The Moon Over Crete

Eleven-year-old Lily travels back in time 3,500 years to ancient Crete, where women and men were equal.

Eleven-year-old Lily has heard over and over that

“A historically rich reworking of Theseus and the Minotaur . . . A world and story both excitingly alien and pleasingly familiar” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review). Ariadne is destined to become a goddess of the moon. She leads a lonely life, filled with hours of rigorous training by stern priestesses. Her former friends no longer dare to look at her, much less speak to her. All that she has left are her mother and her beloved, misshapen brother Asterion, who must be held captive below the palace for his own safety. So when a ship arrives one spring day, bearing a tribute of slaves from Athens, Ariadne sneaks out to meet it. These newcomers don’t know the ways of Krete; perhaps they won’t be afraid of a girl who will someday be a powerful goddess. And indeed, she meets Theseus, the son of the king of Athens. Ariadne finds herself drawn to the newcomer, and soon they form a friendship—one that could perhaps become something more. Yet Theseus is doomed to die as an offering to the Minotauros, that monster beneath the palace—unless he can kill the beast first. And that “monster” is Ariadne’s brother . . . “Fans of historical fiction and Greek myths should be pleased.” —Booklist “Barrett offers clever commentary on the spread of gossip and an intriguing matriarchal version of the story. Fans of Greek mythology should appreciate this edgier twist on one of its most familiar tales.” —Publishers Weekly

Europe is a word that is almost daily on our lips. But how far do we have to go back in order to find the origins of its name? The first part of this beautifully illustrated book traces the geographical and mythological basis of Europe's name. Who came up with the idea to distinguish the world in continents with proper names? The search will bring the reader back to the early history of mankind. How did the ancient Egyptians see the world and populations around them? Where did the Hebrews get the idea to split the world in three? And what was the world-picture in ancient Greece, laid down in geographic treatises and fragments? Where did the name 'Europe' originate from? Could it be from a person, either mortal or divine? In ancient Greek literature the name 'Europa' appears quite frequently for Greek goddesses and Greek women. Strangely enough, the best known Europa myth concerns a Phoenician princess, loved by the Greek god Zeus. Many mythographs doubt the Asian descent of the Phoenician Europa. Is her real origin to be located on mainland Greece? How can the contradicting Greek myths be interpreted, and was the name universally accepted as the name for the continent? In the second part of this book, the author tells the amazing story of how the Arts have treated the Europa myths for almost three millennia. He shows the extraordinary influence of the personification of the geographic continent Europe on literature, music, sculpture, painting, tapestry and other applied arts. All this clearly demonstrates the vivid interest in Europe for the subject throughout the ages and illustrates, according to Karel van Miert in his Foreword, our common European culture.

An investigation of the geographical incongruities in Homer’s epics locates Troy on the coast of Iberia, in a conflict that changed history • Cites the rise in sea level in 1200 B.C. as leading to the invasion and victory of the Atlantean sea people over the goddess-worshipping Trojans who ruled the coasts • Identifies Troia (Troy) as part of a tri-city area that later became Lisbon, Portugal In The Triumph of the Sea Gods, Steven Sora argues compellingly that Homer’s tales do not describe adventures in the Mediterranean, but are adaptations of Celtic myths that chronicle an Atlantic coastal war that took place off the Iberian Peninsula around 1200 B.C. It was a war between the pro-goddess Celtic culture that presided over what is now Portugal and the patriarchal culture of the sea-faring Atlanteans. The invasion of the Atlantean sea peoples brought destruction to the entire region stretching from Western Europe’s Atlantic border to Egypt, Syria, and Turkey. This was a turning point not only politically but also spiritually. The goddess became demonized, as seen in myths such as Pandora’s Box in which woman was seen as the source of evil, not the origin of life, and Homer’s tale of the epic Greek and Trojan war, which was triggered by the abduction of a woman. The actual historical struggle described in Homer’s stories, Sora explains, occurred during what was the last in a series of rises in sea level that inundated various land masses (Atlantis) and permitted sea passage to areas previously accessible only by land. The “Sea Gods” (Atlanteans) attacked the tri-city region of Troia (Troy), near present-day Lisbon, which, shortly thereafter, fell victim to a devastating series of seaquakes and tsunamis. The war and the subsequent destructive weather broke the power of this seaboard civilization, leading to a wholesale invasion by the sea peoples and the rapid decline of the region’s goddess-worshipping culture that had reigned there since Neolithic times. Sora shows how Homer’s tales allow the modern world to glimpse this ancient conflict, which has been obscured for centuries.