#ancient Crete

[kat-cant-draw]

Minoan lady with a snake no correlation to the snake goddess at all

[kurj]

my minoan character, Malia, wearing the famous bee pendant (wiki: Malia pendant) \( ´ ꒳ ` )/ ♡

More of my minoan art: click.

[whimsimarion]

Based on @kurj's beautiful bull-leaping drawings (sorry for tagging you again, it's just I have noticed that Tumblr hides my recent art pieces from the tags for some unknown reason)

It was really fun doing this piece.

References used:

[janrockart]

Minoan dance (sketching in b/w)

[dark-longings]

The Minotaur, 1885. George Frederic Watts.

[leche-flandom]

Okay so my mom gave my daughter some books she got from the flea market. Considering how my mom let us watch a ton of inappropriate movies and shows when we were kids, I probably should've checked them before I let my daughter pick one for her bedtime story tonight, but hindsight is hindy and sighty.

Anyway, I couldn't stop giggling when I read her the story about Theseus because this is the most UNHINGED MINOTAUR I HAVE EVER SEEN

First of all, Theseus reminds me of both the knifer and the knifee from that wikiHow "Winning a Fair Fight" meme. Second of all, I know that Ovid described him as "part man, part bull" so this is technically correct, but... wowzers.

Eh, it was either this or a short story about Grendel's bone-crunching ass.

[ancientstuff]

Amazing find.

[blueiscoool]

A BRONZE FIGURE OF A BULL, PROBABLY CRETAN CIRCA LATE 2ND MILLENNIUM B.C.

With large forward-curving horns, wide-set ears, and long straight tail falling down to a broad horizontal strut connecting the back of the hind legs, grooved linear ornament on the body. Length 12.5 cm.; Height 12.2 cm.

[pelideswhore]

HELLO can you explain more about Crete being the home of liars. That's really funny

hello!! yeah!

i first came across this in Emily Wilson’s introduction to her Odyssey: “In Ithaca, he constructs multiple different autobiographies, usually claiming to have come from Crete—the traditional home of liars.”

i did some more digging because that’s an interesting stereotype, and I found that Titus basically made that exact statement in the New Testament claiming, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.”

That idea probably came from Epimenides, a Cretan himself, stating that, “All Cretans are liars,” an idea which would be known as the Cretan paradox (by saying that, Epimenides implies that he himself is a liar meaning that statement is not true). (x)

This became a whole thing amongst the Greeks, even causing them to coin a new term—“to cretanize” or kretizo, which meant ‘to lie’.

As you can see, this was a widespread idea, so Odysseus identifying himself as a Cretan is quite a silly thing to do, especially when he really wants to go under the radar.

edit: @godsofhumanity has found a mythological source!!! in fact Thetis herself was involved in the origin of this term in this case. On Crete, Medea and Thetis argued over who was the most beautiful and asked a local to judge for them (*sigh*). When he said Thetis, Medea got angry and called all Cretans liars, cursing them to never say the truth again. (x)

I think it’s kinda funny to consider that this happened only a single generation before the Iliad so Odysseus calling himself a Cretan is extra ironic when the association between them and liars is recent and fresh.

[spiritsdancinginthenight]

Keftiu (Minoan, Cretan, later Mycenaean) men depicted bringing tribute within the tomb chapel of the vizier Rekhmire (TT100). New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty, reign of Thutmose III - Amenhotep II, c. 1479-1400 B.C. Valley of the Nobles, Theban Necropolis Photograph by manna4u http://facebook.com/Egypt.Museum

[kat-cant-draw]

i just realized i havent posted any Minoan girl art on tumblr so here you go 🏺 (might need to turn your brightness up to see this one)

[kurj]

...at least that's what I imagine they usually do

version without censorship (yes i had to cover her tits for the visibility of the post) and without text under the cut

more of my minoan art: click

im crying about his little feet

[whimsimarion]

Young girl gathering saffron and goddess or woman of authority flanked by blue monkey on left and griffin to right, based a fresco, circa 1600 BCE, Xeste 3, Room 3, North Wall, Akrotiri archaeological site, Santorini, Greece.

Some archeologists claim that the woman (on the left) whom the girl on the right gathers saffron for is actually a religious deity (hense the monkey and the griffin) and that the girl has an epiphany, marking her transmission from a young virgin to a full adult.

References (and uncensored version) used below:

[whereskatieandgrady]

History of Crete

[oldbooksarchive]

It's Beast Thursday! Look at these Beasts!

WOW!

source

[platosfire]

my minoan flag statement earrings are inspired by the colours and decorative motifs of the STUNNING minoan frescoes! they’re handmade from a mixture of gold mirrored acrylic + red/turquouse marbled acrylics, and are available with sterling silver studs or gold plated clip ons ☀️💛

(and i ship worldwide!)