Cretan Archers shield emblem

**geala** · 09-22-2007, 18:03

Hello,

on the pelte of the Cretan Archers (not the mercs) one can see a serpent. Is there a special source for such a shield emblem? Or is the serpent especially related to Crete or parts of it?

Second question (less important

), although I know you don't like such so much

:
Why is Kydonia the main town in Crete? I recently have read in a book about ancient Crete that Knossos and Gortyn were the biggest poleis in the beginning of the 3rd c. BC. Was Kydonia as great? Was there a special importance of Kydonia that predestined it as the main town? Or had you just the task to choose from three nearly equally important poleis?

Many thanks

**Anastasios Helios** · 09-23-2007, 09:36

In the ruins of the Minoan civilization, much archaeological evidence was discovered of a 'snake goddess'. It is very likely, if not certain, that she was the chief diety of the "Eteocretans." Perhaps the serpent shields are in her honor.

I can't tell you anything about Kydonia...I'm just as perplexed about that.

**russia almighty** · 09-23-2007, 15:39

I know why its Kydonia ..... cause there is muse fan on the EB team .

**mcantu** · 09-23-2007, 15:43

Originally Posted by Anastasios Garamantos

In the ruins of the Minoan civilization, much archaeological evidence was discovered of a 'snake goddess'. It is very likely, if not certain, that she was the chief diety of the "Eteocretans." Perhaps the serpent shields are in her honor.

I can't tell you anything about Kydonia...I'm just as perplexed about that.

Isn't Athena often shown with a serpent?

**Teleklos Archelaou** · 09-23-2007, 15:53

I've been looking through the old threads and all I can see is that it was Kydonia when I first joined the mod three years ago. It tends to be forgotten about, down there by itself - but it looks to me like we didn't question the original map in that respect enough. It would be a good one to discuss possibly changing from what I see, but (and this is a big "but"), we are totally locked down for EB1 in these mapping respects: (1) names of cities, (2) names of provinces, (3) locations of cities. We can change province borders or mountains or things, but scripting and recruiting and all sorts of things have got to have set names and locations or all sorts of things get messed up. We all agreed on a total lockdown a month or so ago, and of course we have a few things that have popped up since then too (spellings of a couple of provinces - Indian ones especially - but some other slight things too), and we just have to wait till EB2 to do anything about them. Thanks for bringing this up though - I can't see that anyone else has out here.