Ancient Crete: a city shrouded with mythology
Crete was the forebear of the many powerful city-states to come out. On the other hand, Ancient Crete did not have a powerful army or was a center of learning. However, it was a Mycaenean city until King Minos conquered it. And King Minos was very effective to Ancient Crete. Before he came to Crete, Cretans were uncivilized and wild- even they looked different than Greeks in mainland. He built his own grand palace on Knossos, the capital city of Crete. The important point is, he didn't ruled only Knossos, he ruled the entire island of Crete! As I meant upside title, Crete was a city shrouded with mythology. One of the most important myths is associated with Crete: Theseus and Minotaur.
Story of Theseus and Minotaur
Minos, then the king of Crete, was visited by the architect Daedalus and his son Icarus. Minos forced Daedalus and Icarus to build the Labyrinth, a giant underground maze. After it was complete, Daedalus and Icarus escaped on bronze wings, but Icarus flew too close to the sun. He died. Minos then asked Poseidon, god of the Sea, for one of his best bulls, promising to sacrifice it. However, Minos kept the bull for himself.Poseidon got angry and forced Minos's wife, Pasiphae, to fall in love with the bull, producing the Minotaur (half-man, half-bull). Minos found his new son too embarrassing, so he placed it in the Labyrinth. He forced seven boys and seven girls from Athens to come every year and get eaten by the Minotaur. Minos's daughter, Princess Ariadne, fell in love with the Athenian Theseus, a son of Poseidon, and gave him a string that would guide him out of the Labyrinth once he killed the Minotaur. Theseus did this, but he dumped Ariadne. His father had told Theseus to put up white sails when he sailed home to signal that he was alive, but Theseus forgot. His father jumped off of the roof of his palace and died.