ABSTRACT
The meaning of the ritual-whether an initiation rite for young men and women or an annual reenactment of some mythological event-still escapes us, but the bull-leaping frescoes from Knossos have become a well-known feature of the Minoan civilization, which developed on Crete around 2100 B.C. It takes its name from Minos, the legendary king who ruled the seas with a powerful fl eet and kept a bull-headed monster, the Minotaur, in his labyrinth at Knossos. This beast was annually fed seven youths and seven maidens, until it was slain by the Athenian hero Theseus. It used to be thought that there were memories in this legend of a real historical event-the takeover of Minoan Crete by the Mycenaeans from mainland Greece-for around 1450 B.C. the Minoan palaces were destroyed. Only Knossos was rebuilt, and the earlier situation of multiple centers was replaced by a period in which Knossos was the sole center of power on the island. Furthermore, the Linear B texts found at Knossos show that when the palace rose again from the ashes, it was Greek from the mainland rather than the indigenous Minoan language that was being used by the palace scribes. Other recent evidence, however, challenges the idea of a direct Mycenaean take-over.
