The Palace of Minos

A detailed Summary of The Palace of Minos

The Minoan city of Knossos on the island of Crete is one of mythological and legendary stature. Up until the early 1900s the Minoan civilization only existed in Greek myths and legends. Sir Arthur Evans, along with an excavation crew, discovered the ruins of the city, and a large structure, which he named the Palace of Minos', after the mythological king Minos of the Minoan civilization.

The Palace of Minos is an incredibly large structure measuring 22,000 square meters and over 1500 rooms (though the room count varies from source to source.) The legendary labyrinth was supposed to be located in the center of this structure, but based on actual evidence uncovered by archaeologists no proof has been found. The structure received the label of "palace" from Sir Arthur Evans, thanks to his Victorian background. Around 1700 BCE the Minoan civilization was reduced to ruin by a massive earthquake which brought this enormous three story structure to the ground. Though the three stories were destroyed, many remnants of them fell into the "basement" of this structure, which also contained many rooms including what Evans thought to be the royal quarters. Many artifacts have been found at the site where the palace once stood. Some o

Throughout history the myths and legends of King Minos prevailed, but when archaeologists began excavating Crete they found evidence that not all of the stories were true, though some were. Archaeologists have found evidence that contradicts the myth of annual human sacrifice to the Minotaur by King Minos and that of the existence of the labyrinth. The evidence that archaeologists have found actually supports minimal human sacrifice by the Minoan people and there is no physical evidence of a labyrinth existing anywhere within the palace. The actual existence of any type of labyrinth is questionable as there is no physical evidence of one found anywhere.

The Labyrinth Myth revolves around the Minotaur, a half-man, half-bull creature that was the product of Pasiphae, King Minos' queen, and her passion for a sacred white bull. As the story is told, King Minos', the son of Zeus and a mortal woman, refuses to sacrifice a bull, which was a sacred animal, to Poseidon so the God took revenge on Minos' by causing his wife to desire a bull. Minos' had Daedalus build a contraption, the labyrinth, so that his wife could satisfy this passion with the bull. The result of this was the Minotaur. It was foretold at the beast's birth that club, knife, spear, or sword would never kill it. For this reason, the beast was contained within the labyrinth. The labyrinth designed by Daedalus was done in such a manner that it confused those who entered it thus making it impossible to escape. Because of the confusion, the victims would ultimately arrive at the center of the labyrinth where the Minotaur waited to seal their fate. To sustain the life of the Minotaur, as a constant reminder of the shame his wife had caused, Minos' required tribute from Athens of seven young men and seven young women to be sacrificed to the Minotaur. Theseus, son of King

Some common words found in the essay are:
King Aegeus, King Minos, Minos' Daedalus, BCE Minoan, Double Axes, Ariadne Theseus, Palace Minos, Aegean Sea, King Minos', Arthur Evans, king minos, minoan civilization, king minos', arthur evans, sir arthur evans, sir arthur, myth labyrinth myth, double axes, human sacrifice, archaeologists found, hall double axes, hall double, minotaur king minos, legends king minos, labyrinth king,

Approximate Word count = 1247
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Arts