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TRANSCRIPT
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Follow me… to get to know the Minoans
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You managed to use the leaflet entitled “Follow
me… to the palace of Knossos” with success!
So now, follow me… to get to know the Minoans
and see some snapshots of their way of life.
The festival wall-painting was found in a small room fallen
from the upper storey, near the north entrance to the
palace of Knossos. Lots of men and women enlivened
the walls of the room, a freeze-frame from the life of the
palace, like a photograph from an album of the festival
that was just about to begin.
Look at the building in the centre of the picture.
The columns and the double horns on the
fac¸ade show that it is some kind of Sanctuary.
The ladies of honour or perhaps Priestesses are
sitting down chatting in a relaxed manner. They
are waving their arms gracefully or touching
each other. Younger girls are standing up on
platforms. Small groups of men and women
are crowded into the same space. The men
are tanned whereas the women’s faces are
powdered white.Can you work out which is which?Wall-painting in miniature, showing a festival, from the palace of Knossos.
New Palace period (1700-1400 B.C.). Herakleion Archaeological Museum.
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Sunshine and Crete’s mild climate played a definitive
role in the basic design principles of the palace.
Many of the spots you have visited were open areas
like courtyards, light-wells and verandas, which
captured air and light, diffusing them to the closed
areas of the palace. Some of the rooms had multiple
doorways (polythyra), that is walls with multiple
openings that could be closed off by means of
wooden doors depending on the weather conditions.
Walls were reinforced with a lattice of wooden
beams, which made them more flexible and resilient in
earthquakes.
Can you make out into how many zones the artist
has set the Sanctuary on the wall-painting? This
is the way the levels and storeys of the building
are depicted. Just imagine the ambience created by
the light and shadows of the interior spaces of the
palace.
In the New Palace period, the Minoans were a great power in the Aegean. They ploughed the Mediterranean in their ships and had close commercial ties with Egypt and other lands of the East Mediterranean. The palace of Knossos was the most important administrative and economic centre on the island. It was here that those who occupied important positions within the state and priesthood lived and worked. Minoan society also included all the other inhabitants of the cities that surrounded the palaces, like merchants, sailors, craftsmen, farmers, herdsmen and
fishermen.Is it easy to make out which social classes they belong to based on their position on the stands in the wall-painting?
The Minoans had slender bodies and black
hair. Women’s fashion meant colourful clothing,
long skirts and tight-fitting blouses with short
sleeves. Curls and braids, beads, ribbons or hats
ornamented their hair. They wore jewellery on the neck,
arms and ankles. The men covered their body from the waist
to the thighs with a loincloth (cod-piece). They also looked
after their hair-styles and wore jewellery as well.
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Nature, which is reborn annually so providing vegetation and
fertility to the plant and animal kingdom, was worshipped
as a woman by the Minoans ― the Great Goddess. In the
outdoors, they chose mountain peaks and caves to offer her
dedications asking her to protect their livelihood in return.
Later on, they created special cult places in their houses, like
the modern iconostasis (small shrine with icons). Religious
ceremonies were organized in honour of the goddess both in
halls of the palace and in the open-air courtyards, where lots
of people would congregate to take part in acts of worship
so that the goddess would appear and listen to their pleas
(theophany).
The bull was an animal sacred to the Minoans. The horns and the instrument used to sacrifice the bull, the double axe, were sacred symbols in Minoan religion. Both symbols are found in the rooms of the palace of Knossos since the complex was under the protection of the goddess. That is why the palace was identified as the Labyrinth, namely the place of the double axes, since Labrys means double axe.What do we mean by the word, labyrinth, today?
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Rhytons ware ritual vessels. They had an extra hole
in the base so that liquid offerings like honey, wine
and olive oil could flow towards the earth. On the Ayia
Triada rhyton, young athletes are depicted competing
in boxing, bull-leaping and wrestling. The games were
probably connected to the worship of the goddess and
the religious ceremonies held in her honour.
Can you observe the details of the face and body of
the athletes, which prove that they have been exerting
themselves?
Stone rhyton (a kind of vase) from the
Villa at Ayia Triada. New Palace period.
Herakleion Archaeological Museum.
Four men are dancing in a small dancing area enclosed by a low circular wall, arms over each other’s shoulders. The votive offering was found among other offerings in a tomb at Kamilari in the south of Crete. It accompanied the dead on his last journey and is connected either with snapshot from his life or with rituals such as the funeral meals that took place in honour of the ancestors. Can you make out the double horns among the dancers?
Clay model of a dance from Kamilari.
Early New Palace period.
Herakleion Archaeological Museum.
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The most dangerous and impressive sport of Minoan
Crete was the taurokathapsia or bull-leaping. Young
men and women in an incredible feat of daring and
dexterity, would perform the “vault of death” over the
horns and back of a raging bull. The athletes would
grab the animal’s horns, at the same time vaulting onto
its back from where, with a spectacular acrobatic leap,
they would end once more on the ground. The bull was
worshipped by the Minoans as a sacred animal because it
symbolized power and fertility. That is why bull-leaping
was probably part of the religious ceremonies held in the
courtyard of the palace or in suitably landscaped places
in the countryside.
The Harvester Vase from the villa of Ayia Triada. New Palace period. Herakleion Archaeological Museum.
It seems that the ostrich egg shape was the inspiration for
this stone rhyton. On the shoulder of the vase, twenty-
six men are walking to a rhythm and singing to the
accompanying music. An elderly man leads the procession
as it returns from a harvest festival, rakes for winnowing
the wheat held high. Nature has once again born fruit and
the farm-workers are very happy.
Can you imagine the lines of the song?
The bull-leaping fresco
from the East Wing of the palace of Knossos. Final Palace
period. Herakleion Archaeological Museum.
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General editing: Stella Chryssoulaki
Art editing – texts: Tonia Koutsouraki
Archaeological editing: Stella Mandalaki
Electronic editing: Spilios Pistas
Translation: Colin Macdonald
www.yppo.gr | [email protected] publication was sponsored by the Archaeological Receipts Fund
Bibliography (in Greek): Dimopoulou-Rethemiotaki, N. The Archaeological Museum of Herakleion, I.S. Latsis Foundation, Athens 2005 | The dawn of Greek art,
Collaborative work, from the series Greek Art, Athens Editions, Athens 1994 | History of the Greek Nation, volumes A and B, Athens Editions, Athens 1970, 1980 |
Πίνη, Ε., Pini, E., Knossos, Phaistos, Malia, Zakros, Investigative Editions, Athens 2004 | Chryssoulaki, St., Minoan Civilization, Educational series folder No 3, Programme
MELINA “The world of Antiquity”, Ministry of Culture – Ministry of National Education and Religious Affairs, Athens 1998 | http://odysseus.culture.gr, Knossos, Palace of
Knossos, 23rd Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities
The leaflet “Follow me… to get to know the Minoans” with ISBN 978-960-386-019-8 was created in 2011. It was processed in 2015 within the framework of Action code no. MIS 339815 “Updating and digitizing educational material to support the educational process, which is implemented by the Directorate of Museums as part of the
Enterprise Programme “Education and Lifelong Learning” and jointly funded by the European Union (European Community Fund) and by national funds.
MINISTRY OF CULTURE AND SPORTSGENERAL DIRECTORATE OF ANTIQUITIES
AND CULTURAL HERITAGE
DIRECTORATE OF MUSEUMS
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS AND COMMUNICATION
Copyright ©2015 MINISTRY OF CULTURE AND SPORTSISBN digital version 978-960-386-206-2