Myth 16 : Crete

Closely connected to the Myths of Athens—

History/Archaeology: What we know

Minoans

arrived on Crete 7000BC/ 3100BC (second wave)

incredibly complex culture: cities, palaces

Writing: Linear A and Linear B

culture ends 1450BC

ritual cannibalism/human sacrifice ?

Crete taken over by Mycenaean Greeks around this time (Linear B)

Excavations at Cnossus —

incredibly wealthy, seafaring culture

Almost all the myths associated with Crete are late

Daedalus, Theseus

but reflect something Cretan?

Minotaur? Importance of BULL in Minoan culture?

“Bull games?”

“labrys

” : Double ax—for bull-sacrifice?

labyrinth : “place of the double ax”

Ritual origin of Europa and Pasiphae stories ?

THE MYTHS ASSOCIATED WITH CRETE:

Europa and the Bull

Agenor (Semitic name),

descended from Zeus and Io (brother Belus = Baal)

Goes to Phoenicia, daughter and three sons

Europa; Cadmus, Cilix and Phoenix

Zeus comes to Europa as a Bull

Told in Ovid, Metamorphoses

—hops on

—he heads out to sea, to Crete

Brothers look, but cannot find—found cities instead

Cadmus—Thebes

Cilix—Cilicia

Phoenix—Phoenicia

Zeus and Europa have kids:

Minos, Sarpedon, Rhadamanthys

gives her Laelaps and Talus (giant bronze robot)

Minos fights with his brothers

Minos marries Pasiphae

children:

• Ariadne (wife of Theseus, abandoned, becomes Dionysus' wife)

• Phaedra (wife of Theseus; falls in love with stepson)

• Androgeus (will get killed—leads to Minotaur sacrifice)

Poseidon is anger (believe it or not)

Makes Pasiphae fall in love with the bull

Daedalus

Makes wooden cow for her to hide in

Bears the Minotaur

Minos won't kill it

makes Daedalus build the Labyrinth

Androgeus goes to compete in Athens

Minos invades in revenge

Nisus is invincible as long as his purple lock grows

His daughter Scylla falls in love with Minos and gives him the lock

Minos scorns the treacherous daughter

Minos—gets Athens to submit with help of Zeus

punishment for Androgeus

every nine years 7 boys and girls for Minotaur

Theseus, recently arrived in Athens, volunteers to be one of the boys

Theseus and Minotaur

Minos' daughter Ariadne immediately falls in love with him

“a clue”

Kills Minotaur !

and escapes with Ariadne—to Naxos

Theseus is disgusted by her treachery to her father, and abandons her there

seems likely to die—but is actually found by Dionysus

Minos is so pissed about all of this (Minotaur, Theseus, Ariadne),

he imprisons Daedalus and his son Icarus in the Labyrinth

Ovid tells this story twice

Minos searches everywhere for Daedalus

refuge with king Cocalus of Sicily

carries a conch shell—run a thread through it

Daedalus can't resist

“Hand him over”

okay—after dinner

Minos killed in bathtub filled with boiling water or pitch

Observations:

Athenian view of an older culture they do not fully comprehend