Yesterday we travelled to Knossos and Iraknaio to explore "minoan magic". I've long felt that Ancient Greece and mythology in particular have been sizeable gaps in my knowledge. It's strange that I spent 13 years at school and somehow such a rich civilisation by-passed me. Once I moved into higher education I was immediately drawn to modern history and even in those years when I taught history the curriculum jumped from the Stone Age to Roman Britain without considering Ancient Greece.
Our journey to Knossos was spent learning something of the history of Crete. It soon became apparent that because of its strategic importance in the Mediterreanan it has undergone several invasions, from the Venetians and Turks of course through to the Nazis in the second world war.
The Palace of Knossos owes much to a British archeologist Sir Arthur Evans ; however walking around the site of the labyrinth one is immediately struck not by the gap between Minoan Crete and 21st Century Europe , but more by the similarities.
Some 5000 years ago the people of Minoan Crete had invented a method to move water around the site of the palace, they had constructed a sewage system and even had a rudimentary air conditioning system. Food was stored to allow 500 or more people to live there.
We saw early board games and signs of primitive athletics. It is easy to point out the bizarre rituals and beliefs in gods that involved both human and animal sacrifice,but at times our own world defies rational explanation. All in all I came away having learned a good deal about Gaia, the half bull/half man Mitator and how the expression "take the bull by the horns" exists not only in the English speaking world but also in ancient Crete.
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