follow me.”
She led him through several small plain rooms where bare stone was exposed. Suddenly they stepped into a larger room with tiled floors. On the plastered walls were colorful frescoes that brought the room to life.
Pointing around , Alexia said, “Evidence of religion is found on the pottery, in the frescoes like those in this room, and in the architecture itself. For example, the link to Minoan Crete is clear from the prevalence of the Minoan goddess of fertility on the frescoes. She is also known as the snake goddess because of a snake she holds in each hand. Fertility was important to Akrotirians, and small shrines to the goddess were a part of many buildings.”
“That’s intere sting,” Mark said. “I noticed when we were landing that there are small, domed churches that appeared to be attached to many homes. The way the islanders seem to worship today in their homes is similar to the way they apparently worshipped back in the Bronze Age.”
“That’s a curious observation. I hadn’t made that connection. Perhaps you’re right. Those individual churches belong to more wealthy families on the island. The general population attends services in larger churches,” Alexia responded.
“F rom what I recall about ancient religions,” Mark said, “fertility was important to many early civilizations and usually the deity was female. Those civilizations survived from year to year on crops used to feed themselves and their livestock. Their wellbeing depended on a good harvest. One or two bad years could devastate a community. You can understand why fertility would be incorporated into their religion—their lives depended on it.”
Alexia nodded. “The fertility goddess also was credited for procreation. In some agrarian societies, there were coordinated fertility religious festivals with the aim of timing pregnancy and child birth so that it had the least impact on the fall harvest.”
“ What about the volcano?” Mark asked. “Did it play any role in their religion?”
“That ’s unclear, but it seems likely. After all, there was probably a Minoan influence on Akrotiri religion and Poseidon was the main deity in Crete—”
Mark interrupted, “And you probably remember, Alexia, that Poseidon also was the god of earthquakes and, like on Santorini, earthquakes are frequently associated with volcanoes.”
Alexia smiled. “Yes. And speaking of frequent earthquakes, under the foundation of several buildings we found a layer of loose pieces of porous pumice. We believe this layer was actually used for seismic insulation to protect the structure during earthquakes.”
“ Wow, that’s impressive! California didn’t start engineering for earthquakes until the twentieth century. Based on that, hot and cold running water, and from what I see here, in addition to being an advanced society, Akrotiri must have been a wealthy city.”
“Yes , as I said, it was, largely based on trade and shipping the products made in many of these buildings.”
She looked around. “ Despite the systematic removal of all valuables prior to the eruption, we can see from the high quality of the frescoes, the intricate pottery, and the magnificence of the buildings that this was an important and wealthy society. As we discussed, we know they produced many goods and traded extensively. While we haven’t found any written documents, from food remnants, including bones and seeds, we know they ate well, a sign of a well-to-do people. Their varied food stuffs included olives, beans, lentils, bread, sheep, goats, deer, and pigs.”
“What about their government? Was it similar to Crete’s?” Mark asked.
“Actually, t hey had a complex system of rules and a well-organized community, but no palace complexes like those found in Crete. From that, we surmise they didn’t have their own king. It’s likely they were ruled by the king in Knossos.”
She paused, adding, “ The only structures that could have functioned
She led him through several small plain rooms where bare stone was exposed. Suddenly they stepped into a larger room with tiled floors. On the plastered walls were colorful frescoes that brought the room to life.
Pointing around , Alexia said, “Evidence of religion is found on the pottery, in the frescoes like those in this room, and in the architecture itself. For example, the link to Minoan Crete is clear from the prevalence of the Minoan goddess of fertility on the frescoes. She is also known as the snake goddess because of a snake she holds in each hand. Fertility was important to Akrotirians, and small shrines to the goddess were a part of many buildings.”
“That’s intere sting,” Mark said. “I noticed when we were landing that there are small, domed churches that appeared to be attached to many homes. The way the islanders seem to worship today in their homes is similar to the way they apparently worshipped back in the Bronze Age.”
“That’s a curious observation. I hadn’t made that connection. Perhaps you’re right. Those individual churches belong to more wealthy families on the island. The general population attends services in larger churches,” Alexia responded.
“F rom what I recall about ancient religions,” Mark said, “fertility was important to many early civilizations and usually the deity was female. Those civilizations survived from year to year on crops used to feed themselves and their livestock. Their wellbeing depended on a good harvest. One or two bad years could devastate a community. You can understand why fertility would be incorporated into their religion—their lives depended on it.”
Alexia nodded. “The fertility goddess also was credited for procreation. In some agrarian societies, there were coordinated fertility religious festivals with the aim of timing pregnancy and child birth so that it had the least impact on the fall harvest.”
“ What about the volcano?” Mark asked. “Did it play any role in their religion?”
“That ’s unclear, but it seems likely. After all, there was probably a Minoan influence on Akrotiri religion and Poseidon was the main deity in Crete—”
Mark interrupted, “And you probably remember, Alexia, that Poseidon also was the god of earthquakes and, like on Santorini, earthquakes are frequently associated with volcanoes.”
Alexia smiled. “Yes. And speaking of frequent earthquakes, under the foundation of several buildings we found a layer of loose pieces of porous pumice. We believe this layer was actually used for seismic insulation to protect the structure during earthquakes.”
“ Wow, that’s impressive! California didn’t start engineering for earthquakes until the twentieth century. Based on that, hot and cold running water, and from what I see here, in addition to being an advanced society, Akrotiri must have been a wealthy city.”
“Yes , as I said, it was, largely based on trade and shipping the products made in many of these buildings.”
She looked around. “ Despite the systematic removal of all valuables prior to the eruption, we can see from the high quality of the frescoes, the intricate pottery, and the magnificence of the buildings that this was an important and wealthy society. As we discussed, we know they produced many goods and traded extensively. While we haven’t found any written documents, from food remnants, including bones and seeds, we know they ate well, a sign of a well-to-do people. Their varied food stuffs included olives, beans, lentils, bread, sheep, goats, deer, and pigs.”
“What about their government? Was it similar to Crete’s?” Mark asked.
“Actually, t hey had a complex system of rules and a well-organized community, but no palace complexes like those found in Crete. From that, we surmise they didn’t have their own king. It’s likely they were ruled by the king in Knossos.”
She paused, adding, “ The only structures that could have functioned
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