Absolutely Hutely: Dan and Hutely Meet the Minoans

By Dan Tilley

enlightened professor, Dr. Dean. Dan studies the philosophies of Emanuel Kant, David Hume, and Vico before researching ancient Greek history. Dan has an incredible dream that lands him in ancient Crete, which is the birthplace of Western civilization. He is guided through ancient Crete and Athens by H.G.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Agar Publishing
• Release date: Nov 19, 2021
• ISBN: 9781956096279

Dan Tilley

Dan Tilley was born in Port Jefferson, Long Island New York in 1960, European ancestry - Irish and French. Co- founder, " Durango Citizens Against Forced Relocation" and "Community Happens." He and wife Liz live in Albuquerque, NM., has a BA in Political Science and teaches Social Studies.

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Introduction

Recently, while teaching history, I realized certain time periods were severely underreported. The cradle of Western democracy only got a short paragraph in an otherwise informative high school text. Maybe we should remember those first things, which are so easily forgotten like Minoan Crete, a dream, or a college course that changes your life. Likewise, Native Americans were first on the North American continent; their tribes developed into spiritual, thriving societies. These matriarchal societies would soon dominate the east coast of the United States, well before the first wave of European imperialism.

The island of Crete has been referred to as the cradle of Western civilization. Its people worshiped the Earth Mother, similar to indigenous peoples in North America before European expansion. In the gray period between myth and recorded history, Crete gave birth to a pioneering people who prefaced a revolution that would include the Roman Empire, Europe’s Renaissance and Enlightenment, followed by France and England’s global hegemony. This tradition culminated in the thirteen original colonies of the United States of America, after they severed ties with their mother island, England.

Like the American colonists, Athenians felt it necessary to rethink ties with their mother island, Crete, but not before inheriting traditions that would lead to golden days ahead. Understanding England’s influence in the United States is important to America’s self awareness. Maybe Crete’s pioneering spirit and positivism helped Athens became aware of a great new form of government called democracy. James Madison, who helped write the U.S. Constitution, studied Athenian democracy to see if it was possible here in America. What Minoan Crete made possible for the Golden Age of Athens is steeped in myth, fact, and legend, but is essential in the understanding of the Western tradition.

The Minoans lived on the island of Crete from around 3000 BCE to 1400 BCE and started a culture’s westward expansion. Maybe the great Athenian philosophers became footnotes to history because they had Crete’s escalator to run up. The Minoans were a profound people celebrating new found freedoms. Furthermore, I believe they were well ahead of their time. Much of the following story is based in mythological lore. However, excavations led by Arthur Evans and others in the 1800s revealed and confirmed many of Crete’s incredible technology, art, and politics. I believe their influence spans the centuries through Athens, Rome, and is still felt today in the United States. Could we have inherited Cretan ingenuity in the areas of politics, music, technology, art, and human rights? Several analogies and creative comparisons were needed to unearth this possible inheritance.

In order for Cretans to have passed on such a legacy, they had to assure that their transmissions got through before a devastating earthquake and a volcanic eruption destroyed them around 1400 BCE. Our story begins with King Minos who ruled over his island paradise and beyond. The Minoan name is derived from his. There are several references made concerning myths about Crete that I allude to. To further my inheritance theory, I have selected a pivotal point in history to expound upon.

Around 2500 BCE, the island of Crete became the first great naval power in ancient history. Situated just below the Balkan Peninsula, which extends into the Mediterranean Sea, Crete traded with coastal cities including Athens and Egypt. Proximity played an important role in connecting Crete to mainland Greece. Athens became the torch bearer for Minoan ideas. The Persian Empire (which extends from modern-day Turkey into Iran) had plans to defeat Greece and stop its cultural expansion.

Our story recounts the lives of several mythological figures. Along with King Minos’ Cretan Piraeus, I reference Theseus’ adventures in Crete and Athens. Minos’ daughter, Ariadne, and wise Daedalus play significant roles as they team up with Dan and Hutely to save democracy for the ages. Our cast of characters is authentic, but we delve into historical fantasy as well to accentuate our inheritance theory.

While studying ancient history in college, I inherited a love for coffee from my parents. This may have helped me better understand philosophers like Emanuel Kant who was awakened from his Dogmatic slumber by a contemporary, David Hume. Hume was a Scottish philosopher and a realist. On the other hand, Kant rationalized ideas that sounded splendid from a distance before reading Hume, that is. Furthermore, Kant didn’t feel the mind could understand the real world until Hume served him a philosophy with the potency of a dark, Italian blend. I wasn’t sure I could understand the real world either until a college course and a professor awakened me from my dogmatic slumber. Suddenly, I could dream of what was possible in the real world.

-1-

A Peasant in Crete

That’s a bit of historical fantasy, I said, trying hard to stay awake in my Ancient Political Thought class. Oh yea, sorry, my name is Dan McCaugh. You would think by now that college classes would be a little more realistic. My professor looks like the lead singer of Steppenwolf. They were a rock group that sang about tragedy in wild America in the 1960s. Tragic songs like, Snow Blind Friend which depicts a man’s friend lying on the pavement and a victim of a drug overdose, were fair game in Dr. Dean’s lectures. He would ask us questions that required several early morning cups of coffee. One day while I was on my second cup, Dean popped the magic question to the class. Why are you here? Surely, not just to ski and drink in the bars on Main Street. After all, you are not peasants. You have the power to change the world! I tried to remain silent after seeing that no one had an answer. I couldn’t of course. So like a bull in a china shop, I took a shot at one. Little did I know it would shoot back!

I’m a peasant, I said nonchalantly. After all, I was raised on a farm. In fact, I was wearing a straw hat, cut-offs and a holey shirt to class. Within seconds, I was a farmer getting my crops thoroughly dusted as Dr. Dean went off on the class.

I served in Vietnam and debated powerful statesmen regarding the war. At that time, young people like you filled the streets to protest the war I had been fighting. Their protests proved very effective and helped end the war. Had those students felt they were merely peasants, thousands more Americans and Vietnamese might have died. You are citizens of the wealthiest nation in the world. So count your blessings! Dr. Dean took a deep breath and continued in a calmer tone. After earning my doctorate, I chose this small mountain town to teach in. Friends said that I passed up opportunities to graduate senators and future leaders in the great urban areas. However, I believe that our little mountain college has the potential to change the world. You must remember that success is not just a dream.

Once home, I put down the mountain of books I had gotten at the library for the night’s homework. I collapsed on the couch and yelled, What does Dean want from me anyway, and what’s so bad about peasants?

There is nothing bad about being a peasant young housemate of mine, Paul argued in a defensive tone. Paul was a little older and wiser than me to a certain extent. He was long, lean, and lucky with the ladies. He had a great accent and was a construction worker from Oklahoma. He had a rugged mountain-man look, but was always grinning like he had a gold nugget in his pocket or something. He was big on individual freedom which played well with my point of view. Paul loved to stand on his soap box and he would say, Gods bless the working stiffs, however inflexible!

It’s one nation under god, not gods, right Paul?

You’re right about that partner, but I just attended a lecture on ancient Rome, and I’m still in the mood. So don’t fret none, youngin. Dean just wants to inspire you to dream the impossible dream! But don’t fly too high and melt your wings in the sun! Paul shouted while grabbing his work gloves that he would need at the lumber yard in the morning. Then he kicked open the door and left the house. After hours of excavating my mountain of books, sleep overtook me and I began to dream.

My eyes were definitely closed, yet I could see for miles. I felt the heat of the earth being cooled by the breeze whipping in from the craggy shore. I must be in Greece, or possibly Navajo Lake in Northern New Mexico. Somehow the Land of Enchantment had reached the Mediterranean. Causing my wrapped tunic to buckle and bell in the summer, like a beach towel doubling as a dress, the wind took hold of my thoughts. Do you think we’ll get stopped by those pirates, Dan? A scholarly voice blurted out amidst the sound of hoofs scattering the golden rocks. They have no reason to detain and hassle us you know.

Wait a minute, I answered while adjusting my codpiece, which up till now, I didn’t know I was wearing. Are you a talking donkey wearing glasses?

Do I look like a Cretan to you?

I don’t know! I’ve never met a Cretan. But I’m feeling a bit like Dr. Doolittle at this point in time. Has life dealt me a cameo appearance on the Twilight Zone? I thought, as I stared in disbelief at my surroundings. Am I really walking around ancient Greece being questioned by a donkey who doesn’t like to be stopped?

You are in Crete, Dan. Well this is just great. Please…not another profiling human! They are always afraid to answer, or better yet ask the important questions that make us all animals.

I’m not an animal, pal! Active reason sets me apart from you, I’ll have you know.

From what might that be, young man? I know all about humans and they do not seem so reasonable to me. Along with being bald over ninety percent of your body, humans make far too many judgmental generalizations.

Listen, you wise…Aristotle through observable and empirical studies found that only humans know seeds produce flowers and trees. We can visualize the tree or the statue still inside the marble block before it fulfills its potential. In other words, if a seed lands on a rock, humans have the good sense to move it off and plant it in the soil.

Did you say empirical and observable studies?

Yes I did. Along with glasses you may need a hearing aid.

Well, anyway, my name is Hutely and your name is Dan. My instincts tell me that you are in need of some serious ego pruning. I do not claim to be wise or possess some magical skill. I prefer to use dialectic reasoning. You have heard of Socrates, either empirically or by observable means, have you not?

Absolutely, Hutely, of course I have, both ways I think?

But of course you have. Because you also refuse to ask yourself life’s important questions, you get the honor of being my partner in time. I am a historical guide and a graduate of the H. G. Academy. Furthermore, we animals have natural instinct. Human instinct pales in comparison.

Okay, I guess I don’t know you from a hole in the ground. But how did you know my name?

A true statement, finally, may the gods be praised! I do know that humans are currently destroying the rain forests in your time. Active yes, but your species forgot the reason. Do you know what I call that?

No, pray tell, what do you call that?

I call it environmental treason. Get it, tree-son. The tree is like a parent giving you what you need to survive. That need is oxygen and animals must have it too!

I got it. But shouldn’t we focus on this archaic world we now find ourselves in, Hutely? I feel like a Trojan being attacked by the Achaeans!

Oh no…I could not take the same human for ten years!

Hutely is a little pushy and opinionated, but somehow I feel comfortable with him. He seems like he knows just about everything. His line of questioning did remind me of the Socratic method. A method employed by a human, I might add. Hutely is average in size, but he has incredibly muscular legs. He wears glasses that resemble spectacles, and he is in need of a bath. There must be a good reason why we’re here at the birthplace of Western civilization in ancient Crete around 2500 BCE.

You there, make yourself useful and help load this cargo!

Oh—not me, mate. I’ve got a bad back, and my donkey is allergic to physical labor.

Do not piss them off, Dan, Hutely whinnied cautiously while showing off his teeth in a ridiculous and half-hearted attempt at a smile. What’s the worst that can happen? I asked jokingly as Hutely’s smile turned to a frown.

We spent most of the afternoon and much of the evening lifting and carrying