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Minoans & Mycenaeans
Simon’s people, the Minoans, dominated Crete and the nearby islands from about 2000 to 1100 BC. I’ve chosen to call them “Cretans,” since “Minoan” is a modern term. The Minoan written language is known as Linear A, and it has not yet been deciphered (I’m holding my breath that someone does it in my lifetime!)
Baz’s people, the Mycenaeans, were an early Greek culture named after the palace of Mycenae, which was one of the earliest (and still most impressive) archaeological finds from Bronze Age Aegean (the jury is still out on whether there was an actual King Agamemnon who ruled there). I’ve called them the “Achaians,” which is one of the terms Homer used for the coalition of Greek peoples who fought in the Trojan war. (“Greek” and even “Hellene” are later terms; Homer uses Achaian, Danaän, or Argive instead).
This fic is set between 1500 and 1470 BC, as the Minoan civilization was beginning to decline and the Mycenaean to rise. As a reference point, the historical fall of Troy was most likely ~1220 BC, and the Iliad and Odyssey were written down somewhere between the eighth and sixth centuries BC.
Knossos Palace
The palace of Knossos is a real place that you can go and visit (I haven’t, but my beta CSCB has!). It was extensively excavated and reconstructed by Sir Arthur Evans starting in 1900.
Archaeologists have discovered over 1300 rooms in a complex spread over 22,000 square meters with at least 3 levels. Its maze of small rooms seems to have grown organically outward from the central courtyard, and there are symbols of the sacred double axe (labrys) all over the site. When you look at the plan it’s easy to see how it gave rise to the legend of the Labyrinth.
I’ve taken some liberties with the palace layout. In particular, my catacombs are somewhat deeper and more extensive than the archaeological evidence suggests (although I imagine they would also seem bigger if you were wandering around in them at night with only a torch!). There is actually an Artisans’ quarter in the northeast part of the complex, a residential corner in the southeast, and ritual areas on the west side.
It’s also true that there are layers from multiple palaces at Knossos; by the time of this fic the palace had been destroyed by earthquake and rebuilt at least once, and there may have been ongoing earthquakes for about 50 years around this time.
For a great guide to Knossos and its archaeology, see: http://www.odysseyadventures.ca/articles/knossos/articleKnossos01.html
Link to video tour: https://www.realmofhistory.com/2017/06/01/animation-reconstruct-knossos-palace-minoans/
For video and reconstructions of Minoan ruins, see https://youtu.be/QrkhGaNGnbU (For the record, I don’t buy the Atlantis theory presented in this piece, but it has great video of the ruins at Knossos and Thera and some nice reconstructions of the palace).
Bull leaping
Some of the most evocative Minoan art shows the sport known as bull dancing or bull leaping, which was apparently performed by young people of all genders as part of religious ceremonies. Minoan art shows bull leapers diving or somersaulting over a bull’s back, while other dancers hold onto the bull’s horns or wait behind the bull to catch the leaper. Like modern bullfighting, it was undoubtedly dangerous, and the dancers were probably trained acrobats who made it look even more dangerous and exciting than it actually was.
While there’s some scholarly debate over whether the sport was actually performed exactly as depicted, there are clear parallels between the legend of Theseus—in which 14 Athenian youths were sent as tributes to be fed to the Bull of Minos—and the sport of bull leaping. (I learned of these parallels via Mary Renault—have I mentioned yet that you should read The King Must Die??)
Bulls were a symbol of the god Poseidon. Bull motifs are prominent in Minoan art, and the “sacral horns” that decorated the roofs of Minoan palaces are thought to represent bull horns. There are depictions of bull sacrifices and people catching wild bulls as well. It’s not known whether the bulls were sacrificed at the end of each bull dance.
Gods and Goddesses
Since Linear A has not been deciphered, archaeologists have had to reconstruct everything we know about Minoan culture from archaeological evidence. It’s often unclear in Minoan art if a figure is a god, a priest or priestess, or a priest/priestess dressed as a god. It’s also unclear how many gods there were, and which are separate deities versus aspects of the same god or goddess.
Poseidon or Poteidan appears to have been a major deity. There was also at least one major goddess, probably related to the earth or fertility. She’s often called Potnia, or the Lady.
The priesthood and religious ceremonies seem to have been a very important component of Minoan life, and priestesses apparently played an important role. Some experts think that a priestess dressed as the goddess and appeared to worshippers in an “epiphany” during religious ceremonies.
Interestingly, there is some scholarly debate about the purpose of the Knossos Labyrinth. Evans called it a palace, but—despite the legends about King Minos—no royal burials or monuments like those in Egypt have been found. Some archaeologists have argued that it’s actually a temple complex, or that it served a mix of religious and secular functions.
It’s not terribly far-fetched to think that there might have been a king—say, the King Minos of legend—ruling side by side with a powerful priestly class headed by a priestess who dressed as the goddess. And, if that were the case, surely they wouldn’t always see eye to eye…