A Minoan Postscript...

[endlessrarities]

Before I move on to the delightful (!) subject of the Dorians, I'll return to the Minoans one last time.

I'm sure you're all familiar with the theories about the downfall of the Minoan civilisation.  That the massive eruption of the volcano that made up the island of Thera (aka Santorini) resulted in catastrophic tidal waves and crop failures, famine, etc.  Out of this destruction was born the legend of Atlantis (and Bettany Hughes put a very good case for this not long ago on Timewatch...)

One thing's for sure.  The peaceful harmonious world that the Minoans inhabited (if indeed this was the case!) ended in tragedy.  The best example of this was represented by the gruesome find in an upland shrine which I'm afraid I don't know the name of.  The excavators recovered the bones of a youth (aged in his late teens) who'd been bound and laid upon an altar.  His throat had been cut, in a fashion similar no doubt to that seen in the bull on the sarcophogus I showed you several weeks ago.

Now, I'm quite sure that the Minoans wouldn't have made this kind of offering unless they'd been really, really  desperate.  And unfortunately for them, not even this kind of extreme gift-giving had any effect.  The youth wasn't alone in meeting his death there.  He was accompanied by a woman, and a man, who'd been crushed beneath the remains of the sanctuary building in which the sacrifice had been taking place.  I believe the older man was carrying a rhyton, one of the jars for ritual offerings that I described in a previous post.  It was probably filled with the youth's blood.

This isn't a story that's granted much publicity, except by Bettany Hughes, that is...  I don't know the date of this incident, and I don't know if they've tested the interior of the rhyton to see what it was holding at the time of its burial.  I suppose most people consider this incident too horrific to want to give it much thought.  But I just find it extremely sad.  I'm quite sure the Minoans would not have embarked upon this draconian course of action lightly. 

In the end, the surviving Minoans were forced to take sanctuary in the high ground that forms the interior of the island of Crete, and even then their days were numbered.  Their lands were invaded firstly by the Myceneans, who rebuilt Knossos and occupied it for a time.  Their characteristic masonry still survives in places on the island.  Here's an example from the hilltop city of Lato (I'm using the Dorian spelling, out of loyalty to the Spartans...):-

And a close-up, showing the remarkable jointing.  I've seen it described as 'ashlar', but I'm not convinced that this is really an appropriate term.  If there's any architecturally minded people out there who can confirm or deny this, I'd be delighted to hear from them,,,

Comments

[jennyblackford.livejournal.com]

I can't remember where, but when I was soaking my mind in all things Minoan and Mycenaean, I saw quite a bit of scholarly argument claiming that the quite obvious scene of human sacrifice was nothing of the sort. Desperate scholars made up all sorts of feeble excuses to try to deny what any normal person would see. When I find it again, I'll let you know.

[endlessrarities.livejournal.com]

I'd love to hear it. Sounds like clutching at straws to me. But then I've never seen the original site report, and I doubt I ever will, because it'll be buried deep in some obscure mediterranean journal of which only three copies are available in this country (British Library, Oxford & Cambridge & Uni libraries...)

Mind you, the beauty of archaeology is that you can argue almost anything with the precious little information you have available!

[granamyr.livejournal.com]

The place was called Anemospilia, and the incident occurred around 1700 B.C., about 100-150 years before the massive Thera/Santorini volcanic eruption so weakened Crete that the Mycenaeans conquered the island around 1450 B.C.

Four people actually died in the building: the youth, a priest and priestess who were in the east chamber, and a fourth person, sex unknown, who was crushed in the corridor; s/he was the one holding the vessel (it was not a rhyton, but looked more like a krater) of blood.

[endlessrarities.livejournal.com]

Oh dear, guess the human sacrifice didn't do much at appeasing the gods then.

I'm actually surprised that people find the idea of human sacrifice in a Minoan context so shocking. Since we came back from Crete, I managed to track down a good comprehensive book of Greek myths, and let's face it, it's a bit bloody in places. If the roots of these myths lie in actual cultures and actual practices, then I'm sure the Minoans weren't all sweetness and light, especially when circumstances turned against them...

[endlessrarities.livejournal.com]

Oh, and it's rather interesting that they were using a kratar rather than a rhyton. Shows some flexibility in the use of specific vessel categories for specific occasions.

You've got me interested now. I wish I had access to a decent library of Classical archaeology books so I could pore over The Ultimate Corpus of Kratars and Rhytons.. There must be one, surely...