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Minos (the entire culture is often called Minoan Crete) was considered the son of
Zeus and a cultural hero. He introduced the laws andbecame the supreme judge.
Queens may have served as high priestesses .
The Aegean painting point out a peculiar coexistence of two traditions: the

canonical, grand one, according to which the figures are treated with a high degree
of conditionality (eyes, a full face, head and limbs in a profile), and a realistic or
naturalistic one called the expressive portrait.

The culture of Crete made a deep impact on the ancestors of the ancient
Greeks, the Greek mythology since it echoed the archaic notions of the Cretan-
Mycenaean culture that was the birthplace of gods Zeus and Dionysus, goddess

Aphrodite, the homeland to the legendary palace built by Daedalus, labyrinth
where Minotaur roamed, a giant with a bull's head, that ate the best girls and boys
of the Athens, until the son of Athenian king Egey Theseus won the monster and

got out of the maze by using the guiding thread of Ariadne. The texts of the so-
called ‘Linear writing B’ (XV-XIV centuries BC), decoded by British
cryptographer, architect M. Ventrisom brought us many names of deities, among
which there were Poseidon, Athena (goddess of the hearth), Artemis (as the

goddess of nature) Arey, Hermes, Dike (goddess of justice). The Cretan origin is
one of the ‘classical’ Greek ideas about the afterlife – the Overseas Elysee Champs

(Elysium), where the dead heroes revived and came back to the new life during the
perio of the ‘Golden Age’. With the cult of Dionysus, ancient traditions of theater
came to Ancient Greece.
The Mycenaean population (‘Achaeans’) conquested not only the Crete. For

the XV-XIIth centuries BC they extended their influence in the entire Aegean and
Minor Asia coast including Troj. Scientists believe that ten years’ ‘Trojan War’
lasted even more and comprised a series of geographically dispersed military

conflicts between the Achaeans and inhabitants of Asia Minor. ‘The Odyssey’ as
the history of other heroes of the Trojan War who never returned home reflects the
process of colonization by the Achaeans of the coast of Minor Asia during the

‘Trojan War’.
The Greeks viewed the Achaeans as their ancestors, who secured by threir
glorious deeds peaceful existence of their descendants as well as the patronage of

gods. The participants of the Trojan campaign were considered to be the
predecessors of every Greek and every Hellene reaching 14 years had to memorize
the ‘Iliad’ and ‘Odyssey’ (not in vain Homer was called ‘the teacher of Greece’).
The Mycenaean culture centers were opened in 1970 – 80s by famous

archaeologist, phenomenal polyglot and millionaire Heinrich Schliemann who
believed in the historical authenticity of the Homeric myths. His efforts culminated
in the sensational excavation of the Hissarlyk hill (Troj) and later Mycenae and

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