http://SaturnianCosmology.Org/ mirrored file
For complete access to all the files of this collection
	see http://SaturnianCosmology.org/search.php 
==========================================================
Feature Articles 

Crete: isle of the dead?

/Crete has been the home to an enigmatic civilisation for more than 3000
years. Labelled the ?Minoan civilisation?, the label does nothing to
enhance understanding of the people that created enigmatic palaces
across the island./

Philip Coppens

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Crete, south of mainland Greece, is an island famous with many modern
sun worshippers. But it is also the mythical birthplace of many of the
Greek deities, including the head of their pantheon, Zeus. It should
therefore not come as a surprise to learn that Neolithic settlements
have been discovered on the island, pushing its occupation back to at
least 6000 BC. Though it took until the 20th century before Crete was
recognized as a major civilisation, it should have been obvious that
this centrally located island in the Mediterranean Sea was an ideal port
of call for all traders and travellers. Artefacts from the Middle East,
Mesopotamia, Mycenae (Greece) and Egypt have all been found on the
island. The conclusion is that the island traded with all of these
civilisations, benefiting as a result in its own, distinct civilisation,
personified in the ?palace culture? of Knossos and other towns.

The man who put Crete on the map was Arthur Evans, an English
archaeologist. Evans was mainly interested in the cave sanctuaries
located on the slopes of the mountains and the palaces ? his statue now
stands in front of the excavated and restored palace of Knossos, his
most famous discovery. The palace, located in the hills south of the
capital Heraklion, was quickly identified as the ?Labyrinth? and the
?Palace of King Minos?. Hence, the ?Minoan civilisation? was coined.
Since Evans? time, it is accepted that the palace culture of Crete was
that of a trading empire, typified with lavish and large palaces, often
along the coastline, rather than in the heartland or mountainous
regions. The timeframe for the civilisation had a start in ca. 2000 BC,
flourishing in ca. 1500 BC, and declining in 1200 BC, a period when many
if not all cultures around the Mediterranean Sea succumbed to an arduous
?Dark Age?. For Crete, it was the end of an era.

According to the German geologist Hans Wunderlich, Crete?s history has
been harshly misinterpreted. Whereas there is a now a more common
consensus that the initial conclusions reached about the Minoan
civilisation are part modern invention, part based on archaeological
discoveries, the framework of the ?Minoan civilisation? has not been
publicly criticised as much as it perhaps should have been. Wunderlich,
however, spoke up against that status quo in the 1970s, and rather than
just argue against the conclusions, also put forward a theory of his own
about what Crete might have been. Three decades later, Wunderlich?s
interpretation has remained a hot topic of debate, though as it does not
involve aliens or Atlantis, it has not captured the world?s media
attention.

The ?Minoan legacy? is the presence of enigmatic palaces. These are
immense and complex buildings, built over several floors. Their precise
function is unknown. Originally labelled a labyrinth, it is clear that
they are not. As a consequence, identifying them with the ?Minotaur?,
the part human, part animal creature held in the Labyrinth of King
Minos, cannot be made; labyrinths have always had a distinct design and
a complex palace does not a labyrinth make. The problem is also that
there is more than one palace ? not all of these could have been palaces
for a central king, like ?Minos?. As a consequence, it has been argued
that these were palaces that controlled ?regions?. This could very well
be, but what is clear to any visitor, is that the palaces all fall in
the same design: situated on lowlands, close to the seashore, often
aligned to important mountains, or more particularly: mountains with
important caves, sometimes mythically connected with the birthplace or
the place of burial of deities, Zeus in particular.
It argues that the ?palaces? could more likely be ?temples? rather than
residential buildings. For sure, archaeologists are quick to point out
that certain parts of the palaces definitely had a religious function.
But some go further. Archaeologist Oswald Spengler stated in the 1930s
that these ?palaces? were temples for the dead. His opinion was not
taken seriously, as it went against the accepted belief. Wunderlich
continued where Spengler had stopped. Both noted that the state of the
palaces was particularly bizarre. Thousands of people are believed to
have roamed the corridors of the Palace of Knossos, but the staircases
throughout the complex look as if they have never been used. Most
sections of the complex reveal no sign of usage, or age. This in itself
is bizarre. Almost as an aside, it is noted that the palace had no
surrounding wall, making it extremely fragile. Though the island or its
builder might have been unaware of war, a surrounding wall does offer
protection, if only from the elements. Crete, though popular with
tourists for its warm summers, nevertheless does have cold winters ? and
snow in the highlands.
Still, we need to wonder whether the dead had any need for a sewage
system, of such complexity that it would take until Roman times before a
similar construction could be seen. There is even a bathroom with a
flushing toilet ? though there is some discussion whether this is an
original find, or an ?addition? of Evans. Evans did many reconstructions
throughout the complex, and some of these have been labelled
?unfortunate?, as they are felt to be more in line with the early 20th
century culture then with that of the ancient Minoans.
Most remarkable, however, is the fact that the ancient Minoans did not
leave much behind ? little waste, not many utensils, etc. This is in
itself a problem, for people leave behind rubbish ? and that rubbish can
also reveal many facts about the people. Even so, we do not know what
language they used, or what type of religion or deities they worshipped.
It is nevertheless clear that they placed strong emphasis on the
mountainous caves, which for the Greeks would become identified with
their deities.

The palace of Knossos is famous for its depictions of white women and
red men. They are processions, the men dressed in skirts. The most
remarkable aspect of these scenes is that they are identical with scenes
? and equally old ? found on Egyptian temples. They speak of an island,
identified in Egyptian sources as ?Keftiu? ? Crete.
For a very long period, it was felt that the Minoan and Egyptian
civilisations evolved independent from one another, but these
discoveries contradicted this assumption. It showed that in the 18th
Dynasty, ca. 1600-1500 BC, when Crete reached its apogee, there was an
intense exchange between the two ?nations?.
Some archaeologists interpreted the processions as nothing more than
?state visits? and exchange of gifts, i.e. forms of diplomacy. But there
was some evidence that did not support this conclusion. The scenes were
depicted in Egyptian graves and the processions were clearly linked with
the dead. Wunderlich revisited Spengler?s opinion and came to the
conclusion that the palaces were not built for a living king? but for a
dead one. Sections of the palace were clearly designed to allow for the
storage of the dead. Wunderlich also felt that this practice was the
main reason behind the close alliance between Crete and Egypt. He even
went as far as to suggest that the practice of mummification in Egypt
was performed by Cretans ? perhaps the mummification itself occurred in
Crete.

/(above) scenes of the "Keftiu" at Egyptian courts. (below) scene from
Cretan palaces./

Wunderlich might have overshot this analogy, but it is clear that there
are some clear observations to be made: both Crete and Egypt had
cultural theatres. The bull was important both in Crete and Egypt. In
Egypt, the animal is linked with the deceased king, whereas the bull is
depicted across the Minoan monuments ? though its specification function
is unclear, because of the absence of any knowledge on the Minoan
religion. The palaces depict lilies and lotus flowers, plants that have
an important, religious function in Egypt. However, it is known that the
Minoan palace has a depiction of what is known as ?bull leaping?: people
performing acrobatics on a leaping bull. Experts have identified that
this form of acrobatics is impossible ? humans and bulls cannot interact
in such a manner. The question is therefore whether these scenes depict
?imaginary? scenes, i.e. scenes that might occur in the ?Afterlife?.
Wunderlich also noted that the name of king Minos is identical to the
first king of the Egyptian First Dynasty, Menes. What, Wunderlich
wondered, if the name was not that of a person, but instead was a
honorary title, which identified a king? In that aspect, ?Minos? was not
the name of the king, but was literally the word for ?king?. ?King
Minos? thus would mean ?king king?. It is known that the Egyptian king
had many titles, ?pharaoh? being a relatively recent one.

Evans had tried to make Crete into an independent civilisation,
self-sufficient, notorious in its own right. Wunderlich tried to break
this wall of independence down, and suggested that Crete in essence was
no civilisation, but a ?vassal state?. His endeavours were opposite
scientific dogma of that ? and our ? time and thus no-one took much
notice of his observations. But? In 1991, in the Egyptian Nile Delta, a
team of Austrian archaeologists led by Manfred Bietak discovered a
palace complex in Tel ed-Daba (Avaris). An area on the western edge of
the site, known as Ezbet Helmi, revealed a large palace-like structure
dating to the Hyksos period. The ancient gardens revealed many fragments
of Minoan wall-paintings, similar in style to those found in the palace
at Knossos in Crete. It has been suggested that these paintings with a
distinctive red-painted background may even pre-date those of Crete and
Thera and possibly have influenced some of the 18th Dynasty tomb
paintings that appear to include Minoan themes such as the 'flying
gallop' motif of horses and bulls. In the 18th Dynasty strata of Ezbet
Helmi, Dr Bietak discovered many lumps of pumice-stone, which could have
come from the volcanic explosion on the island of Thera.
Avaris is notorious as according to the Egyptian priest/historian
Manetho (3rd century BC) the Exodus was from a city called Avaris, which
had been the capital of the Hyksos. The temple complex was indeed not
built by the Egyptians and dated from the period when the Egyptians were
ruled by the Hyksos, ca. 1700 BC, shortly before the 18th Dynasty that
saw the exchange of Egyptian and Cretan ?goods?. The origin of the
Hyksos was originally attributed to the Middle East, possibly of Semitic
origins.

/Minoan artefact found in Avaris/

More recently, the question of who the Hyksos were has been reopened.
Linear A and B are two scripts of Crete. The newer Linear B was
deciphered in 1953 by Michael Ventras and turned out to be Greek. In
1971, Dutch archaeologist and historian Jan Best claimed he had
deciphered Linear A and had found a connection between Minoan Crete and
the Hyksos. Linear A, he argued, was Semitic, related to the languages
of Ugarit and Alalach in Syria. A connection between Crete and the
Hyksos was not new. The well-known Israeli archaeologist Yigael Yadin
had reached the same conclusion, at a time when the Avaris frescos had
not yet been discovered.
In Knossos, an alabaster lid with the name of the Hyksos king Khyan has
been found. In the Egyptian palace, frescos were found that were made of
plaster. They depicted scenes that were identical to the scenes depicted
in the Cretan palaces: flowers, bulls, even fragments of the famous
?bull leap?, a depiction that had been unique to Crete.
Designs in the form of labyrinths were also discovered, this time in its
original format. This format was specifically linked with the belief in
the Afterlife and the ?entrapped souls?: a labyrinth was said to
?imprison? the soul.
The question of the labyrinth has also been studied by David Rohl, who
thinks that there is a connection between Avaris and the Labyrinth of
Hawara or Aueris (i.e. 'Avaris', meaning 'house of the department') in
the Faiyum, described by the Greek traveller Herodotus. This enormous
building next to the pyramid of Amenemhet III was called 'the Labyrinth'
because of its endless maze of courtyards, corridors and rooms.
Interestingly, it was built just before the Hyksos period.
The link between Egypt and Crete has also lead some to conclude that the
enigmatic Phaistos Disc, found in the palace of Phaistos on Crete, might
have been linked with the Egyptian game of Senet and Snake Game. H.
Peter Aleff argues that the depictions are not a script, but are related
to the signs of the board game. Senet was a popular pastime in ancient
Egypt from late pre-dynastic times on and is well documented because it
became an important part of the funerary magic and then evolved into
today's Backgammon. Its pieces simulated the passage of the player
through life and, even more importantly, through death and its perils.
On its last field, they were reborn into the eternal afterlife, just as
the Backgammon pieces are still "born" at the end of their pursuit.
The Snake Game appears even earlier in the record, with the oldest
surviving copies of any known board game. It helped at least one king in
the Old Kingdom Pyramid Texts to ascend to heaven and so seems to have
represented the same journey, except that its path was not folded, as in
Senet, but coiled into the spiral of a snake's rolled-up body. On one of
its sculpted stone boards, the tail of the snake ended in the head of a
goose.

The 1991 discovery has revealed that there is indeed a close
relationship between the Egyptians and Crete? and the enigmatic Hyksos.
Were they inhabitants from Crete that departed to Egypt? The Hyksos
period coincides exactly with the time between the Old and New Palace
Period on Crete. When the Hyksos invaded Egypt, the old palaces were
destroyed, probably by an earthquake. Did the Hyksos (partly) come from
Crete? Or did the Hyksos, once out of grave and power in Egypt, travel
to Crete, to continue their culture there? The right answer has a lot to
do with correct dating, and many have argued that the alignment of the
various cultures in the Eastern Mediterranean has not been a complete
success. Only the future will shed more light on the enigmatic
interrelationship between these cultures, which continue to form the
centre of a debate? that should occur, but for some reason is not being
held.

This article originally appeared in Frontier Magazine 6.1
(January-February 2000) and was adapted.