The razor-sharp historian exploded received wisdom to show that the Palace of Knossos may have been nothing of the sort
As we crawl, weighed-down but determined, towards more enlightened times, history and historiography are having a moment. The best-known of those who seek to unpick the idea that history is written by the winners – and that those winners tend to be fairly homogeneous – are David Olusoga and Mary Beard. But Janina Ramirez is coming up on the inside.
Her new series of Raiders of the Lost Past (BBC Two) opens with an account of the discovery of the Palace of Knossos on Crete by Sir Arthur Evans that emphasises how very much easier it was to do these sorts of things when you were a very, very rich white man born into every advantage halfway through the 19th century in the land where the sun never set. If you do not think this is true, or if that this point undermines the achievements of Arthur and his ilk, then we will have to talk later and at greater length than a 500-word television review will allow. In the meantime, just take comfort in the fact that there is still a 2021 primetime show all about him on one of the major broadcast channels, and relax.
