Scientists rank Cretan culture as one of the most mysterious in world history. Up to the 30s of the XX century. almost nothing was known about her until the English archaeologist Arthur Evans made a discovery that became a real sensation, perhaps even more than the excavation of the tomb of Tutankhamun.
Heinrich Schliemann, the discoverer of the legendary Troy, came out on the trail of an ancient civilization that was spread over the entire eastern coast of Greece and on the islands of the Aegean Sea with the center on the island of Crete. But the scientist did not have time to start the excavation of cultural monuments, which received the name "Crete-Mycenaean" ("Crete-Minoan") - he died. But Evans managed to find something completely fantastic, which even Schliemann could not have imagined: the existence of a people and a state that were a thousand years older than Ancient Greece. Having thrust a spade into the land of Crete for the first time, Evans encountered a real island of mysteries.
About this once flourishing area was known only what belongs to the field of mythology. According to myths, Zeus the Thunderer himself was born here, and then his son Minos, one of the most powerful rulers of the ancient world, reigned in Crete. Skilled master Daedalus built a legendary labyrinth for the king, which later became the prototype of all future labyrinths.
Arthur Evans began by excavating near Knossos. A few hours later it was possible to talk about the first results, and two weeks later the astonished archaeologist stood in front of the remains of buildings that occupied an area of 2.5 hectares. On this huge rectangle was a structure, the walls of which were built of hollow bricks, and the flat roofs were supported by columns. But the chambers, halls and corridors of the Palace of Knossos were arranged in such a bizarre order that visitors risked getting lost in the countless turns and chaotically placed rooms. It really looked like a labyrinth, which gave Evans a reason not to hesitate to announce that he had found the palace of Minos, father of Ariadne and Phaedra, the owner of the terrible Minotaur bull-man.
The archaeologist really discovered something amazing. It turns out that the people, about which nothing was known before, was drowning in luxury and voluptuousness and, probably at the peak of its development, reached that synergistic "decadence", which already harbored the embryos of decline and regression.
This capital must have seemed like a pearl of the sea, a precious diamond set in the blue of the sky, to sailors approaching the island. At least two great people - Ovid and Herodotus, who saw the Cretan palace in a more or less preserved form - described it in unusually enthusiastic tones. True, the Greeks themselves already vaguely imagined what a labyrinth was and what its purpose was. They only retold legends and beautiful legends, like the mythical "thread of Ariadne", which helped the beloved princess Theseus to get out of the labyrinth.
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It is enough to glance over the plan of the Palace of Knossos to be convinced that it was a grandiose building, surpassing the Vatican, El Escorial, and Versailles. The labyrinth consisted of a central courtyard surrounded by many buildings, courtyards, a theater, and the king's summer villa. The building stands on a solid foundation and forms a complex system of temples, halls, rooms, corridors, walkways and warehouses located at different levels and connected by countless staircases and passages. But this is by no means a disorderly heap of buildings, but a single architectural concept, one huge palace-city, a building-state, which has no analogues in the history of architecture. The richly decorated entrance to the palace was a majestic colonnaded portico, the lower part of the wall of which was covered with paintings, interspersed with frescoes with complex compositions.
Through the main portico, the visitor entered the ceremonial hall, then into the throne room and the exit hall. On the floor of the corridor leading to this part of the palace, there is a path of limestone slabs, bordered by stripes of blue asp. A special passage led directly from the king's chambers to the theater, to the royal box, where Minos passed, bypassing the curious glances of the crowd. This was followed by the chambers of the queen, the royal family, nobles and the sovereign's entourage.
The items found in the labyrinth confirm the idea of the richness of its furnishings. Objects and fragments of magnificent furniture have survived to our time, among which are tables with intricately made legs, adorned alabaster caskets, metal lamps, gold, silver and faience vases. Also preserved are statues and figurines of the gods, depicting sacred symbols, very common among the Aegeans. Other treasures were also found in the storerooms, for example, swords with graceful inlay, men's belts with precious stones, gold reserves. There were especially many women's jewelry - necklaces, tiaras, bracelets, rings, earrings, perfume bottles, lipstick boxes, etc.
Evans also found pantries filled with giant vessels (pithos) of wine, the total capacity of which was, according to the archaeologist's calculations, 80 thousand liters. This was the palace supply of only one drink.
The heyday of the Cretan-Mycenaean culture, scientists attributed to 1600 BC. e. - the estimated time of life and reign of Minos, the leader of the Cretan fleet and the ruler of the seas. Civilization was already experiencing clear signs of decline, it was replaced by irrepressible luxury, and beauty was elevated to a cult. The frescoes depicted young men gathering crocuses in the meadows and filling vases with them, girls among lilies. In painting, which used to be subordinated to certain forms, now the exuberant sparkle of colors prevailed, the dwelling served not only as an abode - it was intended to delight the eye; even in clothes they saw only a means for the manifestation of refinement and individuality of taste.
Is it any wonder that scientists who studied the nature of the wall paintings and the architectural features of the labyrinth used the word "modern"? Indeed, this palace, which was not inferior in size to Buckingham, had drainage channels, magnificent bath rooms, and even ventilation. A parallel with modernity suggested itself in the images of people, which made it possible to judge their manners and Cretan fashion. If at the beginning of the Middle Minoan period women wore high pointed headdresses and long colorful dresses with a belt, a deep neckline and a high bodice, then their clothes acquired an even more sophisticated look. And when today we say that women, in imitation of men, wear short hair, the Cretan ladies were, from the current point of view, super fashionable, for they had hairstyles even shorter than their gentlemen.
On the walls of the Cretan labyrinth, other, deeper, and even philosophical plots were discovered that reveal the Minoans' idea of the universe. These are not just symbols, but the very life of matter, reflecting the rhythm of the cosmos that appears in the ceramic ornament. All the murals of Cretan buildings are permeated with the same attitude. In the center of these horizontally running drawings, there is a man surrounded by earth and flowers on top, and mountains below. The figures resemble the image of the Mother Goddess, the patroness of the natural world. “Everything flows” - this thought of Heraclitus fully reflects the attitude of the Minoan civilization.
The builders showed considerable architectural skill and imagination in drawing up the very plan of the palace. They skillfully placed individual parts of it, connecting large halls and temples into one whole, not disregarding the possibility of optimal lighting of the building. For this purpose, special spans are arranged in the labyrinth, inner courtyards-wells, through which light fell either on the stairs, or directly into the halls, thus receiving illumination from one side. The use of columns made it possible to increase the size of the rooms when sketching, bringing them closer in area to the most extensive halls of modern palaces.
Nevertheless, a period came when this whole huge kingdom with a population of at least one hundred thousand people was destroyed for some reason. The first version of the death of Knossos was put forward by the same Arthur Evans. He proceeded from the fact that Crete is one of the most prone to earthquakes in Europe, and therefore the scientist's hypothesis boiled down to the fact that only the strongest earthquake was able to completely destroy the palace of Minos.
However, not all scientists share this hypothesis. The objections boil down to the following: let's say that a natural disaster, including an earthquake or fire, is quite enough to destroy the palace buildings. But for the death of the entire Cretan civilization - hardly.
For almost a century, historians have been looking for an answer to this question. And only in our days, after the next excavations in Crete, new facts surfaced, which once again puzzled experts. What was the Knossos labyrinth really like? It turned out that some of the details and general configuration of the ensemble give grounds to assume about its completely different purpose. Not a palace, but a kind of columbarium, that is, a sacred burial of dead people - this is what the Knossos labyrinth could actually be. Firstly, people in the frescoes are shown not in casual clothes and not in everyday conditions. And all of them are not really having fun. Not a single person smiles on any of the frescoes - the faces are depicted with emphasis on severe and restrained. Sophisticated and refined women with open breasts are dressed in bluish dresses and aprons with mountain flowers embroidered on them. We can come to the conclusion that we have before us not court artists, but mourners. By the way, the priestesses of Ancient Egypt also bared their breasts during the memorial service, and Herodotus wrote about a similar sign of mourning among the Greeks.
The Knossos labyrinth contained a fairly large room with stepped stands, which Evans' colleagues called "the court entertainment theater." One of the famous frescoes depicts this "theater". You can't see anything festive there either. Fourteen priestesses on a rectangular stage stand in ritual poses, dressed in blue dresses. In the stands there are women with white faces and men with brown paint on their faces, which may mean the ritual that was in use during the funeral service for the dead. In a word, it is quite possible that a funeral service is taking place here, for which the relatives of the deceased have gathered.
However, it must be emphasized once again that this is only a hypothesis that is awaiting confirmation, an attempt at a new reading of the history of the Knossos labyrinth. Its riddle remains not fully solved to this day. Perhaps the main discoveries are yet to come, if there are specialists who are lucky enough to fully decipher the inscriptions called "Cretan Linear B", and it is very likely that the ancient civilization will appear in an even more amazing light.
What do we know about the labyrinth itself?
According to legend, this labyrinth was built by Daedalus in order to enclose the Minotaur in it. Medieval scholars considered this labyrinth the most difficult ever created. The mathematical chances of getting out of there are extremely small, Daedalus used psychological factors of behavior so cleverly that the probability of escape from the maze is practically zero. If the passages of this labyrinth were a meter wide, and the walls were 30 centimeters thick, the only path leading from it would have a length of more than a kilometer. Most likely, anyone would be more likely to die of hunger or thirst before finding a way out.
According to legend, this labyrinth was built by Daedalus in order to enclose the Minotaur in it. Medieval scholars considered this labyrinth the most difficult ever created. The mathematical chances of getting out of there are extremely small, Daedalus used psychological factors of behavior so cleverly that the probability of escape from the maze is practically zero. If the passages of this labyrinth were a meter wide, and the walls were 30 centimeters thick, the only path leading from it would have a length of more than a kilometer. Most likely, anyone would be more likely to die of hunger or thirst before finding a way out.
During its long history, the Cretan labyrinth was destroyed and rebuilt several times, and in 1380 BC it was destroyed and abandoned completely, until the English archaeologist A. Evans discovered a mysterious hieroglyphic writing in the Oxford Museum. The letter spoke of an ancient labyrinth. In 1900, an archaeologist arrived in Crete and began excavations. Arthur Evans has been excavating for almost 30 years and has unearthed not a city, but a palace equal in area to an entire city. This was the famous Knossos labyrinth, which was a structure with a total area of 22 thousand square meters, which had at least 5-6 above-ground levels-floors connected by passages and stairs, and a number of underground crypts. The Cretan labyrinth was not an invention of the ancients, but a real miracle of architecture, in which there was something incomprehensible to the mind.
The labyrinth is a real Myth, it is a story about heroes and events that historical science does not recognize as real, but considers as symbols. We believe that any myth, any image, any symbolic narrative is based on reality, even if not always historical. The myth accurately describes psychological reality: human experiences, mental processes and forms are hidden behind symbols that have been passed down from generation to generation and finally come down to us so that we can unravel them, remove the veil from them and see their innermost meaning again, realize their deep essence. The myth of the Labyrinth is one of the oldest, it is similar to the myths of all ancient civilizations, which say that the labyrinth is a difficult and unclear path, on the complex and winding paths of which it is no wonder to get lost.
Sometimes the story of this myth is interwoven with a story about an extraordinary person, about a hero or mythical character who overcomes the maze and finds the key to solving the riddle that appeared before him in the form of a path. When we talk about labyrinths, we immediately recall the most famous of them, about which evidence has been preserved in Greek mythology - in a simple and accessible form, close to a children's fairy tale: the labyrinth of the island of Crete. I do not want to talk about it as simplified as it is done in famous legends, we will open its deeper layers and analyze the archaeological finds made in Crete in order to understand what the Cretans worshiped and what the labyrinth really was for them. And we will see how this story takes on a complex symbolic form, and it will no longer seem so childish to us.
So, one of the ancient symbols of Crete associated with its supreme deity was a double-edged ax, which can be represented as two pairs of horns, one of which is directed upward, the other downward. This ax was associated with the sacred bull, whose cult was widespread in Crete. She received the name Labrys and, according to an older tradition, served as a tool with which the god, who later received the name Ares-Dionysus from the Greeks, cut through the First Labyrinth. Here is his story. When Ares-Dionysus, the god of primordial times, a very ancient god, descended to earth, nothing had yet been created, nothing had yet taken shape, there was only darkness, darkness. But, according to legend, from heaven Ares-Dionysus was given a tool, Labrys, and it was with this tool, with this weapon that he created the world.
Ares-Dionysus began to walk in the middle of the darkness, circling around and around. (This is very curious, because modern science has discovered that when we find ourselves in the dark in an unfamiliar room or trying to get out of some spacious but unlit place, we most often start walking in circles; this also happens when we get lost or wander through the forest We made such a comparison because from the very beginning we want to emphasize that the symbolism of the labyrinth is associated with certain atavisms inherent in man.) And so Ares-Dionysus began to walk in a circle, cutting through the darkness and cutting furrows with his ax. The road that he cut, and which with every step became brighter, is called the "labyrinth", that is, "the path cut by Labrys."
When Ares-Dionysus, cutting through the darkness, reached the very center, to the goal of his path, he suddenly saw that he no longer had the ax that he had in the beginning. His ax turned into pure light - he held in his hands a flame, fire, a torch that brightly illuminated everything around, for God performed a double miracle: with one edge of the ax he cut the darkness outward, and with the other - his inner darkness. In the same way that he created light outside, he created light in himself; just as he cut the outer path, he also cut the inner path. And when Ares-Dionysus reached the center of the labyrinth, he reached the end point of his path: he reached the light, reached inner perfection.
This is the symbolism of the Cretan myth of the labyrinth, the oldest that has come down to us. We know the later traditions much better. The most famous of them is the myth of the mysterious labyrinth created by Daedalus, an amazing architect and inventor from ancient Crete, whose name is now always associated with a labyrinth, a tangled path. The name Daedalus, or Dactyl, as it is sometimes called, in the ancient Greek language means “He who creates”, “He who works with his hands builds”. Daedalus is a symbol of the builder, but not just the creator of the complex of parks and palaces, which was the labyrinth of King Minos, but the builder in a deeper sense of the word, possibly similar to the symbolism of the very first deity who built the Labyrinth of Light in the darkness.
Daedalus's Labyrinth was neither an underground structure, nor something dark and winding; it was a huge complex of houses, palaces and parks, conceived so that those who entered it could not find a way out. The point is not that Daedalus's labyrinth was terrible, but that it was impossible to get out of it. Daedalus built this labyrinth for the Cretan king Minos, an almost legendary character, whose name allows us to get acquainted with very ancient legends of all peoples of that era. Minos lived in a fairytale palace, and he had a wife Pasiphae, because of whom the whole drama associated with the labyrinth was played out.
Wanting to become king, Minos counted on the help of another powerful god, the ruler of the waters and oceans, Poseidon. In order for Minos to feel his support, Poseidon performed a miracle: from the waters and sea foam, he created a white bull and presented it to Minos as a sign that he really is the king of Crete. However, as the Greek myth says, it so happened that the wife of Minos fell hopelessly in love with a white bull, dreamed only about him and only wanted him. Not knowing how to approach him, she asked Daedalus, the great builder, to build a huge bronze cow, beautiful and attractive, so that the bull would feel attracted, while Pasiphae would hide inside her. And now a real tragedy is played out: Daedalus creates a cow, Pasiphae hides in it, the bull approaches the cow, and from this strange union of a woman and a bull, a half-bull appears,half human - Minotaur.
This monster, this monster settled in the center of the labyrinth, which at the same moment turned from a complex of parks and palaces into a gloomy place, inspiring fear and sadness, into an eternal reminder of the misfortune of the king of Crete. Some ancient legends, in addition to the Cretan ones, have retained a less simplified interpretation of the tragedy of Pasiphae and the White Bull. For example, in the legends of pre-Columbian America and India, there are references to the fact that millions of years ago, at a certain stage of human evolution, people went astray and mixed with animals, and because of this perversion and violation of the laws of nature, real monsters appeared on earth. hybrids that are difficult to even describe. They instilled fear not only because they possessed, like the Minotaur, an evil disposition; they bore the stamp of shame from an alliance that should never have taken place, from a secret that should not have been revealed until then,until all these events are erased from the memory of mankind.
So, Pasiphai's connection with the Bull and the birth of the Minotaur is related to ancient races and to those old events that at a certain moment were erased from the memory of people. On the other hand, the monster, the Minotaur, is a blind, amorphous matter without reason and purpose, which hides in the center of the labyrinth, waiting for sacrifices from its benefactor. Years go by, the legend continues, and the Minotaur in his labyrinth really turns into something terrifying. The king of Crete, having defeated the Athenians in the war, imposes a terrible tribute on them: every nine years, they must send seven young men and seven innocent girls to sacrifice to the Minotaur. When the time comes for the payment of the third tribute, in Athens, a hero with all the virtues, Theseus, rises against this. He makes a promise to himself not to take over the rule of the city until he frees him from adversity, until he kills the Minotaur.
Theseus himself enrolls in the number of young men who must become victims of the monster, goes to Crete, captivates the heart of Ariadne, daughter of Minos, and seeks that she give him a ball of thread with which he can pass through the maze and then, after killing the Minotaur, find from his way out. The ball played an important role in this story. Theseus enters the labyrinth and, penetrating deeper and deeper into its complex and tangled corridors, unwinds the thread. Having reached the center, thanks to his colossal strength and will, he kills the Minotaur and finds a way out. In simple and naive stories, Theseus kills the Minotaur with a sword, sometimes with a dagger. But in the most ancient stories, as well as in the images on ancient Attic vases, Theseus kills the Minotaur with a double-bladed ax. And again the hero, who made his way in the maze, reaching the center, performs a miracle with the help of Labrys, a double ax.
We have to solve one more riddle: Ariadne gives Theseus not a ball, but a spindle with threads. And, penetrating into the depths of the labyrinth, Theseus unwinds just him. But the hero returns to the exit, picking up the thread and unwinding it again, and from the labyrinth he brings out a really ball - a perfectly round ball. This symbol is also not new. The spindle with which Theseus goes into the labyrinth symbolizes the imperfection of his inner world, which he must "unfold", that is, pass a series of tests.
The ball that he creates by picking up the thread is the perfection that he achieved by putting the Minotaur to death, which means that he passed the tests and left the labyrinth. There were many labyrinths, just like Theseus. They also exist in Spain. Along the entire path to Santiago de Compostella and throughout Galicia there are an infinite number of ancient images of labyrinths on a stone, which call the pilgrim to step on the path to Santiago and walk this road, and they directly indicate to us that in their symbolic and spiritual meaning this the path is a maze
In England, in the famous castle Tintagel, where, according to legend, King Arthur was born, also has its own labyrinths. We meet them in India, where they were a symbol of meditation, concentration, appeal to the true center. In ancient Egypt, in the most ancient city of Abydos, founded almost in the pre-dynastic period, there was a labyrinth, which was a round temple. In his galleries, ceremonies were held dedicated to time, evolution, and the endless paths that a person traveled before reaching the center, which meant meeting a true person. According to the history of Egypt, the labyrinth from Abydos was, apparently, only a very small part of the huge labyrinth described by Herodotus, who considered the Egyptian labyrinth so colossal, amazing and unimaginable that even the Great Pyramid fades away next to it. Today we can no longer see this labyrinth, we only have the testimony of Herodotus. For many centuries, for the peculiarities of his presentation, people called him the father of history, Herodotus the truthful and gave many more similar names, but when not all of his descriptions were confirmed, we naturally decided that Herodotus was not always sure of his words. On the other hand, modern science has confirmed the truth of so many of his descriptions that it’s probably worth having patience and waiting - suddenly archaeologists will discover the labyrinth that the Greek historian wrote about. There were also many labyrinths in the Gothic cathedrals of the Middle Ages.that Herodotus was not always sure of his words. On the other hand, modern science has confirmed the truth of so many of his descriptions that it’s probably worth having patience and waiting - suddenly archaeologists will discover the labyrinth that the Greek historian wrote about. There were also many labyrinths in the Gothic cathedrals of the Middle Ages.that Herodotus was not always sure of his words. On the other hand, modern science has confirmed the truth of so many of his descriptions that it’s probably worth having patience and waiting - suddenly archaeologists will discover the labyrinth that the Greek historian wrote about. There were also many labyrinths in the Gothic cathedrals of the Middle Ages.
One of the most famous, the images of which are quite common, is the labyrinth laid out on the stone floor of the main cathedral in Chartres. It was created not so that someone would get lost in it, but in order to be followed: it was a kind of path of initiation, a path of accomplishment and a path of achievement that a candidate, a student, one who aspired to be had to overcome. accepted in the Mystery. Indeed, getting lost in the labyrinth of Chartres is extremely difficult: all its roads are exclusively symbolic, all the turns and crossroads are visible. The most important thing here is to reach the center, a square stone on which the various constellations are marked with nails. For a person, this allegorically means to reach Heaven and become on a par with the deities. It is very likely that all such myths of antiquity and all the symbolic labyrinths of Gothic cathedrals reflect not so much historical reality,how much psychological. And the psychological reality of the labyrinth is still alive today. If in ancient times they talked about the initiatory labyrinth as a path through which a person could realize himself, today we should talk about the material and psychological labyrinth. It is not difficult to see the material labyrinth: the world around us, what we face in life, how we live and how we manifest ourselves, are all part of one labyrinth. The difficulty lies elsewhere: those who entered the Cretan parks and palaces did not even suspect that they had entered the labyrinth; so, in our daily life, we do not realize that we are in a labyrinth that draws a person into itself.today we must talk about the material and psychological labyrinth. It is not difficult to see the material labyrinth: the world around us, what we face in life, how we live and how we manifest ourselves, are all part of one labyrinth. The difficulty lies elsewhere: those who entered the Cretan parks and palaces did not even suspect that they had entered the labyrinth; so, in our daily life, we do not realize that we are in a labyrinth that draws a person into itself.today we must talk about the material and psychological labyrinth. It is not difficult to see the material labyrinth: the world around us, what we face in life, how we live and how we manifest ourselves, are all part of one labyrinth. The difficulty lies elsewhere: those who entered the Cretan parks and palaces did not even suspect that they had entered the labyrinth; so, in our daily life, we do not realize that we are in a labyrinth that draws a person into itself.which draws in a person.which draws in a person.
From a psychological point of view, the confusion of Theseus, who wanted to kill the Minotaur, is of the same nature as the confusion of a person who is confused and frightened. We are scared because we do not know something and do not know how; frightened because we don't understand something and because of this we feel insecure. Our fear usually manifests itself in the fact that we cannot choose, we do not know where to go, what to devote our lives to; it manifests itself in the eternal ordinariness and mediocrity, exhausting and sad: we are ready for anything, just not to make decisions and not show even a little firmness. Confusion is another disease that haunts us in the modern labyrinth on the psychological plane. This confusion arises from the fact that it is very difficult for us to decide who we are, where we came from and where we are going. These three questions are the main reason for our confusion,although they are so simple and artless that they seem childish to us. Is there any meaning in our life other than being constantly at a loss? What are we working for and what are we learning for? Why do we live and what is happiness? What are we aiming for? What is suffering and how do you recognize it? From a psychological point of view, we are still wandering in a labyrinth, and although there are no monsters and narrow corridors in it, traps constantly lie in wait for us. And of course it is the myth that offers us the solution. Theseus does not enter the labyrinth empty-handed, and it would be strange if we were empty-handed looking for a way out of it. Theseus takes two items with him: an ax (or a sword - whichever you prefer) to kill the monster, and a spindle with thread, his ball to find the way back.other than being constantly at a loss? What are we working for and what are we learning for? Why do we live and what is happiness? What are we aiming for? What is suffering and how do you recognize it? From a psychological point of view, we are still wandering in a labyrinth, and although there are no monsters and narrow corridors in it, traps constantly lie in wait for us. And of course it is the myth that offers us the solution. Theseus does not enter the labyrinth empty-handed, and it would be strange if we were empty-handed looking for a way out of it. Theseus takes two items with him: an ax (or a sword - whichever you prefer) to kill the monster, and a spindle with thread, his ball to find the way back.other than being constantly at a loss? What are we working for and what are we learning for? Why do we live and what is happiness? What are we aiming for? What is suffering and how do you recognize it? From a psychological point of view, we are still wandering in a labyrinth, and although there are no monsters and narrow corridors in it, traps constantly lie in wait for us. And of course it is the myth that offers us the solution. Theseus does not enter the labyrinth empty-handed, and it would be strange if we were empty-handed looking for a way out of it. Theseus takes with him two items: an ax (or a sword - whatever you like) to kill the monster, and a spindle with threads, his ball to find the way back.