From the ancient Romans last week to the ancient Greeks this! I have just landed back from a wonderful holiday in Crete, the largest and most southerly of the Greek islands, and am basking in my recent memories of the sunny warm weather, the delicious local food and wine, the shimmering Mediterranean Sea and of course the sense of history that emanated from the very ground upon which I walked.

I have always wanted to visit Knossos, which lies just south of the capital Heraklion. Having learned about the myth of King Minos and the labyrinth-dwelling Minotaur I was thrilled to finally see the legendary palace for myself.

Knossos was a thriving settlement believed to be the oldest city in Europe, with evidence of habitation and worship dating from the early Neolithic period (10,000Bc – 2,000BC). The earliest signs of a palace date from around 1,900BC and subsequently it suffered destruction, rebuilding and expansion many times over, its huge yellow stones bearing witness to conflict, pestilence and volcanic eruptions until its ultimate demise in around 1,350BC from what seems to have been a huge fire. Whether it was a natural disaster, enemy attack or an unfortunate accident, no-one can be certain.(Image: Sarah Walker)

Although the palace was first discovered in 1877 by a Cretan businessman, the aptly-named Minos Kalokairinos, it is the British archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans who gets the most press thanks to supervising the largest excavation there. He first visited the island in 1894, then five years later bought a slice of land that included the site of Knossos. Having gained approval from the authorities, he uncovered the remains of a palace far greater than expected, a vast maze of chambers, halls, corridors, throne rooms, courtyards, kitchens, bathrooms and staircases that stretched across an area of around three acres.

His methods and conclusions have been the subject of criticism over the years, especially his inaccurate rebuilding of some ancient structures and temples, and the repainting of original friezes, but it was impossible to rectify them without causing further damage to the archaeological remains.

However, unlike Lord Elgin of the ‘marbles’ fame (or should that be infamy?), he is admired in Greece because he gained local co-operation, didn’t steal what he found, and also because he shone a favourable international light upon the amazingly sophisticated ‘Minoan’ culture, the ancient civilisation Evans named after their mythical king.

(Image: Sarah Walker)

King Minos appears in a number of legends, including Homer’s 8th Century BC epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey. According to the myth, the sea-god Poseidon sent Minos a bull to sacrifice, but because it was such a fine specimen, Minos couldn’t bring himself to kill it. This angered Poseidon so much that he cast a spell on Minos’ wife, Pasiphae, causing her to fall in love with the beast. As a result (let’s not dwell on the logistics of how) Pasiphae bore a son with the head of a bull and the body of a man. The furious King Minos had his inventor Daedalus construct a huge subterranean labyrinth from which this Minotaur could never escape.

As I ambled around Knossos, immersed in the legends and history seeping from the ruins, I noticed several references to ‘double axe’ symbols. In Ancient Greek, the word for the double-headed axe is ‘labrys’ and Evans had concluded that this was related to the word ‘labyrinth’. He became convinced that he had found the palace at the heart of the famous legend. However, no underground maze has ever been discovered.

So what happened to the Minotaur in the end? Having vanquished King Aegeus of Athens at war, Minos offered peace in exchange for seven Athenian girls and boys to be despatched every nine years to feed the Minotaur. To bring this barbarism to an end, Aegeus’s son Theseus sailed to Crete to kill the beast, despite no-one having ever escaped from the labyrinth alive. Upon arrival, he met and fell in love with Minos’ daughter, Princess Ariadne. Before entering the labyrinth, she gave him some thread which he could unravel on his way in and so find his way out again. Theseus managed to kill the creature and escape the maze and he and Ariadne sailed into the sunset to live happily ever after.

Except, this being Greek mythology, they didn’t. But that’s a story for another day.

  • Do you have opinions, memories or ideas to share with me? Contact me via my webpage at countrymansdaughter.com, or email dst@nne.co.uk.