Minoans

A civilization that arose on Crete and flourished approximately from the 27th century BC to the 15th century BC. Unlike any other society at that time, women dominated the Minoan world. Minoans built massive palace complexes, the largest of them all being Knossos. They're wealth was based upon tin-trade and they had a massive fleet of ships. There have only a few weapons been found all over Crete, but all of them were used by the priestesses in all sorts of rituals, making the hypothesis that this could have been a peaceful civilization. Somewhere around 1600 BC the volcano on the island of Thera (Santorini) erupted, this eruption caused massive tsunamis rush towards north side of Crete, destroying Minoan fleet and their coastal settlements. But years moved on, and they rebuilt their sites, making them even greater, but it wasn't for long when their neighbors, the Mycenaeans took over them and absorbed their ways of life. The true reason, why Minoans right at the peek of their power came to end, is unknown.