Sir Arthur Evans excavated the site of Knossos on Crete in 1899
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Transcript of Sir Arthur Evans excavated the site of Knossos on Crete in 1899
Homer’s description of Minoans in the Odyssey (19.172-179)
There is a land called Crete . . .
ringed by the wine-dark sea with rolling whitecaps—
handsome country, fertile, thronged with people
well past counting—boasting ninety cities,
language mixing with language side-by-side.
First come the Achaeans, then the native Cretans,
hardy, gallant in action, then Cydonian clansmen,
Dorians living in three tribes, and proud Pelasgians last.
Central to all their cities is magnificent Cnossos,
the site where Minos ruled and each ninth year
conferred with almighty Zeus himself.
Heroes of Athens
• Herakles: popular under the Peisistratids (a clan counting a number of tyrants who ruled Athens before it became a democracy).
• Theseus: after the ousting of the Peisistratids in 510 BCE, Theseus becomes the central hero of the Athenians.