John Bowman

Were the startling feats of the Minoan bull-leapers fact or symbol? Was the palace of Knossos, generally believed to be the centre of a vital metropolis, a palace of death ? What is the ”draughts board” of Knossos? Will the key to the undeciphered Linear A ever be found? Or to the Phaestos disc? These and other unsolved mysteries have eluded generations of scholars and laymen alike who continue to be intrigued by the remarkable Minoan civilization which began to flourish on Crete nearly five thousand years ago.

Asked to nominate a totemic animal for Crete, most people would probably vote for the bull. Or the snake. There are, after all, those suggestive snake goddesses. But there is no denying the bull’s strong claim. From the mate of Pasiphae to the partner of the leapers, in myth and art, the image has been strongly profiled. Perhaps this focus on the bull, however, says more about us, our tendency to spotlight the showy and the violent at the expense of more modest and domestic qualities. The fact is that the most representative animal for most of Crete’s inhabitants throughout its long history has been the island’s distinctive wild goat.