In Search of the Labyrinth: The Cultural Legacy of Minoan Crete (New Directions in Classics)

But arguably it was the sensational discoveries in the early twentieth century of Sir Arthur Evans and other archaeologists on Crete that more completely revolutionized understandings of prehistory. The ancient civilization Evans found on the island was dubbed 'Minoan', after the legendary King Minos; and ever since - whether they be RG Collingwood or Gordon Childe, Giorgio de Chirico or Pablo Picasso, Robert Graves or Mary Renault - classicists, archaeologists, artists and writers have alike been captivated by the Minoans. From appropriations by European intellectuals to feminist identifications with the Mother Goddess, Nicoletta Momigliano here offers the most complete history of the rediscovery of Minoan culture and its reception from Evans to the present day. She situates Bronze Age Crete and its material remains in a broad intellectual context, exploring in depth the enduring imaginative legacy of the Minoan civilization.