The Destruction of Knossos: The Rise and Fall of Minoan Crete

Considering this was written with what was known 40 years ago of the Minoans, it is bloody good. As a matter of fact, I challenge anyone to come up with a better book regarding the Minoans written at any time. Yes, I agree the time spent on Homer and his tales was a bit of a waste. Homer would be describing Mycenaean culture, not Minoan. So little is know of the Minoans due to time and lack of anything written historically by them or by others. Much actually comes from Egypt. But with this being said, a really unique culture which I find fascinating. They lived well and eschewed war, tribute and conquest as a modus operandi, instead, relying on trade and a peaceful coexistence with their neighbors. And women seem to have done quite well, quite unlike how women were treated in Greece only a few centuries later.

Probably the best of the affordable overviews of the Minoan civilization, if a bit flowery and speculative here and there. Beggars cant' be choosers. After all, unlike the Sumerians and other Levant early civilizations, the Minoans didn't leave a wealth of written records. On top of that, they used Linear A cuneiform, which is barely deciphered.

I have been wanting to read about Knossos for a long while. I seen the insanely low price and decided to get it, it was worth the wait. This book is a must read for anyone interested in ancient Greece.

I recently traveled to Crete to visit this ruins,so i wanted to read about it and be ready..There are not many books in this subject,but this book was good and helped me get an idea on the subject

I bought this book to understand the Minoan culture and the rise and fall of Knossos and the surrounding cities of Crete. The author slowly got around to explaining a small amount of this, but the book is predominantly filled with tangential stories having nothing to do with Minoans or Crete. For example, he spends quite a bit of time rambling about the Iliad and the Odyssey, only minimally explaining why it relates to Crete. It feels more like a journey through the mind of the author than a book about Minoans/Knossos, complete with philosophical speculation and supposition. The chapters also don't have a logical progression, but are randomly organized and repetitive. In my opinion, the book could have been about 1/4 of its length if one removed the extraneous information. This book sorely needed a good editor.

I wanted a more scholarly work. This flowery language may give you an idea of what happened in the Bronze Age, but you will have to tiptoe through the tulips to get there. I abandoned it after chapter 5... but that was only about 20 pages deep. The Mycenaean World by Chadwick was more helpful. UPDATE: Originally I gave this book 3 stars and abandoned it. But something about the book kept nagging me to go back and finish it. I finally did and I appreciated it more than I had originally thought I would. This is a good overview of Minoan culture and what we know of their history written by an admired scholar on the subject. I still complain that there are some unnecessary flights of fancy and some assumptions that may be untenable in this book, but ultimately the authors enthusiasm won me over.

Very interesting. A very personal (In a good way.) view that puts the whole of early Eastern Mediterranean civilisation in perspective.