FROM GODDESS TO KING
A History of Ancient Europe from the
OERA LINDA BOOK
By Anthony Radford
CHAPTER 10
MINNO AND THE STORY OF CRETE
The Bronze Age of the Aegean civilization has been divided into three periods on Crete; Early Minoan (c. 3300-2150 BC), Middle Minoan (c. 2150-1750 BC), and Late Minoan (c. 1750-1200 BC). The Late Minoan is itself divided into LM.A and LM.B to distinguish between two distinct styles of pottery that have been found with a layer of volcanic ash in between. This dates a natural catastrophe that does not denote the end of the Minoan civilization as it continued for another hundred years and fell by war, not eruption. The dates for these periods are themselves open to question as that ash has been dated by two distinct processes to be about 1650 BC. The first process is that of ice-core drillings in which volcanic ash alters the acidity of the frozen water. The second is by carbon-14 dating of wood from the period. The values given here reflect the latest date estimates and are different from standard texts that may use values up to two hundred years more recent. Even so, it is difficult to pinpoint these times with the dates quoted in the Oera Linda Book unless the name Minos became a dynastic title like Pharaoh in Egypt with at least two Minos’s, one being the grandson of the other known in the time of Theseus. That was the mythical time of the Minotaur, the bull of Minos, and a critical period in history at the end of the Middle Minoan and the beginning of the Classical Greek eras. It was the end of the mythical age, a time before the legendary age of Homer.
The excavation of Knossos, the site of the capital city of Crete and of other sites on the Cyclades has given us most of what we know about this period. According to Thucydides in his "Peloponnesian Wars" he states that Minos was the first person known to them to establish a navy. He made himself master of the Hellenic sea. From the mythical tradition we are told that Minos was the son of Zeus, the king of the gods and Europa representing all Europe. Europa married King Asterios of Crete who adopted her children. Poseidon, the god of the sea and earthquakes helped Minos to succeed Asterios as king and distinguished himself as both a lawgiver to Crete and the overlord of most of the Aegean including Athens. When his son was killed in Greece, he extracted the awesome tribute of seven youths and seven maidens to feed the Minotaur.
To reconcile this tradition needs careful analyses because Minno, a sea-king in the Book, mentions Athens as an existing city and contributes to the story of Minerva. He therefore must have been after the sea-king Jon, but perhaps before the Theseus era. In the Appendix, Dr. Ottema relates Minno to an earlier mythological personage who also had a law giving tradition and it does fit with the rather simple government that Minno discovered at Crete, which was not the great seafaring tradition of King Minos.
Minno was a sea-king who after a very adventurous life trading in the Mediterranean lands, retired back to his homeland in the town of Lindahelm on the Rhine and recorded not just his exploits and adventures in Crete but the history of Frya’s people in Greece. His exploits and the laws he gave to Crete were also recorded on the walls of Lindahelm, which included copies of the laws that were engraved at Texland. Minno was a king but from his laws it is obvious that no concept of the divine right of kings existed in their culture. There was never to be an overall king or a hereditary office.
From the writings of Minno, recorded in the Book over a thousand years later and edited in Christian times, we get an idea of a community based indoctrination rather than one with laws conceding to free enterprise. These laws show the nature of crime and punishment where justice consisted of either compensation for violence, actually retribution or payment in kind, or exile to the iron or tin mines. The tin mines were in Westland in the area that eventually became known as Cornwall. The population of Westland or Britain must have been quite small at the time with a populace of exiles, mostly men. This imbalance eventually was exploited by the founder of the Celtic regime in cooperation with the Golen or Druids to make Britain independent of Texland but not of the continent.
The laws pertained to international relations and trade and are listed in the Appendix so we can get on with the adventure. It is hard to interpret the word "neighbor" as being more than the family next door from the nature of these writings but Minno makes it clear that he is writing about foreign markets as well. It appears that the elders of the town, the aldermen, promoted these merchant fleets for community profit. Seamen and merchants were working for "The Company" much like today and not as individuals. They shared in one third of the profits and both the disabled and the families of the deceased were cared for. The best provisions had to be provided for the fleet as apparently women and children could accompany the navigators on the long voyages to the Mediterranean and beyond. The Book continues.
Minno was an ancient sea-king. He was a seer and a philosopher, and he gave laws to the Cretans. He was born at Lindaoord, and after all his wanderings he had the happiness to die at Lindahelm.
From the Writings of Minno:
If our neighbors have a piece of land or water which it would be advantageous for us to possess, it is proper that we should offer to buy it. If they refuse to sell it, we must let them keep it. This is Frya’s Tex, and it would be unjust to act contrary to it.
If any of our neighbors quarrel and fight about any matter except land, and they request us to arbitrate, our best course will be to decline; but if they insist upon it, it must be done honorably and justly.
If any one comes and says, I am at war, you must help me; or another comes and says, My son is an infant and incompetent, and I am old, so I wish you to be his guardian, and to take charge of my property until he is of age, it is proper to refuse in order that we may not come into disputes about matters foreign to our free customs.
Whenever a foreign trader comes to the open markets at Wyringen and Almanland, if he cheats, he must immediately be fined, and it must be published by the maidens throughout the country. If he should come back, no one must deal with him. He must return as he came.
Whenever traders are chosen to go to trading stations, or to sail with the fleets, they must be well known and of good reputation with the maidens.
If, however, a bad man should by chance be chosen and should try to cheat, the others are bound to remove him. If he should have committed a cheat, it must be made good, and the culprit must be banished from the land in order that our name may be everywhere held in honor.
If we should be ill-treated in a foreign market, whether distant or near, we must immediately attack them; for though we desire to be at peace, we must not let our neighbors underrate us or think that we are afraid.
Before we tell of the exploits of these people it is important to understand how their laws were so binding on them. The laws were designed for fairness and safety in the community, but as time went on there were many complaints about their strictness; a fact exploited by some unscrupulous burgtmaidens themselves. Minno’s writings continue.
If any one should be so wicked as to commit robbery, murder, arson, rape, or any other crime, upon a neighboring state, and our people wish to inflict punishment, the culprit shall be put to death in the presence of the offended, in order that no war may arise, and the innocent suffer for the guilty. If the offended will spare his life and forgo their revenge, it may be permitted. If the Culprit should be a king, Grevetman, or other person in authority, we must make good his fault, but he must be punished.
If he bears on his shield the honorable name of his forefathers, his kinsmen shall no longer wear it, in order that every man may look after the conduct of his relatives.
These laws are from the Minno writings and are of a civil nature. Let us not forget that no statute became law until it was approved by the burgtmaid and inscribed on the walls of the citadel. The Mother approved national laws according to the principles of Frya.
The laws appear harsh, even cruel by modern standards, but they date from the seventeenth century BC—before the Old Testament was codified—and reflect some of the same sort of thinking. Apparently the pillory was used to shame some offenders. That such thinking is slow to change is evidenced in the use of stocks and pillory up to and including our own colonial times.
These Rules Are Made For Angry People:
If a man in a passion or out of ill-will breaks the limb of another or puts out an eye or a tooth, he must pay whatever the injured man demands. If he cannot pay, he must suffer the same injury as he has done to the other. If he refuses this, he must appeal to the burgtmaid in order to be sent to work in the iron or tin mines until he has expiated his crime under the general law.
If a man is so wicked as to kill a Frisian, he must forfeit his own life; but if the burgtmaid can send him to the tin mines for his life before he is taken, she may do so.
If the prisoner can prove by proper witnesses that the death was accidental, he may go free; but if it happens a second time, he must go to the tin mines, in order to avoid any unseemly hatred or vengeance.
These Are The Rules Concerning Bastards:
If any man sets fire to the house of another, he is no Frisian, he is a bastard. If he is caught in the act, he must be thrown into the fire; and wherever he may flee he shall never be secure from the avenging justice.
No true Frisian shall speak ill of the faults of his neighbors. If any man injures himself, but does no harm to others, he must be his own judge; but if he becomes so bad that he is dangerous to others, they must bring it before the count. But if instead of going to the count a man accuses another behind his back, he must be put on the pillory in the marketplace, and then sent out of the country, but not to the tin mines, because even there a backbiter is to be feared.
If any man should prove a traitor and show to our enemies the paths leading to our places of refuge, or creep into them by night, he must be the offspring of Finda; he must be burnt. The sailors must take his mother and all his relations to a desolate island, and there scatter his ashes, in order that no poisonous herbs may spring from them. The maidens must curse his name in all the states, in order that no child may be called by his name, and that his ancestors may repudiate him.
Minno continues, obviously back home in old age, about the rightness of Frya’s laws, in spite of their strictness. The word "Alvader" does sound very much like the present age "Our Father". He uses it to mean God and then complains about Finda’s people as "being too stupid to obey their own laws." His descriptions of the laws made by Finda’s people bear a striking resemblance to the work of our present day lawmakers. Here it appears there is little new. A strong case can be made for the fact that this attitude that he complained about appears to be prevalent today; but now and then it is also true that our conscience or "Eva" within us still tells us what is right and honorable.
The origin of the word "Eva" is explained and he gives a beautiful piece straight from the wisdom of his years and cautions for both justice for all and vigilance at home. One may wonder about the roots of the newer words "evil" and "devil" because of the connotations given them.
In my youth I often grumbled at the strictness of the laws, but afterwards I learned to thank Frya for her Tex and our forefathers for the laws which they established upon it. Wr-Alda or Alvader has given me many years, and I have traveled over many lands and seas, and after all that I have seen, I am convinced that we alone are chosen by Alvader to have laws. Lydia’s people can neither make laws nor obey them, they are too stupid and uncivilized. Many are like Finda. They are clever enough, but they are too rapacious, haughty, false, immoral, and bloodthirsty.
The toad blows himself out, but he can only crawl. The frog cries "Work, work"; but he can do nothing but hop and make himself ridiculous. The raven cries "Spare, spare"; but he steals and wastes everything that he gets into his beak.
Finda’s people are just like these. They say a great deal about making good laws, and every one wishes to make regulations against misconduct, but does not wish to submit to them himself. Whoever is the most crafty crows over others, and tries to make them submit to him, till another comes who drives him off his perch.
The word `Eva’ is too sacred for common use, therefore men have learned to say `Evin.’
`Eva’ means that sentiment which is implanted in the breast of every man in order that he may know what is right and what is wrong, and by which he is able to judge his own deeds and those of others; that is, if he has been well and properly brought up. `Eva’ has also another meaning; that is, tranquil, smooth, like water that is not stirred by a breath of wind. If the water is disturbed it becomes troubled, uneven, but it always has a tendency to return to its tranquil condition. That is its nature, just as the inclination towards justice and freedom exists in Frya’s children. We derive this disposition from the spirit of our father, Wr-Alda, which speaks strongly in Frya’s children, and will eternally remain so. Eternity is another symbol of Wr-Alda, who remains always just and unchangeable.
Eternal and unalterable are the signs of wisdom and rectitude, which must be sought after by all pious people, and must be possessed by all judges. If, therefore, it is desired to make laws and regulations which shall be permanent, they must be equal for all men. The judges must pronounce their decisions according to these laws. If any crime is committed respecting which no law has been made, a general assembly of the people shall be called, where judgment shall be pronounced in accordance with the inspiration of Wr-Alda’s spirit. If we act thus, our judgment will never fail to be right.
If instead of doing right, men will commit wrong, there will arise quarrels and differences among people and states. Thence arise civil wars, and everything is thrown into confusion and destroyed; and, O foolish people! while you are injuring each other the spiteful Finda’s people with their false priests come and attack your ports, ravish your daughters, corrupt your morals and at last throw the bonds of slavery over every Freeman’s neck.
The word "navigator" meant a seaman who made foreign voyages. People who lived by means of the small boats were called stuurlieden, a word that meant a navigator in the modern sense. It must have been the dream of every boy to make a foreign voyage. Those who were not fit enough to make the voyages had to stay home and herd the cows, hence our name coward; not the best for a prideful youth. Minno himself was a splendid example of a navigator and sea-king who returned home to an honorable old age after much adventure. It is easy to understand how his tales and those of other navigators would inspire Frya’s sons and enable the continuity of their seagoing way of life.
Minno took a fleet from Athens, to Crete, the Land of Criers and purchased a harbor and some land there. Apparently he intended to settle there permanently and eventually he became known as the lawgiver to Crete. However, his efforts to free the inhabitants were frustrated by the devious princes and priests again so Minno quietly returned to the Rhine, leaving his comrades in their settlement. He may have been a king but that was never a permanent position among the free people at that time.
When I came away from Athenia with my followers, we arrived at an island named by my crew Kreta, because of the cries that the inhabitants raised on our arrival. When they really saw that we did not come to make war, they were quiet, so that at last I was able to buy a harbor and a piece of land in exchange for a boat and some iron implements. When we had been settled there a short time, and they discovered that we had no slaves, they were very much astonished; and when I explained to them that we had laws which made everybody equal, they wished to have the same; but they had hardly established them before the whole land was in confusion.
The priests and the princes declared that we had excited their subjects to rebellion, and the people appealed to us for aid and protection. When the princes saw that they were about to lose their kingdom, they gave freedom to their people, and came to me to establish a code of laws. The people, however, got no freedom, and the princes remained masters, acting according to their own pleasure.
When this storm had passed, they began to sow divisions among us. They told my people that I had invoked their assistance to make myself permanent king. Once I found poison in my food. So when a ship from Flyland sailed past, I quietly took my departure. Leaving alone, then, my own adventures, I will conclude this history by saying that we must not have anything to do with Finda’s people, wherever it may be, because they are full of false tricks, fully as much to be feared as their sweet wine with deadly poison.
Next come the laws that Minno wrote for the settlements in Crete. He was to settle there a long time and influence the inhabitants to such an extent that the local princes used his name and prestige after his departure for home to augment their own power, but not in the spirit of Minno. Perhaps he gave his name to the title of King Minos but no connection between the names can be derived from the Book. The term "Minoan Civilization" of a later date, and the names of Minos and the Minotaur are not found any earlier than 1000 BC in Greek mythology. That however does not stop the use of the word "Minoan" to describe pottery, relics and rituals in Crete from as early as 1900 BC.
In those days they had the same type of crimes we have today. Minno’s solution was to exile the bad seeds of society, and in order to reduce the transgression of rape, he would have every young man married. He assumed that the normal high-minded person would be too proud to accept charity but declared it was their duty to help the poor anyway. This value was true here less than a century ago. Minno stated that these laws are for Crete but they read more like laws for Frisians.
Here are recorded the words of Minno. They were eventually inscribed on the walls of Lindahelm and reflect a later life back in Flyland after he had time to contemplate his life. Additional recordings by Minno are given in the Appendix.
Minno’s laws for Crete:
These Are The Three Principles On Which These Laws Are Founded
Everybody knows that he requires the necessaries of life, and if he cannot obtain them he does not know how to preserve his life.
All men have a natural desire to have children, and if it is not satisfied they are not aware what evil may spring from it.
Every man knows that he wishes to live free and undisturbed, and that others wish the same thing.
To secure this, these laws and regulations are made. The people of Finda have also their rules and regulations, but these are not made according to what is just - only for the advantage of priests and princes - therefore their states are full of disputes and murder.
If any man falls into a state of destitution, his case must be brought before the count by the maidens, because a high-minded Frisian cannot bear to do that himself.
If any man becomes poor because he will not work, he must be sent out of the country, because the cowardly and lazy are troublesome and ill-disposed, therefore they ought to be got rid of.
Every young man ought to seek a bride and to be married at five-and twenty.
If a young man is not married at five and twenty, he must be driven from his home, and the younger men must avoid him. If he will not marry, he must be declared dead, and leave the country, so that he may not give offense.
If a man is impotent, he must openly declare that no one has anything to fear from him, then he may come or go where he likes.
If after that he commits any act of incontinence, then he must flee away; if he does not, he may be given over to the vengeance of those whom he has offended, and no one may aid him.
Any one who commits a theft shall restore it threefold. For a second offense he shall be sent to the tin mines. The person robbed may forgive him if he pleases, but for a third offense no one shall protect him.
