Who is Minos?

Minos was swallowed up by the volcano.

1, a myth proved by reality

Ritter Island is the southernmost island in Greece. It is surrounded by Mediterranean wine green sea water, with beautiful scenery and pleasant climate. It quietly accepts the sea breeze and waves, and it can hardly find its place in the glorious history of Greece. However, there is a well-known tragic story in Crete.

This story comes from Greek mythology: A long time ago, a son of Minos, the king of Crete, was killed in Athens, so the furious king took this opportunity to ask Athens for help, and finally forced King Egus of Athens to sign a shocking treaty: seven pairs of boys and girls must be paid to Crete every year as food for a monster with a cow's head and a cow's head. According to legend, this monster was born to a queen and a bull. In order to hide his ugliness, the king built a large-scale and complicated double axe palace and let the middle-headed monster hide in the deep palace. Athens was afraid of the power of Bourcrete and paid tribute on time, which made the old people in Athens miserable. On the third tribute, Wang Zicheng theseus exorcised the evil spirits for his daughter and announced that he would go to Crete as a boy. The handsome young prince of Athens was loved by the daughter of King Minos, who helped theseus kill the monster and save it.

The children who were used as tributes escaped from Crete.

Greek myths and legends are world-famous and have attracted many western archaeologists. They believe that these beautiful stories are probably created by the ancients through artistic processing according to some historical events.

19O0, British archaeologist Evans and others excavated the ruins of a royal palace in Crete. Covering an area of about 2 hectares, there are hundreds of houses, all connected by winding corridors. The complexity of the structure is rare, and the double axe sign has been found in the maze. Scholars agree that this is the Double Axe Palace of Minos Kingdom. So the cannibalism incident is true?

There are gorgeous murals on the walls of the palace, and a large number of grains, olive oil, wine, chariots and weapons are stored in the warehouse. In a small room covered with lead, there are countless jewels, gold and the king's seal. A large number of exquisite painted pottery and exquisite metal utensils show the extraordinary talent of Crete. The most valuable thing is the tens of thousands of clay tablets engraved with words, one of which reads: "There are 7 women in Athens, boys 1, and girls 65438." This can't help but remind people of the story of the tauren monster and arouse people's speculation.

Surprisingly, in the spring of 198O, British archaeologists announced in Athens that more than 200 pieces of fragmented human bones were unearthed in a bronze age house in Crete, namely10 8- 10/0 children under the age of 5, and all of them left knife marks on their bones. The excavation proved that people in ancient Crete did have the habit of cannibalism in Minos era, and then the legend of Athens paying tribute to Crete was handed down.

2. Mystery of the disappearance of maritime hegemony

Archaeologists' research has written a glorious page in the history of Crete.

From about 2300 BC to 1500 BC (equivalent to the Xia Dynasty in China), the culture of the kingdom of Crete flourished, and in the last 200 years, it was the Minoan Dynasty. At that time, Minos controlled the Aegean Sea and threatened Athens, which was the link between advanced countries in Europe, Asia and Africa. Minos made full use of this favorable geographical position, developed shipbuilding industry and established a powerful fleet, which was the earliest navy in the world. Minos' armada kept his country in trade with Egypt, Syria, Babylon, Asia Minor and other regions, and became a deterrent force for him to establish maritime hegemony for expansion and colonization. The Aegean islands surrendered to Minos one after another, and Athens had to pay tribute to him. There is no doubt that Crete is one of the cradles of ancient European civilization.

Strangely, around 1500 BC, all the cities on Crete were suddenly destroyed at the same time. Soon, this ancient sea tyrant disappeared from the earth forever.

1967, American archaeologists solved the mystery.

There is a volcanic island in Santorin, about 0/3 km north of Crete. Santorin volcano is only 566 meters above sea level. There were three small-scale eruptions in the 20th century, which were far from being comparable to Vesuvius. Its tranquility has made the residents of the island feel safe for generations. When Americans dug up an ancient commercial city under volcanic ash more than 60 meters thick on the island, the world changed its view.

Studies have proved that this is the most violent volcanic eruption in human history. It was around 1500 BC, when Santorin volcano spewed out 62.5 square kilometers of ash residue, and the city on the island was almost instantly buried under thick ash. The sky was filled with volcanic ash, covering the eastern Mediterranean.

According to records, it was dark over Egypt for three consecutive days. The volcanic eruption triggered a huge tsunami with a wave height of 50 meters. The huge waves rolled south and soon arrived in Crete, destroying the cities, villages and fertile land on the island, and the ships were smashed by the wild waves. Minos' armada was wiped out in an instant.

In this way, a volcanic eruption destroyed an ancient civilized society. The kingdom of Crete has been forgotten, leaving only some inexplicable legends. The rise and fall of Crete culture is still one of the puzzling problems in archaeology, and its mystery is far from being completely uncovered.