Minoan frescoes from the palace of Knossos and other sites on Crete depict scenes of milking and dairy production, including the making of cheese. These vivid images provide insight into the importance of dairy in Minoan society and suggest that cheese-making was an integral part of Bronze Age Aegean culture, later to be celebrated in Homeric epic and pastoral poetry.

The Minoan frescoes offer a visual counterpart to the cheese-making scenes in Homer's Odyssey, showing that dairy production was a central activity in the world that gave rise to Greek epic. The images have inspired modern poets and artists to imagine the pastoral landscapes of ancient Greece, enriching the tradition of pastoral poetry that has celebrated cheese and dairy for millennia. They remain a vital source for understanding the material culture of early Mediterranean poetry.