They loved ornament and colour, and there is no indication that the polulation was ever subjugated. There does not have seemed to be a large standing army, though the Minoans supported a large navy, which kept pirates away from their area of the Meditteranean. These remarkable people knew much about architecture and incorporated bathrooms, running water and even cistern flushing toilets into their palaces. Interior rooms were lit with 'light wells' and all houses, large or small, were well conceived and comfortable. Beauty was on offer everywhere and the Minoans frequently decorated their walls with colourful frescos, usually protraying naturalistic scenes or else depictions of religious rituals and scenes from palace life.
Minoan art is entirely different from that of any other culture.
They imported luxury good from all over their area and exported pottery, metalware, and especially agricultural produce, for they were by far and away the greatest farmers of their era. The economy appears to have been well ordered and seems to have encouraged personal effort and co-operation in equal quantity. In a religious sense the Minoans worshiped a female deity, who married a masculine deity in a cyclical fashion. The Godesss, having been impregnated by the Old God, gave birth to the Young God. The Old God died and the Young God grew to take his place.