What do you think?
Rate this book
Crete and Pre-Hellenic: Myths and Legends
Donald A. MacKenzie (1873-1936) was a Scottish journalist and prolific writer on religion, mythology and anthropology in the early 20th century. He was born in Cromarty and began his career in Glasgow. Between 1903 and 1910 he owned and edited The North Star in Dingwall, and then moved to the Peopleas Journal in Dundee. From 1916 he represented the Glasgow paper, The Bulletin, in Edinburgh. As well as writing books, articles and poems, he often gave lectures, and also broadcast talks on Celtic mythology. He was the friend of many specialist authorities in his areas of interest.
480 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1917
17 people are currently reading
127 people want to read
About the author
Donald A. Mackenzie
124 books13 followersDonald Alexander Mackenzie was a Scottish journalist and folklorist and a prolific writer on religion, mythology and anthropology in the early 20th century.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 28, 2024
An absolutely worthless book - I do not think I have seen a book which will be picked up solely for its title and which fails to deliver upon that which its title promises so hard.
Although this book is called "Myths of Crete and Pre-Hellenic Europe", it is actually about just about anything but that: it is about paleolithic and neolithic migrations, it is about the story of Schliemann finding Troy and the Mycenaean palaces and Sir Arthur Evans rediscovering the Minoan civilization, it is about British folklore very occasionally and even more rarely certain Grecian myths tied with goddesses like Demeter and Rhea, it is about the trade relations between Knossos and bronze age Troy: In short, if you were looking for some amusingly outdated scholarship into what Minoan religion and mythology was like - the title is bold, for the one thing everyone knows about the Minoans is that we don't know their myths, gods, etc, Linear A remains undeciphered to this day - then you are sure to not get it here, let alone if you were looking for something actually good.
What actually is here, though, is unfortunately also worthless, which is where the very harsh rating comes from, along with a stern warning for anyone wishing to pick this book up: the scholarship here is a bunch of outdated thoughts and opinions based on racialist diffusionism, a theory no longer upheld by anyone. We here take Herodotus at his full word when he says everything came from Egypt, and of course we have the classic Victorian, early 20th century view of race wars and migrations of bloodthirsty barbarians from the north being the main movers of change.
Needless to say, this book is beyond outdated in what it actually talks about: a lay person reading it will only be more confused about the actual facts rather than informed, and someone who is up to par with these things will gain absolutely nothing except maybe some amusement at Mackenzie's confidence in stating absolute nonsense about migrations from Minoan Crete to Britain and the mind of "savages".
It is in the field of religion that this book actually hits its lowest: the same outdated, beyond tired even when this book was written take that previous, pre-Indo-European peoples were monotheistic matriarchal goddess worshippers, that this goddess was fickle and promiscuous (a "wanton" like Ishtar, as Mackenzie puts it) and that later boogies like the Lamia, the Cailleach, etc are all remnants of this early, terrible goddess to whom child sacrifices had to be paid for, the same bullshit that Robert Graves tries to sell you on and which has been shown as incorrect by actual scholars moving forward time and time again, since as early as the 20s with M.P. Nilsson even.
Overall, I picked this up because I wanted a giggle out of outdated mythology - I was disappointed. If you want a book on Minoan myth and religion, or an overview of finds, you will be even more so, serious student or lay person. There is no reason for anyone to pick this book up, unless you are just really into old timey racialist diffusionist theories.
Although this book is called "Myths of Crete and Pre-Hellenic Europe", it is actually about just about anything but that: it is about paleolithic and neolithic migrations, it is about the story of Schliemann finding Troy and the Mycenaean palaces and Sir Arthur Evans rediscovering the Minoan civilization, it is about British folklore very occasionally and even more rarely certain Grecian myths tied with goddesses like Demeter and Rhea, it is about the trade relations between Knossos and bronze age Troy: In short, if you were looking for some amusingly outdated scholarship into what Minoan religion and mythology was like - the title is bold, for the one thing everyone knows about the Minoans is that we don't know their myths, gods, etc, Linear A remains undeciphered to this day - then you are sure to not get it here, let alone if you were looking for something actually good.
What actually is here, though, is unfortunately also worthless, which is where the very harsh rating comes from, along with a stern warning for anyone wishing to pick this book up: the scholarship here is a bunch of outdated thoughts and opinions based on racialist diffusionism, a theory no longer upheld by anyone. We here take Herodotus at his full word when he says everything came from Egypt, and of course we have the classic Victorian, early 20th century view of race wars and migrations of bloodthirsty barbarians from the north being the main movers of change.
Needless to say, this book is beyond outdated in what it actually talks about: a lay person reading it will only be more confused about the actual facts rather than informed, and someone who is up to par with these things will gain absolutely nothing except maybe some amusement at Mackenzie's confidence in stating absolute nonsense about migrations from Minoan Crete to Britain and the mind of "savages".
It is in the field of religion that this book actually hits its lowest: the same outdated, beyond tired even when this book was written take that previous, pre-Indo-European peoples were monotheistic matriarchal goddess worshippers, that this goddess was fickle and promiscuous (a "wanton" like Ishtar, as Mackenzie puts it) and that later boogies like the Lamia, the Cailleach, etc are all remnants of this early, terrible goddess to whom child sacrifices had to be paid for, the same bullshit that Robert Graves tries to sell you on and which has been shown as incorrect by actual scholars moving forward time and time again, since as early as the 20s with M.P. Nilsson even.
Overall, I picked this up because I wanted a giggle out of outdated mythology - I was disappointed. If you want a book on Minoan myth and religion, or an overview of finds, you will be even more so, serious student or lay person. There is no reason for anyone to pick this book up, unless you are just really into old timey racialist diffusionist theories.
April 29, 2020
I have the most gorgeous edition of this book in hardback, gifted to me by my sister. The contents make for a generally good read but the book doesn't focus on Crete nearly as much as it perhaps should. Large paragraphs are dedicated to drawing comparisons with British and Scottish folklore, which while interesting, belies a desire for the author to more strongly link the Minoan civilisation to early British civilisation. Repetition is the book's other downfall. The explorations regarding Crete are insightful though, particularly links with Troy. The book, being pre 1920 even, refers to 'savages' once or twice but hey, it's a product of its time I guess.
March 1, 2020
The bits about actual Crete, they discovery of Troy/Knossos and origins of ancient Greek culture are fascinating - but the casual racism of native peoples is so disrespectful with a modern ethos. I'm trying to judge as a product of its time (early 1900s).
September 14, 2023
This was a good book but a bit dry and avademic less info on their versions of the deities and more on the context of pre hellenic crete
November 12, 2015
Despite the fact that Crete is featured prominently in the title of this work, it is, at best, only tangentially mentioned in the text. What's there is insightful, but you really have to dig to find it.
Moreover, there seems to be no specific thesis for this work. It spans topics ranging from burial rituals to architecture to artwork to mythology, and from the Egyptians to Babylonians to the Norse to the English.
Further, the digital version of this book has some truly dreadful formatting issues, including entire missing pages of text.
Moreover, there seems to be no specific thesis for this work. It spans topics ranging from burial rituals to architecture to artwork to mythology, and from the Egyptians to Babylonians to the Norse to the English.
Further, the digital version of this book has some truly dreadful formatting issues, including entire missing pages of text.
May 26, 2014
Read it when I was in primary school
So obsessed with Greek mythologies
So obsessed with Greek mythologies
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews