The long period of the Neolithic Age was succeeded by the Minoan Period. Arthur Evans, the archaeologist who excavated the Palace of Knossos, named this age after King Minos, the mythological ruler of Knossos. This period lasted for about 1,500 years and became the “Golden Age” of Crete. Evans divided the Minoan era in the Early Minoan Period (3000-2000 BC), Middle Minoan I and II Period (2000 – 1600 BC), Middle Minoan III Period, Late Minoan I and II Period (1700 – 1400 BC) and Late III Period (1400 – 1100 BC).

Some very important Minoan sites are identified at several places of the Municipality of Minoa Pediados: the ancient Inatos, the ancient Priansos in the archaeological site of Kastellos, the ancient Arcadia, the ancient Lyttos, the Minoan palace in Galata, the Minoan settlement in Nipiditos and the cave of Eilithyia, the Goddess of Childbirth in Ancient Greece.