a young Minoan man

a Minoan woman

The Minoan palaces were centers of international trade. From the artifacts left behind, we know that they had a large merchant fleet and traded with other cultures of the eastern Mediterranean, such as Egypt. It was the most western of the Bronze Age cultures that existed throughout the eastern Mediterranean as well as the first Greek Bronze Age culture. 

The Minoan people seem to have been peace-loving - there are no displays of power or glorification of weapons as are seen in their contemporaries the Egyptians and the Mycenaeans. They were prosperous, and could indulge a love for the finer things of life. This can be seen in  their elaborate facilities such as bathrooms with toilets and private pools, in the figures left behind in the frescoes which adorned their walls, and in the beautiful creations of metal-workers, goldsmiths, woodworkers and sculptors.