The Song of Orpheus (2016)
“I’m so close, yet so far. I need to calm down so I can think.
I know—how about something from Crete? Many Greeks even in my day didn’t know many Cretan myths. That’s because in ancient times, the island of Crete wasn’t part of Greece, the way it is today. It had a different culture, language, religion, and customs. I’m from Thrace, which is now a province of Greece, and Crete was almost as foreign to me as it probably is to you.
The little I know about Crete I learned from Greek travele...rs who went there and reported what they had seen, a lot of which they misunderstood. Sometimes they even outright lied about the Cretans, because the Cretans were the enemies of most of the people in Greece, and they thought it was funny to tell stories that made the Cretans look stupid or savage.
Here’s an example. The Cretan sun god was a bull. (I know that sounds strange, but in a lot of ancient religions, the gods took the shape of animals.MoreLess
I know—how about something from Crete? Many Greeks even in my day didn’t know many Cretan myths. That’s because in ancient times, the island of Crete wasn’t part of Greece, the way it is today. It had a different culture, language, religion, and customs. I’m from Thrace, which is now a province of Greece, and Crete was almost as foreign to me as it probably is to you.
The little I know about Crete I learned from Greek travele...rs who went there and reported what they had seen, a lot of which they misunderstood. Sometimes they even outright lied about the Cretans, because the Cretans were the enemies of most of the people in Greece, and they thought it was funny to tell stories that made the Cretans look stupid or savage.
Here’s an example. The Cretan sun god was a bull. (I know that sounds strange, but in a lot of ancient religions, the gods took the shape of animals.MoreLess
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