and a number of not very large rooms off it. The courtyard sometimes contains a well, and if the man owning the house is rich there might be a bathroom.

Inside the rooms things are simple. Floors are beaten earth, and windows are high, small and unglazed. Wealthy houses might add a stone floor, sometimes with mosaic decorations, and tapestries on the walls. This housing can be characterized as small, poorly furnished, and dirty. They are crowded together, separated by streets which are usually just stony alleys, winding, narrow and smelly, with a runnel of filthy water down the middle. Yet in the center of the city the civic buildings are impressive, large, well-built and expensively decorated. Oddly enough, the irony of this dichotomy seems to have escaped most Greeks. In fact most of their cities, like Athens, just grew up haphazardly around their agora (Amos & Lang 148-9).

• Introduction
• Pages One and Three
• Bibliography
• List of Illustrations