|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
THE ISLAND'S PAST:
8000 YEARS OF LEGEND
AND HISTORY
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
THE LEGENDARY PAST
Legend has bestowed on the Greek is-
land of Crete the privilege of being the
birthplace of Zeus , father of the gods.
Rhea, his mother, fearing the mania of
Cronos, Zeus'father, who "swallowed"
his children in order that they might
not usurp his power, came to the island,
with the help of Gaia and Uranus, and
gave birth to her son in a cave. He was
reared by Nymphs and, when he grew
to manhood, he engaged his father in a
fight, emerged victorious, and became
king of the heavens.
From the union of Zeus with the princess
Europa - whom, according to mythology,
Zeus, assuming the form of a bull, had
abducted from Phoenicia and brought to
Crete - three sons, worthy of their father-
god and of their noble mother, were born.
They were Minos, Rhadamanthys and
Sarpidon. Minos, the better known and
most honoured of the three, became the
powerful, just and wise king of Crete,
ruling from his palace in Knossos, and
from the important centres of Phaestos
and Kydonia. During his reign, Crete
developed into a rich sea power,
flourished culturally and artistically, and
her people lived in peace and justice.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Minos' brother,
Rhadamanthys, helped
him administer his kingdom, while the
third brother, Sarpidon, founded his
own kingdom in Lycia.
Other well-known legends are linked
with king Minos. One of these, telling of
the Minotaur and of the feat of the daring prince of Athens, Theseus,
is among the most popular and colourful, and has
been handed down for thousands of
years from generation to generation.
According to the legend, Minos' wife,
the queen Pasiphae, prompted by the
god Poseidon, who wished to punish her
husband, fell in love with a bull. From
this unnatural union was born a hideous monster, with the head of
a bull on a
supernatural, human body the Minotaur.
Minos confined the bull in the
Labyrinth, a maze-like prison under
the palace, built by Daedalus. At that
time, the city-state of Athens was pay-
ing Minos a tribute of seven young men
and seven lovely maidens of noble
birth, to feed the Minotaur.
It was from this humiliating and horri-
ble tax that the brave Theseus, son of
Aegeus, king of Athens, resolved to de-
liver his city.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Right: |
Europa crosses the sea on
the sacred bull. (Mosaic
from the Casa Romana on
Kos, 3rd C. AD.) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
He set off
with the pitiable shipment of
doomed young men and maidens for
Minos' Crete, and put into action his
plan, which was to kill the terrible
beast, to manage to find his way out of
the labyrinth and to escape from Crete
together with the fourteen young Athe-
nians.
He succeded thanks to the help of
Ariadne, daughter of Minos and
Pasiphae, who fell in love with him and
offered to help him, after he had prom-
ised to marry her and take her away to
Athens. Theseus entered the labyrinth
and, unrolling the ball of thread which
Ariadne had given him, |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
he made his
way to the place where the Minotaur was, killed the beast and then,
rolling up the ball again, he was able to find his way back out of
the labyrinth.
Theseus, with the young people and
Ariadne, set off again, on the Athenian
trireme, for the journey home. They
were so overwhelmed with joy by their
deliverance from the Minotaur, how-
ever, that they forgot to lower the black
sail of mourning from their mast and to
hoist the joyful one, as had been agreed
with Aegeus before they left. The king
sat on a rock at cape Sounion, agonis-
ingly waiting to see his son's ship re-
turn. When he saw the black sail from a
distance, he believed that the young
people, together with his beloved son,
had all been lost. He bowed his sad head and threw himself into the
sea and
drowned. Since then, this sea has been
named after him: the Aegean Sea.
Neither did Ariadne's love for Theseus
have a happy end. According to another
myth, the princess was abandoned by
Theseus on the island ofDia on the very
night of the consummation of their
marriage, while another myth has it
that the god Dionysos fell in love with
Ariadne and carried her off with him.
The story of Daedalus and Icarus is also
linked with Crete and the time when
the great king Minos reigned.
Daedalus, a skillful craftsman of the
palace and builder of the labyrinth,
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Above: |
Theseus wrestles with the
Minotaur. Vase, from the
Herakleion Museum, 6th c.
BC. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Left: |
Rhyton in the form of a
bull's head, from Knossos.
(Herakleion Museum) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
incurred
the wrath of Minos because he
had helped the queen in her unlawful
affair with the bull.
Wishing to escape from the island together with his son, Icarus, and
knowing that king Minos controlled all the
sea routes, the idea came to him that
only if they could fly like birds would
they be able to escape. So, he made two
pairs of wings glued together with Wax
and attached them to his son's back and
to his own. During their flight, however, his son was so elated by
the height
and speed, that he flew ever higher,
nearer to the sun. His wings melted in
the heat and he fell and drowned in the
sea, which thereafter bore the name of
Icarian sea.
Daedalus, flying carefully, was able to
reach Sicily. Minos, however, had an inglorious end. He was murdered
by the
daughters of king Kokalos, while he
was in Sicily searching for Daedalus in
order to punish him.
These, and many other myths and tales
related to them, speak of Crete and lend
the island the other-worldly and mysterious aura, which has surrounded
it
through the millenia of its long history,
and which is still felt today.
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
