Monday, June 17, 2019

Legend of the Minotaur

We are just outside of Heraklion, Crete in a tiny town called Eskopi - other than having a cool Airbnb in the countryside, the highlight of this place is the local grocer who gives you shots of raki (the local grape hooch).
Jen and Janine at Knossos
One of the reasons we are here is it's proximity to Knossos - ruins of the ancient (2000 BC) Minoan culture - supposedly one of the first "empires" of Europe.  Janine, Jen, and I head there early this morning while Tyler, Fiona, and Dan did a Father's Day trip to a local beach with caves.
Minos is the legendary king who had Daedylus built the labyrinth and then put the half-bull / half-man Minotaur  (Minos = king, Taur = variation of bull) in the labyrinth to slay Athenian sacrifices - 7 boys and 7 girls every 7 years.  Later  the Athenian prince Theseus would carry some string into the maze, kill the monster, escape with Minos's daughter - there's a lot going on here with a cross-over episode with Daedylus and his kid Icarus.

Me with some Labrys (double-headed axes)


But the coolest piece of etymological data the I learned, that Labyrinth developed from the Labrys - the double headed axe that was the symbol of the Palace at Knossos.  The palace itself was massive for it's time with hundreds of rooms and 5 levels - an easy place to get lost.  From these two concepts, the double-axe logo and the complexity of the palace, it developed into the word Labyrinth - palace of the double axe.  In addition, the Minoan people held bulls sacred and had a passage ritual of grabbing the horns and flipping over the back of the bull - many were injured and killed in this process.  These ideas eventually merged into the myth of sacrificing young people to the Minotaur and the Labryinth of Crete.
The "Labyrinth" of Knossos
We head out tomorrow for the legendary blue and white houses of Santorini.

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