What Is Minoan Frescano?

Tons of dirt-digging, tale-telling, and puzzle-solving all have contributed to aid archaeologists to excavate and to unearth the lands that used to be buried under the thick layers of soil and that also used to be the greatest central foundation in the ancient times. Over and over again, amazing ancient stories have been told to educate people with the knowledge and the understanding that surpass the time and to render them the cognizance that of how close they have reached to fully interpret their ancient ancestors. Their adroit intelligence has uncovered the stories that were once prosperously rich in nature, culture, and tradition. Arthur Evans are one of the archaeologists who are successful in their work to reveal the ancient cities that …show more content…
Mostly restored of several stuccopanels on the wall of the palace at Knossos in Crete, the fresco portrays the three young Minoans in various stages of a somersault over a huge beast (McInerney 12). The word toreador is originated from taurokathapsia which means “laying hold of the bull” (Higgins 35). First, the rider baits the bull to exhaust it; then he runs up beside it, leaps on its back, grasps the horns and brings down the tired bull. However, in the fresco, it seems to be a religious rite of the bull worship rather than the fighting competition to differentiate between human’s strength and the bull’s. This ritual consists of an acrobatic leap over a bull; when the leaper holds on to the bull's horns, the bull will aggressively move its neck upwards rendering the leaper enough impetus to perform somersaults over the worshipping bull (Gere 109). Today in the southwest of France, there is quite an exact parallel of the Minoan version which is called course landaise (Gere 111; McInerney 10). The bulls employed are not to be slaughtered or to be attacked by the participants, but course landaise alternatively emphasizes on …show more content…
The image of the bull, producing from various kinds of medium from terracotta figurines to stone seals to frescoes in relief to gold rings or even to ivory figurines, always exists within the Minoan world and its culture (“Knossos” 73). Minoan bull-leaping renders the viewers the significance of human power over the nature, once when he leaps, or takes control over the bull. When bull-leaping becomes popular as public performances in the late Minoan society, the performances became quite both the entertainment and the showcase of human strength over nature. Eventually passing to today’s society, things have dramatically changed. Today, there is no such thing as the act of bull-leaping is to show reverence towards the bull; the act nowaday is merely for entertainment that shows off the strength of human and marks the stupidity of the animals that are being jeered