The myth of the Minotaur: from birth to death of a monster. Theseus and the Minotaur - Myths of Ancient Greece
Is the most visited archaeological park of Crete. It is located in the heart of the island, areas. Surrounded by dozens of legends and myths, the palace annually attracts thousands of tourists from all over the world. Do you want to know more about the history of its creation? Then you are on the right track!
So, there lived in Ancient Greece a certain Minos, the son of the princess of Europe and the god Zeus. When the son grew up, Zeus made him king of the island of Crete, where he himself was once born and spent his childhood.
In turn, Minos married the beautiful Pasiphae, the daughter of the sun god Helios and the beautiful Perseid. Simultaneously with the marriage, Minos asked Poseidon, the patron saint of the seas, to help him strengthen his power on the island - the Cretans did not particularly revere Minos. And Poseidon heeded the prayers of the latter, sending a beautiful white bull which Minos had to sacrifice to the gods.
And everything would be fine if Pasiphae, the wife of Minos, did not fall in love with this very bull. And not only fell in love, but also gave birth to a son from him - the Minotaur. But the child turned out not to be human at all - one half of his body was healthy, and the other was bovine. To hide her shame, Pasiphae asked the architect Daedalus to build a labyrinth in which the Minotaur would be imprisoned until the end of his days.
Daedalus at that time lived in Athens, but at the request of the Cretan queen, he moved to Crete with his son Icarus, immediately starting the construction of the labyrinth. They say that this labyrinth was so confusing that even its creator Daedalus himself could not find a way out of there!
Seeing the skilful work of Daedalus, King Minos asked him to build a royal palace next to the Labyrinth - Knossos. Yes, yes, this is where you will come with a tour! By the way, Knossos dates back to at least the 7th century. BC, and for its venerable age, it is perfectly preserved!
Having finished work on the palace of Minos and the Labyrinth, Daedalus was about to leave the island. However, Minos decided to make the master his personal architect, and refused to let him go free. Well, we think everyone knows about the legend about Daedalus and Icarus - the wise architect made wings from beeswax for himself and his son, and so they fled from Crete together. But the young man rose too high into the sky, so that the sun melted the wax on his wings, and he crashed on the sea rocks. That is why there is such a sea in Greece - Icarian.
But, back to Minos and his palace. In addition to the Minotaur, he and his wife also had a common child, a beautiful young man named Androgey. And one day Androgey went to Athens on sports where he was ruthlessly killed. The enraged Minos could not forgive the death of his son, sentenced Athens to lifelong tribute - the city was obliged to send 7 of the most beautiful young men and 7 girls to Crete every 9 years to be devoured by the monster Minotaur.
The last myth about Knossos is the story of the thread of Ariadne. So, the Minotaur inside the Labyrinth not only lived, ate and slept, but also did business. He guarded the magical Golden Fleece, which turned everything around into pure gold. The Athenian Theseus decided to steal this fleece and kill the Minotaur, thus freeing his city from a terrible tribute. Then, having gathered the Argonauts, the famous ship Argo, led by Theseus, went to Crete. Undoubtedly, the young men would have died if it were not for Ariadne - the daughter of King Minos fell in love with Theseus, and secretly gave him a ball of threads, with the help of which the Argonauts found a way out of the labyrinth. The Minotaur was killed, the fleece was stolen, and Ariadne fled with Theseus from her father's house.
Here it is, the mythical Palace of Knossos. Don't believe? See for yourself! Price entrance ticket — € 6, opening hours 8.00-19.00 during the summer months and 8.00-15.00 from November to May.
Almost everyone knows the myth of the minotaur. All of us in childhood read the legends and myths of ancient Greece. In the late 80s of the last century, the encyclopedic two-volume "Myths of the Peoples of the World" was published, which immediately became a bibliographic rarity.
The legend of the minotaur begins with the misdeed of the king of the island of Crete, Minos. Instead of offering a sacrifice to the god Poseidon (a bull was intended as a sacrifice), he left the bull for himself. Enraged, Poseidon bewitched the wife of Minos, and she committed a terrible adultery with a bull. From this connection, a terrible half-bull, half-man, called the Minotaur, was born.
How did this myth come about?
The concept of "myth" is of ancient Greek origin and can be translated as "word", "story". These are ancient tales before the beginning of time, and folk wisdom, and the energy of the cosmos, which flows into human culture.
But the "myth" differs from the usual word in that it contains the truth "possessing the power of the divine logos", but which is difficult to grasp (as the ancient philosopher Empedocles said).
Myth is the most ancient form transfer of knowledge. It cannot be taken literally, only allegorically - as encrypted knowledge hidden in symbols.
Mythology is the foundation of the culture of every nation. Myths existed among the ancient Greeks, Indians, Chinese, Germans, Iranians, Africans, inhabitants of America, Australia and Oceania.
Myths existed not just in stories, but in chants (hymns - like the ancient Indian Vedas), in relics, in traditions, rituals. Ritual is the original form of myth.
Myths are the most ancient form of “philosophical” reflection of a person, an attempt to understand where the world came from, what is the role of a person in it, what is the meaning of his life. Only myth gives an answer about the meaning of human life in terms of history and metaphysical terms.
Formerly people they lived, as it were, in two worlds: mythical and real, and there was no insurmountable barrier between them, the worlds were nearby and were permeable.
According to the formula of the French scientist Lucien Levy-Bruhl: ancient man participates in the events of the surrounding world, and does not oppose itself to it.
The Swedish mystic Emmanuel Swedenborg believed that the ancient world of the universal first man contained the memory of the deepest intuition of the unity of man and God.
In myths, the idea that a person is potentially immortal sounds.
Mythological thought does not know dead matter; it sees the whole world as animated.
In the Egyptian "Pyramid Texts" there are such lines: "When the sky had not yet arisen, when people had not yet arisen, when the gods had not yet arisen, when death had not yet arisen ..."
famous connoisseur ancient mythology Academician A.F. Losev, in his monograph "The Dialectics of Myth", recognized that myth is not an invention, but an extremely practical and urgent necessary category of consciousness and being.
What was the ancient man most afraid of? Defiling yourself! This meant to spoil the world created by the gods. Therefore, it was necessary to observe prohibitions (taboos) - developed through a long process of trial and error.
The French researcher Roland Barthes emphasized that a myth is a system that simultaneously designates and informs, inspires and prescribes, and is motivating. According to Barthes, the "naturalization" of the concept is the main function of the myth.
Myth is a "persuasive word"!
Ancient people believed myths unconditionally. The myths indicated what should be.
Doctor historical sciences M.F. Albedil in the book “In the magic circle of myths” writes: “Myths were not treated as fiction or fantastic nonsense.”
No one asked the question of the authorship of the myth - who composed it. It was believed that myths were told to people by their ancestors, and to those by the gods. And this means that myths contain original revelations, and people had only to keep them in the memory of generations, without trying to change or invent something new.
Myths accumulated the experience and knowledge of many generations. Myths were something like an encyclopedia of life: in them one could find answers to all the main questions of life. The myths told about ancient period in the history of mankind, which existed before the beginning of all time.
Professor of the Faculty of Philosophy of St. Petersburg state university Roman Svetlov believes that “an archaic myth is a “theophany of truth”! Myth does not “construct”, but reveals the ontological structure of the Cosmos!
Myth is an image (cast) primary Knowledge. Mythology is the comprehension of this primordial Knowledge.
There are different myths: 1 \ "cosmogonic" - about the origin of the world; "eschatological" - about the end of the world, 3 \ "calendar myth" - about the cyclical nature of the life of nature; and others.
Cosmogonic myths (about the creation of the world) exist in almost every culture. Moreover, they arose in cultures that did not communicate (!) With each other. The similarity of these myths so impressed the researchers that this myth was given the name "Prince Charming with a myriad of different faces."
IN primitive culture myths are the equivalent of science, a kind of encyclopedia of knowledge. Art, literature, religion, political ideology - all of them are based on myths, contain a myth, because they originated from mythology.
A myth in literature is a story that conveys people's ideas about the world, man's place in it, about the origin of all things, about gods and heroes.
How did the myth of the minotaur originate?
The architect Daedalus, who escaped from Greece (from Athens), built the famous labyrinth, in which the Minotaur, the bull-man, was settled. Athens, which was guilty before the Cretan king, in order to avoid war, had to supply every year 7 boys and 7 girls to feed the Minotaur. Girls and boys from Athens were taken away by a mourning ship with black sails.
One day Greek hero Theseus, the son of the ruler of Athens Aegeus, asked his father about this ship and, having learned the terrible reason for the black sails, set out to kill the Minotaur. Having asked his father to let him go instead of one of the young men intended for feeding, he agreed with him that if he defeats the monster, then the sails on the ship will be white, if not, then they will remain black.
In Crete, before going to dinner with the Minotaur, Theseus charmed the daughter of Minos Ariadne. The girl who fell in love before entering the labyrinth gave Theseus a ball of thread, which he unwound as he moved deeper and deeper into the labyrinth. In a terrible battle, the hero defeated the monster, and returned along the thread of Ariadne to the exit. On the way back, he set off already with Ariadne.
However, Ariadne was to become the wife of one of the gods, and Theseus was not part of their plans at all. Dionysius, namely, Ariadne was to become his wife, demanded from Theseus that he leave her. But Theseus was stubborn and did not listen. Angered, the gods sent a curse on him, which made him forget about the promise he had made to his father, and he forgot to replace the black sails with white ones.
The father, seeing a galley with black sails, rushed into the sea, which was called the Aegean.
Ancient myths have come down to us in a form revised by historians and writers.
Aeschylus created the tragedy "Persians" on a plot from current history, turning history itself into a myth.
Some believe that myths, fairy tales and legends are one and the same. But it's not.
Myth is one of the forms of comprehension of primordial-Knowledge. Literature can become the comprehension of primordial-Knowledge if, like a myth, one approaches the Source of Revelation. Real creativity is not an essay, but a presentation!
But for contemporary writers characteristic is not worship of myths, but a free attitude towards them, often supplemented by one's own fantasizing. So the myth of Odysseus (King of Ithaca) turns into Joyce's "Ullis".
It is in myths that scientists and artists draw inspiration. Sigmund Freud, in his teaching on psychoanalysis, used the myth of Oedipus Rex, calling the phenomenon he discovered the "Oedipus complex".
Composer Richard Wagner successfully used ancient Germanic myths in his cycle of operas Der Ring des Nibelungen.
When I visited Crete, I visited the Palace of Knossos. This outstanding monument of Cretan architecture is located 5 km from Heraklion (the capital), among the vineyards on the hill of Kefala. I was amazed at its size. The area of the palace is 25 hectares. This labyrinth known from mythology had 1100 rooms.
The Palace of Knossos is a complex conglomeration of hundreds of different rooms. It seemed to the Achaean Greeks a building from which it was impossible to find a way out. The word "labyrinth" has since become synonymous with a room with a complex system of rooms and corridors.
The ritual weapon that adorned the Palace was a double-sided axe. It was used for sacrifices and symbolized the dying and rebirth of the moon. This ax was called Labrys (Labyris), which is why the illiterate mainland Greeks formed the name - Labyrinth.
The Palace of Knossos was built over several centuries in the 2nd millennium BC. It had no analogues in Europe for the next 1500 years.
The palace was the seat of the rulers of Knossos and all of Crete. The ceremonial premises of the palace consisted of large and small "throne" halls and rooms for religious purposes. The alleged female part of the palace contained a reception room, bathrooms, a treasury, and various other rooms.
A wide sewer network of clay pipes of large and small diameters was laid in the palace, serving the pools, bathrooms and latrines.
It is hard to imagine how people were able to build such a huge palace city, in some places with five floors. And it was equipped with sewerage, running water, everything was lit and ventilated, and it was protected from earthquakes. Storerooms, a theater for ritual performances, temples, guard posts, halls for receiving guests, workshops, and the chambers of Minos himself were placed in the palace.
Architectural style The palace of Knossos is truly unique, despite the fact that it contains elements of both Egyptian and ancient Greek architecture. The columns, which received the name "irrational" in art history, were peculiar. From top to bottom, they did not expand, as in the buildings of other ancient peoples, but narrowed.
During excavations in the palace, more than 2 thousand clay tablets with various records were found. The walls of the chambers of Minos were covered with numerous colorful images. The sophistication of the line of the profile of a young woman on one of the frescoes, the grace of her hairstyle, reminded archaeologists of fashionable and flirtatious French women. And that's why she was called "Parisian", and this name has remained with her until now.
Excavations and partial reconstruction of the palace were carried out at the beginning of the 20th century. under the direction of the English archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans. Evans believed that the palace was destroyed in 1700 BC. the explosion of the Fera volcano on the island of Santorini and the subsequent earthquake and flood. But he was wrong. Cypress beams, laid between the huge stones of the walls of the Palace of Knossos, extinguished the trembling of the earthquake; the palace survived and lasted for about 70 years, after which it was destroyed by fire.
Evans has been criticized by some for restoring the details of the palace in his own way, giving free rein to his imagination. In place of a pile of stones and several floors that were preserved, but covered with earth, courtyards and chambers reappeared, newly painted columns, restored porticos, restored frescoes - the so-called "remake".
Modern methods Little by little research is destroying Evans' beautiful fairy tale. Mr. Wunderlich, who conducts research at the intersection of geology and archeology, believes that the Palace of Knossos was not a place of residence Cretan kings, but a huge burial complex like the Egyptian pyramids.
But where did the minotaur come from - this bull-man?
I am sure that the myth is based real story. Now it is not known for certain how bulls started in Crete. One can guess that they came to Crete along with a wave of immigrants from the Middle Eastern civilization, who built palaces on Crete.
But why should the Cretans, who lived not at all by agriculture, but by sea trade, worship bulls?
They invented the god of the sea, dubbed him Poseidon, and dressed him in the image of this very bull.
The ritual of the worship of Poseidon in the form of a bull was arranged with the elegance characteristic of Crete, and was reminiscent of "dances with a bull." Young dancers were recruited from mainland Greece. But not at all in order to kill the bull (as is done in the Spanish bullfight), but in order to play with the bull. Unarmed, well-trained dancers jumped over the bull, deceiving him.
These young dancers were recruited to bring the culture of Crete to the Greek mainland. This is a proven historical fact!
But the mainland Greeks, who paid tribute to Crete, thus framed their dissatisfaction with the tribute paid into the myth of the "monster" Minotaur.
Or maybe they really dealt with the enemies like that in the Knossos palace, leaving them alone with the bull?
All our life we are in captivity of myths. And even dying, we believe in the myth of immortality!
Myths, hopes, fairy tales, dreams... How to escape from illusions?
They distort the truth without even wanting to.
What motivates you to create a myth?
The consciousness of people is mythological. They love fairy tales and cannot stand the truth. And therefore it is dangerous to deprive people of the myths by which they have lived for a long time.
Having visited Israel in the places where Jesus of Nazareth was born, lived and preached, I was convinced that his life was turned into a myth. And someone is making good money on this myth.
As a child, I was brought up on myths about the heroes of the civil and great patriotic wars, and, of course, believed that this was the pure truth. But after perestroika, the truth came out. It turned out that Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya was just an arsonist of peasant houses where the Germans spent the night; the feat of Alexander Matrosov was not accomplished by Alexander Matrosov; and Pavka Korchagin did not build a narrow-gauge railway, because such a railway did not exist in nature.
Myth about armed uprising and taking Winter Palace was created later in the film "October". Eisenstein's masterpiece "Battleship Potemkin" is also a myth. There were no worms in the meat, there was a well-prepared rebellion. And the execution on the stairs is the same invention of the brilliant Eisenstein, as well as a commemorative carriage with a child.
Today, the main laboratory of myth-making is cinema. In a recent show, "In the meantime," the question of how the art of cinema creates myths was discussed. Alexander Arkhangelsky believes that life with myths is no less significant than life with realities.
Doctor of Philosophy N.A. Pin believes that no state propaganda machine can create a myth that will dominate the consciousness of the masses. We now live in a post-ideological environment. This vacuum needs to be filled. But what? Creation of myths? People want to believe. But you can't believe. Today the private individual dominates. No myth will live on a private individual. Today, a person does not have ethical and semantic navigation. He doesn't know why he lives. We live in an era of market totalitarianism. When an idea turns into an ideology, it becomes official dogmatism. And it becomes a force when it grows in the consciousness of the masses.
Director Karen Shakhnazarov believes that the meaning of cinema is to create myths. Why was Soviet cinema capable of this? Because the country had an ideology. Ideology is the presence of an idea. Cinema without ideology cannot produce myths. No ideology - no idea - you can't create anything. To destroy one myth, you need to create another. In the Soviet Union there was an ideology, there was an idea, there was cinema. IN modern Russia we are undergoing restoration. Restoration is an attempt to return to the pre-revolutionary state, to that ideology, which in essence has already disappeared. Restoration has always ended. There will be bold ideas that will capture the masses. Because humanity is what it was, and will remain so. There will be more revolutions, great upheavals. They will, even if we don't want to.
I AGREE with Karen Shakhnazarov - we went around in a circle, and again returned to the fork. We used to scold ideology, now we yearn for it. But at least there was an idea before. And now they've brought it all to a halt. Exchanged spirituality for dollars. Yes, the shops are full - but the souls are empty! No, before we were cleaner, naive, kinder, we believed in ideals that seemed false to someone.
After the destruction of the communist ideology, a new ideology of restored capitalism was required. There was an order from the authorities to create a Russian national idea. But nothing happened. Because ideas are not composed, but exist objectively, as Plato said.
national idea Russia has been known for a long time - YOU CAN SAVE ONLY TOGETHER!
But it is alien to the ideology of restored capitalism, where every man is for himself.
An idea that has no roots in reality and the hearts of people will not take root.
No one can reproach the communist idea for being false and fruitless. The successes of communist China prove that the idea of communism is not fruitless, it is the future. Communism won in a single country. Unfortunately, not in Russia, but in China. It's time to learn Chinese...
Ancient myths and today's are not the same thing. ancient myth is a sacred message filled with metaphysical depth, in which knowledge about the world and its laws is encrypted (in modern terms, this is a metanarrative).
And today's "myths" are "soap bubbles", false images (simulacra) that have little in common with reality and its laws; their goal is to manipulate public consciousness.
Among modern "myths" one can name the "myth of freedom", "the myth of democracy", "the myth of progress" and others.
Historical myths ordered by politicians. Myth about bad Russia to Peter comes from Peter himself, as a justification for the reforms he is carrying out.
“History is a collection of myths! A complete hoax! She reminds me of a broken phone. We know only what has been rewritten repeatedly by others, and which can only be trusted. But why should I believe? What if they are wrong? Maybe things were different. We are looking for meaning in history, based on the facts known to us, but the emergence of new facts makes us take a fresh look at the pattern historical process. And what about the lies of historians, demagogy, misinformation?.. And these endless rewriting of history to please the rulers?.. It is already difficult to understand where is the truth and where is the lie...
But there is something eternal in man, which allows us today to represent the life of people of the distant past. If it were all about culture, then we would not be able to understand the ancient sages without knowing the peculiarities of their life. But it is thanks to sensual empathy that we understand them. And all because a person is essentially unchanged.
(from my true-life novel "The Wanderer" (mystery) on the site New Russian Literature)
Welcome to new world- beautiful crazy illusory endless dual mythical world virtual reality!
P.S. Read my articles with videos: “Paradise is Crete”, “Visiting the Volcano”, “St. Irina of Santorini”, “Spinalonga: Hell in Paradise”, “Sunset on Santorini”, “City of St. Nicholas”, “Heraklion in Crete ”, “Elite Elounda”, “Tourist Mecca - Tyra”, “Oia - Swallow's Nest”, “Knossos Palace of the Minotaur”, “Santorini - Lost Atlantis”, and others.
Probably, almost every person once read the Myths of Ancient Greece, got acquainted with them. It could be in school, high school, college, or on your own if you're interested in history. Here, according to this book, the Minotaur is a monster that had a human body and a bull's head.
For the Minotaur, a special Palace was built in which he lived. But this Palace was not ordinary, but with intricate labyrinths. People who came to this monster sometimes could not get out of there. So they were not found. In the very central part of the Palace was the lair of the Minotaur, where he lived, slept...
The life story of the Minotaur
In Athens, almost every inhabitant was afraid of the Minotaur, so they tried to propitiate him. According to legend, history, every nine-year period, seven boys and girls were sent to the Minotaur. Seven has always been a magic number.
It was important for the Minotaur that the number of "victims" was exactly seven. And so, when Theseus got the lot that he would be the next victim, he decided to rid the world of the monster. Theseus tried to prevent, to break this tradition, so that people would stop being afraid of the Minotaur, stop sacrificing themselves to him.
Ariadne, who fell in love with Theseus (they were, as they say now, a couple), gave her lover a ball of thread. Everyone probably remembers the magical Thread of Ariadne.
So, according to the legend, the free end of the thread had to be tied to the door at the entrance to the labyrinth, and then the ball would lead to the center of the Palace, where the Minotaur lives. On the way back, the hero had to get out of the Palace with the help of this Thread of Ariadne, winding the thread back into a ball.
How it was
Theseus took advantage of the Thread with pleasure, he believed in its magic. He did everything as his beloved told him. He tied one end of the thread to the door at the exit of the Palace, and the other end led him to the Minotaur himself, to the monster's lair.
The hero did not lose his head, killed the "monster", and he was lucky to get out of the Palace safely. Until then, no one had been able to do this. Thus, the feat of Theseus became a national pride.
People were grateful to him that he saved them from apparent death. After all, fourteen innocent people died every nine years. Young men and women who had not yet known, had not tasted the joy of life, had not tasted it, were forced to bear themselves on the "altar of death" almost voluntarily. Thanks to the Magic Thread, Theseus got out of the Palace, no one else went there.
What is said about this myth now
This myth is one of the most popular Myths of Ancient Greece. The thread of Ariadne, the Feat of Theseus went down in history. Whether this was real or just a fantasy, no one can say. But even now the Palace has been preserved, its ruins where, according to legend, the Minotaur lived. This Palace is now considered a monument, it is four thousand years old! Thousands of tourists come to Crete every year to admire the famous place.
Many sculptors and artists, including modern ones, create their immortal creations about the feat of Theseus, who lived in those days, his beloved Ariadne and, of course, the monster Minotaur. Modern people the history is very interesting, so this myth will exist for more than one millennium.
Not only sculptors dedicate their creations to the Minotaur, but also artists who paint it on their canvases. Theseus, the Minotaur, Ariadne are well remembered; Much has been written about this feat.
Their images are painted on vases, themed services. These things are not cheap, as they are in demand. A person who has a "piece of Ancient Greece" in his collection can consider himself a real connoisseur of those times.
Minotaur, "the bull of Minos", was the name of the son of Pasiphae, the wife of the Cretan king. This creature with the body of a man and the head of a bull was allegedly hidden by Minos in the labyrinth built by Daedalus, where he fed on human sacrifices. He was given to be devoured by criminals, and once every nine years, seven young men and seven girls were sent from Athens as tribute, who wandered through the corridors of the labyrinth, unable to get out of it, and eventually fell directly into the mouth of the Minotaur.
Ariadne escorts Theseus into the labyrinth (detail of the sarcophagus) The son of the Athenian king Aegeus, Theseus, who went among these fourteen to the island of Crete, was able to defeat the Minotaur, and a ball of thread donated by Ariadne, the daughter of Minos, helped him get out: having started unwinding it at the entrance to the labyrinth, Theseus and his companions were then able to return.
The Athenians thank Theseus after killing the Minotaur (fresco from the city of Pompeii) The winner of the monster and his beloved went on a ship to Athens, but during a stop on the island of Naxos, Ariadne was kidnapped by Dionysus, who was in love with her, and the saddened Theseus returned to Athens alone. Forgetting that in the event of a happy outcome, the black sail on the ship had to be replaced with a white one, he involuntarily caused the death of his father: Aegeus, who saw the mourning sign, could not stand the news of his son’s death and threw himself from the rocks into the sea, which since then became known as the Aegean.
Theseus leaving Ariadne on the island of Naxos (sarcophagus detail)
The myth of Theseus and the Minotaur refers to the Minoan culture, a civilization that existed in Crete during the Bronze Age, approximately from the 28th to the 15th centuries. BC. Records of the legend can be found among ancient Greek historians of the classical and Roman periods, when versions of the interpretation of the myth already differed. According to one of them, Taurus, the cruel commander of Minos, liked to arrange competitions in which teenage slaves were the prize. This version was voiced by Plutarch with reference to ancient Greek historians.
Taurocathapsia (fresco from Knossos) Be that as it may, the legend, in which one of the main actors there will be a bull, could not but arise during the existence of the Minoan culture or when getting acquainted with its heritage. The bull among the Cretans was a particularly revered, sacred animal involved in various rituals and cults. Findings made by archaeologists made it possible to establish that taurocatapsias, or dances with bulls - ritual jumps over an animal, were popular on the island.
Leaping over a bull (figurine from Knossos) It can be assumed that during these “dances” there were victims - is this not where the legend of the regular tribute to the Minotaur originates? The Cretans themselves probably borrowed the image of a man with a bull's head from other religions - in particular, the Phoenicians, who revered Moloch, devouring children, or the Egyptians, in whose custom it was to worship gods with the heads of various animals.
As for the place where the labyrinth of the Minotaur was probably located and where King Minos lived, it was found in 1878 by the Greek Minos Kalokerinos, an antiquary who discovered ancient ruins under the earth and began to dig them up. Among the finds of Kalokerinos, before the authorities forbade him to continue excavations, were artifacts of the Minoan civilization, including tablets with records, which, unfortunately, died in a fire along with the Greek's house a few years later.
Excavations continued only in 1900, when the Englishman Arthur Evans bought a piece of land where the labyrinth was supposedly located.
Arthur Evans Heinrich Schliemann, who owns the laurels of the discoverer of Troy, assumed that this was a labyrinth, but despite all efforts, Schliemann did not manage to reach the excavation site in Crete. Evans, on the other hand, set to work on a large scale, inviting many local workers and a few helpers from England. Nakhodka was called a palace and recognized as the capital of the Minoan civilization Knossos.
Knossos Strictly speaking, the discovered ruins were not a palace in the usual sense of the word for Europeans - they were rather the remains of a complex building that contained about one and a half thousand rooms and occupied an area of about twenty thousand square meters.
This is what the Palace of Knossos looked like Unfortunately, since Evans set as his goal to dig out the traces of the Minoan civilization, all later layers turned out to be unexplored and lost, and therefore it was not possible to restore the history of Knossos after its decline based on the results of excavations. In addition, the Englishman undertook a partial reconstruction of the palace, recreating a number of buildings and premises in accordance with his ideas about the way of life of the ancient Cretans - and sometimes it is almost impossible to distinguish between the product of his activity and real ancient artifacts.
Palace or labyrinth?
Be that as it may, the palace of Knossos is a unique building that has no analogues in ancient world. Built on a hill, it was of such a design that it allowed all rooms to remain as lit as possible: large windows and patios were provided, and in addition, this building was multi-storey - reaching four floors in different parts. The rooms were connected by corridors of various sizes.
Obviously, most of the population of this city lived in the Palace of Knossos - there were pantries filled with oil, cereals, dried fish, cooking rooms, where there were presses for olives and grapes, mills. The organization of water supply and sanitation of the palace deserves special attention. At Knossos, at least three such systems were provided: one was supplied with water from the river through pipes, heating up under the rays of the sun along the way, the other provided for sewerage, and the third - the removal of rainwater during heavy rains. During the excavations of Knossos, bathrooms and toilets with a water supply system were found.
Throne room of Knossos The discovered “throne room”, according to Evans, contained chairs for the ruler of Knossos and the queen, but later studies suggest that this room could be considered the place of the appearance of a female deity, since the Minoan civilization developed under matriarchy.
Image of Labrys on a fresco from Knossos One of the signs of the female Cretan deity was the labrys, a double-sided ax - an ax, symbolizing the maternal principle. His images are found on the frescoes of the Knossos Palace, and the labryses themselves were found, sometimes taller than human height. It is with this word that the term "labyrinth" is associated - perhaps this name was given to the building where this sign was revered as sacred - the palace of Knossos.
Labryses from the Palace of Knossos There are versions according to which the Minotaur was rather a ritual character, a man in a bull mask took part in certain sacraments in honor of the goddesses of the Cretan culture - and over time, a legend about a monster arose on the basis of these customs.
The reasons for the decline and disappearance of the Minoan civilization have not yet been finally established - it was previously believed that the destruction of the Knossos palace and the departure of the inhabitants were caused by a volcanic eruption on the island of Santorini, but latest research this is not confirmed. Be that as it may, starting from the XIV century BC, the Palace of Knossos ceased to be the center of Minoan culture in order to become the legendary scene of the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur for the next millennia.
Theseus and the Minotaur. Roman mosaic After the murder of Androgeus, the son of the Cretan ruler Minos, by a bull from Marathon, Athens had to pay a terrible tribute to mighty Crete. Minos constantly demanded seven beautiful girls and seven young guys, whom immediately upon arrival he sent to the Labyrinth of his own palace to be eaten by the bull-man Minotaur, who was born from a bull sent to Crete by Poseidon and the wife of Minos Paisaphia.
In the third ship with "tribute" sailed the young Theseus, the only son of the poor Athenian ruler Aegeus. Delphic oracle chose Theseus as the patroness in this campaign in the person of the beautiful Aphrodite.
In Crete, Theseus immediately attracted the attention of both Minos, who began to threaten the royal youth with tearing to pieces, and his daughter Ariadne, who, thanks to the efforts of Aphrodite, immediately fell in love with him.
After a series of mockeries from Minos, who considered himself the offspring of Zeus, Theseus recalled that the blood of Poseidon flows in his veins. As proof of his origin from the god of the seas, the brave young man jumped into the abyss of the sea for the golden ring arrogantly thrown there by Minos. The god Triton came to the aid of Theseus, who delivered the hero to the gates of Poseidon's palace in an instant, where he found the ring of Minos.
The enamored Ariadne, seeing that her lover returned from the seabed safe and sound, gave him a skein of thread and a sharp sword. Having tied the thread of Ariadne at the entrance to the Labyrinth, Theseus got to the Minotaur, plunged a dagger into his chest and successfully got out with the rest of the doomed.
Photo: Minotaur by Pablo Picasso.
In the photo above, Theseus is killing the Minotaur.
Having made a hole in the bottom of all the Cretan ships, Theseus calmly set off on his way back, taking his beloved with him. In a dream, Theseus had a vision where the god Dionysus called on the young man to give him Ariadne as his wife and land her from the ship in Naxos. So Ariadne entered the pantheon of Greek gods.
Forgetting to change the black ship's sails to white ones, Theseus quickly approached the Athenian shores. His father Aegeus noticed a black color from a distance, announcing, as he thought, the death of his son, and out of grief he threw himself from a cliff into the sea. So the seething sea began to be called the Aegean.
myths of ancient Greece minotaur part 1
myths of ancient Greece minotaur part 2
Battles of the gods. Minotaur Labyrinth
