Myths of Ancient Greece always attracted and attract the most live interest, with their help the communication between the past and the present is felt. It is especially interesting what from myths existed in reality and that - a fruit of human imagination. One of mysteries of history is the labyrinth of the Minotaur.
Legend of the Minotaur
The spouse of the Cretan gave risetsar Minos awful a monster which was called the Minotaur. It was the semi-bull - the semi-person eating exclusively human meat therefore he was imprisoned in a labyrinth. The labyrinth consisted of a huge set of the smart and tangled courses, and none of the people getting there could find the road back.
To propitiate the Minotaur, the tsar Minos had to sacrifice him living people. Every year as a tribute for defeat in war, from Athens brought fourteen girls and young men to Crete.
On other of versions, young men and girls Athenians in the form of atonement for the death of the son Minos who was killed by a marathon bull sent.
These young people intended in the victim to a monster. And once Theseus is a son of the Athenian tsar - voluntarily went to Crete among fourteen victims to put an end to sacrifices and to kill the Minotaur.
The daughter of the tsar Minos – Ariadna – fell in love with Theseus and gave to the young man a ball of threads that that could find the road from a labyrinth. Theseus bound one his end on an entrance. The young man went to the Minotaur, and the ball was gradually unwound. Theseus could overcome a monster, and the clue helped it to find the road back to Ariadne. Such is the myth about a labyrinth of the Minotaur.
Whether there is this labyrinth actually?
Many consider that the labyrinth of the Minotaur is the Knossos palace which is on the island of Crete in five kilometers from the modern city of Heraklion. Till our time only ruins, but also on them remained, and on the recreated plan it is possible to understand, the sizes of this palace as its rooms are chaotic and numerous were how grandiose. The Knossos palace consisted of the central yard which was surrounded a set of inside patios and buildings. The construction formed a complex system of halls, temples, corridors, rooms, warehouses and passes. All this was at the different levels and connected uncountable transitions and ladders. At the same time the palace is not a chaotic heap of buildings, but a uniform architectural complex, the huge palace city which does not have in the history of architecture of analogs.
Now the palace in Knossos is partially restored and it is considered one of the main attractions of the island of Crete.
That the labyrinth of the Minotaur and the palace is the same indirectly confirm also coins with the image of a labyrinth which were in the use in the ancient city of Knossos. Still Knossos palace stores a set of riddles, is a pearl of the Minoan civilization, and, of course, deserves to visit it, and most to answer a question: Whether "But not this palace is a mythical labyrinth?"