Labyrinth: a legend come alive

 

 I still have the books, almost sixty years old*

I read these two books in my youth, and they had a profound effect, opening up an alien and sun-soaked world, introducing me to the exotic—the ancient past. The window, once open, never shut. I loved Liverpool, my family and friends, its streets and grand buildings, the Mersey—another opening to strange and different worlds; the past though was different, the deep past especially so.

I remember showing the books to my English teacher, Mrs Fahey, a merry, middle-aged Catholic lady who twinkled when she smiled. To my surprise she borrowed and read them, probably  to encourage me. ‘A trifle salacious,’ she said on returning them to me a week or two later. Salacious! A lovely sound. A new word to learn. I’m not too sure she was right, but then again, salacious was good—catnip to the adolescent.

Undeterred, I read more of Mary Renault and a host of others, and more windows opened, allowing me alternative lives in Minoan Crete, Greece, and ancient Egypt. The circus never stopped. 

When my wife suggested a visit to the Ashmolean— an exhibition on the Minoan culture, I hesitated—a momentary perversity of mind. I knew the myths of Theseus and Ariadne back to front and round again, the archaeological story and Sir Arthur Evans. It seemed an awful long way to go (Oxford is just two and a half hours away) to see what I knew and worse, pay for it! A momentary perversity, it was worth every penny—especially the Pithos. 

The exhibition: Labyrinth had spine tingling moments.  

It also  had several evocative paintings based upon  archaeological finds and scraps of colour and surviving frescos.

So yes, yes: a familiar story, to see the actual artefacts, some well over four thousand years old and to wonder how much of our culture will studied in four to six thousand years’ time, the judgements made about us.

These are a mere 2,500 years' old but illustrate the potency of the Minotaur legend thousands of years after the supposed event. 

'Royal Pottery' so called or if you wish 'interpreted ' by Sir Arthur Evans because of their delicate and intricate pattern. 

The octopus 1450-1400 BC  is portrayed as being underwater surrounded by coral and seawater. As a motif the octopus seems peculiar to Knossos, so many examples having been found there. 

This octopus decorated stone weight represents a 'talent' or a standard 29kg in the Eastern Mediterranean of the time. (600-1350 BC) It would have been used to weigh trading goods like textiles for example. But what boggled my mind was relating that to biblical references like talents of silver or gold etc.  

Tritons are large marine snails found along the Cretan coast. Their shells were collected and used as containers. The one above is a breathtaking copy (1600-1450BC) Carved from solid marble,  a tantalising glimpse of a vanished world.

A gold headband with argonaut beads found in the tomb of a teenager not far from Knossos. He would have been quite rich because other valuable goods were buried with him. (1400-1375BC)

Dated 550-530 BC the Minotaur vase here shows Theseus forcing the beast to its knees before cutting its throat. He's surrounded by the sacrificial victims—Athenian youths sent to the labyrinth every year as tribute to Minos.

A lot of these artefacts range over thousands of years from early Minoan to much later memories of the myths behind the reality. Below is a useful dating chart followed by dated fragments to give some perspective. 

Most of the exhibits were guarded by glass. There was this one spectacular exception. It was discovered by the Greek archaeologist Kalokairinos, whom Sir Arthur Evans ruthlessly airbrushed from history. It's a huge Pithos probably used to store olive oil or similar produce, and is dated 1450 - 1375 BC

It stood with a notice that warned people about touching it and thereby sealed its fate. It drew me almost magnetically. I rationalised it of course. It was thick ceramic, solid, and had survived for thousands of years. The truth was more basic. I had to touch it, however briefly. A surreptitious but lingering stroke was enough and made the whole exhibition worthwhile.  

A 3D reconstruction of ancient Knossos

*The goblets are Welsh not Minoan stolen from the Ashmolean,