Anatolia. A Cretan colony had been established at Kastri on the island of Kythera
already in the EM II period, but early in the second millennium BC—by which
time state formation was well along—the Cretan connections with Kastri were
intensified.^76
The rulers of Crete relied upon their ships to subjugate islands in the Aegean
and valuable coastal areas of the Greek and Anatolian mainlands. Although it is
not likely that the Cretans fought sea battles, their ships carried spearmen and so
were indeed the basis of a thalassocracy. At the Kolonna site a shoulder frieze on
an Aiginetan barrel jar shows oared long ships, with spearmen aboard.^77 Were
two or three such ships to sail into a harbor, the residents along the harbor may
have had little choice but to acquiesce to the commander’s orders. Remarking on
the fortifications on two islands, and on the depiction of ships carrying spear-bearing
men, Sturt Manning came to the conclusion that by the Late Minoan I period
Cretans had tight control of much of the Aegean: “It would seem plausible that
the LM I Minoan stability and prosperity were a function of Minoan dominance
of this area. This dominance, whether military, hegemonal, or merely commercial,
was clearly dependent on sea power, even if battles were fought on land.”^78 Even
the lack of fortifications at Knossos and the other palaces in Crete may, as
Manning supposed, be a sign that at home the Cretans—like unwalled Sparta in
the fifth century BC—had nothing to fear.
Outside of Troy, the only walled towns in the MB II Aegean appear to have
been at Ayia Irini on Keos, at Kolonna on Aigina, and possibly at Miletus. It is
likely that the walls were put up by Cretans in order to establish strongholds from
which they could control the surrounding communities.^79 An important source of
wealth in Protopalatial Crete was metallurgy: the making of silver, gold and
especially bronze artifacts of high quality.^80 The metal artifacts ranged from long
bronze rapiers to tiny and exquisite pieces of gold jewelry. Where their tin came
from remains a question, but copper was not far away. Some of it came from Crete
itself, more came from Cyprus, but it is quite certain that in the MM II and III
periods and in LM I the Cretans got much of the copper and all of the silver they
needed from the Laurion mines on Attika’s southeastern coast.^81 In order to
facilitate and protect this trade the rulers of Knossos established a colonial outpost
on the northwestern coast of Keos, the island lying 12 miles off the shore of
southeastern Attika. The outpost, at what is now the town of Ayia Irini, was fortified
early in the MM period and in Period V of the site (MM III, ca. 1700—1600 BC)
the fortifications were substantially improved.^82 The settlement reached its zenith
in Periods VI-VII, when Cretan connections were still very strong. Fresco
fragments of a procession and dancing at a religious festival show something of
the sophisticated life of the islanders.^83 Evidently inland Attika was also to some
degree “subject” to Knossos. Such a relationship plausibly lies behind the myth
that the Athenians were required to send a regular tribute—seven youths, and seven
maidens—for sacrifice to the Minotaur in his Labyrinth.
On the island of Aigina, off the southern coast of Attika, substantial fortifications
and a rich burial at Kolonna hill show how important this site was in the MM II
period.^84 As described by Louise Schofield,
76 Warfare in Western Eurasia