Everyone who goes to Greece ends up at the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, one of a handful of truly world-class museums. But thousands of visitors to the island of Crete dutifully pad through Knossos and skip the terrific museum only a few miles away in Heraklion (Iraklion, Iraklio).
The tragedy is that a visit to Knossos will come alive in a much more memorable way when combined with the experience of the thousands of artifacts on display at the museum. In its halls are all the icons of Cretan culture: the magnificent bull head rhyton (drinking vessel), another rhyton carved out of rock crystal, the enduringly mysterious Phaistos disk, inscribed with undescipherable symbols. These objects are beautifully displayed in cases allowing a 360-degree view.
The famous faience statue of the Snake Goddess, perhaps the best known of all Cretan artifacts, fares less well - inexplicably displayed on the center shelf of a case against the wall, gazing inscrutably out at visitors who have to bend to see her... but who's to say how she feels about it? As a goddess, she may enjoy demanding a little extra of those who want to examine her.
Penetrating into the museum, a room bristles with the dark double axes, Minoan symbol of power and dominance. Some experts have tried to see in the Minoans an essentially peace-loving culture, as their palace complexes were virtually undefended, with no gargantuan walls to protect the noble and royal inhabitants. Actually, evidence also suggests that the Minoans so dominated the seas of the Aegean that none of their vassals would dare to attack. The huge metal double axes, mounted on long poles, and cases displaying exquisite bronze dagger blades look like the Minoans were more than capable of taking care of themselves in a fight. Visitors instinctively tread lightly past the display of the big double axes, which look as if they could slice down without warning - inhabitants of the ancient Aegean world may well have felt the same trepidation.
On a much smaller scale are the thousands of intricately carved seal stones, displayed beside their impressions, showing miniature scenes of adoration of goddesses, powerful tiny bulls, and twining florals. In another room, ceramic statues of unnamed divinities raise their hands toward the heavens, while farther on, dozens of bathtub-like sarcophagi show the final resting place of many Minoans.
Upstairs, frescoes from Knossos and elsewhere adorn the walls, still vibrant with color and emotion...solemn processions, beautiful, strangely contemporary depictions of women with curled hair and rouged lips, amusing studies of monkeys. And, tucked away in a corner, missed by most visitors, is another phase of Cretan history, one that ancient Cretans were glad to see end - a room full of statues from the period of the Roman domination, including an image of Aphrodite, Pan, and a striking "family group" of Isis, her consort/husband Sarapis, and the three-headed dog usually associated with Pluto as Lord of the Underworld, Cerberus. My suggestion? See this room, off of the main entrance area, first. If your time is short, you may want to skip it and devote all of your time to the endlessly intriguing Minoans.
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