00:00This was once the power base of the Minoan civilization, an advanced maritime race who controlled the wealth and trade
00:07of the Mediterranean.
00:10More formidable still were the stories of the island's infamous King Minos.
00:17In Greek mythology, he's said to have built a labyrinth to cage a monster.
00:23Half man, half bull, the Minotaur was the shocking result of a union between a sacred bull and the king's
00:30unfaithful wife.
00:37Legend recalls that the Minotaur thirsted for human blood.
00:42As ruler of the seas, King Minos is said to have forced the Greeks to send seven young men and
00:47women to be sacrificed.
00:50And according to the legend, they were taken down into the labyrinth to be eaten alive.
01:04Today on the island, the remains of the palace of Knossos can still be seen.
01:10Could this building once have housed the most terrible creations from the ancient Greeks' mythical past?
01:15Or did the structure of the palace inspire the story of the Minotaur?
01:21Built some 2,000 years before the Greek world flourished, the palace contained hundreds of luxurious rooms.
01:29But did horror lurk deep beneath the splendor?
01:34In 1900, an English archaeologist decided to find out.
01:39Sir Arthur Evans began to excavate what he believed could be the legendary palace.
01:47Evans soon discovered a stone seat.
01:50Could this be a throne?
01:52Or perhaps proof that the king really existed?
01:57Evans sent a telegram to the king of Greece, inviting him to sit on what he believed was the oldest
02:02throne in Europe.
02:07As Evans dug, a magnificent palace began to emerge.
02:13Covering an area of 20,000 square yards, it revealed astonishing technical feats of the Bronze Age people Evans called
02:21the Minoans.
02:25From little more than foundations, Evans was able to reconstruct a part of the palace to create a glimpse of
02:32a lost culture.
02:34One could say that the Minoans were truly remarkable in the building technologies.
02:41They invented certain techniques and methods that were a breakthrough at that time.
02:49One innovation was a series of terraces dug into the hillside to create the palace's east wing, which stood four
02:55stories high.
03:00Another was the grand staircase running up inside the palace.
03:03It was supported by cedar wood pillars.
03:08It's a masterpiece in many ways, because it's no easy thing to build a staircase going down two flights on
03:15a wooden frame.
03:17The diameter of each column defines its maximum load.
03:22Three and a half thousand years ago, the Minoans calculated how to make the strongest framework possible by placing these
03:29columns directly beneath one another.
03:34And they outstripped all other contemporary civilizations in their mastery of light.
03:40Using light wells and windows on a scale never seen before.
03:46To control internal light and space, the ancient architects created a groundbreaking system of doors.
03:58The palace boasted an elaborate underfloored drainage system.
04:03This not only dealt with Crete's rainfall, it also carried away waste from one of the world's earliest toilets.
04:12This is the famous toilet of the Minoan palace.
04:15Outside these doors, you see this large slab.
04:19And we have here a hole.
04:21So somebody, let's say a servant, was outside flushing water as the toilet was being used.
04:29Leading to the palace were the very first cobbled roads in Europe, built over a thousand years before the Romans.
04:36There were even sidewalks for pedestrians.
04:40It became clear that Knossos lay at the heart of a highly sophisticated civilization.
04:48So why did Sir Arthur Evans link it with the myth of the Minotaur in its labyrinth?
04:57He found a number of clues, including strange engravings in the shape of a double headed axe.
05:03What was their secret meaning?
05:07We have no idea what these were for, because some were meant to be seen, others were not meant to
05:13be seen.
05:13Some were covered with plaster, others are on the undersides of stones.
05:17But what does seem clear is that they had some kind of magical component.
05:23An ancient word for this axe is labris.
05:27Evans believed this palace could be the very origin of the word labyrinth.
05:33Another clue linking the palace to the myth is the layout itself.
05:38Fifteen hundred interconnecting rooms, many below ground.
05:43A bewildering maze that would drive outsiders to panic.
05:48Rather than being the actual site of Minos' mythical labyrinth, built to imprison the Minotaur,
05:53could the maze-like palace in fact have given rise to the story?
05:59A possibility backed up by evidence that the bull, an ancient symbol of power, played a key role in Minoan
06:06life.
06:10Experts now think the Minotaur myth evolved when the powerful Cretans controlled the seas, demanding tributes from lesser states such
06:17as Athens.
06:20According to legend, the Athenian hero Theseus volunteered to confront the monster.
06:28Armed with just a sword and string to mark his path through the labyrinth,
06:31Theseus the Athenian confronted the Minotaur, slaying the beast.
06:49The Athenians promoted this story. It made them look victorious.
06:59But in reality, Athens was at this time only a minor city, when the powerful palace of Knossos flourished.
07:07And if King Minos had existed only in a legend, who was it who'd sat upon this throne?
07:13The ancient legends, I think, very much coloured Sir Arthur's view of Minoan culture.
07:21Today, we believe that actually a priestess may have sat here.
07:25Because in other artistic media, we always see a woman, priestess or goddess,
07:31with griffins heraldically placed on either side of her.
07:35Whether or not King Minos existed only in myth,
07:39the three and a half thousand year old palace at Knossos still strikes awe in its visitors today.
07:51There is no doubt that this great palace could inspire storytellers.
07:55Or that its architecture would inspire the Minoans' successors, the ancient Greeks.
08:00It was tricky if they were to hump inmaan molina.
08:00There is no doubt that.
08:00The year is truly resilient.
08:00There is no doubt that this is one of the moss.
08:01Driskyshice.
08:01It was a rough question.
