I was a priest in the city-state era

Chapter 31 Knossos Goddess Europa

After three days and three nights of sailing, Roy's fleet finally entered the Cretan Sea north of Crete on the morning of the fourth day.

Fortunately, during these three days and three nights, Roy's fleet encountered neither natural disasters such as storms nor man-made disasters such as pirates.

When the land of Crete came into Roy's sight, a fleet of twelve warships also sailed towards Roy's fleet from the direction of Crete.

"Have we encountered pirates?"

Seeing the fleet approaching in the distance, Roy's companions all stood up nervously, wanting to prepare in advance to fight the pirates.

Although Roy felt that there was no possibility of pirate activities near Crete, out of caution, Roy still ordered loudly to his companions.

"Everyone is ready to fight! If the other party is really a pirate, we must fight to the death with the other party."

Hearing Roy's order, the sailors of the ten cargo ships all entered the cabin and took out wooden spears, and the fifty teenagers even put on paper armor.

"Master Priest!"

The fully armed white sheep came to Roy with the paper armor and bronze war spear made by Procne himself and said.

"I have brought your paper armor and spear."

"Thank you!"

After thanking the white sheep, Roy put on the paper armor and looked at the approaching fleet with the bronze spear in his hand.

A fleet of twelve warships came near Roy's fleet, and Roy saw that these warships could accommodate thirty sailors, that is to say, the fleet had at least three hundred sailors.

Roy's fleet consisted of only one hundred and two men.

Moreover, not only was there a huge gap in numbers between the two sides, but the opponent's warship was so huge that it could even overturn all of Roy's fleet.

Under the nervous eyes of Roy and others, the flagship of the warship fleet sailed to Roy's flagship, and then a young man wearing a white cotton robe, a red cloak on his back, and a gold belt around his waist stood Looking down at Roy's cargo ship from the bow deck of the warship, he said.

"Are you businessmen coming to Knossos City for trade? Don't be nervous, we are the naval fleet of Knossos City, not pirates attacking you."

Hearing what the young man said, Roy put down his bronze spear and said.

"Noble man of Knossos! If I am right, you must be a prince of noble birth and favored by the goddess Knossos. We are indeed merchants who come to trade with goods, Cretan Sea With the powerful Knossos naval guard, we don't have to worry about being attacked by pirates from now on."

Hearing what Roy said, the young man couldn't help laughing.

"Where did you come from? You are so eloquent. But you guessed it right, I am indeed the son of Minos. My name is Deucalion, and I am the next generation of Minos from Knossos. .”

Minos - this is not a personal name.

Just like Pythia is the name commonly used by the priestesses of the Delphi temple.

Minos is also the common name used by successive kings of Knossos.

The meaning of Minos is likely to be a tauren or a person with bull horns.

The tauren with bull horns is a common image of the kings of Knossos, so Minos became the name or title of the kings of all dynasties.

"Deucalion..."

Knowing the name of Prince Deucalion of Knossos, Roy once again felt familiar.

"The name seems... to be the name of a King of Crete."

After recovering, Roy squeezed out a smile and said to Deucalion.

"Great Prince Deucalion! Although we foreigners are lucky enough to come to the Sea of ​​Crete, we don't know the exact location of the city of Knossos. I hope you can help us and tell us about Knossos. The specific location of Sicheng."

"You don't even know the location of Knossos City?"

Deucalion widened his eyes in surprise and said.

"It seems that you are coming to Knossos City for trade for the first time. No wonder you will take the Knossos Navy as a pirate. I can tell you the specific location of Knossos City, but I will not provide you other help."

After speaking, Deucalion pointed out to Roy the specific location of Knossos City.

After Deucalion left with the Knossos navy, Roy immediately ordered the sailors to return to their respective positions.

"Dear companions! We only brought food for seven days. If you don't want to go hungry, we will exchange all the olive oil for food in Knossos today, and then return to Athens with the food."

Crete is located at the junction of the continents of Europe, Asia and Africa.

The special geographical location not only makes Crete a transportation hub for maritime trade on the Europa continent, the Asia continent, and the African continent, but also allows Crete to absorb the advanced civilizations of the Near East and Egypt, and enter the Bronze Age to form the Cretan civilization. .

Although Crete has various gods worshiped by immigrants from the Near East and Egypt, the strongest god in Crete is still the city of Knossos, the strongest city-state in Crete. The patron saint of the great goddess.

The goddess of Knossos is the original goddess of nature, and later absorbed the attributes of many goddesses in the Near East and Egypt, so that the goddess of Knossos has a very complicated godhead.

The current goddess Knossos is not only the goddess of nature in charge of forest plants, but also the goddess of harvest in charge of animal husbandry and agriculture, and the goddess of nurturing who protects children.

In the eyes of the Knossos people, cattle—especially white bulls—are mythical beasts that can approach the goddess Knossos.

Therefore, when offering sacrifices to the goddess, the priest of the goddess will wear horns and approach the goddess's idol in the image of a tauren.

Because the goddess of Knossos has the ancient authority to protect the Knossos people for thousands of years, so the spokesperson of the goddess of Knossos, the priest, also has great authority.

From the time when the city of Knossos was founded, the priests of the goddess ruled the city of Knossos as kings.

Or, the king who ruled the city of Knossos has always served as the priest of the goddess himself, preventing the authority of the priest from being grasped by others.

When the port of Knossos appeared in front of his sight, Roy suddenly thought.

The name of the patron goddess of Knossos - perhaps Europa.

Or Europa, is one of the names belonging to the patron goddess of Knossos.

In ancient legends, Minos, the king who ruled Crete, was the son of Europa.

It is implying the relationship between Minos and Europa.

Minos, the king of Knossos, became the favorite of the goddess Europa as a priest—that is, the son of god.

In this era, rulers who served gods as priests usually deified themselves and allowed themselves to be the sons of gods.

For example, in Egypt, the pharaohs would add the name of the patron saint to their own names to demonstrate their identity as sons of gods.

In Mesopotamia, Phoenicia, and Asia Minor, the rulers would deify themselves as sons of gods, or even directly deify themselves into new gods.

(End of this chapter)