Some Day Lad, All This Will Be Yours!

Art Appreciation 101. Covers the dawn of man until the 1600s, from cave scratchings to oil on canvas masterpieces to architecture. For me, it's all ho-hum until the architecture. Really! Consider this: 4000 years ago, before the invention of the steam engine but after the invention of the wheel, humans without "machines" built 50-foot tall pillars and erected stone monoliths carved from a single stone (Egypt). Also without benefit of modern machinery, humans carved rocks weighing tons and then transported them the length of a marathon (Wales/England). Astounding!

Although, if I were asked to place a wager, I'd put a fiver on "Aliens" and a fiver on "Leprechauns."

And so we cover the Palace of Knossos, of the ancient Minoan culture, Isle of Crete. I'm listening to Grampa Cook talk about the lifespan of the palace site like he was there, man, its multi-levelness, its grand architecture, its wall art that is for the sake of art and not iconic, when I get yanked out of my reverence for the opulence by a movie sketch.

The Palace of Knossos was built near a fault like that was rather active at the time, 4000-5000 years ago. The site itself shows evidence of occupation from about 3000 BCE, but records indicate the first 'palace' was not begun until 1000 years later. It was destroyed by earthquake. The palace was rebuilt. It was conquered, inhabited by foreigners for a thousand years, then caught fire and burned down, only to be rediscovered 3000 years later and opened for the public.

Which brings me straight to Monty Python.

//paraphrase: Everyone said you can't build a castle in a swamp, but I built anyway. The first castle sank into the swamp. The second castle caught fire, fell over and then sank into the swamp. But the third castle stayed open!

All of a sudden, the ancients just got interesting.