Myths and legends of ancient Greece glorified Crete in the tales about deities and heroes in love, beautiful princesses and the first human flight into the sky.

The supreme god of Olympus, Zeus, was born in Crete, in a cave of the Mount Dikte. It has been predicted to his father Cronus that he will obtain the death from his own descendant, and the cruel deity began to devour his own children. In search of the salvation of her last child, the wife of Cronus, Rhea, hid in Crete. The Diktean cave, where Zeus was born, still attracts attention of the tourist. The Mount Yiouchtas, near Heraklion, is considered as the burial vault of Zeus.

Here again, in Crete, was born Minos, a son of Zeus. During his reign, Crete reached its zenith. According to a legend, enamored Zeus presented himself in the shape of a bull to his chosen Europe (the daughter of the Phoenician king), kidnapped this princess and took her with him to the island of Crete. In the ancient town of Gortys was born their first child, Minos. Even today, ruins of ancient Gortys and the palace of king Minos in Heraklion can be seen in Crete!

The grim legend of the Minotaur’s labyrinth is also linked to the Cretan history. The Minotaur (part man and part bull), the offspring of the nefarious connection between Pasiphaë, the wife of Minos, and a bull sent by Poseidon, was imprisoned in the labyrinth built by skilful Daedalus. It is believed that the entrance to it is through the Knossos Palace – a unique architectural monument of the Minoan civilization.

The myth of Theseus, the conqueror of the Minotaur, is perhaps one the most famous myths of ancient Greece. Theseus (sent by the Athenian king) slew the Minotaur and acquired the Golden Fleece as well as beautiful Ariadne, the daughter of Minos. It was her ball of yarn which helped our hero to find way out of the labyrinth.

When Theseus fled, enraged Minos shut up Daedalus and his son Icarus in the labyrinth, wanting to bury them alive. Wise inventor Daedalus made for himself and his son the wings of beeswax and bird feathers. Inspired by the flight, the reckless young man increased to high toward the sun, which immediately melted the wax on his wings. Icarus died, crashing against the rocks, and since then the sea there has been called the Icarian.

 

The discovery of the Minoan civilization

The ancient legends were destined to remain the tales if not a work of Arthur Evans, the English archeologist, explorer and custodian of the Oxford Museum. Exactly he was destined to discover one of the greatest civilizations of antiquity, called the Cretan-Minoan.

By the time of Evans’ arrival to Crete he already had a reputation of a connoisseur of the ancient literature. Exactly the descriptions discovered on the island attracted the interest of the scientist. On March 23, 1900, Evans began with the excavation. Just after a few hours, the outlets of an ancient building appeared at the site, and two weeks later Evans was startled by buildings’ remains covering an area of two and a half hectares.

What ever discovered Evans? A surrounded by many rooms, huge rectangular yard was located in the centre of a complex. Chambers, corridors and halls devoid of any visible layout plan were so convoluted that getting lost in it was not difficult. This fact made it possible for Evans to identify the palace with the labyrinth, well-known from the ancient Greek epos.

A variety of ceremonial rooms, the throne room, apartments, swimming pools, office and outbuildings were discovered in the palace of Knossos which is perfectly preserved, accessible to tourists and remains the hallmark of Crete. There also was running water there, the first in Europe. Excavated by Evans the richest storehouses kept once olive oil, grain and wine. Original shaped vases, cups, bowls found in the palace have kept embellishing images but the beauty of the frescoes covering the walls of the palace is even more amazing.

Reports about the sensational excavation in Crete appeared in all newspapers and magazines in Europe. A great civilization was going up from unfathomable depths of thousands of years – so ancient that even for Homer’s contemporaries it was a thousand years legend; and when Evans gave this civilization the name “Minoan”, on the right of its discoverer (a name taken from the legend of King Minos), no one dared to challenge him.

 

The cult of the bull was not a legend but a reality

One image, seen in Crete with surprising constancy among numerous frescoes, sculptures and reliefs found there, is the image of a bull. The bull was depicted even on everyday objects like vessels, on ornaments and rings, on products of ivory and clay, gold, silver and bronze. Receptacles for religious libations were made in the form of bull’s heads and altars were decorated with bull’s horns.

One thing is clear: the myths and legends about the terrible bull were not a fiction. Almost all the walls of Knossos palace are covered with well-preserved frescoes where you can see the pictures of the bulls. Somewhere the bull is depicted grazing peacefully, another one is furious rushing from all forces and on some of paintings are depicted battles with Greek bullfighters. Scientists agree that on the island, there was a cult of the bull but they failed to determinate what it was a religion: in the whole diversity of found debris, fragments and surviving buildings, there was not discovered anything resembling a temple, even remotely.

On the contrary, in all the works of art found in Crete, there is a free approach to the world, not limited to any law. Minoan artists were alien to the glorification of military leaders and victors: there are not scenes of bloody battles and strings of prisoners. The main and only theme is a peaceful and civilized life. The frescoes are depicted young men gathering crocuses on meadows and filling with them vases as well as girls among lilies.

These observations gave rise to a version of an allegorical meaning of the image of the bull. Some researchers believe that the bull personified the power of the gods and nature for ancient Cretans. The Minoan civilization fell and was replaced by the Indo-European culture. Therefore, the destruction of the Minoan bull by the Athenian hero symbolizes the victory of the Indo-European civilization and Crete is called the cradle of the new Western civilization.

1

They say Evans was once asked why he did not hesitate to declare the discovery of the “Palace of the Minotaur”, despite not having any reliable evidence to support the truth of his words. Evans said: “I believe in the Ariadne’s thread of history – in the myths”. One objected: “But they are to beautiful to seem true?” Then, Evans answered: “Any most beautiful pattern on the carpet is embroidered with ordinary yarn twisted from sheep’s wool. They say so in Crete. I forgot about fantastic patterns and found the thread twisted from facts…”

2

In ancient times, Crete was among the lands considered now to be the birthplace of the wine production. The variety of Greek wines can astound any gourmet. The best wines are made in the vicinity of island’s capital Heraklion. Fans can unafraid taste original wines, for example the new Retsina wine with a specific resinous aroma.

July, 2016