Chapter 15 sea ​​with black sails

From last night to this morning, I came to the beach again and again, took off my shoes and socks, rolled up my trouser legs, went down into the water, and stood there for a long time. The waves were cool and wet the pants in no time.I was still standing there for a long time, wanting to experience this island a little more real, to get rid of the mythical illusion.Homer's epic "Odyssey" records that Crete is the most affluent place surrounded by a wine-green sea, but according to Homer's time, he is also relaying a distant rumor.When Homer, which was also regarded as a rumor, suddenly and clearly appeared in front of my eyes, I was a little panicked.

In Knossus yesterday, I wandered around the ruins alone.The friends who went with me also felt that everything here was too magical, and they were scattered in every corner in a daze, which caused strong dissatisfaction from a tour guide we invited temporarily.This middle-aged woman named Melona yelled at me: What's wrong with you, none of you are coming?I will tell you the story of each room.I am the best tour guide here, look at my colleagues, each of them is explaining with a large group of people, and none of you listen to me, it really makes me shy! I said: Melona, ​​we're all a little bit excited and need to think about it.You rest for a while, I will ask you any questions, okay?

Are you excited without listening to my explanation?Melona was puzzled.When I was wandering, what I thought about most was the story about the maze, because everything in front of me looked like a big maze. According to the story, a half-man, half-bull monster was imprisoned in the Minoan palace, and Athens was required to send seven pairs of boys and girls as sacrificial offerings every year.A young man named Xisas was determined to abolish this bad habit. He discussed with his father and planned to go to Crete among boys and girls to find a way to subdue the monster. This incident was more ominous than ominous, and the father was proud of his son's heroic behavior. He made an agreement with his son that he would always watch from the sea cliff. The boat that floated by the tide had black sails on it, which meant that the son was dead.The son subdued the monster in the palace of Minos, but he couldn't get out of the maze-like road, but the daughter of King Minos took a fancy to him and helped him escape.Unexpectedly, while the lovers were drifting in the sea, the girl suddenly died of illness. The young man was so sad that he forgot to change the black sails on the boat to white sails.

The father who stood on the cliff every day in fear saw the black sail and knew that something was wrong, so he immediately jumped into the sea and committed suicide. The father's name was Aiqin.Does the name of the Aegean Sea come from such a heroic and sad story?So what I am stepping on today is exactly this sea with black sails.Legends and stories cannot be trusted, but I did see pictures of boys and girls fighting with bulls on the murals of the Minos Palace.Xu Gehui and I copied this painting into a notebook at the same time. What really needs to be taken seriously is another grand legend, that is Atlantis, which I mentioned in "Notes on a Mountain Dwelling", that is, Daxizhou.It is said that more than 10,000 years ago, there was a vast continent on the Atlantic Ocean between Europe and Africa, rich and developed, overwhelming the world, but it suddenly sank to the bottom of the sea in a huge earthquake and tsunami, and disappeared without a trace.The mystery of the loss of Atlantis has been studied from generation to generation, and one of them believes that Crete is the remnant of Atlantis.

If this is the case, then it is logical that a precocious civilization appeared on Crete.Although it did not sink, what happened 3,500 years ago was somewhat similar to the fate of the mother body 10,000 years ago. No matter how high a civilization is in the face of natural violence, it is often vulnerable.But it always has threads, erratic and continuous, if broken or connected.Today's world has developed based on a few threads. Atlantis is elusive, and what can be known through archaeology is that the Cretan civilization has been greatly influenced by the Egyptian civilization.So, let's continue backtracking.

On October 8, 1999, in Crete in the morning, flew back to Athens in the afternoon, and flew to Egypt at night