Crete days 1 & 2

So I'm exhausted.  Enjoying my second free day back in Athens, the last for a while and I didn't realize how exhausted I was (am).  The ride on the ferry back was rockier than on the way over and I had land-sickness for the better part of yesterday.  Slept from 10am - 5pm, and then slept some more from 10pm-8am.  I've lost all sense of what day it is, so this post and the few to follow are in effect, a partial effort to reorient myself back to, you know, reality.

SO
Friday, April 16th
A pretty boring day altogether.  Got off the ferry.  Got familiar with Heraklion and visited a few Minoan villa sites from .  Not a terribly great place.  Capital of the island of Crete after dictatorship was removed from power back in the 70's I think and the capital was moved from Chania (Hania).  Lots of students staying at the hotel we were at--lots of noisy students, mostly from high schools in Italy and America.  Very touristy in a very kitch sort of way.

This is some of the pottery from the Minoan villa.  Storage jar of some kind, ~4ft. wide, 4.5 ft. tall.  Possibly used to stare grain or wine. Designs on the jars made with rudimentary tools, date approximately 3600 years ago.

Not allowed to take any the of the rocks or pottery pieces from the site, but there was a beautiful poppy field next door we were allowed to pick flowers from.

Heraklion is right on the sea on the north side of the island, and it had not one, but two city walls (inner and outer) to protect itself, and apparently one hell of a navy army back in the day.  Heraklion has grown now so that the walls only separate the inner city from the outer city.  There's only four entrances into the inner city and the actual harbor, one pictured here, built some time in the 1700s I think.

One of my roomies Dani at a fast food joint back in Heraklion.  Fast food is notoriously glam here.  She's either mean muggin' some girl who gave her a dirty look or is looking longingly for her cheeseburger, one of the two.










Saturday, April 17

Minoan Palace of Knossos (Gnossos) and Archeological Museum of Heraklion

Knossos was fantastic.  It's where the myth of the Minotaur and the Labyrinth comes from (see other post). 

Much of ruins uncovered to Knossos have been restored, a contemptuous order of debate among those in the archeological field, but, in my opinion, it was a nice change in pace from photographing rocks.  Here was what would have been considered the throne room of Knossos.  The griffins pictured were a common motif in Knossos, with the head of an eagle (meant to represent Zeus and the Heavens), body of a lion (meant to represent the earth) and the tail is actually supposed to be a snake (meant to represent the Underworld). The date of this restored wall painting is between 4,000 and 3,600 years old.

More restored artwork from the Knossos palace.  Lots and lots of art discovered from this site shows sea life, so dolphins, starfish, fish, squid, octopus, you name it.

Look.  It's a pot.

Although this is a poor portrayal, The Palace of Knossos was freakin' HUGE. The building itself was ~20,000 square meters, about five acres with about 1,500 rooms divided among four or five stories. Keep in my mind how long ago this was, about 4,000 years ago.  And from what's been deciphered from the pictographs (no decipherable text history), the palace itself has been around at least 1,000 years before then.  THAT'S 5,000 YEARS AGO OMG

Another restored portion of the palace, one of the gates with a picture of a bull, the classic Minoan-Knossos icon.

So that was the palace.  The real treasures however, were at the Archeological Museum of Heraklion, which stored all the treasures they found at the site.  I was really annoyed the tour guide wouldn't just let us walk around and discover for ourselves.  I guess someone forgot to mention to him we've been studying these things for the better part of six months now.  But after he was done, I got to snap some fantastic pictures of what they had to offer:

These may not seem terribly impressive, but they are dated in the Neolithic time period, between 8,000 and 5,200 years ago. Most of the figurines from this time period are of the earth goddess, Mother Earth. The one in the middle is my favorite :) 

Old Palatial Period, between 4,000 and 3,300 years ago.  More utilitarian artifacts begin to immerge, like the pottery here.  Figs (left) and flowers (right) depicted.

There's nothing particularly fascinating about this piece of pottery, except that it's freakin' GORGEOUS.  Looks almost like something from the far-East, considering the design and patterning (water reeds, repeated).

Bees!  New Palatial period, between 3700 and 3450 years ago.  Ornate jewelry begins to immerge.  This was a broach or pendant of some kind.  Bees were also a big deal back then, used to make honey for trade and a mark of status in a household, etc. (click pic for enlarged detail)

Check out them tatas!  These figurines are presumably priestesses and snake handlers.  Women were sacred figures, able to give predictions into the future, mother and daughter priestesses shown here.

Okay, I know I know, this is a lot of museum stuff.  Bare with me, one last piece from the museum:

THIS is the bread and butter of the Museum in Heraklion, a discus found in the deepest regions of the Knossos palace.  The pictures are called Linear A, a form of pictography that hasn't been deciphered yet.  It's  considered to be a divining tool, although it's meaning is still unknown.  The details and quality is amazing.  You should click on the picture and check it out.

Well, I've got 20 minutes until Latin so I better get on it.  Will update more later tonight.