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Firm written evidence for contact with Minoan Crete comes mainly from Mesopotamian sites and consists of references to Cretans in cuneiform tablets from a royal archive at Mari on the middle Euphrates, dating to around 1800 BCE. The texts record the transfer of Cretan goods to palaces at Mari and Babylon. Cretan drinking vessels and weaponry, often encrusted with gemstones and inlaid with precious metals, were received at Mari. One text tells of Cretan shoes sent to Hammurapi king of Babylon; another records that a Cretan boat (or a model of one) was built at Mari. A third mentions an overseer of Cretan merchants at Ugarit who worked with an interpreter and participated in the trade between Mesopotamia and the Aegean (Cline 1994: 126-128). The presence of Cretan goods at Ugarit has been confirmed by excavations. In central Anatolia the many Assyrian trading colonies known from texts found at Kanesh lasted until at least 1800 BCE, and it is probable that Assyrians maintained similar colonies in northern Syria. Similarities between the administrative systems which are indicated by sealings on locking devices at Karahüyük near Konya and Phaistos in Crete may be due to influence from Assyrian trade.
Bibliography
| Cline 1994, 24-30, 126-128 | Cline E. H. Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea. BAR International Series 591. Oxford: Tempus Reparatum 1994. |
| Dalley and Reyes 1998, 87 | Dalley, S. and A. T. Reyes. “Mesopotamian Contact and Influence in the Greek World.” In: S. Dalley (ed.). The Legacy of Mesopotamia. Oxford: Oxford University Press 1998, 85-124. |
Stephanie Dalley
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