Adventures Ashore: The Minoan Palace Of Knossos | Travel Research Online

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Adventures Ashore: The Minoan Palace Of Knossos

Today we’re going to tour an archaeological site where a mighty palace stood more than 3,000 years ago. This is Knossos, a place loaded with legends, one of its greatest about a king who fed his enemies to a mythological monster. Let’s unravel the mysteries of Knossos.

The Palace of King Knossos was once the religious and administrative center of the Minoan world.

For centuries, however, Knossos was considered only a city of myth and legend. No one could find its exact location.

Dating from the Bronze Age, Knossos was rediscovered in 1878. Excavations would not begin here, however, until more than two decades later when English archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans and his team began to unveil the mysteries of Crete’s largest archaeological site.

By 1903 most of the palace was excavated, though Evans worked here for more than three decades. His reconstruction is partly fabricated. For example, he had rooms repainted to the best of his imagination, including the Throne room, which was done by two Swiss artists. It is said that some of the frescoes may have been inventions of the artists rather than based on historical facts.

One of the main features of the palace was the labyrinth, which was built to confine the fabled Minotaur, a frightful creature with the head of a bull and the body of a man.

Legend holds it that the Minotaur was born out of the unnatural union between the queen of Knossos and a god in the form of a bull. The creature could have been inspired by the Minoan sport of bull-jumping, where the male athlete vaults over the bull’s horns, giving the appearance of a bull and a man joined together.

It is said that the king fed his enemies to this mythological monster until the labyrinth’s secret was finally unraveled. It was the Athenian hero Theseus who finally killed the Minotaur. He decapitated the beast, and used a string that he had laid behind him to find his way out of the Labyrinth.

Your guided tour takes you through the ruins of the palace complex.

The Minoan Palace of Knossos makes for a fascinating tour that explores the myths and legends of ancient Crete.


An avid traveler and an award-winning journalist, Ralph Grizzle produces articles, video and photos that are inspiring and informative, personal and passionate. A journalism graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Ralph has specialized in travel writing for more than two decades. To read more cruise and port reviews by Ralph Grizzle, visit his website at www.avidcruiser.com.

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