Secret_History

302 The Secret History of the World
In dealing with the issue of what happened to the Minoans, Wunderlich points
out that it is a mistake to think that just because an institution comes to an end, and
the buildings of a civilization are destroyed, that it means an end to the peoples
themselves. Institutions end when they no longer have a “living function”. In light
of the major destruction of the area by the cataclysmic eruption of Santorini, it is
far more likely, as Wunderlich points out, that there was a “change in function”,
and an “abandonment of traditional ideas and modes of behavior”. In other words,
if a funerary cult is destroyed cataclysmically, it is entirely likely that the
practitioners came to the conclusion that they needed a change of philosophy and
were “born again” into a new and different cult that was considered to be less
likely to evoke such disastrous responses from the “gods”. And, in point of fact,
that seems to be what happened.
Given all the evidence presented by Wunderlich, we can no longer think of
Crete as an anomaly, an isolated civilization in the Mediterranean. Rather, we
come to the rather startling realization that Crete did have an enormous role in the
context of those times. Many connections are drawn between the Minoans and
Etruria, Mesopotamia, Egypt and Greece. More than this, Wunderlich marshals a
great body of evidence to show that the Cretan civilization was born from Egypt
and interacted with Egypt in a long relationship.
The Minoans were a dark, elegant people of mysterious origin. Even their ancient
name is unknown; they were given the name Minoans by a modern-day British
archaeologist, Arthur Evans, who derived it from Greek mythology. [...] 209
About 3200 BC, a large number of newcomers reached southern Crete. Their
religious symbols - the trident, the double axe, and the shield shaped like the
numeral 8 - were those of the Delta tribes of Lower Egypt. The Libyan goddess,
with her spear, snake, spindle, and goatskin bib, came with them, and she remained
one of their chief deities. Other evidence of the newcomers’ Egyptian or Libyan
origin was the soldiers’ custom of training their hair in a long lock curled over one
shoulder and their use of a peculiarly shaped loincloth instead of a kilt. It seems
likely that these people may have been fleeing from Menes‘ conquest of Lower
Egypt. They mixed with the Neolithic Cretans of the mountains to form the Cretan
civilization. 210
Returning to our tracking of the story of the labyrinth, the hero of the story,
Prince Theseus of Athens, volunteered to become one of the intended victims.
However, the priestess Ariadne fell in love with him and helped him by giving him
a ball of golden thread. He unraveled this as he penetrated to the heart of the maze,
where he slew the Minotaur and was able to find his way out and escape.
Afterwards, Theseus sailed away from Crete with Ariadne and the other Athenian
209 Colon, Thuborn, The Ancient Mariners, (Alexandria, Virginia: Time-Life Books 1981) p. 12.
210 Hayes, pp. 73-74.