Greece Before the Greeks!

This post is a long time coming!  It's taken me a few months since our whirlwind trip of Greece to get this completed but it's finally up!  Before the end of year at that.  There will be at least one more post about our trip after this one but sorry, nothing about the Parthenon.  I don't think there is anything I could add to it, although seeing it was quite amazing for a humble art history major like me.  Anyway, we started our tour of Greece with a few days of R&R on Santorini before heading to Crete, which is where we begin... 

Have you heard of the Minoans?  The Palace of Knossos?  This post would be more aptly be titled Crete Before the Greeks" as the Minoans had settled the island long before the beginning of what we would consider, Classical Greece, and Crete was only made a part of Greece officially in 1908 (international recognition of this change didn't occur until 1913).  Well Knossos might not be as popular as the Parthenon, but it's probably Crete's most popular attraction.  When we decided to travel to Greece, Crete was non-negotiable, a definite.  I've always loved the quirky and slightly "off the beaten path," something just outside the mainstream, so the Minoan civilization immediately piqued my interest when I learned of them.  The fluid lines of their sculpture and natural imagery seemed more modern than their c. 2700–1420 BC timeframe.  The Palace of Knossos was one of the highlights in my dreams that led up to our trip.

When I woke up on "Knossos Day" I felt terrible.  I had begun to feel touches of flu symptoms the night before and had chugged water and ate oranges and gone to bed early hoping to beat it back but woke up still sluggish and with a headache...and late.  My husband hadn't set an alarm to make sure I slept as much as possible, but our hotel proprietors intervened; when we didn't show up for breakfast they came looking for us.  I sent my husband ahead as I dragged myself out of bed and forced down a few bites of the overabundant breakfast.  I was not going to be kept from those bull jumping frescoes.  

Knossos is very well-signed, especially compared to how lacking the signage was for almost anything else in Greece.  It's a quick trip from the capital, Iraklion, less than an hour.  We were traveling in the off-season and when we arrived we patted ourselves on the back again for this decision.  We parked in a lot only a few steps from the entrance and gazed out at the other two empty, vast parking lots that are probably filled to capacity during the summer.  To give you an idea of how truly empty it was, I practiced driving our manual transmission rental car in the third lot later in the day, never got out of first.  The entrance is dotted with guides offering group tours in many different languages but found one that was licensed.  We paid our 10 euros and were at first a little wary when our guide repeated the same face about the Minoan culture within five minutes of the last time he had said it and didn't notice.  But he moved on in his script extolling their integration of nature in their daily lives and buildings, the expanse of their trade routes, and just how much olive oil their used. 

Archeologists working at Knossos.

Knossos, as are many archeological sites, is still being dug up.  It's also an archeological battlefield with one side arguing that Arthur Evans, the British amateur archeologist who excavated the site first, should not have re-built some of the walls and columns that jut out of the ruins.  While the other side puts forth how much this helps the casual visitor understand the immense scale of the palace and picture how it would have appeared.  I understand both sides and actually come down somewhere closer to the second camp.  In seeing so many sites, being given a clue in a single column helps me to mentally recreate the five stories that this compound would have attained in it's completed state.  But, on the other hand, Evans might have made up what the column looked like and where it went, so I could see where current archeologists balk at these interventions.

Part of the re-created temple showing a staircase through three stories.

Our guide did say something that intrigued me, that the Minoans were an environmentally friendly society.  This started me researching a bit.  I couldn't find any research to support this claim in a cursory search but I'll keep looking.  I did note an appreciation for the environment and plant and animal forms in the dolphins and flowers that dot the beautiful Queen's chamber.  Very few of the actual frescoes are still in place, most of the well-known ones of the bull jumping and wine bearers have been moved to the archeological museum in Iraklion.  They are just completing a renovation and have begun moving some pieces from the temporary museum trailer behind the museum into their permanent homes so when we visited we only saw the bull jumper but it was beautiful and worth the trip.  The missing areas of the fresco have been filled in to recreate the scene and  presents the vivid colors and fluid lines of the bodies of both the people and the animal suggesting an athletic but easy movement.

Recreated portico and replacement fresco showing bulls

Queen's chamber showing dolphin and flower frescoes

In our growing "green" awareness, environmentalism seems like a very modern concept, only developed after a society has industrialized and felt the affects of their pollution.  Or something practiced by "primitive" peoples, nomads who made their livings "off the land".  The Minoans though, were far from primitive, their construction techniques, shipping trade, art and politics were highly developed and they thrived for centuries.  The Palace of Knossos, although the best known and most researched of their palaces was only one of many. 

We were pleasantly surprised by the snack bar at the site, the orange juice was probably the best we had ever had, grown and produced right on the island, you can see oranges sold at tiny road side stands along the main highway connecting Iraklion and Chania, on the islands western side.  We tried to take in a little more of the "nature" of Crete through a wine tasting at the Stilianou Winery.  Even though we had to wind our way up a dirt road for half an hour we were treated to a private tour of the winery by the owner, some great tasting wines and olive oil and a beautiful view over olive trees to cap off our day!

Gardner's pages 81-85.