Who built the underground maze on Crete? When and why was it built?

Question

On the Greek island of Crete, the ancients had mined a huge underground maze. It was obviously built intentionally to be a maze to get lost in and built maybe thousands of years ago and was partly destroyed by the Nazis in WWII. Do they know who built it? Why it was built? Exactly when it was built?

Answer 1

The underground maze is called labyrinth and is mythological linked to the labyrinth of Knossos Palace, built by Daedalus, where the evil monster Minotaur lived. Minotaur was killed by Theseus, blah, blah. We all know this myth...



Now, let's see the facts: There is an unknown cave in Messara Plain that was used as queries since the Minoan Era, that is called Labyrinth. This is very close to ancient Gortys and entrance is strictly prohibited, due to several accidents that have happened since the WWWII. Indeed, the Nazis used this cave for storing ammunition and was the largest German storing site in Southern Europe. When they left Crete, they exploded that and totally destroyed it. Since 1945, many locals were killed, while trying to find ammunition that had not exploded (due to lack of oxygen) so as to use that as fertilizer or making dynamites for fishing. Thus, the cave was sealed, till today.

This is the maze you refer to, where Minotaur was a symbol for the harshnesses that slaves faced and the "monster" that ate them.





Thus, the answers to your questions:

Do they know who built it? - It was built by the Minoans.

Why it was built? For extracting the stones for building the imposing Phaestus Palace

Exactly when it was built? In the minoan Era



A note: It was not intentionally built like maze, but it was a query. All queries are full of complex galleries. Of course, the locals exaggerated and turned that quite simple query to the haunted labyrinth of Crete.



You can see one of my articles about the Labyrinth Cave in my website that clarifies everything here:

http://www.cretanbeaches.com/Caves/Heraklion-Caves/labyrinth-cave/

Answer 2

That was a myth created during those times. Mythologically-speaking, Daedalus, the legendary architect of Crete, built it under King Minos's orders to imprison the man-eating Minotaur. No date exacts its creation.

Answer 3

His name was Daedalus and he was a Greek artist and inventor. He designed the labyrinth on Crete in which the Minotaur was kept, a white bull presented to King Minos as a sacrificial gift from Poseidon but Minos kept the gift for himself. Seeking revenge for the slight, Poseidon willed it that Minos wife would lust after the bull. The labyrinth was built to contain the bull and keep Minos wife away from it. King Minos, fearing Daedalus would spread the knowledge of the labyrinth made him and his son Icarus prisoners in a tower in Crete.



Not happy with imprisonment at all, Daedalus built himself a pair of wings based on his observations of birds and how they flew. He fastened the larger feathers together with string and the smaller feathers with wax. Once finished he tested his new invention only to discover he could soar through the sky like a bird. He then built his son a pair of wings and taught him how to fly. The plan was to fly out of Crete and across the sea to safety and Daedalus warned his son Icarus not to soar too high as the sun would melt the wax or not to fly to low as the foam of the sea would weigh the feathers down and make the wings useless.



Icarus, being young and impetuous ignored his fathers pleas to show restraint, and upon finding his newfound freedom kept soaring ever higher until the heat of the sun finally melted the wax that kept the wings together and Icarus plummeted to his death leaving a grieving and bitter Daedalus to find safety alone in either Sicily or Cumae depending on whose story you're reading.



The irony of this myth today is that it is Icarus who is remembered and known, and while those who know the myth know it was Icarus father who created the wings, few remember his name. Icarus was used by poets throughout antiquity and it was ultimately the fifteenth century Spanish poets relying on the story as told by Ovid who solidified Icarus' fame fashioning him as some sort of audacious hero who's own hubris brought about his tragic end. The myth more times than not is interpreted to demonstrate the folly of man and his insatiable drive to be better than, to be more than who we are. Icarus is used as cautionary tale as to our own limitations. The sad irony of this is that Daedalus survived and where Icarus failed, Daedalus succeeded.



Why is it today that the failure of this myth is better known than the one who succeeded? Why is Icarus such a prominent literary name and Daedalus not? I do not know the answer to that question but I am grateful for the question that was asked as it gave me an opportunity to praise the one worthy of praise.