One of the cool places featured in Helios is the ancient Minoan palace at Knossos, Crete. This Bronze Age settlement in northern Crete is Europe’s oldest city, first settled in the Neolithic age. The population peaked at over 100,000, and was abandoned for unknown reason around 1100 B.C.
Knossos is the legendary site of the labyrinth which housed the Minotaur, a half-man, half-bull creature who was fed Greek youngsters as tributes. The monster was killed by Theseus, who was helped by the king’s daughter, when she gave him a spindle of thread, which he used to find his way out of the maze again.
The palace was huge for the time, covering over three acres, and featured an amphitheater which seated four hundred. The palace is famous for its frescoes, which involve bare-breasted women, griffins, sea creatures like dolphins, and the famous bull-leaping fresco.
The Bull-Leaping Fresco appears to indicate that acrobats, both male and female, grasped the horns of a charging bull, and used his head toss to somersault over the back of the bull to land upright behind him. It’s not clear if this represents something that actually happened; Wikipedia states: “Modern attempts to recreate the leaping on modern cattle have resulted only in a number of deaths.”
The bull has been venerated in many cultures, from the Apis bulls of ancient Egypt who were embalmed before burial, to the cave paintings of the aurochs in the cave paintings of Lascaux. The bull was admired for his strength and virility, and cows thought to be quite beautiful: Zeus’s wife Hera was named “ox-eyed Hera,” which referred to her lovely big eyes. Zeus coupled with her priestess Io when she was transformed into a heifer, and in the guise of a bull, he kidnapped Europa and brought her to Crete.
Bulls were sacrificed to ensure success in battle in the Roman Empire, and important enough that one of the constellations is Taurus.
Think this is all dusty old stuff? Bulls are often depicted in modern nativity scenes, and bull-wrangling sports persist to this date, from the bull-dogging of modern rodeo, to the Running of the Bulls, to bull fighting.
Here’s a couple of references, for the archaeology of Knossos and the bull leaping:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heraklion_Archaeological_Museum
Loved this entry. Theseus has always been one of those characters whose exploits capture your imagination.
Very interesting post, Chloe. Thanks!
Hi, Ben! I agree! Theseus is way up there with Perseus and Hercules.