Off the coast of North Africa lies Crete, a Greek island washed by the warm seas of the Mediterranean. And although there are several hundred islands in the Aegean Sea alone, Crete has been invariably popular with tourists and the local population over the past hundred years. As in other Greek islands, there are many beautiful rocky coves, which are surrounded by flowering valleys and mountains. Like no other place in the Mediterranean, Crete is associated with many mysteries and mysteries. One of them is related to Knossos, the capital of an ancient civilization that arose over 4000 years ago.
Arthur Evans discovery
Like Heinrich Schliemann, the English archaeologist Arthur John Evans (1851-1941) was incredibly successful, but unlike his German counterpart, he had a good professional training. In Crete, he excavated intermittently for 30 years (1899-1930). He, perhaps, managed to make a more sensational discovery than Schliemann, who dug up Troy. Evans found a civilization that was at least 1000 years older than ancient Greece! Dig up on an area of 500,000 sq. meters of palaces, villas, stone houses, many other buildings, not to mention household items, culture and art - this is certainly a great success! Of course, Evans was familiar with the myths of Ancient Greece and tried to the best of his ability (like Schliemann) to connect his discoveries with what he read. But then there was nothing to think out. As it seemed to Evans,he found the home of the legendary king Minos - his fabulous palace and, which is absolutely incredible, the palace labyrinth where the terrible ox-man Minotaur was found (according to myths, he killed everyone who got in his way). As it turned out later, everything turned out to be much more complicated and confusing.
Ancient greek epic
Greek myths are so engagingly written that they are often perceived as reality. At the same time, historians have proven that myths are often based on actual events, to a greater or lesser extent, exaggerated and distorted by the narrators.
According to Greek myths, the founder of Crete was the god-king Zeus. As a child, the future "Thunderer" was brought up in Crete, where his mother hid him so that he would not catch the eye of his father Kronos - the devourer of his own children. Zeus was followed not only by his children - the famous gods - Apollo, Artemis, Aphrodite, Hermes and others, but also by some of the people, including King Minos. Desiring to become the king of Crete, Minos turned to the ruler of the seas - Poseidon (brother of Zeus) for help. The king of the water element respected Minos's request, but immediately fell upon him in anger for the fact that he sacrificed the wrong bull that he wanted.
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According to the myth, Minos every 9 years demanded sacrifices from the Athenians of 7 strong boys and 7 young girls for the fact that the Greeks killed his beloved son Androgei at the Olympic Games. Those prepared for the slaughter were sent to the labyrinth, where the Minotaur killed them. When Minos came for the third time for tribute, the son of the Athenian king Theseus (translated as "strong") decided to go among the victims to Crete in order to fight the bull-man. The daughter of Minos, the beautiful Ariadne, having fallen in love with Theseus, helped him defeat the monster, and at the same time get out of the labyrinth.
Knossos palace
Evans' team began excavations on Kefala Hill, eight kilometers from the coast. Two weeks later, upon seeing the ruins of the palace (it was named Knossos, which means "ancient city"), Evans exclaimed: "An exceptional phenomenon - nothing Greek or Roman!" Most of all, the archaeologist was struck by the grandiose building of the palace itself, which occupied an area of 20,000 square meters. meters! This outnumbered such famous buildings as the Vatican, Versailles and Buckingham. The entire structure stood on a solid stone foundation and consisted of 1300 (!) Halls, temples, rooms, warehouses located at different levels and connected to each other by countless corridors and staircases. Archaeologists have never seen anything similar. The stately front portico, decorated with a colonnade, was especially good. The entire building was an extremely complex and intricate labyrinth, which gave Evans a reason to declare that he had found the palace of the legendary Minos. This seems to be confirmed by the ancient Greek coins, which symbolically depicted the Cretan labyrinth. Evans tried in vain to find the image of the Minotaur. But there was no doubt that the ancient inhabitants of Knossos worshiped the sacred bull. Evans discovered magnificent ritons with his image in the Small Hall of the Palace of Knossos. The rhinestone animal's eyes sparkled almost like real ones. The most magnificent was the Throne Room with a large stone chair.that the ancient inhabitants of Knossos worshiped the sacred bull was certain. Evans discovered magnificent ritons with his image in the Small Hall of the Palace of Knossos. The rhinestone animal's eyes sparkled almost like real ones. The most magnificent was the Throne Room with a large stone chair.that the ancient inhabitants of Knossos worshiped the sacred bull was certain. Evans discovered magnificent ritons with his image in the Small Hall of the Palace of Knossos. The rhinestone animal's eyes sparkled almost like real ones. The most magnificent was the Throne Room with a large stone chair.
Its walls had a stunning fresco painting. On its pink-scarlet walls were griffins - monstrous birds with an eagle's beak and the body of a lion ("dog's mouth-owls"). The background for them was a stylized landscape with wavy lines of yellow and brown-red earth and flowering plants. Better than others were the pictures of lilies in the garden and saffron gatherers.
Treasures of the Palace of Knossos
Evans devoted 4 volumes of his long research to the Palace of Knossos, but he left much behind the scenes. Although many items of the Mi-Noy culture were found (furniture, caskets, swords, men's belts with jewelry, necklaces, tiaras, bracelets, rings, earrings, perfume bottles, boxes for lipsticks), clay remains not deciphered to this day. tablets and seals with hieroglyphs and letters. Therefore, the plots of a number of fresco images are incomprehensible. For example, what can a rapidly rushing bull mean, over which either acrobats are jumping, or a strange rite is being performed? Or take a plastic image of a woman with snakes in her hands and bare breasts. Who is this - a priestess performing an unusual ritual, possibly a sacrificial one,or just an erotic scene? Archaeologists and art historians consider a fresco with a profile image of a young woman to be among the masterpieces of Cretan painting. Evans called her "Parisian" because in her he saw a completely modern woman with a flirtatious gaze of large eyes, painted lips and curls freely falling over her shoulders. To the uninitiated, she will seem like the current French or Italian, but the artist captured her portrait 3600 years ago! Perhaps, after some time it will become clear why the ancient Minoans-Creteans did not decorate their giant pithos vases with images of sea animals - octopuses, starfish and flying fish.painted lips and curls freely falling on the shoulders. To the uninitiated, she will seem like the current French or Italian, but the artist captured her portrait 3600 years ago! Perhaps, after some time it will become clear why the ancient Minoans-Creteans did not decorate their giant pithos vases with images of sea animals - octopuses, starfish and flying fish.painted lips and curls freely falling on the shoulders. To the uninitiated, she will seem like the current French or Italian, but the artist captured her portrait 3600 years ago! Perhaps, after some time it will become clear why the ancient Minoans-Creteans did not decorate their giant pithos vases with images of sea animals - octopuses, sea stars and flying fish.
End of civilization
The Minoan (Cretan) civilization suddenly ceased to exist, although it reached its highest peak about 3500 years ago. The walls of palaces and villas were destroyed, many houses were burnt, ceramic utensils, furniture were broken and broken. The cause of the disaster is still unclear. At one time, scientists (especially Greek) tried to explain the destruction of buildings in Crete by a geological catastrophe that happened on the island of Tir (Fela), neighboring to Crete. The fact is that in the summer of about 1628 BC. Tire exploded suddenly with the force of 30 hydrogen bombs! Its marginal parts now form the walls of the Santorini volcano crater.
Both Tire and Crete are located in a tectonic fault zone with very active seismicity. It is quite possible that Crete could have been in the earthquake zone (although not in the epicenter) at that time. However, at the end of the 20th century, geologists established that the disaster in Crete did not happen in 1628 BC. e., and after about 250 years. It is interesting that the debris of the Tire earthquake are scattered along the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea at a considerable distance from the islands of Tire and Crete. All this "pours water" on the mill of the supporters of Atlantis, who believe that both islands are the pitiful remnants of a once huge continent.
Prepared by V. Portnov
