The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford is running an exhibition called Labyrinth: Knossos, Myth & Reality until July 30, 2023. I couldn’t resist a visit! The story of Theseus and the Minotaur in the labyrinth at Knossos was well known, and there had been various conjectures about whether the site really existed. The original discovery of buildings and items at Knossos was by a Cretan, Minos Kalokairinos, in 1878. However, although… Read more
The year 2020 may not be the best time to travel with the pandemic. And yet, who does not want to discover the islands of the Aegean Sea? I offer you a safe and virtual journey through time to an island with many names and a tumultuous past. The name by which this magical place is often mentioned in ancient Greek literature is Thera. Pindar, who takes so many ancient… Read more
We were excited to welcome back Gregory Nagy of Harvard University, Francis Jones Professor of Classical Greek Literature and Professor of Comparative Literature and the Director of the Center for Hellenic Studies, Washington, DC for an Open House. The title of the discussion is “Minoan-Mycenaean Scribal Legacy,” which took place on April 17 at 11:00 a.m. EDT, was live-streamed and recorded. You may like to read the following to get… Read more
We are excited to welcome Andrew Koh, of the MIT Center for Materials Research and the Harvard Semitic Museum, for an Open House discussion entitled ‘A Land Called Crete: From Harriet Boyd Hawes to the Cretan Collections Project’. The event was streamed live on Thursday, October 24 at 11 a.m. EDT, and was recorded. To prepare for the event you could (1) read Odyssey 19.172–184, the context for which is… Read more
My first port of call was Iraklio/Herakleion, the capital of Crete. Truth be told, Herakleion is far from the most attractive town, with sprawling ugly suburbs. But the area around the Venetian harbor is delightful. Crete was under Venetian occupation from 1204 to 1669, and there are many remains of this, including the impressive fortress which dominates the harbor and which is still called today the Fortezza (photo 1). Photo… Read more