Year 9
Unit 1 - Bronze Age Greece
Can there be any truth in the legend of Theseus and the Minotaur?
The Legend of Minos' birth
Long, long ago there lived a princess called Europa. She was so beautiful that Zeus, the leader of all the Gods, fell madly in love with her. Zeus was already married to a Goddess. But that did not stop him having love affairs with anyone he fancied- So the God turned himself into a big bull and carried Europa away. With the princess clinging to his back, he swam all the way across the sea from mainland Greece to Crete. Zeus and Europa later had three sons. One of these was Minos. |
Three facts:
Bulls were very important to Minoan culture and many images and statues of bull’s heads have been found. The palace at Knossos contained so many rooms and passages that it must have been easy to get lost. The palace was decorated with images of the double-headed axe or labrys . Therefore the palace could be called ‘the palace of the labrys’ or labyrinth. |
Activities
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