Secret_History

298 The Secret History of the World
be brought from the stone-quarries which are opposite Memphis, others of very
great size from the city of Elephantine, distant a voyage of not less than twenty
days from Saïs: and of them all I marvel most at this, namely a monolith chamber
which he brought from the city of Elephantine; and they were three years engaged
in bringing this, and two thousand men were appointed to convey it, who all were
of the class of boatmen.
Moreover Amasis became a lover of the Hellenes; and besides other proofs of
friendship which he gave to several among them, he also granted the city of
Naucratis for those of them who came to Egypt to dwell in; and to those who did
not desire to stay, but who made voyages thither, he granted portions of land to set
up altars and make sacred enclosures for their gods.
Also with the people of Kyrene Amasis made an agreement for friendship and
alliance; and he resolved too to marry a wife from thence, whether because he
desired to have a wife of Hellenic race, or apart from that, on account of friendship
for the people of Kyrene: however that may be, he married, some say the daughter
of Battos, others of Arkesilaos, and others of Critobulos, a man of repute among the
citizens; and her name was Ladike. 206
We are suddenly reminded of the Hyperborean girls who brought offerings to
Delos, one of whom was named Laodike. What is more, it brings to mind the
journey of the great Queen of Sheba who heard of the fame of Solomon and came,
bearing gifts, to see for herself.
The Secret of Crete
For centuries, bards in the marketplaces of the Mediterranean recited the stories
of the Minotaur. Scholars of later centuries considered them to be fable and
fantasy. The ideas of human sacrifice and grotesque creatures were reinterpreted
as symbolic accounts of how higher Greek culture overcame the bloody bull cult
of the ancient Cretans. And so the matter was interpreted until Arthur Evans
discovered and excavated the “palace” at Knossos, a few miles south of the capital
of Crete, Herakleion. (We note that Pliny mentions residents of an Egyptian city
Heracleopolis.)
Nevertheless, Arthur Evans banished the myth of the Minotaur with his
discovery. From the remains of twelve hundred deviously interconnected rooms,
stairways, corridors, warehouses, colonnaded halls and cellars grouped around an
interior court, and from the arrangements of wall paintings showing bull games,
animal scenes, processions and portraits, Evans reconstructed the Minoan culture
for the breathless world. Based upon Evan’s analyses, the Greek bards who said
such nasty things about the Cretans were all a bunch of frauds! The innumerable
206 Herodotus, The Histories, Book II, 181.