The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-02-20

Where JOve and Juno Were Wed and
Where the MinOtaur Roamed.

In one of his books of travel says the
Buffalo Courier, Bayard Taylor quotes
Turkish pasha in Crete as saying that the
roads in that island are the worst in the
world and that an effort made to improve
them had caused the last revolution
Whether the agitation for good roads on
the part Of the Christians in Crete was the
immediate cause OF the present uprising is
not told in the dispatches. But we have the
spectacle of the allied powers Of Europe
with their prodigious armies, intervening
in quarrel between the Turks and the
Greeks over an island in the Mediterranean
which has about twice the area and about
one-fourth the population of Long island
The island lies forty miles under the
horizon from Cape Ialea, In Greece, 100
miles southwest of Rhodes, and 800 west
of Cyprus. 1t is somewhat apart from the
Cyclades the isles OF Greece where burn
ing Sappho loved and sung" but not so
far removed as to be ignored by the myth
builders of the far-off time when the gods
came down and hobnSbbed with mankind
As the traveller leaves the mainland of
Greece behind him and speeds southward
in his vessel there presently looms on his
sight glistning mountain peak. 1t is the
Cretan Ida. the mountain which tradition
says was the birthplace of Zeus. 1t is said,
indeed. that in the high valleys of the
range of which snowclad Ida is the loftiest
mountain may be found descendants of the
ancient Cretans, who knew Zeus and Juno
by sight. They have kept TO their craggy
homes. nave not mingled with the success
sive invaders of the island and to-day are
the only people in the world who speak
the Greek tongue as it Is supposed Plato.
Socrates and Euripides spoke ii.
Crete is rich in prehistoric legend. 1t was
to Crete that Daedalus, the precursor of
Darius Green. Prof. Langley and Lilen-
thai. journeyed after he had wearied of
his experiments with artificial wings There,
introducing himself TO Minos, the terrible
king Of Crete, he proposed the building of
be seen TO this day. The site of IL is not
far from the town of Gortyna. The in
termlnable and confusing invoutions of the
winnings OF the cave may well enough"
says one traveller. give 1T a character like
that which perforce kept King Mnoss vic
Tins miserably imprisoned for life unless
a benevolent Ariadne came 20 their assist
ance. The passage extends under plains
and a,Ias mountains th & for a. distance of twenty
doubling upon itself in such a way that its
actual length is probably nearer thirty than
suspicious that Daedalus did not build the
labyrinth, but that he discovered it, put
up gates at the entrance. scooped out rough
places here and there, dug q side passage
or two-a cul de sac-and then showed il
to Minos as all his own work AS for the
place and the brazen Observation-Disclosures
ingenious machine of Daedalus's invention
that patroled the coast and crushed all
vessels that approached like so many egg
shells. the modern investigator may guess
what they were Their remains have never
been discovered.
Not only was Jove born in a vale of Ida
which looks down on the city of Gambia
but he was carried 10 Juno in the neighbor-
ing mountain of Juktas. and there. too his
bones were laid in the vale of Arkanais
Not far away flows the stream once known
as Lethe, but its waters no longer possess
| the miraculous quality Of causing those who
| quaff to forget all earthly sorrow These
are fragments of the ancient legendary tales
| of the island. Its more modern and authen-
| tic history is even more entertaining, but
| that is another story.