The Labyrinth of Crete, the myth of the Minotaur Archaeology, Mythology and History of Crete The Labyrinth of Crete: The Myth Of The Minotaur Zeus, in the form of a bull, brought Europe from the Phoenician seashore to Gortys in Crete where he made love with her under a plane tree (or on the plane tree after assuming the form of another sacred animal, the eagle), since then the plane tree was blessed to never lose its leaves (evergreen). From their union three sons were born triplets (or two twins). Next, Zeus arranged the marriage of Europe to the Cretan King Asterion (or Asterio), who appointed Europe's and Zeus' sons as his successors. -> Read more about Gortys -> Read more about the Abduction of Europe by Zeus As promised, the three sons of Europe and Zeus (Minos or Minoas, Radamanthis, Sarpidon) succeeded King Asterion to the throne of Crete.

Initially they seemed satisfied to co-govern, but Minos, who wanted the reign to be his exclusively, ended up banishing his brothers: Radamanthis was sent to Viotia (or Cyclades) and Sarpidon to Asia Minor. Minos became the monarch who believed the gods would give him everything and anything he wished. The gods loved Minos because his father, Zeus, honored him above all. They presented him with a wife, Pasiphae, daughter of Helios (Sun) and Persida, and sister of Circe, the sorceress, Kalypso and Aete, and aunt of Mideia, the grand sorceress. There is talk of eight children for Minos and Pasiphae: Androgeos, Katrefs, Defkalion, Glafkos, Akali (or Akakalis), Xenodiki, Ariadne and Phaedra. Once, wanting to offer a sacrifice in honor of his uncle Poseidon, Minos asked Poseidon to send the best bull he could find from the sea. The bull was so beautiful that Minos didn't sacrifice him, but instead kept him with his flock (or in the palace gardens).

To revenge Minos for not keeping his promise, Poseidon made the bull so ferocious and dangerous that his eventual capture in Crete became one of the twelve feats of Hercules (Cretan Bull). When Pasiphae, his immortal wife, saw the bull she fell in love and coupled with him. She was able to couple with him with the help of Daedalus, who constructed a wooden likeness of a cow, in which Pasiphae hid. From this union the monster Minotaur was born, a humanoid being with a bull's head, which Minos promptly jailed in the Labyrinth, an enormous construction in Knossos. -> Read more about the Minoan Palace of Knossos -> Read more about Daedalus Minos, as ruler of the greatest naval kingdom of that time, undertook many journeys and military expeditions. His best known aggressive expedition was against Athens to avenge the murder of his first born son, Androgeos. When the siege of Athens continued for too long of a period, Minos asked his father, Zeus, for help, and Zeus unleashed a terrible epidemic. Following the instructions of the Oracle, the Athenians were forced to surrender and accept all of Minos' terms of submission.

The most onerous condition of the surrender was the blood tribute. This called for Athens to provide every year (or every three or nine years) seven young men and seven young women as food for the monster Minotaur for as long as he lived. When the last group of young men and women arrived from Athens, prince Theseus, son of Poseidon and the successor of King Aegeas of Athens, was among them. The princess of Knossos , Ariadne, fell in love with the brave youth from Athens, and helped him escape. She devised a plan and gave Theseus a ball of yarn (mitos) so he could find his way through the Labyrinth and kill the monster Minotaur. After the killing, Ariadne departed Crete together with Theseus. However, along the way Theseus deserted her. Eventually, Ariadne became the wife of the god Dionysos. During Minos' reigning years, Daedalus, from Athens , took up residence in Knossos, after he was exiled to Crete for committing a crime in his own country. In Crete he eventually became the official architect and sculptor for Minos.

In Knossos he built the Palace, the Labyrinth, the wooden likeness of a cow for Pasiphae, and even helped Ariadne and Thiseas kill the horrible Minotaur. However, when Minos became disillusioned with him, he jailed Daedalus together with his son, Icarus . The brilliant engineer didn't stay long - he made a pair of wings for himself and Icarus and they flew away. The wings were made of feathers held together with wax. Daedalus warned his son not to fly too close to the sun, as it would melt his wings, and not too close to the sea, as it would dampen them and make it hard to fly. They successfully flew from Crete, but Icarus grew exhilarated by the thrill of flying and began getting careless. Flying too close to the sun, the wax holding together his wings melted from the heat and he fell to his death, drowning in the sea. The Icarian Sea, where he fell, was named after him. Daedalus lamented his dead son and then continued to Sicily , where he came to stay at the court of Cocalus in a place called Camicus.

Of Daedalus' many ingenious works, the most famous was the Labyrinth - the gigantic palace comprised of clusters of rooms and corridors so complex and convoluted that only Daedalus himself was able to find the way out again. It was in this Labyrinth that the Minotaur, the horrible creature who was the love-child of Pasiphae's perverse affair with the bull from the sea - was kept. NOTE. This story comes from the book "The Labyrinth of Messara" by Kaloust Paragamian and Antonis Vasilakis. English translation by Lou Duro for ExploreCrete.com - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Labyrinth - Ancient History Encyclopedia Labyrinth by Joshua J. Mark published on 02 September 2009 The word ' labyrinth ’ comes from the Greek 'labyrinthos’ and describes any maze-like structure. Etymologically the word is linked to the Minoan 'labrys' for 'double axe', the symbol of the Minoan mother goddess of Crete . The most famous labyrinth is found in Greek mythology : Designed by Daedalus for King Minos of Knossos to contain the ferocious Minotaur (a half-man and half-bull monster).

Daedelaus' labyrinth was so complex that he, himself, could barely navigate it and, having successfully done so, Minos imprisoned him and his son, Icarus, in a high tower to prevent him from ever revealing the secret of the maze. In one of the most famous Greek myths, Daedelus and Icarus escape using the feathers of birds bound together by wax to form wings and fly from the tower. Icarus flew too close to the sun, melting the wax of his wings and falling into the sea, was drowned. Another Greek myth relates that the Minotaur was killed by Prince Theseus of Athens with the help of Minos' daughter Ariadne and the labyrinth is supposed to have fallen out of use afterwards. The archaeologist Arthur Evans uncovered the labyrinth at Knossos,Crete in his excavations early in the 20th century and the myth of the Minotaur in the labyrinth was explained by the Minoan sport of bull jumping (shown in frescoes on the walls) in which, by grabbing the bull's horns and leaping back over the animal, man and bull appeared to be one creature.

Remove Ads Advertisement The other famed labyrinth of antiquity was the Egyptian temple precinct of a pyramid complex of many courts, built at Hawara by Amenemhet III of the 12th Dynasty (c.1860-1815 BCE). There were twelve separate courts of considerable size all facing one another throughout this labyrinth and all connected by corridors and colonnades and shafts. Criss-crossing alleys and false doors sealed by stone plugs all protected the central burial chamber of the pyramid of the king. This chamber is said to have been cut from a single block of granite and to have weighed 110 tons.

The labyrinth at Hawara was described by the historian Herodotus , who claimed it rivaled any of the ancient wonders of the world of the time: The upper chambers I saw with my own eyes, and found them to excel all other human productions; for the passages through the houses, and the varied windings of the paths across the courts excited in me infinite admiration as I passed from the courts into chambers, and from the chambers into colonnades, and from the colonnades into fresh houses, and again from these into courts unseen before.” The historian Strabo described it as “a great palace composed of many palaces. The great labyrinth of Egypt fell into decay at some unknown point and was dismantled and the parts used in other building projects. So great was the site as a source of building materials that a small town grew up around the ruins. Nothing remains of this great architectural wonder today save the ravaged pyramid of Amenemhet III at Hawara by the oasis of Faiyum. About the Author King Minos - ruler of Crete or Greek myth? The Palace of Knossos shows frecoes King Minos Minoan King of the Labyrinth?

King Minos Μίνως The legends of Crete and Greece are incredibly twisted and convoluted. This is the way of history when the stories started as far back as 2000 BC in Crete. The Minoan civilisation of Crete seemed to be a female or matriarchal society. In Minoan art there are many soft images and frescoes that have been discovered of ceremonial processions, flowers and birds. There are also images of powerful female figures such as the Snake Goddess (left). The legend of the half-man half-bull who was the Minotaur and the dark mysterious cavern under the palace called the Labyrinth seem to be Greek legends concocted well after the Minoan civilisation. Part of these stories is the legend of a King who kept the Minotaur and who ruled at Knossos. Greek myths tells us that he was the son of Zeus and Europa, and his brothers Rhadamanthys and Sarpedon ruled at the other Minoan palaces on Crete.

His wife was Pasiphaë, his children were Ariadne, Androgeus, Deucalion, Phaedra, Glaucus, Catreus, Acacallis and Xenodike. Or his wife was Crete, daughter of Asterion, who raised Minos in Zeus' absence, who was a nymph. The Minotaur was kept by Minos in the Labyrinth, which was built by the architect Daedalus and his son Icarus. Was Knossos ruled by a King or perhaps a Queen as depicted in this fresco (right), known as the Minoan Lady or perversely, as 'La Parisienne'. One thing we do know is that the ruins at Knossos were discovered in 1878 by the Cretan Minos Kalokairinos who began excavations. They were later fully excavated by Sir Arthur Evans. It is Evans who started to use the term 'Minoan' to describe the society whose palace he had uncovered. So little is known for sure, and what we do know is skewed by years of stories and half-truths.

We do know that bulls held a prominent place in ancient Crete, as the bull leaping frescoes show us. One of the most beautiful frescoes uncovered at Knossos shows a young man in what could be a ceremonial stance, he is known as the Prince of the Lilies. This is a controversial reconstruction of many shards. Knossos - Home of Minos MINOTAUR (Minotauros) - Bull-Headed Man of Greek Mythology Bull of Minos Theseus and the Minotaur, Athenian black-figure kylix C6th B.C., Toledo Museum of Art THE MINOTAUROS (Minotaur) was a bull-headed monster born to Queen Pasiphae of Krete (Crete) after she coupled with a bull. The creature resided in the twisting maze of the labyrinth where it was offfered a regular sacrifice of youths and maidens to satisfy its cannibalistic hunger. The beast was eventually slain by the hero Theseus. The Minotauros' proper name Asterion, "the starry one," suggests he might have been associated with the constellation Tauros.

FAMILY OF THE MINOTAUR PARENTS THE KRETAN BULL & PASIPHAE (Apollodorus 3.8, Callimachus Hymn 4.311, Diodorus Siculus 4.77.1, Philostratus Elder 1.16, Hyginus Fab. 40, Ovid Metamorphoses 8.130, Virgil Aeneid 6.24, Suidas) ENCYCLOPEDIA MINOTAURUS (Minôtauros), a monster with a human body and a bull's head, or, according to others, with the body of an ox and a human head; is said to have been the offspring of the intercourse of Pasiphaë with the bull sent from the sea to Minos, who shut him up in the Cnossian labyrinth, and fed him with the bodies of the youths and maidens whom the Athenians at fixed times were obliged to send to Minos as tribute. The monster was slain by Theseus. It was often represented by ancient artists either alone in the labyrinth, or engaged in the struggle with Theseus. (Paus. i. 24.

§ 2, 27, in fin. iii. 18. § 7; Apollod. iii. 1. § 4, 15. § 8.) Source: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. ALTERNATE NAMES Theseus and the Minotaur, Athenian red-figure kylix C6th B.C., Musée du Louvre Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3. 8 - 11 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "Minos aspired to the throne [of Krete (Crete)], but was rebuffed. He claimed, however, that he had received the sovereignty from the gods, and to prove it he said that whatever he prayed for would come about. So while sacrificing to Poseidon, he prayed for a bull to appear from the depths of the sea, and promised to sacrifice it upon its appearance. And Poseidon did send up to him a splendid bull. Thus Minos received the rule, but he sent the bull to his herds and sacrificed another . . . Poseidon was angry that the bull was not sacrificed, and turned it wild.

He also devised that Pasiphae should develop a lust for it. In her passion for the bull she took on as her accomplice an architect named Daidalos (Daedalus) . . . He built a woden cow on wheels, . . . skinned a real cow, and sewed the contraption into the skin, and then, after placing Pasiphae inside, set it in a meadow where the bull normally grazed. The bull came up and had intercourse with it, as if with a real cow. Pasiphae gave birth to Asterios (Asterius), who was called Minotauros (Minotaur). He had the face of a bull, but was otherwise human. Minos, following certain oracular instructions, kept him confined and under guard in the labyrinth. This labyrinth, which Daidalos built, was a ‘cage with convoluted flextions that disorders debouchment.’" Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3. 213 : "The god [i.e.

the oracle of Delphoi (Delphi)] told them [the Athenians] to give Minos [king of Krete (Crete)] whatever retribution he should chose . . . He ordered them to send seven young men and seven girls, unarmed, to be served as food to the Minotauros (Minotaur). The Minotauros was kept in a labyrinth, from which there was no escape after one entered, for it closed off its imperceivable exit with convoluted flexions. It had been constructed by Daidalos (Daedalus)." Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca E1. 7 - 1. 9 : "Theseus was on the list of the third tribute to the Minotauros (Minotaur)--some day he volunteered--. . . [Ariadne] pleaded with Daidalos (Daedalus) to tell her the way out of the labyrinth. Following his instructions, she gave Theseus a ball of thread as he entered. He fastened this to the door and let it trail behind him as he went in.

He came across the Minotauros in the furthest section of the labyrinth, killed him with jabs of his fist, and then made his way out again by pulling himself along the thread." Callimachus, Hymn 4 to Delos 311 ff (trans. Mair) (Greek poet C3rd B.C.) : "[Theseus] escaped the cruel bellowing and the wild [Minotauros (Minotaur)] son of Pasiphae and the coiled habitation of the crooked labyrinth." Strabo, Geography 10. 4. 8 (trans. Jones) (Greek geographer C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "[Minos] was tyrannical, harsh, and an exactor of tribute, representing in tragedy the story of the Minotauros (Minotaur) and the Labyrinth, and the adventures of Theseus and Daidalos (Daedalus)." Pausanias, Description of Greece 1. 24. 1 (trans.

Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) : "[On the Akropolis (Acropolis) in Athens] is represented the fight which legend says Theseus fought with the so-called Tauros (Bull) of Minos [the Minotauros], whether this was a man or a beast of nature he is said to have been in the accepted story. For even in our time women have given birth to far more extraordinary monsters than this." Pausanias, Description of Greece 1. 27. 10 : "Minos sailed against Athens with a fleet, not believing that the Athenians were innocent of the death of Androgeos (Androgeus) [killed by the Marathonian Bull], and sorely harassed them until it was agreed that he should take seven maidens and seven boys for the Minotauros (Minotaur) that was said to dwell in the Labyrinth at Knossos." Pausanias, Description of Greece 2. 31. 1 : "In the market-place of Troizenos (Troezen) [in Argolis] is a temple of Artemis Soteira (Saviour), with images of the goddess.

It was said that the temple was founded and the name Soteria (Saviour) given by Theseus when he returned from Krete after overcoming Asterion [the Minotauros (Minotaur)] the son of Minos." Pausanias, Description of Greece 3. 18. 10 - 16 : "[Amongst the scenes depicted on the throne of Apollon at Amyklai (Amyclae) :] I cannot say why Bathykles (Bathycles) has represented the Bull of Minos bound, and being led along alive by Theseus . . . There is represented the fight between . . . Theseus and the Bull of Minos (Tauron ton Mino) [the Minotauros]." Labyrinth of the Minotaur, Greco-Roman mosaic from Villa on the Via Cadolini C1st A.D., Archaeological Museum of Cremona Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 4. 61. 4 (trans.

Oldfather) (Greek historian C1st B.C.) : "[Minos demands compensation from the Athenians for the murder of his son Androgeus :] Minos commanded them that they give seven youths and as many maidens every nine years to the Minotauros (Minotaur) for him to devour, for as long as the monster should live. And when the Athenians gave them, the inhabitants of Attika (Attica) were rid of their evils and Minos ceased warring on Athens . . . Theseus after conversing with her [Ariadne, daughter of Minos] and securing her assistance, both slew the Minotauros and got safely away, since he had learned from her the way out of the labyrinth." Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 4. 77. 1 : "Pasiphae, the wife of Minos, became enamoured of the bull [the Cretan Bull], and Daidalos (Daedalus), by fashioning a contrivance in the shape of a cow, assisted Pasiphae to gratify her passion.

In explanation of this the myths offer the following account: before this time it had been the custom of Minos annually to dedicate to Poseidon the fairest bull born in his herds and to sacrifice it to the god; but at the time in question there was born a bull of extraordinary beauty and he sacrificed another from among those which were inferior, whereupon Poseidon becoming angry at Minos, caused his wife Pasiphae to become enamoured of the bull. And by means of the ingenuity of Daidalos Pasiphae had intercourse with the bull and gave birth to the Minotauros (Minotaur), famed in the myth. This creature, they say, was of double form, the upper parts of the body as far as the shoulders being those of a bull and the remaining parts those of a man.

As a place in which to keep this monstrous thing Daidalos, the story goes, built a labyrinth, the passage-ways of which were so winding that those unfamiliar with them had difficulty in making their way out; in this labyrinth the Minotaur was maintained and here it devoured the seven youths and seven maidens which were sent to it from Athens, as we have already related." Plutarch, Life of Theseus 15. 1 & 17. 3 & 19. 1 (trans. Perrin) (Greek historian C1st to C2nd A.D.) : "[The young Theseus arrives in Athens :] Not long afterwards there came from Krete (Crete) for the third time the collectors of the tribute . . . an agreement to send him [Minos] every nine years a tribute of seven youths and as many maidens.

And the most dramatic version of the story declares that these young men and women, on being brought to Krete, were destroyed by the Minotauros (Minotaur) in the Labyrinth, or else wandered about at their own will and, being unable to find an exit, perished there; and that the Minotauros, as Euripides says, was ‘A mingled form and hybrid birth of monstrous shape’, and that ‘Two different natures, man and bull, were joined in him’ . . . . Hellanikos (Hellanicus) . . . says the agreement was that the Athenians should furnish the ship, and that the youths should embark and sail with him carrying no warlike weapon, and that if the Minotauros was killed the penalty should cease.

On the two former occasions, then, no hope of safety was entertained, and therefore they sent the ship with a black sail, convinced that their youth were going to certain destruction; but now Theseus encouraged his father and loudly boasted that he would master the Minotauros, so that he gave the pilot another sail, a white one, ordering him, if he returned with Theseus safe, to hoist the white sail, but otherwise to sail with the black one, and so indicate the affliction . . . When he reached Krete on his voyage, most historians and poets tell us that he got from Ariadne, who had fallen in love with him, the famous thread, and that having been instructed by her how to make his way through the intricacies of the Labyrinth, he slew the Minotauros and sailed off with Ariadne and the youths." Philostratus the Elder, Imagines 1. 16 (trans.

Fairbanks) (Greek rhetorician C3rd A.D.) : "[Description of an ancient Greek painting :] Pasiphae is in love with the bull and begs Daidalos (Daedalus) to devise some lure for the creature; and he is fashioning a hollow cow like a cow of the herd to which the bull is accustomed. What their union brought forth is shown by the form of the Minotauros (Minotaur), strangely composite in its nature." Philostratus, Life of Apollonius of Tyana 4. 34 (trans. Conybeare) (Greek biography C1st to C2nd A.D.) : "[Apollonios of Tyana] sailed to Knossos (Cnossus) [in Krete (Crete)], where a labyrinth is shown, which, I believe, once on a time, contained the Minotauros (Minotaur)." Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 40 - 43 (trans.

Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "Pasiphae, daughter of Sol [Helios] and wife of Minos, for several years did not make offerings to the goddess Venus. Because of this Venus inspired in her an unnatural love for a bull. At the time when Daedalus came there as an exile, he asked her to help him. For her he made a wooden heifer, and put in it the hide of a real heifer, and in this she lay with the bull. From this intercourse she bore the Minotaur, with bull's head but human body. Then Daedalus made for the Minotaur a labyrinth with an undiscoverable exit in which it was confined. When Minos found out the affair he cast Daedalus into prson, but Pasiphae freed him from his chains . . . After he [Minos] conquered the Athenians their revenues became his; he decreed, moreover that each year they should send seven of their children as food for the Minotaur. After Theseus had come from Troezene, and had learned what a calamity afflicted the state, of his own accord he promised to go against the Minotaur . . .

When Theseus came to Crete, Ariadne, Minos' daughter, loved him so much that she betrayed her brother and saved the stranger, or she showed Theseus the way out of the Labyrinth. When Theseus had entered and killed the Minotaur, by Ariadne's advise he got out by unwinding the thread. Ariadne, because she had been loyal to him, he took away, intending to marry her." Theseus and the slain Minotaur, Greco-Roman fresco from Pompeii C1st A.D., Naples National Archaeological Museum Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 38 : "He [Theseus] killed the Minotaur in the town of Cnossus." Ovid, Metamorphoses 8. 130 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "That adulteress [Pasiphae] who in a cow of wood beguiled a savage bull and bore a monster [the Minotaur] in her womb! . . .

His [Minos'] dynasty's disgrace has grown; the monstrous beast [Minotauros] hybrid beast declared the queen's obscene adultery. To rid his precincts of this shame the king planned to confine him shut away within blind walls of intricate complexity. The structure was designed by Daedalus, that famous architect. Appearances were all confused; he led the eye astray by a mazy multitude of winding ways . . . Daedalus in countless corridors built bafflement, and hardly could himself make his way out, so puzzling was the maze. Within this labyrinth Minos shut fast the beast, half bull, half man, and fed him twice on Attic blood, lot-chosen each nine years, until the third choice mastered him. The door, so difficult, which none of those before could find again, by Ariadne's aid was found, the thread that traced the way rewound." Ovid, Heroides 2. 67 ff (trans. Showerman) (Roman poetry C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "With record of his [Theseus'] deeds. When men shall have read of . . . the mingled form of bull and man [i.e.

the Minotaur]." Ovid, Heroides 4. 59 ff : "[Theseus] the faithless son of Aegeus followed the guiding thread, and escaped from the winding house through the aid my sister [Ariadne] gave." Ovid, Heroides 4. 113 ff : "The bones of my [Phaedra's] brother [the Minotaur] he [Theseus] crushed with his triple-knotted club and scattered o'er the ground; my sister [Ariadne] he left at the mercy of wild beasts." Ovid, Heroides 10. 99 ff : "[Ariadne laments after being abandoned by Theseus on Naxos :] O, that Androgeos (Androgeus) [Ariadne's brother] were still alive, and that thou, O Cecropian land [Athens], hadst not been made to atone for thy impious deeds with the doom of thy children! [I.e.

the children sent to Krete (Crete) to feed the Minotaur.] And would that thy upraised right hand, O Theseus, had not slain with knotty club him [the Minotauros] that was man in part, and in part bull; and I had not given thee the thread to show the way of thy return--thread oft caught up again and passed through the hands led on by it. I marvel not--ah, no!--if victory was thine, and the monster smote with his length the Cretan earth. His horn could not have pierced that iron heart of thine." Ovid, Heroides 10. 125 ff : "You [Theseus] will go to the haven of Cecrops; but when you have been received back home, and have stood in pride before your thronging followers, gloriously telling the death of the man-and-bull [the Minotaur], and of the halls of rock cut out in winding ways, tell, too, of me [Ariadne], abandoned on a solitary shore." Virgil, Aeneid 6. 24 (trans.

Day-Lewis) (Roman epic C1st B.C.) : "Crete rising out of the waves; Pasiphae, cruelly fated to lust after a bull, and privily covered; the hybrid fruit of that monstrous union--the Minotaurus (Minotaur), a memento of her unnatural love." Propertius, Elegies 4. 4 (trans. Goold) (Roman elegy C1st B.C.) : "What marvel that the horns of a monster [the Minotaur] were betrayed by his sister [Ariadne], when the twisted path was revealed by the gathering of her thread." Seneca, Hercules Furens 121 ff (trans. Miller) (Roman tragedy C1st A.D.) : "He [Daidalos (Daedalus)] should return, mighty in Attic cunning, who shut our monster [the Minotaur] in the dark labyrinth." Seneca, Phaedra 173 ff : "[Phaedra's nurse addresses her mistress :] ‘Why do monsters cease? Why does thy brother's [the Minotaur's] labyrinth stand empty?

Shall the world hear of strange prodigies, shall nature's laws give way, whenever a Cretan woman [i.e. such as Pasiphae] loves?’" Seneca, Phaedra 647 ff : "I love, those former looks of his [Theseus'] which once as a youth he had, when his first beard marked his smooth cheeks, when he looked on the dark home of the Cretan monster [the Minotaur], and gathered in the long thread o'er the winding way." Seneca, Phaedra 687 ff : "Thy monster-bearing mother [Pasiphae] . . . She did but pollute herself with her shameful lust, and yet her offspring by its two-shaped infamy [the Minotaur] displayed her crime, though long concealed, and by his fierce visage the hybrid child made clear his mother's guilt." Seneca, Phaedra 1170 ff : "What Cretan bull [the Minotauros], fierce, two-formed monster, filling the labyrinth of Daedalus with his huge bellowings, has torn thee asunder with his horns?" Nonnus, Dionysiaca 47.

434 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) : "[Dionysos addresses Ariadne :] ‘He [Theseus] shed the blood of the halfbull man [the Minotauros (Minotaur)] whose den was the earthdug labyrinth . . . But you know your thread was his saviour: for the man of Athens with his club would never have found victory in that contest without a rosy-red girl to help him.’" Suidas s.v. Aigaion pelagos (trans. Suda On Line) (Byzantine Greek Lexicon C10th A.D.) : "Theseus, the son of Aigeos (Aegeus) the king of Attika (Attica), ruled the Kretans (Cretans) and pursued the Minotauros (Minotaur) into the area of the labyrinthos (and killed him when he was hidden in a cavern. He took to wife the woman Ariadne, who had been born to Minos of Pasiphae, and thus he ruled Krete (Crete)." Suidas s.v.

En panti muthoi kai to Daidalou musos : "It is said that Pasiphae was in love with a bull and begged Daidalos (Daedalus) to make a wooden cow and rig it up and put her in it; and mounting her like a cow, the bull made her pregnant. From her the Minotauros (Minotaur) was born. Minos for certain reasons became angry with the Athenians and collected a tribute of seven virgins and an equal number of young men from them; they were thrown to the beast." ANCIENT GREEK & ROMAN ART Labyrinth | Define Labyrinth at Dictionary.com labyrinth noun 1. an intricate combination of paths or passages in which it is difficult to find one's way or to reach the exit. Synonyms: maze , network , web . 2. a maze of paths bordered by high hedges, as in a park or garden, for the amusement of those who search for a way out. 3. Synonyms: warren , maze , jungle , snarl , tangle , knot . 4. any confusingly intricate state of things or events; a bewildering complex: His papers were lost in an hellish bureaucratic labyrinth.

After the death of her daughter, she wandered in a labyrinth of sorrow for what seemed like a decade. Synonyms: wilderness , jungle , forest ; morass . 5. (initial capital letter) Classical Mythology. a vast maze built in Crete by Daedalus, at the command of King Minos, to house the Minotaur. 6. Anatomy. the internal ear, consisting of a bony portion (bony labyrinth) and a membranous portion (membranous labyrinth) the aggregate of air chambers in the ethmoid bone, between the eye and the upper part of the nose. 7. a mazelike pattern inlaid in the pavement of a church. 8. Also called acoustic labyrinth, acoustical labyrinth. Audio. a loudspeaker enclosure with air chambers at the rear for absorbing sound waves radiating in one direction so as to prevent their interference with waves radiated in another direction. Origin of labyrinth Minoan Crete Tectamus Tectamus was the son of Dorus, son of Hellen . Tectamus married his niece, the daughter of Cretheus, king of Iolcus in Thessaly. Tectamus became the father of Asterius .

Tectamus migrated to Crete with his family and followers, where he became the king of Crete. It was during his reign, when Europa , daughter of Agenor of Sidon, arrived on the back of a bull; the bull was actually the god Zeus . Zeus seduced Europa, and became the mother of three sons. His son Asterius had married the foreigner princess, and brought up her sons if they were his own. Asterius succeeded his father, when the old king (Tectamus) died. Library of History was written by Diodorus Siculus. Related Articles Abduction of Europa In Phoenicia, Agenor ruled in the city of Sidon (sometimes it was Tyre). Agenor was the son of the sea-god Poseidon and Libya. Agenor was also brother of Belus, king of Egypt. He and his family were direct descendants of Io , daughter of the Argive river-god, Inachus.

By his wife Telephassa (or Argiope), Agenor had one daughter, named Europa (Εὐρώπη), and five sons: Cadmus , Phoenix , Cilix , Thasus , and Phineus (according to Homer, Europa was the daughter of Phoenix). The maiden Europa was playing with her companions in a meadow and having a picnic, when they encountered a beautiful bull. But the bull was none other than Zeus himself. Aphrodite had caused him to fall in love with Europa, that he had transformed himself into a bull so that the god to get close as possible to Europa. The girls were not frightened of the bull, because he was so gentle, that the girls played around the disguised god. When the bull lay before Europa's feet, the girls decided to sit on his back. When Europa mounted on the bull back, however, the bull immediately stood up, before the other girls had a chance to climb on the bull back. The bull suddenly ran to the shore and straight out to sea. The bull hovered about above the waves, accompanied by dolphins, the sea gods, Poseidon and his son Triton. The strange procession frightened Europa as she was carried further and further from her homeland.

It wasn't long before the land disappeared from the horizon. Zeus, still in the form of the bull, reassured her that she should not be afraid of him. The bull told her that his name was Zeus, and that he was in love with her. He told the maiden that he was taking her to Crete, where she would bear him sons. Europa bore the thunder-god, three sons: Minos, Rhadamanthys, and Sarpedon. Her son, Minos , became the powerful king of Crete, who established a strong navy and an empire in the Aegean Sea. Rhadamanthys was a famous Cretan lawgiver. Sarpedon migrated to Lycia, where he shared the kingdom with Athenian prince, named Lycus. Agenor was distraught over his daughter's disappearance. Agenor was completely besotted with his daughter, so he ordered all his sons to find their sister, "or else don't come back." All of her brothers didn't return home. Cadmus had travelled the furthest, all the way west, to Delphi.

The oracle told Cadmus, to stop looking for his sister, and find a new home for himself. His journey took him to Boeotia, where he founded the city, which he called Cadmeia, but it was later changed to Thebes. You will find the full myth on Cadmus , in the House of Thebes . In the above tale, I had named Europa as the daughter of Agenor. In the Cataglogues of Women, Europa was the daughter of Phoenix, and granddaughter of Agenor and Cassiopea. This makes her the sister of Phineus, the blind diviner that Jason and the Argonauts had encountered at Salmydessus, a Thracian capital of Thynia. Minos and his Brothers Minos (Μίνως) was a son of the god Zeus and Europa , the daughter of King Agenor of Sidon. Minos was also the brother of Rhadamanthys (´Ραδάμανθυν) and Sarpedon (Σαρπηδών). His step-father was Asterius, who was king of Crete.

Zeus had brought Europa to Crete, while in the form of a beautiful bull. In Crete, he seduced Phoenician princess, and became. Asterius had raised Minos and his brothers as they were his own sons, when he married their mother. Asterius and Europa may have had a daughter named Crete (some say that Crete was the daughter of Deucalion ). The island was named after Crete. Minos was a powerful athletic man, known for his skill in hunting. In his younger days, Minos often goes out hunting. He once fell in love with a nymph, named Britomartis , daughter of Zeus and Karme (Carme), daughter of Eubulus. But Britomartis, like her goddess Artemis, had no interested in men, as sexual partner, because she wished to remain a virgin. Since he can't have her love, Minos decided to rape the maiden. For several days, Minos pursued the nymph, until in desperation she leaped into the sea to escape. She was saved by fishermen, who pulled her out of water, using their fishing net. Admiring her determination to preserve her virginity, Artemis awarded her companion immortality.

She was frequently called Dictynna, as a goddess of hunting and fishing. See the Mother Goddesses page for more about Britomartis . Of course, Minos' sexual preference wasn't limited to just nymphs or beautiful young women, as you will soon see. Rhadamanthys was respected as a judge for his fair and wisdom. He was said to have establish the code of laws in Crete, which was he nicknamed as the "Lawgiver". Tension was always high, among the three Cretan brothers. Minos and his brothers were often rivals. One day, their rivalry ended in open hostility, because each had fallen in love with a beautiful youth, named Miletus or Atymnius. Miletus was the son of Apollo and either of Acacallis, Areia or Deione. (As Atymnius, he was the son of Zeus and Cassiopea.) When Miletus (Atymnius) was forced to choose, he told the brothers that he preferred Sarpedon. The jealous Minos seized power, and drove Miletus and his two brothers out of Crete.

Sarpedon and his lover, fled to Asia Minor, where Miletus captured the town called Anactoria, which he renamed to Miletus (of course). Sarpedon continued east, where he and his followers conquered the Solymi tribe, and occupied their land. Sarpedon and his Cretan followers were known as the Termilae. They continued to be called Termilae, until the arrival of the Athenian Lycus had arrived with his followers. Sarpedon shared the kingdom with Lycus, and their country became known as Lycia. Sarpedon had a son, Evander, who he had married off to Bellerophon's daughter, Deïdameia. Sarpedon then made Evander king. Evander became the father of Sarpedon , the Lycian leader who had fought and died at Troy. It was said that Europa , wasn't Sarpedon's mother, because he was sometimes known as the son of Zeus and Laodameia, another daughter of the hero Bellerophon. According to Homer, this Sarpedon fought in the Trojan War. Rhadamanthys headed in the opposite direction to his brother.

Apollodorus says that Rhadamanthys had settled in Boeotia, where he married the widow Alcmene , mother of Heracles. He was the father of Erythrus and Gortys. When Rhadamanthys died, he was transformed into a god in the Underworld, particularly that of the Elysium, acting as one of three judges. The other two judges were Aeacus, son of Zeus and Aegina, and the other was Rhadamanthys' own brother, Minos. Library was written by Apollodorus. The Iliad and Odyssey were written by Homer. Description of Greece was written by Pausanias. Library of History was written by Diodorus Siculus. Related Articles Pasiphaë and the Minotaur Minos married Pasiphaë (Πασιφάη), the daughter of the sun-god Helios and the Oceanid Perse .

Minos was the father of four sons, Androgeus, Catreus , Deucalion and Glaucus , and of four daughters, Acacallis (Acalle), Xenodice, Ariadne (Ἀριάδνη) and Phaedra (Φαίδρα). Acacallis had unfortunately become pregnant, and was banished to Libya. The father of her son was the god Apollo. Her son was named Amphithemis, but he was often called Garamas. One day, Minos prayed to Poseidon for creature to sacrifice to the sea-god, Poseidon sent to the king, a beautiful white bull from the sea, which became known as the Cretan Bull . However, Minos found the bull so beautiful that he refused to sacrifice the bull to sea-god. Instead, Minos sacrificed a bull of poorer quality to Poseidon. Minos kept this prized bull for selective breeding with his herd of cows. To punish Minos for his broken promise, Poseidon made Pasiphaë, Minos' wife, to fall in love with the bull.

Daedalus (Δαίδαλος), Minos' inventor aided Pasephaë in fulfilling her desire to mate with the bull. Daedalus constructed a hollow, wooden cow, where he sew cow hide to the dummy. Placing the wooden cow in the meadow, Pasiphaë climbed into construction. The Cretan Bull came up to the bogus cow and mounted Pasiphaë. From the unnatural coupling of Pasiphaë and the Cretan Bull, Pasiphaë became mother of the monster known as the Minotaur (Μινώταυρος; "Bull of Minos"). Minotaur had the body of a man but with head of a bull. Minos confined the monster Minotaur, below his palace, within a maze called the Labyrinth. As to the Cretan Bull, Minos was embarrassed that his wife had a monstrous offspring with his prized animal, so the Minoan king gave away the bull to Heracles , when the hero came to fetch the Cretan Bull as part of 7th Labour to Eurystheus.

Heracles rode on the bull's back, as the Cretan Bull swam all the across the sea, to Tiryns. Once Heracles shown the bull to Eurystheus, the hero released it. The Cretan Bull roamed the countryside, until the beast made its way to Marathon in Attica. The Cretan Bull then came to be known as the Marathonian Bull . The bull caused lots of damage to properties and had killed farmers in Attica. In Athens, Aegeus was holding games at the festival, called Panathenaia. Androgeus, Minos young son became a guest to Aegeus, king of Athens, took part in all contests and had won all the events. Aegeus wanted the strongest athlete to kill the Marathonian Bull, so as the winner of contests, Aegeus ordered Androgeus to kill the bull. Androgeus was eager to prove his prowess, so he eagerly went to kill the bull, but it was the young hero who had died, when the bull gorged him to death. Hearing of the death of his son, Minos mustered a large army and navy against Athens.

Minos captured many islands as he approached Attica. Minos became the Lord of the Aegean. In his campaign on the mainland Greece, he had captured the kingdom of Megara, ruled by Nisus. See Nisus and Scylla . From there, he moved his army and navy against Athens. The siege in Athens, however, was long, frustrating Minos for revenge against Aegeus. So Minos prayed to his father, Zeus, the mightiest of the gods, for aid. So Zeus caused Athens to suffer from famine and the plague. The Athenians suffering from war and plagues; they asked the oracle how they might survive. The oracle informed them that only sacrifices can be made to end the war, plague and famine. So Aegeus and the Athenians seized the daughters of Hyacinthus, who were foreigners from Sparta, and sacrificed the girls. But this was not the sacrifices that the oracle meant, neither the war nor the plague ended. So Aegeus consulted with the oracle again, and discovered what sacrifice he must make. So Aegeus send an embassy, to surrender to whatever terms that Minos demanded.

Since Minos had lost a son, Aegeus must give him seven youths and seven maidens every nine years, as tributes. These young Athenians would be confined in the Labyrinth, as food to the monster Minotaur. Aegeus had no choice but to comply with Minos' demands. This was what the oracle meant by sacrifices. This practice of tributes only ended, when Aegeus' son, Theseus, offered himself as a sacrifice, with his real intention of killing the Minotaur. The Labyrinth was built by Daedalus (Daidalos), the only person who knew how to escape the giant maze. Ariadne, who fell in love with Theseus , persuaded Daedalus to disclose the secret method to escape from the Labyrinth. The Minotaur was killed by the Athenian hero Theseus and he escaped the Labyrinth. (See Theseus .) Nisus and Scylla During Minos' campaign against Athens, the Cretan army attacked Megara, a kingdom in the Corinthian Isthmus that was ally to Athens.

At the time of the siege, Megara's king was Nisus (Νἳσος), the son of Pandion, who was formerly a king of Athens. Nisus' mother was Pylia, daughter of Pylas, king of Megara. Nisus had a daughter named Scylla (Σκύλλη). According to the legend, Nisus have a lock of purple hair on his head. As long his hair was on his head, Nisus could not die and he would not lose his kingdom to any invaders. But the king never suspected treachery from his own daughter. Scylla watched the besieging army from the high walls of Megara. When Scylla first saw Minos, she fell in love with her father's enemy. Scylla betrayed her father, by pulling the purple hair out of Nisus' head, which instantly killed him. With Nisus' death the city of Megara surrendered to Minos. Minos, however, did not reward Scylla for her treachery or his victory over Megara. Minos had girl tied to the prow of his ship, by her feet, so that Scylla drowned.

Library was written by Apollodorus. Metamorphoses was written by Ovid. Description of Greece was written by Pausanias. Libation Bearers was written by Aeschylus. Related Articles Polyeidus and Glaucus Minos had a young son named Glaucus (Glaucos or Γλαὓκος) who fell into a large jar of honey. Minos told an Argive seer named Polyeidus (Polyidos or Πολύειδος), who was a descendant of Melampus (Melampous), to revive his son. Minos had Polyeidus entombed with Glaucus. In the tomb, Polyeidus killed a snake, but saw a second snake bringing back the dead snake to life with the herb. Polyeidus took some of herb and revive the king's son. Minos then ordered Polyeidus to teach Glaucus everything about the art of divination; otherwise he could not leave the island. So he taught the king's son everything he knew. When Minos finally allowed the seer to leave, Polyeidus told the boy that he had one last lesson to teach him.

Polyeidus told the boy to spit into his mouth. Once Glaucus spat into the seer's mouth, the boy forgot everything that Polyeidus had taught him. While Polyeidus was in Lycia, it was he who gave Bellerophon his counsel on how to tame the winged horse Pegasus . Death of Minos Minos was still furious at Daedalus' escape. Minos placed a large reward to find the inventor, and for years send his warships out searching for the fugitive. Finally he had pinpointed Daedalus' location in Sicily. Minos brought a sizeable naval force to capture Daedalus. Cocalus, the king of the Sicani, befriended Daedalus, who helped him build several great citadels – Megaris, Acragas and Selinus. Minos had brought a spiral sea-shell and offered a large reward for anyone who could draw a thread through it. Cocalus brought shell to Daedalus. Attaching a thread to an ant, so the ant can pull the thread through one end of the shell to the other. Cocalus then display his success. Minos realised that Cocalus was hiding Daedalus.

Minos demanded that Cocalus should hand over the inventor or face his mighty army. Cocalus promised to give Daedalus to the Cretan king, and offered his home in hospitality. While Minos was taking a bath, Cocalus' daughters poured boiling water over his head. Cocalus informed the Cretan general, that their king had accidentally slipped and fallen into the bath, filled with hot water. Minos was buried in Sicily. When Minos died, Minos became an attendant of the Themis , goddess of justice, along with his brother Rhadamanthys and with Aeacus , the son of Zeus and Aegina . They were three judges in the Underworld, presiding over the souls of the dead. Crete was divided between Minos two sons, Catreus (Κατρεύς) and Deucalion (Δευκαλίων). Deucalion was the father of Idomeneus and a daughter, named Crete. Crete was probably the eponym of the island; though, some says that Crete was the daughter of Europa and Asterius . Deucalion also had illegitimate son named Molus.

According to the Odyssey, Deucalion had another son named Aethon. When Odysseus was disguised as a beggar in his palace, he had introduced himself to Penelope as Aethon, who met her husband before the war. Catreus had only one son, named Althaemenes, and three daughters, Apemosyne, Clymene and Aërope. Catreus had either ruled Crete alone, or the kingdom was divided between him and his brother, Deucalion. Catreus had heard from the oracle that he would die at the hand of one of his children. Catreus tried to keep this a secret, but Althaemenes had overheard. Fearing that he would be the one to murder his father, Althaemenes fled to the island Rhodes, taking his sister Apemosyne with him. Althaemenes founded the city in Rhodes, which he called Cretinia. While brother and sister were living in Rhodes, Hermes had raped Apemosyne so that she fell pregnant. When Althaemenes saw this, he did not believe her about who had raped her. Althaemenes killed his sister, by kicking Apemosyne to death.

Catreus ordered Nauplius to kill his other two daughters; instead Nauplius married Clymene, who became the mother of Palamedes and Oiax or Oeax. Nauplius sold the other sister, Aerope, to Atreus, the king of Mycenae. Atreus had a brother, named Thyestes, his archenemy and rival. Her adultery with Thyestes led the two brothers to conflict and began a cycle of violent death between Atreus and Thyestes, her children and grandchildren. See House of Atreus . When Theseus became a widow, Catreus agreed to the hero's marriage to his younger sister, Phaedra. This marriage however ended in tragedy, when Phaedra fell in love with her stepson, Hippolytus, the son of the Amazon Antiope. (Read Hippolytus in the Theseus' page, about Phaedra and Hipploytus.) When Catreus reach an old age and knew that he was dying. Catreus went to Rhodes, in the hope that his son Althaemenes, so that he would succeed him in Crete.

When the Cretans landed on the island, Althaemenes thought they were pirates, so he led his armed warriors against the intruders. Althaemenes killed his own father with a javelin. When Althaemenes found out the truth that he had killed his own father, Althaemenes prayed for his own death. The gods answered his prayer, by causing the earth to swallow the sorrowful Althaemenes. With the death of Catreus and his son, Althaemenes, Catreus' nephew, Idomeneus became king of Crete. Library was written by Apollodorus. Related Articles Idomeneus Idomeneus (Ἰδομενεές) was a son of Deucalion . He was also the brother of Crete and half-brother of Molus. Idomeneus was the nephew of Catreus . Idomeneus had married Meda, and became the father of Cleisithyra and Idamante. Idomeneus was a former suitor of Helen , and brought 80 ships to Troy.

Meriones, son of Molus, was his lieutenant and his second-in-command, whom Idomeneus often fought side-by-side. Though he was one of oldest leaders, next to Nestor, he distinguished himself in the war. Idomeneus was one of the leaders who had volunteered to fight Hector in single combat. Idomeneus was one of the leaders who hid in the Wooden Horse. Idomeneus was said to have returned safely to Crete, and when he died he was buried alongside with Meriones. Idomeneus had promised the gods that if he returned safely to Crete, he would sacrifice the first person who he met. The tragedy of his vow was that first person was his own son, Idamante. The rash king had no choice but to kill his unfortunate son. But according to Apollodorus, Idomeneus safely returned home after the war, but in his long absence, Meda had taken a lover, named Leucus, at the instigation of Nauplius. Leucus managed to gain support from ten cities in Crete, so that he was able to deprive Idomeneus of his kingdom.

Meda realised her mistake in taking a lover, she fled to the temple, seeking refuge with her daughter, but Leucus followed and murdered Medea and her daughter Cleisithyra. Leucas then drove Idomeneus out of Crete, but Apollodorus doesn't state where he was exiled to. Vergil says that Idomeneus had migrated with his followers to Calabria, in southern Italy. According to the Odyssey , Idomeneus had another brother, named Aethon. The Ithacan hero, Odysseus had used this name, when he was disguised as a beggar. Odysseus fabricated a story for his wife of how he met her husband. The UnMuseum - Labyrinth at Knossos Requires javascript The Labyrinth at Knossos According to legend, Thesesus fought the Minotaur, a half-man, half-bull monster, in the depths of the labyrinth. (Copyright Lee Krystek, 2001) According to ancient greek myths, the great greek King Aegeus was forced to pay tribute to King Minos of the Minoans, whose kingdom was on the island we now call Crete.

Every year the tribute included seven young men and seven young maidens. Underground far below King Minos' palace at the city of Knossos lay a huge maze built for him by the inventor and master architect Daedalus. Inside the maze Minos kept a monster called the Minotaur. The Minotaur was a hideous creature that was half man and half bull. The fourteen young people from Greece would be let loose into the maze, the labyrinth, where they would become hopelessly lost and eventually be eaten by the Minotaur. According to the legend, King Aegeus' son, Thesesus, decided to volunteer as one of the sacrificial victims, so that he could attempt to kill the Minotaur. Thesesus was successful. He slew the Minotaur, then used a trail of twine he'd started laying down at the entrance of the labyrinth to find his way out of the maze. So how much of this incredible tale is based on reality? Ancient writers from Roman times argued that the Labyrinth was a set of winding caves they knew were located on the south side of Crete at Gortyna. In the early 19th century C.R.

Cockerell visited these caves and wrote in his journal that he and his party entered the cavern through an inconspicuous hole in the hillside of Mount Ida and unwound a length of twine to keep from getting lost. "The windings," wrote Cockerell, "bewildered us at once, and , my compass being broken, I was quite ignorant as to where I was. The clearly intentional intricacy and apparently endless number of galleries impressed me with a sense of horror and fascination I cannot describe. At every ten steps one was arrested, and had to turn to right or left, sometimes to choose one of three or four roads. What if one should lose the clue!" A sketch of the Gortyna cavern as seen in the 19th century. The caves at Gortyna, as much as they might seem to fit the legend are in the wrong place as the Labyrinth was supposedly located at Knossos. Some writers have speculated that another similar set of caves, now lost, near Knossos served as the Labyrinth, but modern archaeologists have come to another conclusion. Archaeologists have found no evidence that a horrible half-man, half-bull-like creature existed at Knossos.

However, they have found what looks like a labyrinth. The labyrinth wasn't built in a cave below the palace, though. It was the palace. The Minoans are a mysterious people. We do not know where they came from, but they seemed to have arrived in Crete about 7000 BC. By all indications the Greeks feared the Minoans, but the Minoans did not seem like a warlike people (their cities had few fortifications). Little is known about the Minoan's religion or their form of government. We cannot read the writing they left behind. In fact, researchers have been unable to figure out even by what name the Minoans called themselves. The term Minoan comes from the legend of King Minos and was coined by archaeologists because they needed a term to describe their discoveries at Knossos. A fresco from the Minoan palace at Knossos showing the sport of "bull leaping." If the Minoans had power it must have come from trade, not war. They exchanged goods with peoples from all around the eastern Mediterranean.

Ostrich plumes came from northern Africa, alabaster from Egypt, gold and silver from the Aegean Islands and ivory from Syria. They alll passed through Minoan hands, making Mionan profits, on their way to distant destinations. The wealth from the trade financed a number of palaces on Crete, the largest of which was the palace at Knossos. Archaeologists are not exactly sure who lived in the Knossos palace. However, they have uncovered a quantity of ceremonial and religious imagery there. This leads some to believe that the chief occupant of the building was a 'priest-king' who had the dual function of leading the state and the religion. Other scholars see the palace as a only a temple. Others as a center for trade. Whatever the palace's function, the building itself was enormous. It contained hundreds of rooms at many levels grouped around a central courtyard. The palace had storerooms, bathrooms, private apartments, public rooms, workshops and even what appears to be a throne room. Some of the storerooms contained dozens of huge jars, called pithoi, which were used to contain olive oil.

According to some estimates 60,000 gallons of olive oil could be put in these, which is a testament to the Minoan's wealth. This siliver coin from Knossos dated at around 500 B.C. shows the Minotaur on one side and the Labyrinth on the other. While there is no archaeological evidence of a labyrinth, the palace itself to a visitor must have seemed like an intimidating maze of corridors, staircases and rooms. This is probably where the legend of the labyrinth began. An early version of the palace was started around 1900 BC, but was demolished for a grander one in 1700 BC. Unlike the Greeks, the Minoans did not consider symmetry an important attribute of architecture. Rooms and halls seem to be added almost at random, though they were undoubtedly placed with a practical purpose in mind. The lack of symmetry does not mean the palace was ugly. Each room had its own beauty and many were decorated with frescoes. The palace reflected the Mnoans practicality. Much of the structure and columns were made of wood, which was more likely to survive an earthquake than stone. The palace had a sanitary drainage system to take wastewater away from the apartments.

The drainage channel was even designed with zigzags and basins to slow down the water to prevent overflows. Many of the rooms are partly underground to keep them cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Colonnaded porches allow cool breezes in, but kept out the hot sun. If the palace is the origin of the labyrinth myth, where did the legend of the Minotaur come from? We know that the Minoans had a fascination for bulls. Their most mysterious art shows human figures, some of them girls, grabbing the horns of a bull and leaping over it. Archaeologists have wondered if this strange and dangerous activity really did take place. If it did, was it merely a sport, or did it have some religious significance? Recent archaeological excavations have shown an arena-like structure outside one of the Minoan palaces that might have been the site of these mysterious activities. Whatever the significance of the bull-leaping, it was probably the genesis of the Minotaur myth. Why bulls? Crete is subject to earthquakes. Perhaps the violent and unpredictable movements of the earth seemed to them like the temperamental acts of a creature such as a bull.

The Greek god Poseidon was known as the 'earth-shaker' and was connected to bulls, so perhaps the Minoans were worshiping an earlier form of this god in their ceremonies. Archaeologists think that the end of the Minoan culture came about 1450 BC. Seventy miles away, a volcano exploded on the island of Thera. This caused a huge tidal wave to hit Crete which destroyed many major buildings and probably their fleet of ships. The wave ended the Minoan's ability to conduct trade, causing them to quickly lose power in the eastern Mediterranean. Some scholars suggest that the end of the Minoan culture may have inspired stories about the continent of Atlantis . The story of the destruction of a powerful and sophisticated culture by water in one night seems extremely similar, though the dates and location must have been exaggerated over time. Copyright Lee Krystek 2001. All Rights Reserved.

Question: Who designed and built the 'Labyrinth' in Crete for King Minos to house the 'Monotaur'?
Answer: DAEDALUS