Cretan King Minos - myth or reality? Such a ruler actually existed in ancient times. Not only archaeologists talk about this, but also manuscripts and legends that have survived to this day. The reign of the king became legendary. It was an incredible era of heroes Ancient Greece. The gods were added by folk epic. Not only ethnographers and archaeologists, but also the Greeks themselves speak about Minos with great respect.

The Mystery of the Birth of Minos

According to legends, Zeus, the patron of the sky, lightning and thunder, is one of the main ancient Greek gods. He was very voluptuous and once kidnapped Europa, the daughter of the Phoenician king Agenor. Soon she gave birth to three children, one of whom was future ruler Krita.

Ascension to the Cretan throne

The mother of King Minos was very beautiful, and before leaving Crete, Zeus ordered Asterius, who was then the ruler of the island, to adopt the children of Europa and marry her. Before his death, the king decided to give the throne to Minos. And wanting to make sure that his choice was correct, he asked Poseidon for approval. In response to his pleas from depths of the sea a beautiful bull came ashore. This was confirmation from Poseidon that the decision was correct. And after the death of Asterius, Minos inherited the throne.

Reign of Minos

The new ruler of Crete began his reign by establishing certain laws. King Minos climbed Mount Ida. On it, Zeus dictated to him a set of laws that his son was supposed to follow. Thus Minos became the first Greek legislator. The new king of Crete sent his brother Rhadamanthus to establish laws in other lands. Subsequently, Zeus gave Minos a scepter and helped with advice.

Soon he subjugated part of the lands of Lycia and became the founder of the city of Miletus. On the southern side of Attica, Minos discovered large deposits of silver and, having captured the surrounding lands, built the city of Lavrion. Thanks to the new ruler, the seas were cleared of pirates and their refuges were destroyed. Minos became the first owner of a powerful navy.

It was not for nothing that the ruler was called wise. The Cretan king Minos did not waste funds on defensive structures. He decided that best protection for the island it is navy. And on the nearby islands they were built strong points. Thanks to the navy and the extermination of pirates, the inhabitants of Crete were able to trade with other countries. And due to this, the island became prosperous and rich.

Abode of Minos

The capital of Crete was the city of Knossos. In this city stood a magnificent palace, in which King Minos lived with his wife Pasiphae. They had many children, and some of them were honored to become heroes of legends and myths. Crete was guarded by the bull-headed copper guard Talos. This was a gift from Zeus to his son. Three times a day, Talos walked around the island, throwing stones at enemy ships (if they came close). In addition, Crete was also guarded by a navy.

Minotaur

Poseidon was waiting for a beautiful bull as a sacrifice. But Minos left the beast in his herd, and in return gave him a simple horse. Poseidon was greatly offended and instilled in Pasiphae a passion for the beautiful bull. Master Daedalus, expelled from Athens, was in the service of Minos. And by order of his wife he made a wooden cow. Pasiphae climbed into it and entered into an unnatural relationship with a beautiful bull.

She became pregnant, and after the allotted time, the Minotaur was born. But his mother died during childbirth. Minos, seeing a baby with a bull's head, settled him in a labyrinth specially created by the master Daedalus.

Sons of Minos

Minos always maintained friendly and very close ties with Athens and its king Aegeus. Therefore, sports competitions were often organized between them. Androgeus, one of the sons of Minos, became a famous athlete. One day he defeated all the Athenian youths at the regular games. The ruler of Athens, who was a fanatic of his own athletes, decided to kill the young man in revenge.

The king sent Androgeus to hunt for the Marathon bull. It was certain death. Minos, having learned how his son died, decided to take revenge on the ruler of Athens. He went there with his war fleet. And he forced King Aegean to admit dependence on Crete. This was expressed in constant sacrifices. The king of Athens had to send seven young men and women to Knossos for nine years. They became victims of the Minotaur.

Daughters of Minos

This continued until Ariadne, the daughter of King Minos and Pasiphae, fell in love with Theseus, the son of Aegeus, the ruler of Athens. The girl gave her lover a ball of magic thread. Thanks to them, Theseus found the Minotaur and killed him. Then he was able to get out of the labyrinth in which the latter lived.

Another famous daughter of the Cretan king Minos - Phaedra. She married Theseus, who promised to marry Ariadne. Phaedra's husband was highly respected due to his many exploits. Theseus had a son, Hippolytus, from his first marriage. And Phaedra was inflamed with love for him. Then the daughter of King Minos committed suicide. Perhaps to save the honor of the husband, and according to other sources - out of fear of the spouse.

Conquests

King Minos was fair. When he decided to capture Megara, the son of Ares, King Nysus, was still ruling there. He had an amazing purple streak. She was Nysa's mascot. Minos offered the ruler's daughter, Scylla, a beautiful gold necklace for a purple lock cut from her father's head. And the girl brought Nysus's hair to Minos. The city was taken, the inhabitants were killed. And Skilla, having received the promised necklace, and, despite the assistance provided, was executed for treason as a warning to others.

He dreamed of conquering Minos and the island of Keos. He arrived there on 50 ships. But on the island he found only three royal daughters. As it turned out, Zeus helped his son. He killed all the inhabitants with lightning strikes along with the king, angry at the evil looks with which people bewitched the crops. So Keos became the possession of Minos. One of the king's daughters bore him a son, whom he left on the island as his heir. Minos owned and land army. It was run by his sons.

The hunt that brought death

Master Daedalus decided to leave the domain of Minos. And, despite his ban, he was able to escape to Sicily, to the city of Kamik. Minos went to look for Daedalus. Arriving in Kamik, he decided to use cunning to find out the whereabouts of the master. King Minos took the newt's shell and promised good reward to the one who threads the thread through the shell. Only Daedalus could do this.

And the king of Sicily Kokal, who sheltered the master, was seduced by the promised reward. He hoped that Daedalus would definitely help him. The master succeeded, but Minos was also convinced that he was in Sicily and demanded the extradition of the escaped subject. But Kokal’s daughters opposed this. Daedalus made amazing toys for them; the girls did not want the master to die.

As a result, he made a pipe in the roof of the bathhouse. And he poured boiling water into it while Minos was bathing. The Sicilian court physician announced that Minos had died from So the legendary and great ruler Krita. His funeral was magnificent, worthy of kings. And the burial took place in Kamik, in the temple of Aphrodite. Then the remains of Minos were transported to Crete. According to legend, after his death the legendary ruler became a judge in dead kingdom Aida.

The legendary Cretan king Minos. Myth or reality?

Only the English scientist Evans managed to obtain permission to excavate Cephalus Hill. And for the first time they were able to find confirmation of the legends about Minos. Frescoes depicting Zeus and the Minotaur were found. And also images of King Minos. Over time, the Palace of Knossos was also recreated. It was also found in the form of many winding corridors under the palace. But, apart from myths, legends and frescoes depicting Minos, direct evidence of his existence has not yet been found. However, this does not prevent the Greeks from telling tourists about their great ruler, showing sights that are associated with his name, and making very good income from this.

It is still unknown why the great Minoan civilization disappeared. Scientists believe natural disasters are to blame. Or maybe because the kingdom was left without its king?

The legend of Minos says that in order to establish his power in Crete and be in the favor of the Gods, the king decided to present a worthy gift to the Gods. In long prayers, he begged Poseidon for a beautiful blond bull, like sea foam itself. But when Minos saw the beautiful animal, he decided to keep it for himself and sacrifice another bull. But, as you know, the secret becomes clear, and Poseidon decided to punish Minos.

The punishment was too sophisticated, which later became a scourge for the Cretan king. The god of the seas sent madness to Minos' wife. Pasiphae was inflamed with unbridled desire for the beautiful bull. Not knowing what to do, Pasiphae turned to Daedalus for help. A skilled designer, without thinking twice, made a wooden stuffed cow. Pasiphae went inside and thus found herself in a sinful union with the bull. Soon the sinful fruit was born and this was the next punishment for King Minos. The child turned out to have the head of a bull.

Minos did not dare to get rid of the baby, realizing his guilt, but when he grew up, he decided to hide him away from human eyes. By that time, the bull-headed monster was dubbed the Minotaur. Minos instructed Daedalus to build a labyrinth to imprison the Minotaur. In conclusion, the Minotaur became brutal and bloodthirsty. To feed him, Minos asked Athens for a cruel tribute, and every 9 years they sent 7 boys and 7 girls to be torn to pieces by their son.

The injustice continued until young Theseus, the son of King Aegean, went to Crete to help his people. Theseus was received well in the palace, but Minos hoped that the young man would disappear forever into the terrible labyrinth. At the table, Theseus met the daughter of Minos. Ariadne is young and beautiful. Feelings flared up between the young people, and now Ariadne did not want to lose her lover. She could not dissuade him and decided to help Theseus.

Having asked Daedalus for advice, Ariadne rushed to the labyrinth with a ball of knitting threads. She handed the ball to Theseus, and left the tip of the thread in her hands. Theseus and 14 young men went to their deaths. No one hoped to return alive, since Theseus was not a strong man at all. But it turned out he was smart. Resorting to cunning, Theseus killed the Minotaur and, following Ariadne’s thread, led the young people out of the labyrinth safe and sound. That same night, Theseus and the young people he saved secretly leave the island. Ariadne followed her beloved.

During the voyage, the festivities begin. Having enjoyed Ariadne's love, Theseus abandons her on one of the Greek islands. This act did not go in vain; in return he received the death of his father. Meanwhile, Minos was sad about unenviable fate to his daughter. And this was another punishment for him and another step towards the end of the reign of civilization.

Palace of King Minos

The Palace of King Minos, or the Palace of Knossos, is a legendary architectural monument located on the island of Crete. Historically, Crete was home to the city of Knossos, described in Greek mythology, where, according to legend, was the labyrinth of Daedalus, in which the Minotaur was imprisoned.

Excavations at Knossos continue intermittently until today, and their results are among the most significant in world archeology. The discovery of the legendary Palace of Knossos belongs to the British archaeologist Arthur John Evans. Having begun excavations at Knossos in 1900, Arthur Evans discovered a culture that he named Minoan after King Minos. From the Minoan culture came the culture of mainland Greece, which existed for a significant period in the 2nd millennium BC.

The Palace of Knossos is architectural monument who never had any defensive structures. The complex of its buildings was concentrated around a central courtyard. It was a gigantic 5-story palace - a labyrinth with a huge number of rooms and passages. Initially, the word labyrinth was derived from the Cretan word labrys, which meant a double ax - a symbol of the political power of Knossos, with various images of which archaeologists encountered in many rooms of the palace. To visitors from the mainland, this labyrinth seemed to be a structure so intricate that its name became a word in Greek for a place of wandering.

According to the legend of the ancient Greeks, King Minos built a palace to hide the betrayal of his wife, who gave birth to the monster Minotaur from a sacred bull. The palace was built with numerous halls in the shape of a labyrinth so that the young men and women sent as sacrifices to the Minotaur, once entering the palace, could not find a way out.

According to the myth, the son of Minos Androgeus was killed in Attica, for which the Athenians had to send seven young men and seven girls to Crete every nine years as a sacrifice to the Knossos monster with the body of a man and the head of a bull to the Minotaur. Being among the seven Athenian youths, Theseus, with the help of the Knossos princess Ariadne, killed the Minotaur in the Labyrinth and freed Athens from the shameful dependence on Knossos.

According to researchers, the legends about the monstrous bull Minotaur did not arise by chance. The walls of the Knossos Palace are covered with numerous frescoes: on them, as well as on stone and gold vessels, there are constantly images of a bull, sometimes peacefully grazing, sometimes enraged, galloping, with which Cretan bullfighters either play or fight. The cult of the bull was widespread on the island, but scientists still find it difficult to say what kind of religion there was.

Excavations, bringing more and more new finds, pose more and more new questions to scientists. Arthur Evans and his assistants, having cleared the ruins of the Knossos labyrinth, discovered on its walls many beautiful frescoes, unusual symbols, the meaning of which is not clear.

After strongest earthquake and a huge tsunami between 1628 and 1500 BC. e. Due to a volcanic eruption on the island of Santorini, the palace was destroyed. In 1450 BC. e. The fire completely destroyed the Palace of Knossos. The cause of these fires is still unclear. The palace area was no longer inhabited, but Knossos continued to be a significant city-state until the first Byzantine period. Now we can only wander through the ruins and try to unravel the mysteries of ancient myths.

Knossos labyrinth palace of King Minos

The labyrinth palace of Knossos of King Minos is located about 5-6 km south of the city of Heraklion in the Mediterranean Sea on the largest island of Crete. The Palace of Knossos was the most impressive and luxurious building in all of Bronze Age Europe.

The Athenian artist and sculptor Daedalus was a gifted man from Knossos. On the direct orders of King Minos, he built the famous Labyrinth with such intricate passages that if anyone entered it, he could not find a way out.

In this labyrinthine palace, King Minos hid innermost secret his wife Pasiphae, who was unfaithful, she, inflamed with passion for the white bull, gave birth to the Minotaur, a monster that looked like half man and half bull.

According to the law, after 7 years, local residents had to sacrifice seven young girls and young men to the Minotaur. For the third time, Theseus, the son of Aegeus, volunteered to go into the labyrinth to fight the Minotaur. And he defeated him, and found his way back thanks to a thread, he attached the thread at the entrance so that it was not difficult to find the exit.

Knossos Palace and Minotaur Labyrinth

The most recognizable, the most visited, so popular that it appears on the covers of almost most guidebooks ancient city Knossos And Knossos palace on Crete a legendary architectural monument located on the northern coast of the island just five kilometers from the sea and literally on the outskirts of the capital city Heraklion. During the Minoan civilization it was main city the entire island, and in Greek mythology it is associated with the name of the Cretan king Minos. What are the secrets? Knossos Palace convey legends and myths, and how the palace can surprise you these days Minos on Crete.

Minos is the mythical king of Crete, the son of Zeus himself and Europe, who received laws from his father and wrote them for his people.

During the Minoan civilization, the most developed areas of the island were settlements around the so-called palaces of large-scale and complex complexes in which political, economic and public life. Similar palaces existed in Zakros , Feste and, of course, in Knossos .

Many scientists searched for the exact location of these cities, but the first to locate Knossos Palace and began excavations, there was a Greek Minos Kalokerinos, who, among other things, drew attention to characteristic shape a hill with agricultural land, as well as finds of various objects local residents. Work began in 1878, but was soon stopped by the Turks, under whose rule was Crete while. There was no opening.

In 1900, the discoverer began excavations Minoan civilization English archaeologist Arthur John Evans. who bought up all the land around the proposed location of the palace. This date is considered the official date of his opening Minoan civilization with all its amazing wealth.

Sources: mozplan.ru, www.tursvodka.ru, www.100velikih.com, pagetravel.ru, www.heraklion.ru

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, Deucalion, Phaedra and Katreus, the future king of Crete.

Before leaving Crete, Zeus ordered Asteria, who was then king in Crete, to take Europa as his wife and adopt his children: Minos, Rhadamanthus and Sarpedon. Minos succeeded Asterius and became famous as a wise ruler. When Minos succeeded Asterius on the throne of Knossos, he became famous throughout the world as the wisest of rulers. Zeus helped his son with advice, meeting him in the cave of Mount Dicta. According to legend, Zeus himself was born in it.

First, Minos united Crete and gave its inhabitants a single law. Then he sent Rhadamanthus to impose the law on other lands. Afterwards, Minos subjugated some of the lands of Lycia, where Sarpedon began to rule, and also founded the city of Miletus, which he named after his favorite, who became the king of the city. Before the appearance of the Ionians, Megaris also belonged to Minos. In the south of Attica, Minos discovered rich deposits of silver, captured the surrounding lands and founded the city of Lavrion on them. Minos cleared all the surrounding seas of pirates, and destroyed their shelters on the islands.

Minos lived in a magnificent palace in Knossos, the capital of Crete. In addition to the fleet, the island of Crete was guarded by a bull-headed copper guard named Talos, whom Zeus gave to Minos. Talos ran around Crete three times a day and threw stones at enemy ships approaching the island.

One day, the god Poseidon sent Minos a beautiful bull from the sea, so that Minos would sacrifice the bull to him. However, Minos decided to leave the bull in his herd, and brought Poseidon his usual sacrifice - a horse. Poseidon was offended and, in revenge, instilled in the wife of Minos, Pasiphae, an unnatural passion for this bull. The famous Athenian master Daedalus, expelled from Athens after the murder and accepted into service by Minos, helped her satisfy this passion. Daedalus built a wooden cow, and Pasiphae climbed into it and entered into a relationship with the bull. In due course she gave birth to the Minotaur - a monster with human body and the head of a bull. Pasiphae died during childbirth, and Minos dedicated the Minotaur to Zeus. At the behest of Minos, Daedalus built a labyrinth, in the center of which the Minotaur was settled (option: Pasiphae did not die during childbirth, but was settled together with the Minotaur in the Labyrinth).

One of Minos' sons, Androgeus, was a famous athlete. When he defeated the Athenian youths at the Panathenaia (a festival in honor of the goddess of the city of Athens, where athletic competitions were also held), Aegeus, the ruler of Athens, decided to destroy Androgeus, sending him to certain death - to hunt for the marathon bull (according to another version, Androgeus recovered for the competition to Thebes and was killed there). When the news of his son's death reached Minos, he was making a sacrifice to the Charites on the island of Paros. Minos tore off his wreath and signaled to the flute players to stop playing, but he made sacrifices. Since then, sacrifices to the Charites were performed without wreaths or music. Minos decided to take revenge on Aegeus and, with the support of his fleet, conquered Athens, forced Aegeus to send seven girls and seven boys to Knossos every nine years, where they would be sacrificed to the Minotaur. These sacrifices were made twice until Theseus, son of Aegeus, killed the Minotaur. Theseus received from Minos' daughter Ariadne, who fell in love with him, a magical ball of thread (option: this ball was given to Theseus by Daedalus). As soon as Theseus tied the end of the thread at the entrance, the ball itself rolled towards the center of the labyrinth, where the Minotaur lived. So Theseus was able to find the sleeping monster and kill it, and then safely get out of the labyrinth.

Daedalus, meanwhile, decided to leave Minos, but the king forbade him to leave Crete (option: for helping Theseus, Minos imprisoned Daedalus in a labyrinth, and he had no choice but to try to arrange an escape). Daedalus fled Crete, making wings for himself and his son Icarus from feathers held together with wax. Icarus, who rose too close to the sun, fell into the sea, and Daedalus flew to the coast of Asia Minor, from where he later moved to Sicily.

Minos went in search of Daedalus. He took with him a newt shell and promised a reward to anyone who could thread a thread through the shell, because he was sure that only Daedalus could solve this problem. Sailing to the Sicilian city of Kamik, Minos invited its king Kokal to solve a puzzle. Kokal agreed, counting on the help of Daedalus, who was visiting him. The master tied a thread to an ant and let it fall into the neck of the sink. And on the other side of the shell he made a hole and smeared it with honey, which served as bait for the ant. After this, Minos realized that Daedalus was hiding in Kamik and demanded his extradition. But Kokal’s daughters did not want to part with the master who made amazing toys for them. They found a way to get rid of Minos. Daedalus built a pipe in the roof of the bathhouse and, when Minos was bathing in it, poured boiling water on him (option: Minos, while bathing, died a natural death).

Thus Minos died. His companions gave the king a magnificent funeral and buried him in the temple of Aphrodite in Kamik, and later the remains of Minos were moved to Crete. After his death, Minos became a judge in the kingdom of the dead.

History of the ancient world [East, Greece, Rome] Nemirovsky Alexander Arkadievich

Power of Minos

Power of Minos

The first centers of statehood on the Balkan Peninsula arose already in the middle of the 3rd millennium BC. e. However, around the 22nd century. BC e. this process was interrupted by the invasion of the Greek tribes of the Achaeans, who migrated here from the Danube regions of Europe. These carrier tribes Greek language were at a very low level social development and, having conquered almost the entire Balkan Peninsula, they suspended the processes of class formation and the formation of statehood, which were experienced by the local pre-Greek population - the Pelasgians. His ethnicity has not yet been clarified. During the conquest, the Pelasgians were partially exterminated by the Achaeans, and partially assimilated with the conquerors, who were experiencing the stage of decomposition of primitive communal relations.

The Achaean conquest practically did not affect the island part of the Aegean archipelago. From the middle of the 3rd millennium BC. e. the population of the island of Crete experienced the same processes of formation early statehood, as in mainland Greece before the Achaean conquest. For several centuries, Crete has been the center of intense changes in the field of socio-political and economic life, which led to early formation and the further flourishing of this island civilization.

In the second half of the 3rd – beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. e. The inhabitants of Crete successfully developed almost all the land suitable for cultivation, and cattle breeding actively developed. The craft also achieved certain progress at this time. The beginnings of exchange appear, and since the island itself was located at the intersection of many sea ​​routes, its residents began to participate in international exchange. Already at the end of the 3rd millennium BC. e. The first early state formations appeared on the island - palace centers. Archaeologists have uncovered the remains of four - in Knossos, Phaistos, Mallia, Kato Zakro. Each of them had a large palace as its political, economic and religious center, around which dozens of small rural settlements were grouped.

Period XXII–XVIII centuries. BC e. in the general periodization of Crete it was called the “era of old palaces.” Almost nothing is known about this time, besides, around 1700 BC. e. the centers of the first early state formations on the island were destroyed everywhere, probably as a result of a huge destructive earthquake.

However, this natural disaster couldn't detain further development civilization on Crete. Since the 17th century BC e. here begins the so-called period of “new palaces”, about which much more is known.

The flourishing of civilization on Crete at this time is usually associated with the name of its legendary ruler, King Minos, who managed to unite the entire population of the island under his rule. It was Minos, as Greek legends say, who managed to begin the unification process and build a large fleet. Most likely, all this happened in the 16th century. BC e. Minos managed to destroy piracy in the Aegean Sea, subjugate many islands of the Aegean Sea to his power, and tribute was regularly collected from the conquered peoples. Minoan colonies were discovered not only in the Aegean, but also in the Peloponnese, Sicily, and on the coast of Syria.

Cretan warriors led by Minos made long sea voyages. The palaces and ordinary settlements of the island did not have this time defensive walls, residence supreme ruler Crete and many of its overseas possessions, based in Knossos, were connected by convenient and reliable roads with guard posts at certain distances with Festus, Mallia, Kato Zakro. Here, in equally luxurious palaces that repeated the planning schemes of Knossos, sat dynasts subordinate or allied to him, possibly relatives of the ruler himself, and relations between them developed quite peacefully. From external threat the population of the island was protected by a natural barrier - the open sea. During the reign of representatives of this dynasty, the palace at Knossos became the administrative, political and economic center of the entire Cretan state.

The English archaeologist A. Evans, the discoverer of the Minoan civilization, spent several decades exploring this palace complex, which is the largest Cretan palace, rebuilt several times. It occupied a significant area, had several floors and included a complex of premises for the ruler and his family, a throne room where state, business and religious ceremonies took place, sanctuaries, rooms for servants, and artisans' workshops. The palace was equipped with a very advanced and well-thought-out system of water supply, lighting, and sewerage. The walls of its many rooms were covered with magnificent fresco paintings, reproducing the beauty surrounding nature and scenes from the life of Cretan society. There were baths in special rooms, and toilet rooms were located nearby. Drinking water was stored in tanks and arrived at the palace through ceramic pipes. Light entered the building through special light wells that cut through the entire building from top to bottom. In its basement there were storerooms - warehouses for handicraft products and food supplies.

Interestingly, the Greeks called the Palace of Knossos a labyrinth. According to ancient Greek legends, a labyrinth is huge building with many rooms and corridors. A person who got into it could no longer get out of the labyrinth without outside help and inevitably died, since in the depths of the palace lived the bloodthirsty Minotaur - half-bull, half-man. Excavations at the Palace of Knossos showed that these legends about the labyrinth had a certain basis. The Palace of Knossos is a huge building, which included about three hundred rooms for a wide variety of purposes. The interior layout of the palace was extremely complex and even confusing. However, despite all the chaos palace building it is nevertheless perceived as a single architectural ensemble.

The structure-forming core of the palace architectural ensemble appeared, as it did before, in the “era of old palaces”, the central courtyard, which occupied a significant open space. At the same time, all Cretan palaces had practically identical premises of this kind from an architectural point of view, organizing around themselves all the other buildings of this kind of complexes. But not the entire population lived in the palace. Ordinary residents lived in small houses outside its territory. These houses varied in size, sometimes even two stories high, with storerooms, kitchens, and work areas usually located downstairs, and living and sleeping rooms upstairs.

Apparently, Cretan society in its heyday had a theocratic form of government, when the functions of both the king-ruler and the high priest, who had divine origin. Similar form rule is quite close to the ancient Eastern type (for example, Egypt and Mesopotamia III - mid-II millennium BC), with the only difference that in the East religious power, although it belonged to the monarch, was still mediated by priests and had its own temples. In Crete, a purely priestly class did not form; there were no temples to the gods separately standing structures. For religious ceremonies, sanctuaries were used, which were very logically and skillfully linked from an architectural point of view to the layout of the palace complex. Therefore, most likely, mythology reflected the belief of the ancient Cretans in divine essence king: after all, Minos was considered the son of Zeus, who directed all his activities.

However, the development of Minoan Crete at the end of the 15th century. BC e. was fatally interrupted by new natural disasters: a huge volcanic eruption on the neighboring island of Thera (modern Santorini) caused it death blow. All the palaces and rural settlements on the island were destroyed, covered with ashes and abandoned by the population. Since then, Crete has lost its position as a leading political, economic and cultural center basin of the Aegean Sea. Taking advantage of these events, from the territory of mainland Greece, without encountering any resistance, the Achaean Greeks invade the island, and Crete from the advanced center of the Mediterranean turns into a backward province of Achaean Greece.

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MINOS - King of ancient Crete, son of Zeus and Europa, husband of Pasiphae. Minos - (Minos, Μίνως). Abstract:Minos is a king. And the king often has to give up himself in the name of duty, the good of the state, and, ultimately, for the sake of survival in intrigues and conspiracies. Will Minos retain until the end of his life what he valued in himself as a young man: the ability to love, sympathize and suffer, the ability to live without fear of trials?

Minos succeeded Asterius and became famous as a wise ruler. When Minos succeeded Asterius on the throne of Knossos, he became famous throughout the world as the wisest of rulers. First, Minos united Crete and gave its inhabitants a single law. Then he sent Rhadamanthus to impose the law on other lands.

Before the appearance of the Ionians, Megaris also belonged to Minos. In the south of Attica, Minos discovered rich deposits of silver, captured the surrounding lands and founded the city of Lavrion on them. Minos cleared all the surrounding seas of pirates, and destroyed their shelters on the islands. Minos lived in a magnificent palace in Knossos, the capital of Crete. In addition to the fleet, the island of Crete was guarded by a bull-headed copper guard named Talos, whom Zeus gave to Minos.

Minos - the legendary king of Crete

One day, the god Poseidon sent Minos a beautiful bull from the sea, so that Minos would sacrifice the bull to him. One of Minos' sons, Androgeus, was a famous athlete. Minos decided to take revenge on Aegeus and, with the support of his fleet, conquered Athens, forced Aegeus to send seven girls and seven boys to Knossos every nine years, where they would be sacrificed to the Minotaur.

Theseus received from Minos' daughter Ariadne, who fell in love with him, a magical ball of thread (option: this ball was given to Theseus by Daedalus). Daedalus, meanwhile, decided to leave Minos, but the king forbade him to leave Crete (option: for helping Theseus, Minos imprisoned Daedalus in a labyrinth, and he had no choice but to try to arrange an escape). Daedalus fled Crete, making wings for himself and his son Icarus from feathers held together with wax. Minos went in search of Daedalus.

Sailing to the Sicilian city of Kamik, Minos invited its king Kokal to solve a puzzle. The master tied a thread to an ant and let it fall into the neck of the sink. They found a way to get rid of Minos. Daedalus built a pipe in the roof of the bathhouse and, when Minos was bathing in it, poured boiling water on him (option: Minos, while bathing, died a natural death). Thus Minos died. His companions gave the king a magnificent funeral and buried him in the temple of Aphrodite in Kamik, and later the remains of Minos were moved to Crete. After his death, Minos became a judge in the kingdom of the dead.

MINOS, in Greek mythology, one of the three sons of Zeus (see ZEUS) and Europa (see EUROPE (in mythology)), was born on the island of Crete and adopted by the Cretan king Asterius. The wife of Minos was Pasiphae (see PASIFAYA), who, due to an unnatural relationship with a bull, gave birth to the Minotaur (see MINOTAUR), who was imprisoned by the king in the labyrinth. After the death of the son of Minos and Pasiphae Androgeus at a competition in Athens, Minos demanded that the Athenians pay tribute: once every nine years they sent seven young men and women to Crete, who were eaten by the Minotaur.

After his death, Minos became, along with Aeacus and Rhadamanthus, one of the judges of the underworld. After large-scale research into Minoan culture began in the 20th century, a semi-historical face began to be seen in Minos; the Knossos palace in Crete was called the “labyrinth”.

Ancient tradition depicts him as a wise ruler who owns Crete and with the help strong fleet who extended power to other islands. From time immemorial, the Queen of Crete was the embodiment of Britomartis. May be. But since childhood, looking at my mother returning from the sacraments, I believed that something disgusting and shameful was happening in the grove.

Myth about the birth of King Minos

In the first row stood old women with snakes, in the second - flutists and girls with timbrels. From the thicket, nymphs and satyrs peered curiously at the mystery; the trees glowed in the darkness. Shaking off the priestesses and not waiting for a second attack, I, crushing the bushes, rushed into the oak grove. Minos! - the goddess whispered with only her lips. I entered her and mastered her a myriad of times, until Britomartis fainted.

Afterwards, Minos subjugated some of the lands of Lycia, where Sarpedon began to rule, and also founded the city of Miletus, which he named after his favorite, who became the king of the city. Talos ran around Crete three times a day and threw stones at enemy ships approaching the island.

Since then, sacrifices to the Charites were performed without wreaths or music. So Theseus was able to find the sleeping monster and kill it, and then safely get out of the labyrinth. Icarus, who rose too close to the sun, fell into the sea, and Daedalus flew to the coast of Asia Minor, from where he later moved to Sicily.

He took with him a newt shell and promised a reward to anyone who could thread a thread through the shell, because he was sure that only Daedalus could solve this problem. And on the other side of the shell he made a hole and smeared it with honey, which served as bait for the ant.

See what “Minos” is in other dictionaries:

Knossos, according to legend, was the first legislator in Crete, the creator of a powerful sea ​​power. According to Plato’s “Laws,” he talked with Zeus in the Idean cave once every nine years. Throughout the Mediterranean, Minos and his powerful fleet was looking for the escaped Daedalus. Or will the authorities change it? The dictionary is at the end of the text. Before you begin reading this book, I want to warn you: I willingly exercised the writer's right to speculation and fiction.

Columns of the Knossos Palace

In apology, I want to say that the Greeks themselves perceived their myths not as dogma, but as a guide to action, introducing their own changes and interpretations into the plots. She spoke, listened and flew deeper. They looked at us arrogantly and distantly, proud of their closeness to the Goddess, the guardian of Crete, the Great Mother Britomartis-Diktina.

Today the sacred marriage of the goddess Crete Britomartis with the new king was to take place. Our stepfather, the godlike Asterius, son of Tectamus, died, tired out over the years. I passionately desired this destiny for myself. Although in many ways I found Rhadamanthus wiser and more reasonable. Stay here and do not dare leave the clearing until the high priestesses arrive here and the test begins.

Minos - (Minwz) the mythical king of Crete, to whom everything that is known from the history of this island for the last two centuries before the Trojan War is transferred. Before leaving Crete, Zeus ordered Asterius, who was then king of Crete, to take Europa as his wife and adopt his children: Minos, Rhadamanthus and Sarpedon. The goddess had to decide who was more pleasing to her as a new husband and anact of Crete: me, Minos, the eldest of the brothers, the middle one - Rhadamanthus, or the youngest - Sarpedon.