Sir Arthur Evans excavated the site of Knossos on Crete in 1899.

Sir Arthur Evans excavated the site of Knossos on Crete in 1899

Homer’s description of Minoans in the Odyssey (19.172-179)

There is a land called Crete . . .

ringed by the wine-dark sea with rolling whitecaps—

handsome country, fertile, thronged with people

well past counting—boasting ninety cities,

language mixing with language side-by-side.

First come the Achaeans, then the native Cretans,

hardy, gallant in action, then Cydonian clansmen,

Dorians living in three tribes, and proud Pelasgians last.

Central to all their cities is magnificent Cnossos,

the site where Minos ruled and each ninth year

conferred with almighty Zeus himself.

The “Throne Room” from the palace at Knossos (late 15th c. BCE)

Dolphin Frieze from the palace at Knossos (c. 1500 BCE)

Blue Bird Fresco from the House of Frescoes at Knossos (c. 1500 BCE)

Bull-jumping Fresco from the palace at Knossos(c. 1500 BCE)

Bull at the Royal Gate (from the palace at Knossos)

Bull Rhyton (libation vase), from the Little Palace at Knossos (c. 1550-1500 BCE)

Plan of the Palace at Knossos.

(Architecture built around a Central Courtyard)

Pasiphae and Daedalus (wall painting from Pompeii)

Heroes of Athens

• Herakles: popular under the Peisistratids (a clan counting a number of tyrants who ruled Athens before it became a democracy).

• Theseus: after the ousting of the Peisistratids in 510 BCE, Theseus becomes the central hero of the Athenians.

Theseus’ Parents

Aegeus (and Poseidon) of Athens

Aethra of Trozen

The myth of Theseus has been called “the story of the Athenian Ephebe System”

The death of the old king represents the destruction of the

past

Theseus has just defeated the Minotaur and is receiving thanks from the youths he has saved

The Minotaur as self-portrait.

Picasso.

Minotauromachy (fight against the bull)