FUN WITH MAPS – ISSUE 2023-50 DAILY FEATURE:

By Steve Kovacs (Introduction by Chuck Gibson)

LOVELAND, OH (March 16, 2023) – In today’s edition of Fun with Maps from Steve Kovacs, we celebrate the “rediscovery” of a mysterious civilization from long, long ago.         

PART BULL PART MAN

The good old days…

The Minoan civilization on the Island of Crete remains somewhat mysterious and is not well understood.  They existed for over two millennia, from 3500 BC to about 1100 BC.

Its center was the city of Knossos, which was re-discovered on March 16, 1900, by the British archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans. 

What is most fascinating about the archaeological site is the labyrinth like structures discovered under the palace.  Labyrinth in Knossos?  That could only mean one thing in mythology, the Minotaur.

The Minotaur is the creature most associate with the Minoans.  The Minotaur is said to be the offspring of King Minos’s wife, Pasiphae, and a bull.  The Minotaur is half man and half bull – the head and tail being that of a bull and body that of a man.  The good King spared the life of the creature and placed him in the center of the custom-built labyrinth, per Greek mythology.  You don’t want to meet him…

The sea surrounding Crete is full of other monsters, sea monsters that is in this Porcacchi map from 1576.

Steve Kovacs and his wife Theresa reside in Loveland, Ohio where they raised their two children. He is a passionate collector of antique maps.

Visit his antique map boutique world-on-paper online. Watch for his daily feature Steve Kovacs: Fun with Maps here on Loveland Beacon.