Minoan Genius Minoan Genius The Minoan Genius is a fantastic mythological creature that was common in ancient Crete. It is portrayed sometimes with the head of a lion, or of hippopotamus, or of other animals. It played a role in various religious ceremonies. It is often portrayed with water vessels, such as ewers, so it seems to play a role as libation bearer. The connections of this mythological beast seem to be with the griffin—a very widespread composite mythological beast—as well as with the Egyptian hippopotamus and crocodile goddess Taweret, from which it is believed to have derived. According to Judith Weingarten,
Minoan civilization the island. There are appear to be four major palaces on the island: Knossos, Phaistos, Malia, and Kato Zakros. The north is thought to have been governed from Knossos, the south from Phaistos, the central-eastern region from Malia, the eastern tip from Kato Zakros. Smaller palaces have been found elsewhere on the island. The Minoans were traders, and their cultural contacts reached Egypt's Old Kingdom, copper-containing Cyprus, Canaan and the Levantine coast and Anatolia. In late 2009 Minoan-style frescoes and other artifacts were discovered during excavations of the Canaanite palace at Tel Kabri, Israel, leading archaeologists to conclude that the