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The Minoans of ancient Greece embodied i the world'due south first great civilizations, with innovations that pervaded virtually every facet of their lives. The Egyptians, across the sea and equally great in their ain right, had a rich, ancient civilization that undoubtedly influenced all who encountered it. When the ii civilizations collided, an substitution of goods and ideas ensued that was to forever modify the course of history.

Function 1: Minoan Culture and Organized religion at 1300 BC

The year 1350 BC marks the terminate of a prosperous era for the aboriginal Greeks known as Minoans. They were the outset Europeans to use writing, were devoted to the development of fine art and civilization, traded widely with surrounding areas by state and sea, and are known for building numerous sprawling palace complexes in the center of each of their (relatively) technologically advanced city-states. Similar every civilisation before and after them, the Minoans incorporated elements from other neighboring cultures into their ain innovations to create their ain unique brand of civilization. Surprisingly, the ruins of Minoan civilization in Crete demonstrate influences not only from neighboring Mesopotamia and Europe, but also elements from Egypt, far across the Mediterranean Sea.

Precious picayune is known with certainty about the religious practices of the Minoans, largely due to the lack of remains later a catastrophic volcano and subsequent series of Tsunamis which all but decimated the Minoan'south island coastline. After this devastation, the Myceneans from mainland Hellenic republic farther disrupted, and somewhen ended, the Minoan way of life when they invaded the Minoans' isle home of Crete, effectively ending their time in history. Some remnants of the Minoans, however, did survive, leaving scientists with but enough evidence to requite ascension to speculation and inference as to their manner of life.

Nosotros do know that the Minoan society was largely matrilineal, and this woman-worship was too demonstrated in their religious practices.  They are likewise known for a bull-centered system of deism, engaging in sport bull-jumping and ritual bull sacrifice to honour the gods and raise the dead. The Minoans did not employ temples to worship deities and concur religious ceremonies. Instead, they preferred to glorify their goddesses in grottoes, groves and caves, seeking to connect with the divine through the beauty of nature. Evidence suggests that faith in reincarnation or an afterlife was central to their conventionalities organisation, with elements of this aspect, especially, borrowed from pre-existing Eastern religions. The remains of Minoan Crete too suggest that these religious rites were mainly a facet of the elite and regal in their society, with sacred art that suggests a cult-like funerary aspect to them.  It is difficult to ascertain details of the Minoan religious ceremonies and beliefs from the scant remaining archaeological evidence. Physical resemblances, however, do notably exist betwixt Pharaonic Arab republic of egypt and Minoan Hellenic republic, which can be gleaned from the surviving paintings, clay writing tablets and other works of fine art from aboriginal Crete.

Part 2: Egyptian Culture and Religion at 1300 BC

Egyptians of the 18th dynasty were notable in their inquiry and achievements in art, agriculture, architecture and naval prowess. They pioneered an advanced organisation of crop irrigation which immune for a large population, and consequently, dominance of the continent of Africa. It is unsurprising, then, that they would have had extensive dealings with their Minoan neighbors, with exchange of goods and ideas beingness commonplace amid the two cultures. The substitution of appurtenances betwixt the continents likely began as an attempt by the Minoans to learn raw materials, such equally stone and metals, every bit they were limited in these natural resources and would have relied heavily on their surrounding areas for the building materials, art supplies and other things they needed to maintain their unprecedentedly luxurious way of life.

The Egyptian civilisation has its roots deep in antiquity, with polytheistic religious practices spanning, largely unaltered, over centuries. They crafted great monuments, temples and icons for the glorification of their gods and goddesses, and developed an intricate system of elaborate fable, symbolism and iconography to stun and fascinate humanity for ages to come. The pharaoh of Arab republic of egypt was considered divine, as well, and was central to the procedure of divine intercession for human survival and happiness. The people of ancient Egypt implored their nature-based gods and goddesses through the formulary incantations and prayers for protection and blessing.  To an outsider, comprehending the Egyptian tangle of god and goddesses with their stories of fantastical origin can be daunting. Information technology is unsurprising, then, that the Minoans simply borrowed certain aspects, largely symbolic and superficial in nature, from Egypt's intricate, aboriginal, and expansive arrangement of beliefs.

Part 3: Bear witness of Cultural Interaction between Egyptians and Minoans

Arable evidence however survives today which supports theories of extensive trade betwixt Minoans and Egyptians. In Thebes, Egypt, for example, in the tomb of Rekhmire, there are paintings from the xviii^th dynasty portraying visitors bringing offerings to the Pharaoh with distinctly Minoan features. The long wavy hairstyle, broad shoulders, clothing patterns and narrow waists of these visitors are now considered almost irrefutable proof of the two countries' interaction.

Figure 1: Aegean Islanders in the Tomb of Rekhmire

Egyptian merchants made written note of their exchanges with the Minoans, with details of the trades.

In Crete, likewise we find bear witness of Egyptian influence, nigh markedly in the Cretan faith of the fourth dimension. They share not only a mutual belief in afterlife and, but besides a belief in the requirement of living a just and pure life to attain life after death.  Uniquely Egyptian styles of pottery were found in Minoan Crete, also equally an abundance of powerfully magical Egyptian seals and amulets. Even the writing that Minoans used uncannily resembles ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs.

Figure 2: Comparing of Minoan and Egyptian Hieroglyphs

Most important are the sacred practices adopted from Egypt in the germination of a Minoan cult-like religion of goddess worship and bull sacrifice. The divine bull is cardinal to Minoan religion, and may have been derived from the Egyptian god Hathor, as well bovine.

Various symbols considered very powerful by Egyptians were also adopted past the Minoans. The ankh, for instance, which symbolizes eternal life, equally well every bit sea-themed burial paraphernalia were taken direct from Egyptian belief in passage to an after decease underworld on a river. Ocean shells, miniature boats, stone cosmetic palettes, and the sistrum all became part of the Minoan burial ritual afterward they were exposed to them in Egyptian lands. It seems likely that the Minoans desired these icons and religious symbols for their powerful magical attributes, and integrated them into their ain sacred rituals and burial rites.

Role four: A Closer Look at the Hagia Triada Sarcophagus

One notable example of sacred art from Minoan Greece is the Hagia Triada Sarcophagus, believed to be crafted circa 1350 BC. It consists of limestone with fresco painting. The sarcophagus is ornately detailed with chronological depictions of a Minoan ritual funerary rite. It describes, in detail, a procession of supplicants, sacrificing a sacred bull and celebrating the resurrection of their beloved prince. Like Egyptians, the religious Minoan burial rites were generally reserved for the aristocracy classes.

Closer inspection of each side of the sarcophagus reveals a story told in pictures. On 1 side of the sarcophagus, a freshly sacrificed balderdash is centered in the artwork, his blood collecting in a container beneath him. To the left we run across a priestess conveying  double axes approving the bull offering.  There is a procession of supplicants  post-obit the priestess, while in front of the bull stand an aulos histrion and a lyre role player, celebrating and heralding the resurrection of their prince.

Depicted on some other side of the sarcophagus is a woman conveying a two-handled urn containing claret from the sacrificed bull.  Next to her is a priestess wearing a bird-shaped crown carrying  baskets on her shoulders which contain the freshly cutting thighs of the sacrificed bull. Both of these women are taking their burdens to commit equally burnt offerings. The blood and body of the sacrificed bull will give ability to their spells and cause the resurrection of their prince. Both women are wearing feathers as befits servants of the goddess. A homo playing a 7-stringed lyre with a plectrum stands alongside three priests in sheepskin skirts. The priests bring offerings of 2 tied calves and a curved gunkhole for passage on the river between the underworld and this earth. The priests are confronting a darker background "signifying, peradventure, a journey into the globe; into the darkness which opens out on (to) a sacred grove where some other altar stands (Lahanas, 1)."  Finally, the deceased  prince is depicted on the far correct in a striped burial shroud. The prince's anxiety are hidden, giving the impression of slowly emerging from the sacred grove at the summons of the priests (Payne). Blood from the sacrificed bull, once placed in the sacred urn on the far left, has resurrected the dead prince and returned him to the land of the living.

The Hagia sarcophagus has a decidedly Egyptian tone to it. Even though Minoan art is typically more naturalistic and less rigid than  that of the Egyptians, the influence of Arab republic of egypt is undoubtedly nowadays, even so. Like Egyptian depictive art, in the Minoan sarcophagus, representations of expiry are positioned on the left, and life is on the correct. Also, a resemblance of Egyptian fine art is found in the profile view of the priests and priestesses bodies, with almond-shaped eyes at a frontal view. The ideas of an afterlife, a bird-goddess, a divine bull, and a watery passage from life to expiry are all loosely interpreted versions of centuries old Egyptian religious traditions.

Part v: A Closer Look at the Concluding Judgement of Hunefer Coil

By comparison, the Terminal Judgement of Hunefer papyrus scroll from Thebes, Egypt. This artwork dates back to Arab republic of egypt's 19th Dynasty, during its New Kingdom, around 1275 BC. The scroll, similar the Hagia sarcophagus, depicts a story through chronological events. Its theme is sentence in the afterlife, and has been extracted from Hunefer's Book of the Dead. Each Egyptian Book of the Dead holds spells, prayers, incantations and instructions for the afterlife. An extract from the volume is translated, revealing all of Hunefer'south good deeds of his lifetime:

Hail to yous, great god, Lord of Justice! I take come to you, my lord, that you may bring me and then that I may see your beauty, for I know you and I know your name, and I know the names of the forty-two gods of those who are with you in this Hall of Justice, who alive on those who cherish evil and who gulp downward their blood on that day of reckoning. I have rejected falsehood. I have done no evil.  My name has not reached the offices of those who control slaves, I take not deprived the orphan of his belongings. I accept non short-changed the food-offerings in the temples, I have not destroyed the loaves of the gods. I have non copulated, I accept non added weights to the mitt-balance, I take not lightened the plumb-line of the standing scales, I accept not taken milk from the mouths of children… I am pure, pure, pure, pure! (Spell 125 from The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead, trans. R. O. Faulkner, New York. Macmillan, 1972, pp. 29-30).

Depicted on the scroll is a chronological sequence of events detailing the after-life judgment of Hunefer. Anubis (belongings an Ankh – a symbol of eternal life) takes him by the hand to have his heart, which is the seat of emotions, intellect and grapheme, weighed against a plume, which symbolizes that which is right. He then weighs the heart himself, while "the devourer" Ammut (part crocodile, part lion, function hippo) observes. The bird-headed man is Thoth, who records the proceedings. The heart appears to be balanced with the plumage (even a bit lighter) and so in reward, Hunefer goes with Horus (now belongings the Ankh) to meet with his father Osiris who is attended by his sisters Isis and Nepthys. Osiris is seated on a throne that floats on the waters of the heavenly Nile,  and is protected from to a higher place by several cobras. Had his heart been heavier than the feather of Ma'at, Hunefer would take been condemned to nothingness, and his eye would have been devoured by Ammut. At the top of the gyre, Hunefer is depicted addressing thirteen divine judges, beseeching them to hear of the practiced deeds of his lifetime.

The Egyptian scroll is rife with examples of symbolism, including incantations and images that are meant to accompany the deceased into the afterlife. The ancient tradition behind these symbols has imbued them with great power, given additional weight past the sheer immensity of time behind the tradition. It's no wonder that the Minoans constitute it irresistible to borrow facets of such a profound and complex belief to integrate into their ain religious ceremonies and burials.

Place these two works, adjacent, and the similarities between the two are undeniable. A funereal, otherworldly feel unites them, too as the artistic treatment of human figures in them. Supplication, divinity, death and resurrection are conveyed in both pieces, with stoicism and reverence to higher powers. This shared style of creative expression emits an unearthly, superhuman magic that is uniquely powerful and evocative in its ain right.

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