h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: The Minoan Civilisation of Crete - A757163
Author: Gnomon - U151503

This is the outcome of my recent holiday in Crete. It is quite long, but I'm willing to split it if necessary. It's got links and everything, so I consider it ready to go, and I await your comments.

Well, I've read most of it! It's up to your usual standard, Gnomon. There are a few comments I'd like to make:

Normally, hiragana has a lower case haitch.
Iraklion (Ancient Gk Heraklion) was named after Heracles, wasn't it? Just wondering mostly.
I've heard that the legend of Atlantis has been attributed to Crete, a mighty empire near Greece brought low by a sudden catastrophe - the tidal wave from Santorini.

That's all, I think. Nice one.

Jack

Thanks, Jack.

You're right about Iraklion. I've another entry about Iraklion which I will submit whenever this one is recommended. (I want to link to this one from it). It explains the origin of the name Iraklion.

I'm not going to put in the Atlantis theory in this entry, because I've already dealt with it extensively in the Santorini entry.

I'll fix the hiragana typo.

Loved it,

SallyM

An excellent entry, Gnomon, highly Guideworthy.

I agree it should be split. A straight split at 'Visiting the Palaces' would give two entries of roughly 2000 words each.

"hair-styles were different in Santorini from in Crete" - I would have phrased this slightly differently, but there you go!

Apart from that, I found less than a dozen typos, all minor ones, which in 4000 words is bloody marvellous.

The ones I found were:

Intricate gold jewelry has been discovered in the ruins, as well as the utilitarian pots and jars.
- jewellery

A stylised bull horns was used
- bull's horn

known by the unglorious name of Linear A, because
- inglorious

the surrounding town was left untouched. which appears to rule out any
natural disaster.
- that seems to be a full stop after 'untouched'

in Crete at least by the ruler and their officials after 1450 BC was Greek, leading further evidence to the theory that the island was conquered by the Mycenaeans.
- did you mean to say 'lending' further evidence (or further credence)?

frescoes and artefacts discovered in the ruins, there were all brought to the museum in Iraklion
- these were all brought

the so-called 'Oblique Building', which was build later and at an angle to everything else.
- built later

the floor of these rooms has a compicated drainage system for
- complicated

The palace of Zakros is the smallest of all the palaces and the least
accesible
- accessible


I met John Chadwick many years ago - he was a Fellow of the college where I was an undergrad, and I knew his book 'The Decipherment of Linear B'. It was an amazing achievement and he received many awards and laurels for it. Ventris unfortunately died in a car crash in the mid-1950s but Chadwick died only a couple of years ago. Ventris was the one who came up with the original theory which led to the cracking of the code, but it required Chadwick's detailed and painstaking scholarship to actually do it. Some time after he had theoretically deciphered Linear B another tablet was discovered, somewhere quite different but seemingly in the same language. Applying Chadwick's theories to this new text made it quite intelligible, so this was the final proof of Chadwick's achievement.



Bels

errr, i'll read it tomorrow.

bit long for tonight!

Thanks, Bel, for that detailed trawl through my text. I've read it so many times at this stage that I just don't see it so those few typos got through. In my own defence, jewelry is an acceptable spelling, although it is not as common as jewellery. And I definitely fixed that one about "leading further evidence" already, but I must have clicked the wrong button. I'll rephrase the sentence about the hairstyles, too. It didn't sound good.

I'm fascinated to hear that you met Chadwick. I only started reading about Linear B recently. There is a good explanation of the decipherment in Simon Singh's Code Book. He gives equal credit to Ventris and Chadwick, because he points out that Ventris did not know enough archaic Greek (if that's the right name) to enable him to decipher the language on his own. Singh also gives a lot of credit to Alice Kober, who developed the technique for identifying the common consonants in different syllabic signs.

Done those changes now.

Hi FABT! So that you don't credit me with superhuman powers, I have to point out that this is not the entry that I wrote during the hour when h2g2 was unavailable!

now you've destroyed all my illusions about you gnomon.

i promise to read it today when i have half an hour to devote to it.

in between going through old exam papers that is.......

I think everyone should visit Crete at some time. It's a wonderful place.

People visiting Knossos etc, need to be aware how hot it can be, so wearing a hat and carrying water are essential (IMO).

This is a lovely entry, Gnomon - up to your usual standard.

One typo - counterpards > counterparts.

It might be worth mentioning that the two headed axe is called a labrys and that there are countless opportunities to buy replicas (as there are to buy Festos discs).

I agree that everyone should try to visit Crete. I was there twice. I've only seen Knossos and Festos though.

The entry is, of course, excellent.

Isn't there a statue of Evans at Knossos?

Awu.

ok got as far as



It also appears the the Mycenaeans learned a lot from the Cretans. They quickly developed an advanced culture of their own, with many Cretan fashions mixed in.



i know it's kind of implied, but you could be a bit more obvious about this indicating very good relations between to two cultures and probably trading as well.

Fixed typo: counterpards !

Mentioned "labrys".

There is a statue of Evans at Knossos, but I'm not going to mention it.

FABT, that's an interesting point you make about the relationship between the Minoans and the Mycenaeans. I'm being deliberately vague, because it's one of those issues which is still unclear. Nobody knows whther the Mycenaeans were vassals and slaves of the Minoans or whether they were trading partners. They may have invaded Crete in 1450 and destroyed the Minoan civilisation, or they have just moved into the ruins after the Minoans destroyed themselves.

I've added the warning about how hot it is in Crete to the section on Knossos. Thanks, Singing Fish.

hi gnomon, i might actually managed to finish reading this this morning!

Thanks!

i finished gnomon!

took me long enough.

i really like this entry, it's well written and interesting.

although i have never studied crete to any great extent i did spend a while on archaeology. normally when i read this sort of entry something jumps out at me as misleading or wrong or misunderstood......simply because of the way it's phrased or something.

but as you are quite clearly perfect there were no such problems here.

i wish all guide entries were this good

well done!

FABT

Thanks again, FABT!

I've added a small section which gives details on how the entry should be split, if the editors decide to split it.