Myth 16 : Crete

Closely connected to the Myths of Athens—

a grab-bag of folktales

history becoming myth?

Greek misinterpretation/reinterpretation of Cretan stories/events/rituals

There are some Classical Greek sources for this stuff,

but most of it has to come through ROMAN sources

focus on erotic, rhetorical, bizarre

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)

Minoans were ethnically, racially, linguistically, culturally distinct from Greeks

We do not have any “native” myths

like trying to reconstruct Native American myths—but worse

Some Greeks were aware of limitations

Thucydides (5^th c BC)

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?

Labyrinth / Labrys “double ax”

Reduced in Greek Roman stories to just filth

By Classical period, Cretans just become a TYPE to fill in folktale details

lustful, incestuous, violent, tyrannical, liars

THE MYTHS ASSOCIATED WITH CRETE:

Europa and the Bull

Daedalus and the Wooden Cow

Minotaur

Labyrinth

Kills Minotaur

Ariadne and Dionysos

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