The secret of the labyrinth
One of the major features of the Minoan palaces that has come down in the Greek myths is the myth of the labyrinth, that the palaces were so elaborate and had so many rooms: and passages that those who entered could never find their way out again. It was left to the hero Theseus to solve the problem by seducing the King’s daughter who slipped him a ball of string which he reeled out when he went in and followed it backwards to escape. It all sounds very mysterious, but thanks to modern archaeology, the secret of the labyrinth has been revealed.
The palaces were not just centres of economics, they were also centres of rituals where traditional ceremonies took place to make the rulers appear more important, to give the people an opportunity to celebrate their traditions, and to provide the glue that holds a society together. And one of theses myths was the myth of the labyrinth. There are three major features of the palaces that would appear to point to mysterious ritual practices from which can let our imagination roam, and believe we can penetrate into the psyche of the Minoans.
Let us therefore examine the ‘Minoan hall’ which is a difficult and controversial feature of the palaces. It consisted of two or more rooms – an inner room and a smaller outer room, but they are associated with ‘pillar and door’ architecture marked by pillars with recesses into which doors could be pushed back, forming partitions which could be opened up to form one big room, or shut to form several small rooms. Is this the origin of the labyrinth, so that when you entered the palace, one set of doors were opened, but when you came out again some doors were closed and other doors were opened so the whole layout was different, which was (deliberately) very confusing? These Minoan halls are difficult to identify or interpret, but could they be the origin of the labyrinth?
The most obvious ritual feature of the palaces are the so-called ‘lustral basins’. When Evans was excavating the palace at Knossos in his very first season, he came down onto the ‘throne room’, but opposite the throne room was something that looked like some sort of bath and looked as if it must be ritual. With his wonderful imagination, Evans named it a ‘lustral basin’ and he suggested that it could be a place where the queen performed a ritual wash before ascending to the throne. Several more lustral basins were found at Knossos and more have been found at the other palaces. However there are problems in seeing them as baths: they are often plastered with gypsum which is water soluble and they had no drains, so if they did have a washing function, the washing could only have been done with jugs. Perhaps it was a bit of both – yes, washing was done, but in a form of ritual purification.
But the main ritual symbol in the Minoan paraphernalia of hocus-pocus was the double axe symbol, often reduced to two triangles opposite each other. These are often found in the so-called pillar crypts, semi-subterranean rooms often with a central pillar, and often with the double axe symbols inscribed on the pillar as a mark of their religious function. A fine example was found at Knossos, though it would appear that it was in fact a relic of an earlier palace. But this is where one imagines that the dark hidden mysteries took place.
All three types of shrine are often found in the vicinity of the magazines. You did not just render up your tithes to the Minos, and receive his gifts as a straightforward transaction, it was all mixed up with ritual hocus-pocus. We will never elucidate the ritual but we can appreciate that in these palace empires, economics and ritual were all bound up together and that it was the wealth that had been accumulated, combined with rituals and magic ceremonies that gave the ruler the prestige – and the power.
And now, having considered the palaces that made up the Minoan civilisation, it is time to move on to the towns and countryside outside the palaces.
7th August 2016, revised 4th August 2022