Reply To: Myth Becomes History

[Sam Saccomen]

Many artifacts found from Minoan and Mycenaean culture was found by archeologists named, Sir Arthur Evans and Heinrich Schliemann. Many people have raised questions on the artifacts discovered by these individuals. Sir Arthur Evans was responsible for excavating various artifacts from the Minoan culture. Snake Goddess and Palace at Knossos both discovered by Evans were later questioned for credibility. The name Snake Goddess was given by Evans and the name sort of just stuck. However, after later discoveries the Goddess is still unknown for what it actually represents. The reconstruction of the right arm and addition of the snake in her hand was make to fit the name Snake Goddess.The Palace at Knossos was later founded to not be a palace for royalty as Evans stated before, but instead a house for the aristocrats. The Palace was reconstructed over decades and many artifacts were undiscovered due to natural disasters. Heinrich Schliemann discovered The Mask of Agamemnon of the Mycenaean culture. This mask was one of many, however was later noticed to be different from the rest. Schliemann explained this mask was the mask of the famous ancient king of the Mycenaean culture, however it was later discovered to be similar to the other masks and just altered to look more like 19th century times. After reading about this “mistakes”, it makes me question artifacts of history. Did these archeologists make up facts to make themselves look better or did they actually make alterations and assumptions because they believed they were correct? We believe those who we believe we can trust and more times than we think we are fooled. However, in these instances it is hard to say their intentions for the false assumptions.