ctivities. The upper classes owned slaves, who sometimes were considered co-craftsmen in the pursuit of laborious tasks, but a certain amount of power would have had to be expended to maintain control of the slaves. It is possible that what were slaves could actually be thought of as servants. Both cultures undoubtedly had a middle class or peasant class or workers, but not very much is known about them because materials from there have not been preserved (Chadwick 77).
Both cultures had an agricultural component, although with varying degrees of success and with different crops (Hooker 1). Both the Minoans and Mycenaeans were interested in trade, although the Mycenaeans were more aggressive in their trade practices. Both of the cultures were important in the formation of the later European civilizations, and their storytelling and poetry were important in the formation of European culture and thought (Hooker 2).
In spite of many similarities of time and place, the Minoans and Mycenaeans have revealed several differences, at least as the cultures are interpreted from the findings and the writings of Homer. The Minoan culture seems to be the older of the two, as was found by Arthur Evans whose early diggings in Crete were expected to excavate a civilization similar to that of Mycenae (Hooker 2). What he found instead was a people who were far more ancient than the Mycenaeans. This culture existed almost eight hundred years before Homer.
The Minoan people were quite peaceful, compared to the Mycenaeans. Their peaceful nature is in contrast to the other Bronze Age people·the Egyp
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