And then we dived deeply into our next era of history with the Minoans, named for the famed King Minos.
King Minos and labyrinth of Greek Myth
According to Greek mythology, King Minos was a son of Zeus who ruled the Aegean islands from his palace in Knossos.
On this island from which the king ruled was a perplexing labyrinth inhabited by a deadly Minotaur who ate victoms hopelessly lost in the maze.
Archaeology on Crete
Fast forward to the 1880s when British archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans was curator at the University of Oxford.
Fascinated by the island of Crete, he suggested as the site of the Ancient Mycenean civilization that wrested control from the Minoans before them.
Soon after the discovery of Mycenean settlements on Crete, Evans purchased land on the island so he could dig for artifacts.
Frescoes discovered at Knossos
While digging in Knossos, he discovered an impressive palace where the walls were covered with remnants of faded frescoes, a whisper to their beauty of long ago.
Although the Bull-Leaping fresco is the most famous of all the frescoes, our favorite was of the dolphins which seemed so beautifully representative of its Mediterranean island setting.
Mythological Discovery?
Equally impressive to Evans was the palatial 5.5 acres of land suggestive of the labyrinth.
Thus Evans named the area for the mythical king of Minos, oversaw extensive renovations of the palace, and wrote a 4-volume work about the project.
In 1911 King George V bestowed knighthood on Evans for his archaeological work.
Regarded as the first civilization in Europe, their ruins are a popular tourist attraction today.
A few months before studying the Minoans the kids and I had stumbled upon an interesting program on the History Channel about the beautiful frescoes on Crete.
Because frescoes were such an important art form, we decided to make our own, to better understand and appreciate the process.
Creating our own Frescoes
Fresco painting is basically the process of painting wet pigment onto wet plaster.
Because the wet elements dry quickly, my kids prepared by sketching a picture of what they wanted to paint.
After mixing a batch of Plaster of Paris, I poured some into a Styrofoam plate, one for each of my kids.
As soon as the plaster started to set, my kids painted on the wet plaster.
After the plaster was completely dry, we could pop it out of the tray. Ta da!
