A
Digression on Krete – Part
1
Published:
09/29/2003
The standard description of Minoan civilization is one of
kindly gods, peaceful living, equal rights for
women, and excellent hygiene. A utopian paradise equipped with bathtubs
and toilets, no less.
Reading this description is similar to the feeling one gets
when viewing a diorama made by a grade-schooler. What is in the diorama is
all there is, static and unchanging. By this definition the Minoans arose
to cultural glory in splendid isolation, like no other civilization before
or after them.
So what do we know about this culture and what is wrong with
the orthodox and still popular perception of Minoan civilization? In this
series of articles I will examine the evidence and present a different
perspective.
For starters, what can we call these people? Let's dispense
with the name Minoan, as we shall see it is misleading. It wouldn't be
accurate to refer to them by the name the Egyptians knew them as, which is
Keftiu. So what are we left with.
In 1953, Michael Ventris announced
that he had deciphered the Linear B script and that the language spoken
and written was a form of archaic greek.
Therefore, and for the sake of familiarity on our part, we are speaking
about the Kretans.
The Kretans left no known mythos,
what has been deciphered of the Linear B script are not the tales of
Ancient Krete, but instead lists of articles.
What we know as described in word comes from secondary sources. As an
introduction, and as an example of how misleading the possibilities of
temporal compression are to the researcher, herein follows the tale of
Krete from classical Greek sources.
Tegeates, the son of Lycaon was the founder of Tegea in Arcadia. His sons emigrated to the island and became the first Kings of
Krete: Archedius,
Gortys and Cydon. The
cities of Gortyna and Cydonia were named after the second and third
brothers.
The great-grandson of Deukalion
(the survivor of The Flood), Tectamus sailed to
Krete with the Aeolian and Pelasgian emigrants and became King of the entire
island.
During his reign, Zeus carried off Europa from Phoenicia. Tectamus' son Asterius
married Europa and inherited the kingdom, being
himself succeeded on the throne by Minos I, son
of Zeus and Europa.
Minos I was succeeded by his son
Lycastus I and Ida, and the latter by his famous
son Minos II (whose brothers were Rhadamanthys and Sarpedon),
who some also call the son of Zeus and Europa.
The architectural creations of Daedalus (the Labyrinth, the Wooden Cow, the
Dancing-floor for Ariadne mentioned in the Iliad
are from the age of Minos II.
Minos II had married a daughter of
the sun god, Helios; her name was Pasiphae and
she bore him seven children. Their names and history were:
· Katreus,
the oldest son of Minos, followed his father to the throne. Through his
daugher Aerope he became the father in law of King Atreus of Mycenae, the
father of Agamemnon and Menelaus. Katreus was killed by his own son,
Althaimenes.
·
Deukalion, father of the
Trojan hero Idomeneus, who fought at Troy. Deukalion was killed by Theseus. Not to be confused with the Deukalion of The Flood fame.
· Glaukos, who fell into one of the honey pots that
stood everywhere about the palace and who was brought back to life by
Polyeidos the great surgeon.
·
The fourth son Androgeos
was wounded so severely by Aegeus, the King of
Athens that Polyeidos was not able to heal him.
This incident caused Minos to resort to arms and
subjugate Athens. The tribute
that Athens had to suffer were the
seven youths and seven maidens. These hostages never returned to Athens so the
assumption was they were sacrificed.
·
Minos also had two
daughters, Ariadne and Phaedra. Ariadne was deserted by Theseus on the island of Naxos where she took consolation
with the god Dionysius. In spite of all her aid to the Athenian hero, he
preferred her younger sister.
Their mother Pasiphae had an issue
with bestiality - a carryover from her mother. But what worked with a
divine bull for Europa, ended up disastrously
for Pasiphae. Her progeny was the Minotaur, her
fifth son, who was kept captive in the labyrinth.
The labyrinth was so designed that no one could escape from
the maze or the Minotaur. However, Daedalus
revealed the secret of the labyrinth to Ariadne,
and she aided her lover, the Athenian hero Theseus, to slay the monster and escape.
In anger at the escape, Minos
imprisoned Daedalus and his son Icarus in the labyrinth. Although the prisoners could
not find the exit (sort of peculiar since he had designed the place and
told Ariadne how to get in and out,) Daedalus made waxwings so that they could both fly out
of the maze. Icarus, however as the story goes,
flew too near the sun; his wings melted, and he fell into the sea. Daedalus flew to Sicania
(Sicily), where he was welcomed by King
Cocalus.
Minos II died in Sicily, where he
had come looking for the traitor Daedalus,
killed either by King Cocalus or by the latter's
daughters who poured boiling water upon him at his bath. So much for
hospitality!
In turn Minos II was succeeded by
his son Katreus who must have died childless as
Idomeneus, the son of Deukalion , became
leader of the Kretans during the Trojan War. At
his return from Troy, however, he was prevented to land
on the Krete, or driven out of the island by the
usurper Leucus.
And to finish up the tale of Krete, here is Herodotus on the matter:
In course of time, all the Cretans except the people of
Polichna and Praesus, in obedience to some sort of warning from
heaven, undertook a mass expedition to Sicania. Unable to take the place... they finally
gave up and went away. In the course of their voyage they were caught by
a violent storm off Iapygia and driven
ashore.. they built
for themselves the town of Hyria Oria
between Tarento and Brindisi. Here they stayed.
According to tradition, men of various nationality, but especially
Greeks, came to settle in Crete after
it was depopulated. - Herodotus
What can be deduced from this tale?
We are dealing with events that are specific to the Heroic
Age of Greece. The tale begins with the migration of Achaeans to Krete after The Flood. This is important as we shall
try to explain.
Therefore to call the ancient culture of Krete "Minoan" would be inaccurate. Whether Minos was a name or a title is irrelevant, the phrase,
as I see it, belongs to the Achaean world, and to people who lived during
that time.
Revised: October 14,
2003
