Tom Foran Clark

As for King Minos and the besieging of Megara, when King Minos arrived at Megara, its king, Nisus 1, wasn't too concerned or worried. He had special protection: hidden in his own white hair was a secret lock of red hair. He knew that so long as the lock of red hair was in place, Minos could do no harm to him or to Megara. However, Scylla, the daughter of Nisus, who'd fallen in love with King Minos, cut the lock of red hair from her father's head -- which immediately felled Nisus. And so Magara fell. So soon as Minos found out that Scylla had been responsible for her father's death, he killed her.

Minos 2 was the most prosperous king of the Mediterranean area, renowned as much for his justness as his power. His wife Pasiphae -- daughter of the sun-god Helios, mother of Phaedra, Ariadne, Andregeos, and Minotaurus -- developed severe Bulimia Nervosa -- overeating. Eventually, she died from it. At Camicus in Sicily, Minos was killed by King Cocalus, the king of Agrigentum (or by a daughter of this Sicilian king, who poured boiling water over him in his bath). Subsequently his remains were sent back to the Cretans, who placed them in a sarcophagus, on which was inscribed: "The tomb of Minos, the son of Zeus."

Minos 2 was succeeded by Idomeneus 1, who became leader of the Cretans during the Trojan War. At his return from Troy, he was driven out of Crete by the usurper Leucus 1. Because of the intrigues of Nauplius 1 [see Agamemnon], Idomeneus 1's wife Meda 2 became the lover of Leucus 1 while her husband was fighting at Troy. Leucus 1 killed her along with her daughter by Idomeneus 1, Clisithyra, and detaching ten cities from Crete, made himself ruler of them. So when Idomeneus 1, returning from the Trojan War, landed in Crete, Leucus 1 drove him out.

In the year 2000 B.C. around the time the first palce at Knossos had been built, Tantra was already being practised in India, its rites employing Sanskrit texts and ritual copulation; in China, writing was being developed; the Germanic Vikings from northwestern Europe were migrating to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, already skilled in the use of their rune stones; in North America, Native Americans were settled in permanent villages, domesticating dogs and cultivating squash, maize, and beans. In the 1700s, Mesopotamia's sixth Amorite king, Hammurabi, conquered all the kingdoms of lower Mesopotamia, establishing the old Babyloninan Empire, He created the Code of Hammurabi, the first law code written, which included the principle "eye for an eye."

In 1700 B.C. the Minoan palaces were destroyed -- first by a powerful earthquake, followed by outside invaders trying to take advantage of the Minoans in their dark hour. But, even despite the abrupt destruction of the palaces, Minoan civilization still continued to flourish. The palace at Knossos was rebuilt. A new script (called Linear B) at Knossos indicated the influence of Mycenaean Greeks. In the years 1700- 1500, the destroyed palaces were all rebuilt on the ruins, giving rise to even more spectacular structures at Phaistos, Malia, and Zakros. Further similarly luxurious palaces were built -- at Gournia, Cydonia (now Khánia), and elsewhere.

Small towns grew up near the palaces. Small residences, along the lines of what we now call villas, began appearing in the rural landscape, modeled after the large palaces. These had storage facilities, rooms for worship, and artisan's workshops. These residences, usually the the homes of affluent landlords, came to be lesser centers of power, away from the palaces. Minoan culture peaked. Administrative and economic unity had grown stronger all across the island. Excavated remnants -- artifacts, seals, and spears -- show there was then a very affluent upper class. The paved road network was expanded to connect most major Minoan palaces and towns. Women still played a powerful role in society. Minoan culture dominated the Aegean islands, and began to expand into the Peloponnese. The Minoan culture fused with the traditions of the Helladic (on mainland Greece), eventually morphing into the Mycenaean civilization (which in turn challenged the Minoan supremacy in the Aegean).

Around 1500 B.C., Knossos was again destroyed -- again as a result of earthquake and subsequent invasion from the Mycenaean mainland. The site of Kastelli, Khania, was eventually destroyed by a conflagration, and immediately rebuilt.

In 1400 BC, the population of Knossos was around 100,000. Mycenae was then at the early palace stage of its history, soon to take over the responsibility left dangling by faltering Crete. Egypt was thriving under Amenhotep III, and the religious reforms of Akhenaten were only a generation away.

At this time, around 1400 B.C., came the worst destruction in Crete's history. Minoan civilization was practically destroyed by the explosion a volcano on the island of Santorini. Ash from the eruption covered Crete. The tsunamis that swelled out from the earthquake swept over Crete -- the levelling tsunami that was called called Deucalion's flood. A large migration of Minoans occured -- the people fled to the eastern part of the island, an area that spared from volcanic fallout due to prevailing winds, an area where crops could again be cultivated. Cretans also fled to to the mainland of Greece. The refugees introduced the skills, arts, and other wonders of Minoan civilization to the mainland Greeks.

Dating the destruction of the Final Palace at Knossos gave rise to hot debate. Birgitta Hallager, the wife of Swedish archaeologist Erik Hallager, cited evidence from the Chania excavations to argue that Crete was not then in decline, and that the Mycenaeans had not yet then controlled trade in the area. Other Swedish excavators generally concurred, however, that the Late Minoan period was then over -- had faded out in poverty and obscurity. (The Greek-Swedish excavations in the Agia Aikaterini Square close to the harbor of the modern town of Chania, western Crete, were conducted under the direction of Dr. Yannis Tzedakis and Professor Carl-Gustaf Styrenius during the years 1970-1987 and 2001.)

After the final destruction of Knossos, the cultural center of the Aegean passed to the the Mycenaeans of the Greek mainland. The Mycenaean economy was based on agriculture. There were two major food-grains produced: wheat and barley. The Mycenaeans also produced wine, olive oil, oil from various spices and figs. Mycenaean society was very ordered, with a strict hierarchical system. Authority was strongly centralised. The Mycenaean state was headed by a king and beneath him came a very complex social and administrative organisation of various formal officials.Although the king did not control every aspect of life in every community, he and his administrators could gather, if necessary, detailed information in any part of the territory that it controlled

In 1304, in Egypt, the Hebrews were enslaved; Moses was born of Hebrew slaves at the end of the 1300s; in the 1200s, Troy was built in Crete (nine cities on top of each other, which were destroyed in the mid 1200s); Moses led his people from slavery in Egypt to Canaan, stopping at the Oasis of Kedesh in Syria, crossing Sanai desert, 1225-1215; in 628 B.C. came the birth of Zartosht, Zoroaster, the Persian Prophet. The Persian Wars, or Greco-Persian Wars, lasted twenty years, from 499 to 479 B.C. In 427 B.C., Athens conquered Minoa.

Near Knossos was the Cave of Eileithyia, the goddess of childbirth (the "liberator" of the child from the womb. Eileithyia had been born of Hera in the cave. Near these was Skotino, a small village known for its nearby caves and for it's hidden school -- a school that arose when education had been banned there by the Ottoman Turks. The Ottoman Turks had taken Crete in 1669, and ruled until 1898. In the beginning of Turkish rule was hardship, deprivation, and ruthless discrimination against Christians. Plenty weakened, converting to Islam.

Greek and Cretan cultural traditions were preserved and protected by monasteries and the Greek Orthodox church. Culinary traditions, too, were preserved in monasteries and in remote mountain villages. Crete is mountainous -- life was not just built around ocean trade (always dangerous, due to invaders and pirates).

Cretan food was served at lunchtime at the tavernas (prepared food = "etimo fayeto") -- maybe twelve different dishes -- stuffed vegetables, tourta, soupy stews, and savory pies. In the evening are "meze," various small dishes. Stifado (stew) or grilled meats arrive haphazardly, as they are finished. Cheeses -- called simply "cheese." (Note Kefalotyri, or malaka or a clotted cream-like product called staka). Each of Crete's invaders influenced the food. Cretan food is simple food, but that does not mean it is bland food. It is food based on a foundation of basic native ingredients: olive oil, vegetables, wild greens, lemons, oranges, lentils, beans, and barley.

Twenty kilometers from Athens was Eleusis, a city the goddess Demeter had famously departed. Demeter had been welcomed at Eleusis by King Celeus. She had taught the king and certain initiates of Eleusis to practice certain ceremonies in her honor. The ceremonies, called the Eleusian Mysteries, were performed only by the initiates, and kept secret from the rest of the world.

There may well have been a drug involved. There are some grains, for example barley, which are susceptable to a certain mold that causes a halucinogenic effect. The "ergot fungus" is a fungus that causes the sclerotia of the barley plant to fall to the ground, where it then sprouts up in the form of tiny purple mushrooms. These, if prepared properly, can be digested as a hallucinogen. The Initiation into the Eleusian Mysteries was very probably accompanied by that drug. (Soma -- magic mushrooms -- more specifically, Amanita Muscaria, had been used by the Viking Beserkers.) The Greeks, after settling in Europe and Asia Minor, had abandoned their ancestral worship of Soma (Sabazios) and substituted alcohol -- the wine of Dionysus. But they retained traces of the original Soma worship in their Dionysiac rituals. The cult of Dionysus pursued ecstatic behavior -- the wine of the god Dionysus had basically the same effects as that of ancient (non-alcoholic) Soma.

The cult of Demeter at Eleusis was the earliest and largest Mystery cult in Greece. It was active from at least 800 B.C. to 400 AD (there is new evidence suggesting cult worship at Eleusis dating back to 1400 BC). The cult and its rituals were borne out of the myth of Demeter and Persephone. Persephone had eaten some pomegranate seeds in the Underworld, an act which obliged her to return to the shadowy domain for a third of every year. Nevertheless, Demeter and Persephone, in joyful reunion, became resigned to the annual parting and taught their Mysteries to the townspeople of Eleusis. The ceremonies were to be re-enacted annually. The sacred rites took place in early autumn and the preliminary ceremonies lasted for nine days. They began with a gathering in Athens, when the names of that year's initiates would be read out. The Eleusian Mysteries were composed of two elements: the Lesser (in the spring) was the preliminary initiation of new members; the Greater (in the fall) was split into public and private components (the private side was the essence of the cult).

Demeter, "the maternal archetype," whose symbols are wheat and poppies (bread), represented maternal instinct fulfilled through pregnancy -- or through providing physical, psychological, spiritual nourishment to others. Demeter had come to Athens in the reign of Erechtheus, about 1409, and had sown the first fields of wheat in the Rharian Plain. The fields were woman. In her body, a woman carries the secret knowledge of fertility and growing. The field and the woman caress the seed. The seed is at home in the body -- and in the earth’s body. The seed feeds off the moist nurturing food her blood carries -- and the earth carries. The mystery astounds her -- and she is the mystery.

After Zeus had entered the bed of fruitful Demeter, she'd given birth to Persephone."In the flower of her youth," Persephone was violently abducted by the king of the Underworld, Aidoneus. Demeter could hear her daughter's cries, but could not come to her rescue -- could not save her.

From the "Homeric Hymn to Demeter" (lines 1-21), seventh century BC: "Demeter, I begin to sing -- the fair-tressed awesome goddess -- herself, and her slim-ankled daughter whom Aidoneus raped and took away, given to him by all-seeing, loud-thundering Zeus. Apart from Demeter, lady of the golden sword and glorious fruits, she was playing with the deep-bosomed daughters of Oceanus and gathering flowers over a soft meadow, roses and crocuses and beautiful violets, irises also and hyacinths and the narcissus, which Earth made to grow at the will of Zeus and to please the Host of Many, to be a snare for the bloom-like girl - a marvelous, radiant flower. It was a thing of awe whether for deathless gods or mortal men to see: from its root grew a hundred blooms and it smelled most sweetly, so that all wide heaven above and the whole earth and the sea's salt swell laughed for joy. And the girl was amazed and reached out with both hands to take the lovely toy; but the wide-pathed earth yawned there in the plain of Nysa, and the lord, Host of Many, with his immortal horses sprang out upon her - the Son of Cronos, He who has many names. He caught her up reluctant on his golden car and bare her away lamenting. Then she cried out shrilly with her voice, calling upon her father, the Son of Cronos, who is most high and excellent."

As Demeter wandered through Arcadia in search for her lost daughter Persephone, her brother Poseidon pursued her -- amorosuly. Poseidon found her desirable and he intended to do something about it. He stalked the sorrowful goddess in lustful pursuit. Frantically Demeter, in order to escape his grasp, changed herself into a mare. Poseidon changed himself into a stallion, and mounted her. (The issue of this union would be twins, the nymph Despoena and the wild steed Arion.)

One night, on a high dark hill, Demeter came face to face with Hecate, the Moon. Like Demeter, Hecate had also heard the cries of Persephone. Hecate told Demeter she should go to Helios (the watcher for the gods) to beg Helios to tell her who had carried off Persephone by brutal force. Helios said, "It was the king of the Underworld, Aidoneus [Hades], who carried off Persephone to make her his queen in the realm I never shine on." Helios then sprang suddenly into his horsedrawn chariot, and went flashing away.

Hades claimed the supremacy of the world that was "other" -- isolated, separate, silent. Hades was the Lord of the unseen world. This other world culminated in the flower of the visible -- that flower was Persephone. Persephone was lured by Hades with a flower -- the narcissus. The Greeks worshipped Persephone as both maiden (a young girl, surrounded by signs of fertility -- pomegranate, grain, corn) AND as Queen of the Underworld (who watched over the Erinyes, or Furies, who guarded the tombs of the dead).

Demeter, at the news of her daughter's captivity in the otherworld -- the underworld -- quenched the torch she had been holding in her hands for nine days and nine nights. She took off her robe of goddess, and went wandering, bitter and forlorn, over the earth. Demeter crossed over into Attica, traveled to Sicily, and afterwards to Egypt. She brought them corn, and instructions for the sowing of it. She received great honors from those she benefited -- but none of it brought her any peace.

Like Persephone, Dionysus was associated with vegetation myths -- death in the winter, and resurrection each spring. Dionysus -- a son of Semele, who was a son of Zeus, making Dionysus one of Zeus's grandchildren -- was a savior-destroyer god who wandered the world with devoted female attendants and wild panthers.

Like Poseidon, Dionysus was a sensual god. His mystery was the mystery of mad despair and of ecstasy. The wine produced by the grapes that marked his fertility induced intoxication, which inspired poetry and songs -- sung before sex to make the man hard and the women moist -- and fire, frenzy, madness, ecstasy.

On the island of Naxos, Dionysus met Ariadne, the daughter of Crete's King Minos. She was crying. Dionysus took one look at her and knew that he must have her.

Here is how Ariadne came to be lying there in the first place: When the son of King Minos and his wife Pasiphae, had sent their son (Ariadne's brother), Androgeos, to Athens to participate in the Olympic games. Some jealous competitors, from Athens, conspired to kill him. When they did, his father, King Minos, exacted terrible justice. To avenge the death of Androgeos, Minos took control of the city, granting Athens peace on one condition: every nine years Athenians must send him seven young men and seven maidens to Crete, to be offered as a sacrifice to the Minotaur. The inventor, Daedalus, after building a wooden cow for the king's wife, Pasiphae, next built a dance stage for the king's daughter, Ariadne -- the goddess of the underworld and fertility -- the Earth Mother. Daedalus, having designed the maze beneath the Palace of Minos the Minotaur was kept in, revealed its secrets to Ariadne, who helped Theseus find his way through the labyrinth, kill the Minotaur, and safely make his way back out again.

Ariadne had helped Theseus on one condition: that he take her with him to Athens and marry her. He'd agreed. The two had fled Crete, sailing toward Athens. In Naxos, Ariadne had fallen asleep on the shore. Theseus had then abandoned her. He'd continued on, sailing toward Athens.

Theseus became king of Athens by virtue of being Aegeus's son. Theseus defeated the Minotaur, but he forgot to raise the white sails when his ship returned to Attica. Aegeus saw the black sails as the ship approached, and thought Theseus had been killed on Crete. Aegeus threw himself from a tower, into the sea and drowned. The sea in which he died would come to be called the Aegean.

It's possible Theseus did not actually abandon Ariadne. Many said he had, in his eagerness to get back to Athens and his father, simply forgot about her, sailing away when she fell asleep. When Ariadne awoke, realizing she'd been deserted, she grieved bitterly. She cried out for the Eumenides to punish him: "Do not permit my mourning to disappear, but with the same mind as Theseus left me alone, goddesses, may he defile himself and his own with death."

Theseus, when he got back to Athens, in fact did forget to change the sails. And so Theseus himself received the same grief from his forgetful mind as he had brought to Ariadne, the daughter of King Minos.

Now Dionysus showed up. When Dionysis saw Ariadne weeping almost uncontrollably on Naxos, his heart went out to her -- and that was not all that went out. He succumbed at once to something like the curse Poseidon had put on Ariadne's mother, Queen Pasiphae, when she craved to have sex with a bull. The thoughts of Dionysis all ran now to one idea: he must have Ariadne. She was on her knees, her forehead touching the ground. Dionysus approached her from behind, lifted her gown, and took her hips in his clutches. Ariadne, utterly humiliated, began laughing hysterically the instant the ecstatic, gifted Dionysus deftly thrust his penis in.

After the quick tumble with the beautiful Cretan princess -- which did take Ariadne's mind off Theseus a little while -- Dionysus returned with her to her homeland, where the two cavorted openly. When a nymph in love with Dionysus attempted to drive away his beloved Ariadne, the god angrily transformed her into an asparagus-like foot-tall phallus-shaped plant. It wasn't very long before Dionysyus' enormous sexual appetite started to show signs of diminishing. The god of wine began saying mean, paltry, nasty little things to Aridadne. He'd point out to her that he had the power, yes, to immortalize her, but he also had the power to destroy her -- or compel her to destroy herself. At that point, she obviously should have known better but, for all that, still Ariadne agreed to let Dionysus marry her.

The wine god was no loner. He was always surrounded by women -- his worshippers -- the Maenads. The women had no formal temples. They worshipped Dionysis in the wilderness. The Maenads wanted union with this god, in order to be more like Ariadne -- to catch glimpses of their primal wildness, the Goddess energy. Initiates to the mysteries of Dionysus, identifying completely with Ariadne, entered into a pseudo-marriage with Dionysus. They celebrated with reckless abandon -- naked, intoxicated, laughing, weeping, dancing. The cult emblem of Dionysus, of course, was the erect phallus. Dionysus, the god of drunkenness, frenzy, and ecstacy, was also one of the gods of healing. His name, broken down to its original parts -- IA-U-NU-ShUSh -- meant "semen" or, "the seed that saves."

By having sex with Dionysus, the women felt transported to the heavens. Then these ritual marriages also would turn dark. Ultimately, the ecstasy would turn to anger, rage, frenzy, brutal violence. The Maenads, “possessed” with Dionysus -- revealed as a misogynist, a hater of women, now symbolizing abusive lovers and husbands -- became wild, furiously tearing apart sacrificial victims, eating the flesh in a bloody feast.

The Minoans had practised human sacrifice. Sacrificed corpses were found at a number of sites in the citadel of Knossos. One such find at the North House at Knossos numbered 337 bones of children who appear to have been butchered. It is possible they may have been for human consumption as was the tradition with sacrificical offerings made in Hellenistic Civilization. The evidence that this practice was widespread throughout Minoan culture is not strong. It is also possible that the human sacrifices at Crete were one off occurances as Knossos did befall an epic tectonic natural disaster around the time at which these sites would have been preserved. Hence these human sacrifices could be explained in terms of the Minoans desperation in the situation and being far from routine procedures. The temple of Anemospilia at Knossos exemplifies this view. Here they found the sacrifice of a teenager which was interupted by the temple collapsing on the participants due to the tectonic activitity (an earthquake) at the time. The myth of Theseus and the Minotaur (at the labyrinth at Knossos) provides evidence that Human sacrifice was commonplace. In the myth we are told that Athens sent seven young men and seven young women to Crete as human sacrifices to the Minotaur.

Later, feeling bad for having deserted Ariadne, Theseus had returned to Crete to kidnap her. Unfortunatly, she was pregnant by Dionysus. Ariadne would turn her rage inward, destroying herself through madness, intending suicide. Theseus would arrived to abduct her -- too late. Ariadne would die the instant before she was to give birth to the child fathered by Dionysus.

Recurring themes in this Mythology: the entrance into the Labyrinth (underworld). The loss of innocence. The Divine Fire. The Divine Marriage. Death and rebirth.

No one knew why, in August, 2001, Nora decided to steal a small figurine from excavations being made near Loutro, but she showed up with it one day, and then planted it with Frida's things -- then reported her to the police. At the outset of the investigation, Frederik took responsibility for the theft, trusting Frida would not be charged. Both landed in jail. Their bail was huge. Nora -- appearing repentant, seeking to be forgiven, promising to get bail money -- came up with the idea that she could go to Denmark and approach Frederik's parents and ask them for money to get their son out of jail on Crete.

Interestingly, she had already bought, a week before, two train tickets.