Acrobats with a bull. "games with the bull" in the labyrinth of the Minotaur Entrance fees to the Palace of Knossos and opening hours

1st half XV century BC e. Now located in the Archaeological Museum of the city of Heraklion (this museum is almost entirely dedicated to the art of the Minoan civilization).

On the eastern side of the Palace of Knossos in Crete is the Throne Room, a room that is perhaps the most popular among tourists. Above the Throne Hall is the Hall of Frescoes, where copies of such frescoes as: “Games with Bulls”, “Ladies in Blue”, “Saffron Gatherer”, “Blue Bird”, “Blue Monkey” are collected.

Fresco

Without touching the ground with its hooves, a huge bull rushes, heavily bending its mighty head and putting its horns forward. The curve of his torso resembles a large gymnastic apparatus. One of the acrobats grabbed the horns and is about to jump on the back of the bull, and the other, with his arms outstretched in front of him, is preparing for a graceful somersault right over the animal’s head. No matter how destructive the elemental power of the bull is, there is hope that man will win this fight. The movements of the acrobats are coordinated and sharpened, and the side figures visually seem to restrain the pressure of the bull. Man will sooner or later prevail over the unbridled elements of nature. They are dressed identically - with a bandage on their hips, their waists are tied with metal belts. The width of the chest, thinness of the waist, flexibility and muscularity of the arms and legs are emphasized. These features were considered signs of beauty. Such dangerous exercises with an angry bull had not only a spectacular, but also a sacred meaning. The artist so skillfully captured the cheerful and relaxed play of acrobats that we forget about the mortal danger of such stunts. The fresco is perceived as a hymn to the beauty and dexterity of a person triumphing over a formidable and powerful nature. And although the artists do not yet master the techniques of volumetric-spatial depiction, their compositions do not seem frozen and lifeless.

Ritual games and bullfights
The tradition of ritual games and bullfights goes back many centuries. Even in the second millennium BC in Crete and Mycenae, the bull played a significant role in people's lives. This can be confirmed in a huge number of images of bulls and fights with them on vessels, frescoes, seals, and in bronze.
In Crete, games with bulls had a cult character; they were associated with the ritual of fertility and reproduction of livestock. The main role in these games belonged to girls, the priestesses of the cult - the Pasiphae.

In Mycenae, games with bulls were of a sporting and entertainment nature, and the main role was given to men, who at the same time were the owners of the game bulls. In these games, not only the dexterity of the acrobat owners mattered, but also the training of the bull itself. With the disappearance of the so-called Mycenaean society, bull games ceased to exist in their previous form. IN ancient Greece they turned into bullfighting and this is primarily due to the development of the cult of heroes. Bull wrestling got widespread in Thessaly and Athens in the form of the so-called taurocatapsia (hair-grabbing). This kind of struggle was carried out, as a rule, on the days of the festival of Poseidon. Naked youths entered the arena, teased the bull, then grabbed it by the horns and wrestled with it, bringing the bull to complete exhaustion. Often such a struggle ended in the sacrificial slaughter of bulls. It should be noted that the bull games of the eastern Mediterranean are some predecessors of modern bullfights, which today can be seen in Spain, the south of France, Portugal and Latin America.
It is interesting that games with bulls took place not only in ancient Greece, but also in other countries and among other peoples involved in cattle breeding. For example, in Nigeria among the African Fulbe tribe, in southern India among the Maravai tribe, and in Bayonne among the Basques, similar games can be observed. Games with bulls of the Fulbe and Maravai tribes existed in a more primitive form than in Crete and Mycenae.
Among the Fulbe tribe, the games are as follows: a bull is tied by the hind leg and two people hold it on a leash, the third participant holds a rope in his hands, fastened to the horns of the animal. The bull is irritated. The third participant gradually shortens the rope, pulls himself up to the horns and performs various gymnastic exercises on them. Sometimes he sits on the bull's neck, using its horns as parallel bars.
Also interesting are games with bulls in southern India among the Maravai tribe. The bulls are excited by loud shouts and drumming and driven over barriers. The task was to rip off the decoration tied to the horns of a bull and at the same time deftly avoid being hit by the horns of the enraged animal.
Among the Basques, games with bulls are closest in the form of their performance to the Cretan-Mycenaean spectacles. It should be noted that amateur spectators participate in them, along with trained acrobats. For games, the horns of bulls are tied with soft felt to prevent accidents. This is done not only in the Basque Country, but also in India, Crete and Mycenae.
The Basques have two types of games with bulls. The first is as follows. A bench is placed in the middle of the arena, and a man in a white robe stands on it and is in constant motion. They release an angry bull, which, seeing a moving figure in front of it, quickly runs towards it, wanting to pierce it with its horns. But suddenly the figure in white freezes, turning into a statue. The bull, thinking that there is a solid object in front of him, suddenly stops and sits on his hind legs. Zatei slowly approaches the figure, sniffs it and moves away.
Another type of game is very reminiscent of Cretan-Mycenaean spectacles. A group of men and teenagers enter the arena and irritate the bull with red rags. Then one of the participants, the most courageous and dexterous acrobat, separates from the others. The bull, seeing a separate opponent, rushes at him, and when he tilts his head to hook the daredevil on the horns, the acrobat rests his hands on the bull's head and jumps over him. Less trained participants perform a bull jump using a pole.
It is also worth paying attention to children's games with bulls. A boy runs towards the rushing bull and falls to his knees right in front of the bull. The bull, in order to avoid tripping, spreads its legs wide and rushes past without touching the participant.
Games with bulls ancient Rome are perhaps a relic of the Greek “taurocatapsia”, but it is also possible that they go back to local games with bulls in the late tribal society among the Etruscans.
Unlike the Cretan and Roman games, in which, firstly, a bull was trained, and, secondly, the relationship between a person and a bull was a partnership, in Spanish bullfighting the bull appears as an unbridled, terrifying force, but at the same time this creature , doomed to death. In addition, bullfighting existed here even before the Romans arrived. The first mention of Spanish bullfighting dates back to approximately the second millennium BC. This is evidenced by a stone found in the wall of a village house in Clunia. The stone depicts a man with a sword and a large shield, standing opposite a small bull.
Modern name Bullfighting (corrida de toros) literally means “running of the bulls.” It comes from the collective name for folk entertainment with bulls. In these entertainments, races and processions occupied an important place. It is possible that bullfighting is associated with the cult of the bull. A once single ritual ritual could break up into separate elements that survived in isolated form until the 20th century in certain regions of Spain. From the first centuries of our era until approximately the 8th century, before the Arab conquest, any mention of bullfighting ceased. Probably bullfighting was carried out folk character and were not reflected in written sources.
At the beginning of the 11th century, in Muslim Seville, Arabs staged bullfights on every occasion. Later, Christian knights began to organize bullfights. They say that the first knight to kill a bull with a spear was Cid Campeador. Knight's bullfights were an exceptional event and were held mainly on wedding days. The groom had to thrust the banderilla, decorated with the bride's ribbons, into the withers of the bull. This custom could be observed during the time of Alfonso X in the villages of Extremadura. In 1124, the year of the wedding of Alfonso VII and Doña Berengela, daughter of the Count of Barcelona, a magnificent bullfight was held among other celebrations. In the Middle Ages, bullfighters most often fought on horseback and were dressed and armed almost the same as in battle or in a tournament. A bullfight was also held in connection with the wedding of Alfonso VIII's daughter, Doña Urraca, with King Garcia of Navarre. But it should be noted that in those days bullfights were held not only in Spain. For example, in 1332, a bullfight took place in Rome, in which many ordinary people, 19 caballeros, and 9 other caballeros were wounded. In connection with this incident, bullfighting was prohibited in Italy, while in Spain people were becoming more and more refined in the art of tauromachy every day. In the 13th century, Alfonso X issued a decree in which performing in bullfights for money was a disgrace. Since then, free participation in bullfights has been encouraged in order to demonstrate one’s courage and fearlessness in front of an angry animal. In these bullfights the bull was not killed. But along with these “knightly” bullfights, in which the main role was assigned to the rider with a spear (garrochista), there were folk holidays, fights devoid of any rules, in which the bull was opposed by a “foot” matador. Thus, until the 18th century in Spain, without contact with each other, there were two lines of development of bullfighting: folk and aristocratic, which later resulted in one national holiday.
It should be noted that they tried to ban bullfighting more than once. In 1567, Pope Pius V, in a special bull, cursed bullfighting and banned it on pain of death. He wrote that “there are many more who in different cities, in vain boasting of strength and courage, in public and private performances, fight with bulls, which results in death and injury and poses great danger to souls.” The Pope in his decree threatened to excommunicate any participant in the bullfight. Gregory XIII, who replaced him, limited himself in 1575 to prohibiting holders of spiritual knightly orders from participating in bullfights, and Sixtus V in 1586 forbade clergy to attend bullfights. Bullfighting could never be completely banned. Prohibition of games with bulls in holidays was the only thing that the clergy in the villages managed to achieve from time to time. Even when in 1704 power in Spain passed to the Bourbons and royal bullfights were banned as a cruel and barbaric custom, bullfights continued in the villages, in which, as we have already said, the main role was played by the “foot” matador.

The art of painting also reached a brilliant flowering, which has come down to our time in the fresco paintings of the Knossos Palace. In a long ribbon there are scenes of solemn ceremonies, religious processions associated with religious holidays, games and entertainment for children, theatrical performances, ritual dances of girls and boys with the bull sacred in Crete. The works of the painters amaze with their amazing vigilance of vision, richness of imagination, subtle artistic taste and sense of proportion. And although the painters do not yet master the techniques of volumetric-spatial depiction, their compositions do not seem frozen and lifeless. Using only five colors (black, white, blue, yellow and red), they create a rich color palette. Even damaged by fire, the frescoes did not lose the freshness and richness of their colors. They, like Egyptian drawings, are characterized by a convention of color: male figures are drawn with dark brick-red paint, and female figures with light paint. Fragile figures with thin, wasp-like waists were considered the ideal of beauty.

Figure 4 "Parisian woman". Fresco. Around 1500 BC e. Knossos Palace

Take a look at the so-called "Parisian", on her lively face, capriciously upturned nose, playful curl of curls falling from her high and graceful hairstyle. This Cretan beauty really has something of the Parisian fashion trendsetters. A huge eye, outlined in black, is depicted from the front, just like in Egyptian paintings and reliefs. But this is a completely different, artistically inspired image.

And here is the famous fresco "Playing with the Bull". Almost without touching the ground with its hooves, a huge bull rushes, its mighty head bent heavily and its horns thrust forward. The curve of his torso resembles a large gymnastic apparatus. One of the acrobats grabbed the horns and is about to jump on the back of the bull, and the other, with his arms outstretched in front of him, is preparing for a graceful somersault right over the head of the sacred animal. The artist so skillfully captured the cheerful and relaxed play of acrobats that we forget about the mortal danger

Figure 5 Playing with a bull. Fresco. Around 1500 BC e. Archaeological Museum, Heraklion

Austrian specialist ancient history Fritz Schachermayr noted the special love of Minoan architects, sculptors, and artists for bright, sometimes even somewhat variegated tones in wall and vase paintings. About their purely feminine perception of the environment, so clearly expressed in scenes from the life of nature, especially in images of females of various animals with cubs, about the special mood of festivity that literally permeates all the most famous works classical Cretan art and reigning even in scenes of funeral cult on a sarcophagus from Aya Triad. Of course, each of these characteristic features separately can find its own special explanation in some other deep properties of the Minoan spirit and Minoan culture. However, taken together, they almost inevitably lead us to the idea that the value system inherent in this culture was largely oriented towards the female psyche, women's perception of the world.

Feminine or rather androgynous appearance of Cretan men Wonderful harmonizes with their amazing peacefulness, perceived as some kind of anomaly against the general background of the harsh realities of the Bronze Age. If we take seriously the evidence of the monuments that have reached us fine arts, us inevitably we have to admit that display of religious piety, that is, participation in all kinds of rituals and ceremonies, occupied an incomparable place in the lives of men more important place than war and hunting- truly masculine activities. In Crete itself, subjects of this kind, apart from some rather problematic reconstructions by Arthur Evans, remained practically unknown until very late times.

So, there is reason to believe that natural male aggressiveness, pugnacity and love of adventure in Minoan society were artificially restrained. Anyway, their demonstrative displays were not encouraged. There were only two opportunities to demonstrate prowess and youth, Apparently, they were not condemned, but, on the contrary, encouraged by public opinion.

These may be considered fist fights and the so-called taurotapsia — "games with bulls" Both of these subjects are very popular in Crete and throughout the territory covered by the influence of the Minoan civilization, images athletic competitions, apparently, contained a certain not entirely accessible to our understanding "sacred-magical connotations ritual actions in the most important religious festivals of the annual cycle.

We learn about the rituals - taurocatapsia - (Greek ταυροκαθάψια) - ritual jumping over a bull from numerous images on the walls of palaces preserved in the palaces of the island of Crete, on frescoes and household items.

Scenes of taurocatapsia They are quite well represented in almost all the main genres of Minoan art: in fresco painting, sculpture, and glyptics. As far as these images allow one to judge, bull games in the Minoan civilization were associated with mortal risk for their participants in and could hardly do without serious human casualties. It is likely that they the ultimate goal was to appease the deity, who during the competition was given the opportunity choosing the bloody sacrifice he desires.

Tragic outcome taurocatapsia, as a rule, remains hidden from us. The theme of death, if present in scenes of tauromachy, is most often only hidden, implicit. And in this, we think, found its expression so characteristic of the feminine psyche Minoans desire to escape from the too dark and heavy sides of reality, pretending that they do not exist in nature at all.

This trend is all the more significant given that the women clearly did not want to give in palm to the representatives of the “stronger sex” even in these peculiar bullfights, which undoubtedly required enormous physical strength from their participants endurance, strength, agility and courage.

The Knossos fresco, as well as some other paintings from the same series, shows quite clearly that in the Minoan taurocatapsia women were not at all content with fulfilling minor roles matador's assistants, as in Spanish bullfighting, but bravely entered into a mortally dangerous fight with an angry animal on a par with men.

That in itself indicates an unusually high according to the concepts of almost all ancient peoples, level social activity of Cretan women, their emergency self-confidence and heightened However, it would be a mistake to believe that the only incentive that forced them to enter the arena was simple ambition or a thirst for self-affirmation.

Games with bulls were held, as a rule, in the central courtyard of the Knossos Palace, that is, in the very “heart” of this huge ritual complex, which in itself may indicate their absolutely exceptional religious significance.

Those who recognize the historical reality of the “Minoan matriarchy” are most often inclined to evaluate it as a rather relict phenomenon - an incompletely lived-out legacy era of "mother law". However, modern ethnography has long come to the conclusion that There has never been such an era in human history, of course, if you put into the concept of “maternal right” something more than just a matrilineal account of kinship or matrilocal marriage.

Consequently, an explanation of this mysterious phenomenon can only be given by an analysis of the specific historical situation that developed in Crete during the formation and flourishing of the Minoan civilization, i.e. in the second half of the 3rd - first half of the 2nd millennium BC.
The appearance of the first palaces and the entire associated economic structure, political structures, ideology, etc. is often perceived as a kind of mirage that suddenly appeared on the elongated, mountainous and wooded island of Crete. This impression is partly due to extreme incompleteness of the archaeological picture period of the genesis of Minoan statehood, still cannot be considered completely groundless.

In a relatively short period of history ancient world deadline, for one or two centuries, the Minoan palace civilization appeared on Crete. The most important elements of palace civilization are monumental architecture, a developed bronze industry, and ceramics made using a rapidly rotating potter's wheel and painted in strikingly rich colors. Kamares style tableware, arose first hieroglyphic, and then

The suddenness of this leap into a new quality seems all the more obvious because until the very end of the Early Bronze Age, that is, before the start of the period remained one of the most backward cultural provinces of the Aegean world. Especially if you compare Crete with areas such as the Peloponnese or Troas, where already in the second half of the 3rd millennium BC. The simplest unique cultural models and systems arose and early palace states began to form.

This slowness of development of Minoan society, obviously further aggravated by its long-term isolation from the outside world, clearly had the result exaggerated forms of tribal organization, which arose in Crete already within a chronological framework early bronze age, and in some places they continued to exist even during the period of the “old palaces”.

Mound of Atreus in Mycenae. Crete-Mycenaean civilization

About the tribal organization in Crete resemble those widely practiced on the island Northern Black Sea region, burials in large tombs -« tholosah" in southern and central Crete, and “ossuaries” - in the East of Crete.
Taking into account all these features of the historical path traversed by the Minoan civilization of Crete during the Bronze Age, the nature of the paradoxical phenomenon that we conventionally call it “Minoan matriarchy”. Apparently it was a kind of defensive reaction of a deeply archaic system to a transition that was too fast for her and, apparently, insufficiently prepared by her previous existence from the primitive communal system to classes and the state.

This the need to protect the archaic system of society could further aggravate and intensify natural disasters like the great earthquake at the turn of the 18th-17th centuries. BC, which turned almost all the palaces and settlements of Crete into ruins. Natural disasters reversed to their origins, the already traumatized ethnic consciousness of the Minoans, forced him to abandon a dubious and dangerous future in the name of a reliable, more than once proven past.

Great Mother Goddess - 1800 - 1700 BC Crete.

In this environment women as more conservative and the traditionally thinking part of society, obviously, were able to come to the fore public life. Tied to their homes and children, and purely physiologically limited in their amateur activities, women enjoyed enormous authority as chthonic (Chthonia - related to to the earth and the underworld, which, according to the concepts of the ancients, were primarily responsible for earthquakes and other natural disasters. This gave the opportunity for women to control the behavior of their husbands and brothers, to restrain their excessive excitement, a thirst for the new and a penchant for adventure and thereby slow down the too rapid movement of society along the path of historical progress.

However, it is hardly worth blaming the Minoan women for this, because it is to their wise guardianship over representatives of the opposite sex that we owe the fact that the culture they created became perhaps the most beautiful of the shoots on the tree of history of the ancient Mediterranean.

The rite of taurotapsy was preserved in Spain, but acquired slightly different forms.

In 1816 Spanish artist and engraver Francisco Goya created a series of 33 etchings with scenes of bullfighting, called “Tauromachy”

Tauromachy (Greek, from tauros - bull, and mache - fight) (toreo, bullfight) - a public spectacle during which a fighter (torero or matador) teases the bull with a red banner (muleta), performing a series of skillful movements, and at the end of the bullfight, as a rule, kills the bull with a sword

The Austrian expert on ancient history Fritz Schachermayr noted the special love of Minoan architects, sculptors, and artists for bright, sometimes even somewhat variegated tones in wall and vase paintings. About their purely feminine perception of the environment, so clearly expressed in scenes from the life of nature, especially in images of females of various animals with cubs, about the special mood of festivity that literally permeates all the most famous works of classical Cretan art and reigns even in scenes of funeral cult on a sarcophagus from Aya Triad. Of course, each of these characteristic features separately can find its own special explanation in some other deep properties of the Minoan spirit and Minoan culture. However, taken together, they almost inevitably lead us to the idea that the value system inherent in this culture was largely oriented towards the female psyche, women's perception of the world.

Feminine or rather androgynous appearance of Cretan men Wonderful harmonizes with their amazing peacefulness, perceived as some kind of anomaly against the general background of the harsh realities of the Bronze Age. If we take seriously the evidence of the monuments of fine art that have reached us, we will inevitably have to admit that display of religious piety, that is, participation in all kinds of rituals and ceremonies, occupied an incomparable place in the lives of men more important place than war and hunting- truly masculine activities. In Crete itself, subjects of this kind, apart from some rather problematic reconstructions by Arthur Evans, remained practically unknown until very late times.

These may be considered fist fights and the so-called Tauromachy - “games with bulls.” Both of these subjects are very popular in Crete and throughout the territory covered by the influence of the Minoan civilization, images athletic competitions, apparently, contained a certain not entirely accessible to our understanding "sacred-magical connotations ritual actions in the most important religious festivals of the annual cycle.

Tauromachy scenes, are quite well represented in almost all the main genres of Minoan art: in fresco painting, sculpture, and glyptics. As far as these images allow one to judge, bull games in the Minoan civilization were associated with mortal risk for their participants in and could hardly do without serious human casualties. It is likely that they the ultimate goal was to appease the deity, who during the competition was given the opportunity choosing the bloody sacrifice he desires.

Tragic outcome tauromachy , as a rule, remains hidden from us. The theme of death, if present in scenes of tauromachy, is most often only hidden, implicit. And in this, we think, found its expression so characteristic of the feminine psyche Minoans desire to escape from the too dark and heavy sides of reality, pretending that they do not exist in nature at all.

On a famous "Toreador fresco" from Knossos Palace, in addition to a male acrobat making a risky jump over a bull, we also see two girls dressed in men's fashion in short aprons with belts tied tightly at the waist and light ankle boots. One of them grabbed the bull's horns pointed directly at her with her hands with the clear intention of following her partner. repeating the same “deadly number”. The other girl, it seems, has already landed behind the bull after a successful somersault and is now watching the actions of her teammates in joyful excitement. The Knossos fresco, as well as some other murals from the same series, shows quite clearly that in the Minoan tauromachy women were by no means content with playing minor roles as assistants to the matador, as in Spanish bullfighting, but bravely entered into a mortally dangerous fight with an angry animal on a par with men.

That in itself indicates an unusually high according to the concepts of almost all ancient peoples, level social activity of Cretan women, their emergencyself-confidence and heightenedself-esteem. However, it would be a mistake to believe that the only incentive that forced them to enter the arena was simple ambition or a thirst for self-affirmation.

Occupying one of the key places in the traditional ritual practice of the Minoans, auromachy was a kind of sacred rite and women, as the main priestesses of the Great Mother, were not inferior to men in this important means communication with the other world. If we recognize the above assumption about the feminization of the male half of Minoan society as justified, then, perhaps, the guess about the counter the process of masculinization of Minoan women. Those who recognize the historical reality of the “Minoan matriarchy” are most often inclined to evaluate it as a rather relict phenomenon - an incompletely lived-out legacy era of "mother law". However, modern ethnography has long come to the conclusion that There has never been such an era in human history, of course, if you put into the concept of “maternal right” something more than just a matrilineal account of kinship or matrilocal marriage.

In a relatively short period in terms of the history of the ancient world, for one or two centuries, the Minoan palace civilization appeared on Crete. The most important elements of palace civilization are monumental architecture, a developed bronze industry, and ceramics made using a rapidly rotating potter's wheel and painted in strikingly rich colors. Kamares style tableware, arose firsthieroglyphic, and thenMinoan syllabic writing.

The suddenness of this leap into a new quality seems all the more obvious because until the very end of the Early Bronze Age, that is,before the start of the period"old palaces" Crete remained one of the most backward cultural provinces of the Aegean world. Especially if you compare Crete with areas such as the Peloponnese or Troas, where already in the second half of the 3rd millennium BC. The simplest unique cultural models and systems arose and early palace states began to form.

Mound of Atreus in Mycenae. Crete-Mycenaean civilization

About the tribal organization in Crete resemble those widely practiced on the islandmassive burial mounds, like the Scythians , burials in large tombs - « tholosah"in southern and central Crete, and “ossuaries” - in the East of Crete.
Taking into account all these features of the historical path traversed by the Minoan civilization of Crete during the Bronze Age, the nature of the paradoxical phenomenon that we conventionally call it “Minoan matriarchy”. Apparently it was a kind of defensive reaction of a deeply archaic system to a transition that was too fast for her and, apparently, insufficiently prepared by her previous existence from the primitive communal system to classes and the state.

Great Mother Goddess - 1800 - 1700 BC Crete.

In this environment women as more conservative and the traditionally thinking part of society, obviously, were able to move to the forefront of public life. Tied to their homes and children, and purely physiologically limited in their amateur activities, women enjoyed enormous authority, asmain guardians of cults chthonic (Chthonia -Earth Goddess) deities related to the earth and the underworld, which, according to the concepts of the ancients, were primarily responsible for earthquakes and other natural disasters. This gave the opportunity for women to control the behavior of their husbands and brothers, to restrain their excessive excitement, a thirst for the new and a penchant for adventure and thereby slow down the too rapid movement of society along the path of historical progress.

In other words, if you understand morality and not the aggressiveness of Minoan society, as the historical inferiority of the Minoan civilization, which developed as a consequence of the infantilism of men, the creatively active part of society, consciously cultivated in society. However, it is hardly worth blaming the Minoan women for this, because it is to their wise guardianship over representatives of the opposite sex that we owe the fact that the culture they created became perhaps the most beautiful of the shoots on the tree of history of the ancient Mediterranean.