Seventh task, Cretan Bull, the culture of Minoa, patriotism of new gods versus assimilation into old gods and proof the bull represents Minoan culture

Seventh task, Cretan Bull, the culture of Minoa, patriotism of new gods versus assimilation into old gods and proof the bull represents Minoan culture.
by valpetridis @ 2008-06-14 - 23:03:59
Seventh task, Cretan Bull, the culture of Minoa, patriotism of new gods versus assimilation into old gods and proof the bull represents Minoan culture.
The seventh task which was the capture the Cretan bull once again illustrates how the personifications of people are portrayed by the beasts Hercules tackles with.
In this tackle the Cretan bull represents the Cretans. Hercules sails to Crete and encounters Minos who gives him permission to capture the bull and return it to Athens. The bull was said to have reaped havoc in Crete. Upon its return king Eurystheus wanted to sacrifice the bull to Hera but she refused and the bull was set free in marathon. In some newer tales Theseus is said to have taken part in the seventh task, this is because the bull also is representative of the Minotaur and both images come from the ritual games of jumping over the bull so characteristic of Minoan culture. Here one sees that Minoa is represented by the bull and capturing it is an attempt to unify the minions with the Greeks, but the bull was not easily assimilated into the Greek pantheon and was set free to live as an outskirts of Greek culture. Later king Minos is said to have fought Athens and captured it which is the beginning of the tale of the Theseus. So Hercules tried unifying the culture of the Minoans that were incompatible with Hera before the Minoans conquer Athens. Hercules succeeds to bring peace between the cultures though that peace falls apart afterwards. Hercules succeeds to patriate and make Minoan culture compatible with Greek culture to the degree that its pantheon could be included as an offshoot of the Greek one, though the Greek temples of Minion culture were situated in marathon and the Minion culture was not assimilated into the Greek pantheon simply as derivation of the old gods, Hercules had to incorporate the new gods into the pantheon on their own standing as more gods.