Crete, the Minoans, the Labyrinth and the Minotaur

As mentioned in my last post, in addition to Akrotiri, another potential candidate for Atlantis has been Knossos on Crete. They were hit by an enormous tsunami when Thera erupted in roughly 1600 BC. There are numerous myths and legends associated with Knossos as well.

Our ship docked at Aghios Nikolaos on Crete. We were then driven to Knossos. Although the site had people living there as early as 7000 BC, it was when the Minoans built Knossos at about 2000 BC that it really began to flourish. By 1700 BC, it was a major city with a population of around 100,000.

There is evidence that Knossos still existed after the volcanic eruption and tsunami, but was not repopulated by the Minoans. The Mycenaeans  moved in and took it over. The city ended up being totally destroyed in roughly 1300 BC. It isn’t clear as to why or by whom it was destroyed. But it does appear to have been set on fire by somebody.

The Palace is the main part that has been excavated and where we concentrated our exploration. We also concentrated on the Minoan period of habitation. This was where most of the myths and legends came into play.

King Minos, in Greek mythology, had Daedalus (the father of Icarus) construct a labyrinth in his palace to contain the Minotaur. The Minotaur was a man with the head of a bull which had been created when his mother (Minos’ queen, Pasiphae, as part of a curse placed upon her by Poseidon) mated with a magical white bull.

Because he was ticked off with Athens (King Minos didn’t seem to get along well with too many mortals or immortals) he had seven young men and seven young women from Athens sacrificed to the Minotaur every year. On one of those occasions, his daughter, Ariadne, assisted Theseus (one of the young men sent by Athens to be eaten by the Minotaur) in his quest to kill the Minotaur. She provided him with a ball of string so he could find his way back through the labyrinth. Theseus was successful in his quest and he and Ariadne ran off together (though some stories say he abandoned her once they escaped).

No actual labyrinth has ever been found. But some people speculate that the entire palace was Homer’s labyrinth. It is enormous and sprawling with hundreds of rooms, stairways, corridors and numerous levels.

In the far right of the first photo I have included with this post, you can see a double-bladed axe incised in one of the blocks of stone. This is called a labrys and is considered to be a symbol of a labyrinth. This symbol is carved on many blocks of stone all over the Palace at Knossos.

As for the Minotaur, the Minoans worshiped the bull. There are frescoes involving bulls in the Palace, including a large, charging bull near the North Entrance. A very famous fresco is in the room above the throne room of a man flipping over a bull while two women assist. Photos of both are included here.

Minoan columns were created from Cyprus trees, which were inverted to keep them from sprouting. This made the columns wider at the top than at the bottom – the opposite of Greek stone columns. Minoan columns were mostly painted red and mounted on round bases with round pillow-like capitals.

The throne room contained the original alabaster throne. Nobody is certain whether the throne was for a king or a priest or a priestess. Many think that the seat of the throne was clearly made for a female backside, so the priestess idea has become the leader.

I couldn’t get terribly close to it, but I personally didn’t see how the seat was made for a female instead of a male. It frankly looked uncomfortable for either gender. The flowing artwork on the walls featuring griffins has also been considered to be feminine.

When you look at the way humans were depicted in all of the frescoes, they all had the same hairdos and were dressed in just a little something around their waists, covering their buttocks and genitals. The only distinction between genders being that women were portrayed as milky white while men were portrayed as more of a dark red. All of the frescoes, whatever the subject, were colorful with undulating, curved lines. In short – feminine.

Across from the throne room was what appeared to be a ritual bath to the original archaeologists. But later archaeologists had determined that, since there isn’t any kind of a drain, it was more likely an aquarium. I photographed it from a floor above, so the opening you see to the right in the photo is into the throne room.

To the south of the throne room was where several snake goddesses were found. Most were broken into pieces, but two were in good enough shape to be repaired and put on exhibit in the Heraklion Museum.

One of my favorite parts of the Palace was the Queen’s Hall with its dolphin frescoes and the nearby Hall of the Double Axes. This was a double indoor/outdoor chamber that also contained a throne. This throne was not original, however, but a replica. It looks very similar to the throne in the throne room despite the idea that this room was supposed to have been the king’s.

We headed out by the North Entrance, taking a good look at the drainage system as we went. I know. Exciting stuff, right? But a drainage system dating back roughly 4,000 years to a time when hardly any other civilization had one is actually pretty interesting.

In nearby Heraklion, I spent some time in Plateia Venizelou Square with a Venetian fountain and an old Venetian church. The archaeological museum was by the Venetian wall and a bit of a walk from the square. But it was back towards where the bus would be picking us up.

We went back to the ship to have lunch. Mark and I had gyros by the pool and then went back to shore for the afternoon. It was a beautiful day to be on the island of Crete.

Next time – the Island of Rhodes

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