The true history of the Minotaur: what archaeology reveals

(nationalgeographic.fr)

35 points | by joebig 3 days ago

6 comments

  • internet_points 7 hours ago
  • rawgabbit 4 hours ago
    If I understand correctly, the article says the "maze" was actually the many rooms of the Cretan palace. The word "labyrinth" comes from the sacred ax called "labrys" used to kill the bulls during sacrifice. The minotaur was an invention symbolizing a foreign power that Athens fought with and will overcome?
    • Telemakhos 2 hours ago
      The big problem that the article glosses over is that "labrys" is neither Minoan (to our limited knowledge) nor Greek, but Lydian: the Roman-era author Plutarch in Ætia Romana et Græca tells us that the Lydians call the double-headed axe λάβρυν, and people have assumed that it must have a nominative λάβρυς. The Lydians lived in Anatolia, not Crete. The Carians, another Anatolian people neighboring the Lydians, had a place called Labraunda, and coins minted there in Roman times have a double-headed axe, but that's more than a thousand years after the Cretans. There's no good evidence that the Minoans knew the word "labrys" or connected it to axes or the labyrinth. Moreover, it's not clear that the axes we have were or could have been functional rather than votive or ornamental, as most are thin and weak, so assuming that they were used to kill bulls is a stretch.
  • sapphicsnail 4 hours ago
    The article mentions that Sappho referenced the Athenians sending sacrifices to Crete but I can't find the fragment anywhere and I'm guessing it doesn't exist.
  • 1024core 7 hours ago
    English version, but paywalled: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/history-magazine/...

    (can read in FF's "reader mode").

    Archive link: https://archive.ph/gsv8r

    • MrDresden 5 hours ago
      It seems disabling JavaScript on that page also loads the full content.
  • svilen_dobrev 5 hours ago
    partially related..

    the Minotaur is one of the main "characters" in Physics of Sorrow by Georgi Gospodinov.

    https://www.amazon.com/Physics-Sorrow-Georgi-Gospodinov/dp/1...

    https://losangelesreview.org/book-review-the-physics-of-sorr...

  • jmclnx 8 hours ago
    The article is in french
    • patrickmay 8 hours ago
      So we know the minotaur probably didn't speak English.
    • 5555624 7 hours ago
      This appears to be the English version : https://archive.is/gsv8r
    • sejje 5 hours ago
      My browser has a translate feature. I imagine it's pretty standard.