Have you ever heard of Baudolino? Probably not. How about Umberto Eco—you know, the guy who wrote The Name of the Rose? Baudolino is another of his books though less well-known, and for good reason, it sucks. But The Name of the Rose was such a good book—it even became a movie (the sign of … Continue reading Baudolino—when good writers lose the plot
One of the first things you'll see if you study (or google) the Minoans is the "bull-leaping" fresco. You'll see a guy somersaulting over a charging bull. Pretty neat. And, you would have thought, pretty straightforward. Unfortunately, academics have decided to debate the otherwise rather straightforward explanation and it is this phenomenon I'd like to … Continue reading Minoan bull-leaping—fact or fiction? (And does it really matter?)
That's what most people think of when they hear the name. Good old Theseus slaying the dastardly Minotaur in the labyrinth of Knossos. But how much of this actually squares up with history itself? The people of the Bronze Age who inhabited Knossos are called the Minoans, at least by us. Did they have magical … Continue reading Ariadne, like, that princess in the maze with the Minotaur, right?
Daniel Agnew 