There are many legends about the island of Crete and the civilization that flourishes here; destroyed by the Mycenaean Greeks, because they envied its peacefulness and art, the lack of military might that doomed us. Some say it was a great tidal wave that destroyed us, some that the wrath of the gods fell upon us . . . or that our kings were unwise and our queens unchaste. Surely, the secret that underlay my great palace was a terrible one, and it took an Athenian hero to end it.

But I digress. First, let me tell you a story about a great King.

Many centuries before your time - you would say, around 1700 BC - our culture developed around the King's palaces. The King was born into a word of seas and trade, of navies and the wealth that comes with trade. My King Minos was the grandson of the god Zeus and the mortal woman, Europa; in the shape of a bull, Zeus seduced Europa and King Minos I was born on the island of Crete, where the lovers had hidden from Zeus' jealous wife, Hera. His grandson was my king, Minos 2. His kingdom was rich; throughout the Aegean, Cretan jewelry and art was sought after, its wines and oils traded. For generations, the kings had lived in great palaces, at Knossos, Phaistos, and Kato Zakros; there was no standing army and there was trade, not war. Many Cretans had traveled to the Greek islands and taken Minoan culture with them.

The King ruled through his council and the state priests and carefully controlled trade to the benefit of his people and the admiration of the world. Our Cretan ships went everywhere, Asia Minor, Greece, and Egypt. Our society was rich and our people had time for sports and leisure. We had the first multistory public housing in the world and plumbing that carried water and waste. Our gods and goddesses protected us, including the Snake Goddess who oversaw the royal family's fate. But she was not strong enough to fight the Greek gods when they came.

I had come to Crete escaping a false charge of murder in Athens. The King - knowing my reputation for invention and building - asked me to rebuild his great Palace to Knossos. He relished my inventions and my arts. However, Minos was proud and he insulted the great god Poseidon. Minos was married to Pasiphae and she had borne him four children: Glaucus, Andogeus, Phaedra, and Ariadne. When Minos enraged the god, Poseidon was revenged by making Pasiphae fall in love - and lust -with a bull. Since no woman can mate a bull and live, the Queen ordered me to find a way for her to consummate her lust. I created a wooden cow, in which the Queen hid and mated with the bull; but in punishment, she became pregnant and gave birth to a monster, a half-man, half bull, called the Minotaur. Sorrowing, Minos insisted that I build a secret lair deep below the palace in which the monster could be kept secret; so I designed the world's first maze, the Labyrinth, into which sacrifices were sent to feed the Minotaur. They were never seen again.

Although the Cretans had no tradition of armies, King Minos 2 wanted war; his son, Androgeus, had attended the Panathenaic Games in Greece and tragically died. He warred against Megara and Athens and won. At this time, King Aegeus ruled in Athens, married to the witch Medea. Theseus, his long-lost son, had joined his father. King Minos forced Athens to pay a tribute to him each year; seven of the fairest youths and young girls were selected, sent to Crete, and sacrificed to the Minotaur in the Labyrinth. The Fates decreed that Theseus was among the chosen in that fateful year.

.When Theseus and the young Athenians arrived, only he had hope of surviving the Labyrinth. But other forces were at work. The King's daughter, Ariadne, fell in love with Theseus and, like her mother before her, became obsessed by him. The order had been given for Theseus to enter the Labyrinth when the King's daughter came to me - I had built many things for her and had found her sweet and gentle - and begged me to show her the plans for the Labyrinth, which until then no man besides myself had seen. She begged me for the secret to save her lover's life. I gave her a ball of string, and told her what to do and she told me Theseus had sworn to her that he would marry her and make her Queen of Athens.

So Theseus entered the Labyrinth and used the string to show him his way in the hundreds of twists and turns; so when he met the Minotaur, he was strong and unfazed and killed the monster. He and Ariadne then fled, with the six other Athenians, to the island of Naxos, but here Theseus broke his oath and refused to marry Ariadne, who had betrayed her country. He abandoned her on the island and sailed on to Athens and his own dark fate.

Theseus broke the spirit of King Minos and somehow the luck of the kingdom appeared to have departed with him. When - perhaps in recompense - Theseus sought the hand of Minos' second daughter, Phaedra, nothing but tragedy followed. But these tales I heard of later. Minos' fury when he realized Theseus had escaped led him to discover my part in it, and he imprisoned me and my son, Icarus, in the Labyrinth and vowed to starve us to death therein. But I was able to create wings for us to fly to freedom. Although I myself escaped and found refuge in Athens, my son flew to his death. This was the end of my service to kings.

All these stories are well told at the Greek Mythology Link.

Now, let me take you on a tour of the grand palace.