diff options
Diffstat (limited to '19328-h')
48 files changed, 10337 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/19328-h/19328-h.htm b/19328-h/19328-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ed54689 --- /dev/null +++ b/19328-h/19328-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,10337 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN"> + +<html> + +<head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"> + <title>The Sea-Kings of Crete</title> + <style type="text/css"> + <!-- + body { background: white; color: black; + margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; } + h1 { text-align: center; margin-top: 4em; + margin-bottom: 2em; color: black; + background: white; } + h2 { text-align: center; margin-top: 2em; } + p.indent { text-indent: 1em; text-align: justify; } + p.subtitle { text-align: center; font-size: larger; + margin: 1em; } + p.center { text-align: center; } + p.author { text-align: center; font-size: larger; } + p.edition { text-align: center; font-size: smaller; + margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em; } + p.bigtitle { text-align: center; margin-top: 2em; + line-height: 200%; font-size: larger; } + p.footnote { font-size: smaller; text-align: justify; } + p.bquote { margin-left: 5%; } + p.index { text-indent: -1em; margin-left: 1em; + margin-top: 0em; margin-bottom: 0em; + text-align: justify; font-size: smaller; } + div.image { margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; + text-align: center; font-size: smaller; } + td.right { text-align: right; } + td.center { text-align: center; } + span.page { position: absolute; left: 92%; right: auto; + text-align: right; text-indent: 0em; + color: gray; background: white; + font-size: 9px; font-weight: normal; } + span.smaller { font-size: smaller; } + --> + </style> +</head> + +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Sea-Kings of Crete, by James Baikie + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Sea-Kings of Crete + +Author: James Baikie + +Release Date: September 19, 2006 [EBook #19328] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SEA-KINGS OF CRETE *** + + + + +Produced by Robert J. Hall + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="image" style="width: 513px;"> +<a name="plate_I"> +<img src="images/plate_I.jpg" width="513" height="809" alt="Plate I"></a> +<p>THE THRONE OF MINOS (<i>p</i>. <a href="#page_72">72</a>)</p> +</div> + +<h1>THE SEA-KINGS<br />OF CRETE</h1> + +<p class="author">BY REV. JAMES BAIKIE, F.R.A.S.</p> + +<p class="center" style="font-size: smaller;">WITH 32 FULL-PAGE +ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS</p> + +<p class="edition">SECOND EDITION</p> + +<p class="center">LONDON<br /> +ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK<br /> +1913</p> + +<p class="center" style="margin-top: 2em;"> +<a name="page_v"><span class="page">Page v</span></a> +TO MY SISTERS AND MY BROTHERS</p> + +<h2> +<a name="page_vii"><span class="page">Page vii</span></a> +PREFACE</h2> + +<p class="indent"> +The object aimed at in the following pages has been to offer to +the general reader a plain account of the wonderful investigations +which have revolutionized all ideas as to the antiquity and the +level of the earliest European culture, and to endeavour to make +intelligible the bearing and significance of the results of these +investigations. In the hope that the extraordinary resurrection +of the first European civilization may appeal to a more extended +constituency than that of professed students of ancient origins, +the book has been kept as free as possible from technicalities +and the discussion of controverted points; and throughout I have +endeavoured to write for those who, while from their school days +they have loved the noble and romantic story of Ancient Greece, +have been denied the opportunity of a more thorough study of it +than comes within the limits of an ordinary education. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +In the first chapter this standpoint may seem to have been unduly +emphasized, and the retelling of the ancient legends may be accounted +mere surplusage. Such, no doubt, it will be to some readers, but +perhaps they may be balanced by others whose <a name="page_viii"><span +class="page">Page viii</span></a> recollection of the great stories +of Classic Greece has grown a little faint with the lapse of years, +and who are not unwilling to have it prompted again. Reference to +the legends was in any case unavoidable, since one of the most +remarkable results of the explorations has been the disclosure of +the solid basis of historic fact on which they rested; and, if +the book was to accomplish its purpose for the readers for whom +it was designed, reference seemed almost necessarily to involve +retelling. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +I have to acknowledge extensive obligations to the writings and +reports of the various investigators who have accomplished so wonderful +a resurrection of this ancient world. My debt to the works of Dr. +A. J. Evans will be manifest to all who have any acquaintance with +the subject; but to such authors as Mrs. H. B. Hawes, Dr. Mackenzie, +Professors Burrows, Murray, and Browne, and Messrs. D. G. Hogarth +and H. R. Hall, to name only a few among many, my obligations are +only less than to the acknowledged chief of Cretan explorers. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +To the Rev. James Kennedy, D.D., librarian of the New College, +Edinburgh, and to the Rev. C. J. M. Middleton, M.A., Crailing, +my thanks are due for invaluable help afforded in the collection +of material, and I have been not less indebted to Mr. A. Brown, +Galashiels, and to Messrs. C. H. Brown and C. R. A. Howden, Edinburgh, +and others, for their assistance in the preparation of the +illustrations. To Mr. A. Brown in particular are due plates II., +III., IV., V., IX., X., XV., XVI., XX., <a name="page_ix"><span +class="page">Page ix</span></a> XXIII., XXIV., and XXV.; and to +Messrs. C. H. Brown and C. R. A. Howden Plates I., VII., VIII., +XI., XII., XVII. (I), and XXI. I have to record my hearty thanks +to the Council of the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies +for the use of Plates XXIX. and XXX., reproduced by their permission +from the <i>Journal of Hellenic Studies</i>; to the Committee of +the British School at Athens for the use of Plate XIX. and the plan +of Knossos from their <i>Annual</i>; and to Dr. A. J. Evans and +Mr. John Murray for Plates VI., XIII., and XIV., from the <i>Monthly +Review</i>, March, 1901. For the redrawing and adaptation of the +plan of Knossos I am indebted to Mr. H. Baikie, B.Sc., Edinburgh, +and for the sketch-map of Crete to my wife. +</p> + +<h2> +<a name="page_xi"><span class="page">Page xi</span></a> +CONTENTS</h2> + +<p class="center"><a href="#page_1">CHAPTER I</a></p> + +<p>THE LEGENDS</p> + +<p class="center"><a href="#page_19">CHAPTER II</a></p> + +<p>THE HOMERIC CIVILIZATION</p> + +<p class="center"><a href="#page_34">CHAPTER III</a></p> + +<p>SCHLIEMANN AND HIS WORK</p> + +<p class="center"><a href="#page_63">CHAPTER IV</a></p> + +<p>THE PALACE OF 'BROAD KNOSSOS'</p> + +<p class="center"><a href="#page_83">CHAPTER V</a></p> + +<p>THE PALACE OF 'BROAD KNOSSOS'—<i>continued</i></p> + +<p class="center"><a href="#page_117">CHAPTER VI</a></p> + +<p>PHÆSTOS, HAGIA TRIADA, AND EASTERN CRETE</p> + +<p class="center"><a href="#page_139">CHAPTER VII</a></p> + +<p>CRETE AND EGYPT</p> + +<p class="center"><a href="#page_170">CHAPTER VIII</a></p> + +<p>THE DESTROYERS</p> + +<p class="center"> +<a name="page_xii"><span class="page">Page xii</span></a> +<a href="#page_188">CHAPTER IX</a></p> + +<p>THE PERIODS OF MINOAN CULTURE</p> + +<p class="center"><a href="#page_211">CHAPTER X</a></p> + +<p>LIFE UNDER THE SEA-KINGS</p> + +<p class="center"><a href="#page_232">CHAPTER XI</a></p> + +<p>LETTERS AND RELIGION</p> + +<p><a href="#page_260">CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY</a></p> + +<p><a href="#page_262">BIBLIOGRAPHY</a></p> + +<p><a href="#page_265">INDEX</a></p> + +<h2> +<a name="page_xiii"><span class="page">Page xiii</span></a> +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + +<table border="0"> +<tr><td>PLATE</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#plate_I">I.</a></td> + <td>The Throne of Minos</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#plate_II">II.</a></td> + <td>(1) The Ramp, Troy, Second City; (2) the Circle-Graves, + Mycenæ</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#plate_III">III.</a></td> + <td>Wall of Sixth City, Troy</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#plate_IV">IV.</a></td> + <td>The Lion Gate, Mycenæ</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#plate_V">V.</a></td> + <td>(1) Vaulted Passage in Wall, Tiryns; (2) Beehive Tomb + (Treasury of Atreus), Mycenæ</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#plate_VI">VI.</a></td> + <td>The Cup-Bearer, Knossos</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#plate_VII">VII.</a></td> + <td>The Long Gallery, Knossos</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#plate_VIII">VIII.</a></td> + <td>A Magazine with Jars and Kaselles, Knossos</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#plate_IX">IX.</a></td> + <td>(1) Magazine with Jars and Kaselles; (2) Great Jar with + Trickle Ornament</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#plate_X">X.</a></td> + <td>(1) Part of Dolphin Fresco; (2) A Great Jar, Knossos</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#plate_XI">XI.</a></td> + <td>Pillar of the Double Axes</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#plate_XII">XII.</a></td> + <td>(1) Minoan Paved Road; (2) North Entrance, Knossos</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#plate_XIII">XIII.</a></td> + <td>Relief of Bull's Head</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#plate_XIV">XIV.</a></td> + <td>Clay Tablet with Linear Script, Knossos</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#plate_XV">XV.</a></td> + <td>(1) Palace Wall, West Side, Mount Juktas in Background; + (2) Bathroom, Knossos</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#plate_XVI">XVI.</a></td> + <td>A Flight of the Quadruple Staircase; (2) Wall with Drain</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#plate_XVII">XVII.</a></td> + <td>(1) Hall of the Double Axes; (2) Great Staircase, Knossos</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#plate_XVIII">XVIII.</a></td> + <td>The King's Gaming-Board</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#plate_XIX">XIX.</a></td> + <td>Ivory Figurines</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#plate_XX">XX.</a></td> + <td>(1) Main Drain, Knossos; (2) Terra-cotta Drain-Pipes + <a name="page_xiv"><span class="page">Page xiv</span></a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#plate_XXI">XXI.</a></td> + <td>Theatral Area, Knossos: Before Restoration</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#plate_XXII">XXII.</a></td> + <td>Theatral Area, Knossos: Restored</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#plate_XXIII">XXIII.</a></td> + <td>Great Jar with Papyrus Reliefs</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#plate_XXIV">XXIV.</a></td> + <td>The Royal Villa: (1) The Basilica; (2) Stone Lamp</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#plate_XXV">XXV.</a></td> + <td>(1) Knossos Valley; (2) Excavating at Knossos</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#plate_XXVI">XXVI.</a></td> + <td>Great Staircase, Phæstos</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#plate_XXVII">XXVII.</a></td> + <td>The Harvester Vase, Hagia Triada</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#plate_XXVIII">XXVIII.</a></td> + <td>Sarcophagus from Hagia Triada</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#plate_XXIX">XXIX.</a></td> + <td>Minoan Pottery</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#plate_XXX">XXX.</a></td> + <td>Late Minoan Vase from Mycenæ</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#plate_XXXI">XXXI.</a></td> + <td>Kamares Vases from Phæstos and Hagia Triada</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right"><a href="#plate_XXXII">XXXII.</a></td> + <td>Goldsmiths' Work from Beehive Tombs, Phæstos</td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td></tr> +<tr><td> </td> + <td><a href="#sketch_map">SKETCH MAP OF CRETE</a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td></tr> +<tr><td> </td> + <td><a href="#plan_knossos">PLAN OF KNOSSOS</a></td></tr> +</table> + +<div class="image" style="width: 890px;"> +<a name="sketch_map"> +<img src="images/sketch_map.jpg" width="890" height="394" +alt="SKETCH MAP OF CRETE To Illustrate THE SEA KINGS OF CRETE +BY The Rev. James Baikie, F.R.A.S."></a> +</div> + +<p class="bigtitle"> +<a name="page_1"><span class="page">Page 1</span></a> +<span style="font-size: x-large;">THE SEA-KINGS OF CRETE</span><br /> +<span style="font-size: smaller;">AND THE</span><br /> +PREHISTORIC CIVILIZATION OF GREECE +</p> + +<h2>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<p class="subtitle">THE LEGENDS</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The resurrection of the prehistoric age of Greece, and the disclosure +of the astonishing standard of civilization which had been attained +on the mainland and in the isles of the Ægean at a period +at least 2,000 years earlier than that at which Greek history, +as hitherto understood, begins, may be reckoned as among the most +interesting results of modern research into the relics of the life +of past ages. The present generation has witnessed remarkable +discoveries in Mesopotamia and in Egypt, but neither Niffur nor +Abydos disclosed a world so entirely new and unexpected as that +which has been revealed by the work of Schliemann and his successors +at Troy, Mycenæ, and Tiryns, and by that of Evans and the other +explorers—Italian, British, and American—in Crete. The +Mesopotamian and Egyptian discoveries traced back a little farther +streams which had already been followed far up <a name="page_2"><span +class="page">Page 2</span></a> their course; those of Schliemann and +Evans revealed the reality of one which, so to speak, had hitherto +been believed to flow only through the dreamland of legend. It +was obvious that mighty men must have existed before Agamemnon, +but what manner of men they were, and in what manner of world they +lived, were matters absolutely unknown, and, to all appearance, +likely to remain so. An abundant wealth of legend told of great Kings +and heroes, of stately palaces, and mighty armies, and powerful +fleets, and the whole material of an advanced civilization. But +the legends were manifestly largely imaginative—deities and +demi-gods, men and fabulous monsters, were mingled in them on the +same plane—and it seemed impossible that we should ever get +back to the solid ground, if solid ground had ever existed, on which +these ancient stories first rested. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +For the historian of the middle of the nineteenth century Greek +history began with the First Olympiad in 776 B.C. Before that the +story of the return of the Herakleids and the Dorian conquest of +the men of the Bronze Age might very probably embody, in a fanciful +form, a genuine historical fact; the Homeric poems were to be treated +with respect, not only on account of their supreme poetical merit, +but as possibly representing a credible tradition, though, of course, +their pictures of advanced civilization were more or less imaginative +projections upon the past of the culture of the writer's own period or +periods. Beyond that lay the great waste land of <a name="page_3"><span +class="page">Page 3</span></a> legend, in which gods and godlike +heroes moved and enacted their romances among 'Gorgons and Hydras +and Chimeras dire.' What proportion of fact, if any, lay in the +stories of Minos, the great lawgiver, and his war fleet, and his +Labyrinth, with its monstrous occupant; of Theseus and Ariadne +and the Minotaur; of Dædalus, the first aeronaut, and his +wonderful works of art and science; or of any other of the thousand +and one beautiful or tragic romances of ancient Hellas, to attempt +to determine this lay utterly beyond the sphere of the serious +historian. 'To analyze the fables,' says Grote, 'and to elicit from +them any trustworthy particular facts, appears to me a fruitless +attempt. The religious recollections, the romantic inventions, and +the items of matter of fact, <i>if any such there be</i>, must +for ever remain indissolubly amalgamated, as the poet originally +blended them, for the amusement or edification of his auditors.... +It was one of the agreeable dreams of the Grecian epic that the +man who travelled far enough northward beyond the Rhiphæan +Mountains would in time reach the delicious country and genial +climate of the virtuous Hyperboreans, the votaries and favourites +of Apollo, who dwelt in the extreme north, beyond the chilling blasts +of Boreas. Now, the hope that we may, by carrying our researches up +the stream of time, exhaust the limits of fiction, and land ultimately +upon some points of solid truth, appears to me no less illusory +than this northward journey in quest of the Hyperborean elysium.' +Grote's frankly sceptical <a name="page_4"><span class="page">Page +4</span></a> attitude represents fairly well the general opinion +of the middle of last century. The myths were beautiful, but their +value was not in any sense historical; it arose from the light +which they cast upon the workings of the active Greek mind, and +the revelation which they gave of the innate poetic faculty which +created myths so far excelling those of any other nation. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Within the last forty years all this has been changed. Opinions +like that so dogmatically expressed by our great historian are +no longer held by anyone who has followed the current of modern +investigations, and remain only as monuments of the danger of +dogmatizing on matters concerning which all preconceived ideas +may be upset by the results of a single season's spade-work on +some ancient site; and he would be a bold man who would venture +to-day to call 'illusory' the search for 'points of solid truth' +in the old legends, or to assert that 'the items of matter of fact, +if any such there be,' are inextricable from the mass of romantic +inventions in which they are embedded. The work, of course, is by +no means complete; very probably it is scarcely more than well +begun; but already the dark gulf of time that lay behind the Dorian +conquest is beginning to yield up the unquestionable evidences of +a great, and splendid, and almost incredibly ancient civilization, +which neither for its antiquity nor for its actual attainment has +any cause to shrink from comparison with the great historic +civilizations of Mesopotamia or the Nile Valley; and while the +process <a name="page_5"><span class="page">Page 5</span></a> of +disentangling the historic nucleus of the legends from their merely +mythical and romantic elements cannot yet be undertaken with any +approach to certainty, it is becoming continually more apparent, +not only that in many cases there was such a nucleus, but also +what were some of the historic elements around which the poetic +fancy of later times drew the fanciful wrappings of the heroic +tales as we know them. It is not yet possible to trace and identify +the actual figures of the heroes of prehistoric Greece: probably +it never will be possible, unless the as yet untranslated Cretan +script should furnish the records of a more ancient Herodotus, +and a new Champollion should arise to decipher them; but there +can scarcely be any reasonable doubt that genuine men and women of +Ægean stock filled the rôles of these ancient romances, +and that the wondrous story of their deeds is, in part at least, +the record of actual achievements. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +In this remarkable resurrection of the past the most important and +convincing part has been played by the evidence from Crete. The +discoveries which were made during the last quarter of the nineteenth +century by Schliemann and his successors at Mycencæ, Tiryns, +Orchomenos, and elsewhere, were quite conclusive as to the former +existence of a civilization quite equal to, and in all probability +the original of, that which is described for us in the Homeric poems; +but it was not until the treasures of Knossos and Phæstos began +to be revealed in 1900 and the subsequent years that it became manifest +that what was known as the Mycenæan <a name="page_6"><span +class="page">Page 6</span></a> civilization was itself only the +decadence of a far richer and fuller culture, whose fountain-head +and whose chief sphere of development had been in Crete. And it +has been in Crete that exploration and discovery have led to the +most striking illustration of many of the statements in the legends +and traditions, and have made it practically certain that much of +what used to be considered mere romantic fable represents, with, +of course, many embellishments of fancy, a good deal of historic +fact. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Our first task, therefore, is to gather together the main features +of what the ancient legends of Greece narrated about Crete and its +inhabitants, and their relations to the rest of the Ægean +world. The position of Crete—'a halfway house between three +continents, flanked by the great Libyan promontory, and linked by +smaller island stepping-stones to the Peloponnese and the mainland +of Anatolia'—marks it out as designed by Nature to be a centre +of development in the culture of the early Ægean race, and, +in point of fact, ancient traditions unanimously pointed to the +great island as being the birthplace of Greek civilization. The +most ambitious tradition boldly transcended the limits of human +occupation, and gave to Divinity itself a place of nurture in the +fastnesses of the Cretan mountains. That many-sided deity, the +supreme god of the Greek theology, had in one of his aspects a +special connection with the island. The great son of Kronos and +Rhea, threatened by his unnatural father with the same doom which +had overtaken his brethren, was said <a name="page_7"><span +class="page">Page 7</span></a> to have been saved by his mother, +who substituted for him a stone, which her unsuspecting spouse +devoured, thinking it to be his son. Rhea fled to Crete to bear +her son, either in the Idæan or the Dictæan cave, where +he was nourished with honey and goat's milk by the nymph Amaltheia +until the time was ripe for his vengeance upon his father. (It +has been suggested that in this somewhat grotesque legend we have +a parabolic representation of one of the great religious facts of +that ancient world—the supersession by the new anthropomorphic +faith of the older cult, whose objects of adoration, made without +hands, and devoid of human likeness, were sacred stones or trees. +Kronos, the representative of the old faith, clung to his sacred +stone, while the new human God was being born, before whose worship +the ancient cult of the pillar and the tree should pass away.) +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +In the Dictæan cave, also, Zeus grown to maturity, was united +to Europa, the daughter of man, in the sacred marriage from which +sprang Minos, the great legendary figure of Crete. And to Crete +the island god returned to close his divine life. Primitive legend +asserted that his tomb was on Mount Juktas, the conical hill which +overlooks the ruins of the city of Minos, his son, his friend, and +his priest. It was this surprising claim of the Cretans to possess +the burial-place of the supreme God of Hellas which first attached +to them the unenviable reputation for falsehood which clung to them +throughout the classical period, and was <a name="page_8"><span +class="page">Page 8</span></a> crystallized by Callimachus in the +form adopted by St. Paul in the Epistle to Titus—'The Cretans +are alway liars.' +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +It is round Minos, the son of Zeus and Europa, that the bulk of +the Cretan legends gathers. The suggestion has been made, with +great probability, that the name Minos is not so much the name +of a single person as the title of a race of kings. 'I suspect,' +says Professor Murray, 'that Minos was a name, like "Pharaoh" or +"Cæsar," given to all Cretan Kings of a certain type.' With +that, however, we need not concern ourselves at present, further +than to notice that the bearer of the name appears in the legends +in many different characters, scarcely consistent with one another, +or with his being a single person. According to the story, Minos is +not only the son but also the 'gossip' of Zeus; he is, like Abraham, +'the friend of God.' He receives from the hand of God, like another +Moses, the code of laws which becomes the basis of all subsequent +legislation; he holds frequent and familiar intercourse with God, +and, once in every nine years, he goes up to the Dictæan cave +of the Bull-God 'to converse with Zeus,' to receive new commandments, +and to give account of his stewardship during the intervening period. +Finally, at the close of his life, he is transferred to the underworld, +and the great human lawgiver becomes the judge of the dead in Hades. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +That is one side of the Minos legend, perhaps the most ancient; +but along with it there exists another <a name="page_9"><span +class="page">Page 9</span></a> group of stories of a very different +character, so different as to lend colour to the suggestion that +we are now dealing, not with the individual Minos who first gave +the name its vogue, but with a successor or successors in the same +title. The Minos who is most familiar to us in Greek story is not +so much the lawgiver and priest of God as the great sea-King and +tyrant, the overlord of the Ægean, whose vengeance was defeated +by the bravery of the Athenian hero, Theseus. From this point of +view, Minos was the first of men who recognized the importance of +sea-power, and used it to establish the supremacy of his island +kingdom. 'The first person known to us as having established a +navy,' says Thucydides, 'is Minos. He made himself master of what +is now called the Hellenic sea, and ruled over the Cyclades, into +most of which he sent the first colonies, expelling the Carians, +and appointing his own sons governors; and thus did his best to +put down piracy in those waters, a necessary step to secure the +revenues for his own use.' To Herodotus also, Minos, though obviously +a shadowy figure, is the first great Thalassokrat. 'Polykrates +is the first of the Grecians of whom we know who formed a design +to make himself master of the sea, except Minos the Knossian.' +But the evidence for the existence of this early Sea-King and his +power rests on surer grounds than the vague tradition recorded by +the two great historians. The power of Minos has left its imprint +in unmistakable fashion in the places which were called by his +name. Each of the <a name="page_10"><span class="page">Page +10</span></a> Minoas which appear so numerously on the coasts of +the Mediterranean, from Sicily on the west to Gaza on the east, +marks a spot where the King or Kings who bore the name of Minos +once held a garrison or a trading-station, and their number shows +how wide-reaching was the power of the Cretan sea-Kings. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +But the great King was by no means so fortunate in his domestic +relationships as in his foreign adventures. The domestic skeleton +in his case was the composite monster the Minotaur, half man, half +bull, fabled to have been the fruit of a monstrous passion on the +part of the King's wife, Pasiphae. This monster was kept shut up +within a vast and intricate building called the Labyrinth, contrived +for Minos by his renowned artificer, Dædalus. Further, when his +own son, Androgeos, had gone to Athens to contend in the Panathenaic +games, having overcome all the other Greeks in the sports, he fell +a victim to the suspicion of Ægeus, the King of Athens, who +caused him to be slain, either by waylaying him on the road to +Thebes, or by sending him against the Marathonian bull. In his +sorrow and righteous anger, Minos, who had already conquered Megara +by the treachery of Scylla, raised a great fleet, and levied war +upon Athens; and, having wasted Attica with fire and sword, he +at length reduced the land to such straits that King Ægeus +and his Athenians were glad to submit to the hard terms which were +asked of them. The demand of Minos was that every ninth year Athens +should <a name="page_11"><span class="page">Page 11</span></a> +send him as tribute seven youths and seven maidens. These were +selected by lot, or, according to another version of the legend, +chosen by Minos himself, and on their arrival in Crete were cast +into the Labyrinth, to become the prey of the monstrous Minotaur. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The first and second instalments of this ghastly tribute had already +been paid; but when the time of the third tribute was drawing nigh, +the predestined deliverer of Athens appeared in the person of the +hero Theseus. Theseus was the unacknowledged son of King Ægeus +and the Princess Aithra of Trœzen. He had been brought up by his +mother at Trœzen, and on arriving at early manhood had set out to +make his way to the Court of Ægeus and secure acknowledgment +as the rightful son of the Athenian King. The legend tells how on +his way to Athens he cleared the lands through which he journeyed +of the pests which had infested them. Sinnis, the pine-bender, +who tied his miserable victims to the tops of two pine-trees bent +towards one another and then allowed the trees to spring back, +the young hero dealt with as he had dealt with others; Kerkuon, +the wrestler, was slain by him in a wrestling bout; Procrustes, +who enticed travellers to his house and made them fit his bed, +stretching the short upon the rack and lopping the limbs of the +over-tall, had his own measure meted to him; and various other +plagues of society were abated by the young hero. Not long after his +arrival at Athens and acknowledgment by his <a name="page_12"><span +class="page">Page 12</span></a> father, the time came round when +the Minoan heralds should come to Athens to claim the victims for +the Minotaur. Seeing the grief that prevailed in the city, and the +anger of the people against his father, Ægeus, whom they +accounted the cause of their misfortune, Theseus determined that, +if possible, he would make an end of this humiliation and misery, +and accordingly offered himself as one of the seven youths who +were to be devoted to the Minotaur. Ægeus was loth to part +with his newly-found son, but at length he consented to the venture; +and it was agreed that if Theseus succeeded in vanquishing the +Minotaur and bringing back his comrades in safety, he should hoist +white sails on his returning galley instead of the black ones which +she had always borne in token of her melancholy mission. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +So at length the sorrowful ship came to the harbour in the bay below +broad Knossos where Minos reigned, and when the King had viewed +his captives they were cast into prison to await their dreadful +doom. But fair-haired Ariadne, the daughter of Minos, had marked +Theseus as he stood before the King, and love to him had risen +up in her heart, and pity at the thought of his fate; and so by +night she came to his dungeon, and when she could not persuade him +to save himself by flight, because that he had sworn to kill the +Minotaur and save his companions, she gave him a clue of thread by +which he might be able to retrace his way through all the dark and +winding passages of the <a name="page_13"><span class="page">Page +13</span></a> Labyrinth, and a sword wherewith to deal with the +Minotaur when he encountered him. So Theseus was led away by the +guards, and put into the Labyrinth to meet his fate; and he went +on, with the clue which he had fastened to his arm unwinding itself +as he passed through passage after passage, until at last he met +the dreadful monster; and there, in the depths of the Labyrinth, +the Minotaur, who had slain so many, was himself slain. Then Theseus +and his companions escaped, taking Ariadne with them, and fled to +their black ship, and set sail for Attica again; and landing for +awhile in the island of Naxos, Ariadne there became the hero's +wife. But she never came to Athens with Theseus, but was either +deserted by him in Naxos, or, as some say, was taken from him there +by force. So, without her, Theseus sailed again for Athens. But +in their excitement at the hope of seeing once more the home they +had thought to have looked their last upon, he and his companions +forgot to hoist the white sail; and old Ægeus, straining his +eyes on Sunium day after day for the returning ship, saw her at +last come back black-winged as he had feared; and in his grief he +fell, or cast himself, into the sea, and so died, and thus the sea +is called the Ægean to this day. Another tradition, recorded +by the poet Bacchylides, tells how Theseus, at the challenge of +Minos, descended to the palace of Amphitrite below the sea, and +brought back with him the ring, 'the splendour of gold,' which +the King had thrown into the deep. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +<a name="page_14"><span class="page">Page 14</span></a> So runs +the great story which links Minos and Crete with the favourite +hero of Athens. But other legends, not so famous nor so romantic, +carry on the story of the great Cretan King to a miserable close. +Dædalus, his famous artificer, was also an Athenian, and +the most cunning of all men. To him was ascribed the invention +of the plumb-line and the auger, the wedge and the level; and it +was he who first set masts in ships and bent sails upon them. But +having slain, through jealousy, his nephew Perdix, who promised +to excel him in skill, he was forced to flee from Athens, and so +came to the Court of Minos. For the Cretan King he wrought many +wonderful works, rearing for him the Labyrinth, and the Choros, +or dancing-ground, which, as Homer tells us, he 'wrought in broad +Knossos for fair-haired Ariadne.' But for his share in the great +crime of Pasiphae Minos hated him, and shut him up in the Labyrinth +which he himself had made. Then Dædalus made wings for himself +and his son Icarus, and fastened them with wax, and together the +two flew from their prison-house high above the pursuit of the +King's warfleet. But Icarus flew too near the sun, and the wax +that fastened his wings melted, and he fell into the sea. So +Dædalus alone came safely to Sicily, and was there hospitably +received by King Kokalos of Kamikos, for whom, as for Minos, he +executed many marvellous works. Then Minos, still thirsting for +revenge, sailed with his fleet for Kamikos, to demand the surrender of +Dædalus; and Kokalos, <a name="page_15"><span class="page">Page +15</span></a> affecting willingness to give up the fugitive, received +Minos with seeming friendship, and ordered the bath to be prepared +for his royal guest. But the three daughters of the Sicilian King, +eager to protect Dædalus, drowned the Cretan in the bath, +and so he perished miserably. And many of the men who had sailed +with him remained in Sicily, and founded there a town which they +named Minoa, in memory of their murdered King. +</p> + +<div class="image" style="width: 519px;"> +<p><a name="plate_II"> +<img src="images/plate_II_1.jpg" width="517" height="411" +alt="Plate II 1"></a></p> +<p>(1) THE RAMP, TROY, SECOND CITY (<i>p</i>. +<a href="#page_38">38</a>)</p> +<p><img src="images/plate_II_2.jpg" width="519" height="383" +alt="Plate II 2"></p> +<p>(2) THE CIRCLE GRAVES, MYCENÆ (<i>p</i>. +<a href="#page_43">43</a>)</p> +</div> + +<p class="indent"> +Herodotus has preserved for us another echo of the story of Minos +in the shape of the reasons which led the Cretans to refuse aid to +the rest of the Greeks during the Persian invasion. The Delphian +oracle, which they consulted at this crisis, suggested to them that +they had known enough of the misery caused by foreign expeditions. +'Fools, you complain of all the woes that Minos in his anger sent you, +for aiding Menelaus, because they would not assist you in avenging +his death at Kamikos, and yet you assisted them in avenging a woman +who was carried off from Sparta by a barbarian.' In commentary +on this saying Herodotus gives the explanation which was given +to him by the inhabitants of Præsos, in Crete. After the +death of Minos, the Cretans, with a great armada, invaded Sicily, +and besieged Kamikos ineffectually for five years; but finding +themselves unable to continue the siege, and being driven ashore +on the Italian coast during their retreat, they founded there the +city of Hyria. Crete, being thus left desolate, was repeopled by +other tribes, 'especially the Grecians'; <a name="page_16"><span +class="page">Page 16</span></a> and in the third generation after +the death of Minos the new Cretan people sent a contingent to help +Agamemnon in the Trojan War, as a punishment for which famine and +pestilence fell on them, and the island was depopulated a second +time, so that the Cretans of the time of the Persian invasion are +the third race to inhabit the island. In this tradition we may +see a distorted reflection of the various vicissitudes which, as +we shall see later, appear to have befallen the Minoan kingdom, +and of the incursions which, after the fall of Knossos, gradually +changed the character of the island population. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Such, then, are the most familiar of the legends and traditions +associated with prehistoric Crete. Some of these, touching on the +personality of Minos and his relationship with Zeus, have their +own significance in connection with the little that is known of +the Minoan religion, and will fall to be discussed later from that +point of view. The famous story of Theseus and the Minotaur, though +it, too, may have its connection with the religious conceptions which +gather round the name of Minos, seems at first sight to move entirely +in the realm of pure romance. Yet the conviction of its reality was +very strong with the Athenians, and was indeed expressed in a ceremony +which held its own to a late stage in Athenian history. The ship in +which Theseus was said to pave made his voyage was preserved with +the utmost care till at least the beginning of the third century +B.C., her timbers being constantly 'so pieced and new-framed with +strong plank that it <a name="page_17"><span class="page">Page +17</span></a> afforded an example to the philosophers in their +disputations concerning the identity of things that are changed by +growth, some contending that it was the same, and others that it +was not.' It was this galley, or the vessel which tradition affirmed +to be the galley of Theseus, which was sent every year from Athens +to Delos with solemn sacrifices and specially nominated envoys. +One of her voyages has become for ever memorable owing to the fact +that the death of Socrates was postponed for thirty days because +of the galley's absence; for so great was the reverence in which +this annual ceremony was held that during the time of her voyage +the city was obliged to abstain from all acts carrying with them +public impurity, so that it was not lawful to put a condemned man to +death until the galley returned. The mere fact of such a tradition +as that of the galley is at least presumptive evidence that some +historic ground lay behind a belief so persistent, however the +story may have been added to and adorned with supernatural details +by later imagination; and it is difficult to see how Grote, on +the very threshold of recounting the Athenians' conviction about +the ship, and their solemn sacrificial use of her, should pause to +reaffirm his unbelief in the existence of any historic ground for +the main feature of the legend—the tribute of human victims +paid by Athens to Crete. +</p> + +<div class="image" style="width: 562px;"> +<a name="plate_III"> +<img src="images/plate_III.jpg" width="562" height="736" +alt="Plate III"></a><p>WALL OF SIXTH CITY, TROY (<i>p</i>. +<a href="#page_41">41</a>)</p> +</div> + +<p class="indent"> +Later Athenian writers of a rationalizing turn endeavoured to bring +down the noble old legend to the level of the commonplace by +transforming <a name="page_18"><span class="page">Page 18</span></a> +the Minotaur into a mere general or famous athlete named Taurus, +whom Theseus vanquished in Crete. But the rationalistic version +never found much favour, and the Athenian potter was always sure +of a market for his vases with pictures of the bull-headed Minotaur +falling to the sword of the national hero. No more fortunate has been +the German attempt to resolve the story of Minos and the Minotaur, +the Labyrinth and Pasiphae, into a clumsy solar myth. The whole legend +of the Minotaur, on this theory, was connected with the worship of +the heavenly host. The Minotaur was the Sun; Pasiphae, 'the very +bright one,' wife of Minos, was the Moon; and the Labyrinth was +the tower on whose walls the astronomers of the day traced the +wanderings of the heavenly bodies, 'an image of the starry heaven, +with its infinitely winding paths, in which, nevertheless, the sun +and moon so surely move about.' Among rationalizing explanations +this must surely hold the palm for cumbrousness and complexity, +and we may be thankful that the explorer's spade has demolished +it along with other theories, and given back to us, as we shall +see, at least the elements of a romance such as that which was +so dear to the Athenian public. +</p> + +<h2><a name="page_19"><span class="page">Page 19</span></a> +CHAPTER II</h2> + +<p class="subtitle">THE HOMERIC CIVILIZATION</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Between the Greece of such legends as those which we have been +considering and the Greece of the earliest historic period there +has always been a great gulf of darkness. On the one side a land +of seemingly fabulous Kings and heroes and monsters, of fabulous +palaces and cities; on the other side. Greece as we know it in the +infant stages of its development, with a totally different state +of society, a totally different organization and culture; and in the +interval no one could say how many generations, concerning which, +and their conditions and developments, there was nothing but blank +ignorance. So that it seemed as though the marvellous fabric of +Greek civilization as we know it were indeed something unexampled, +rising almost at once out of nothing to its height of splendour, +as the walls of Ilium were fabled to have risen beneath the hands +of their divine builders. Indeed, a certain section of students +seemed rather to glory in the fact of this seeming isolation of +Greek culture, and to deem it little short of profanity to seek any +pre-existing <a name="page_20"><span class="page">Page 20</span></a> +sources for it. 'The fathering of the Greek on the pre-existing +profane cultures has been scouted by perfervid Hellenists in terms +which implied that they hold it little else than impiety. Allowing +no causation more earthly than vague local influences of air and +light, mountain and sea, they would have Hellenism born into the +world by a miracle of generation, like its own Athena from the head +of Zeus.'[*] But a great civilization can never be accounted for +in this miraculous fashion. The origins of even Egyptian culture +have begun to yield themselves to patient research, and it is not +permissible to believe that the Greek nation was born in a day into +its great inheritance, or that it derived nothing from earlier +ages and races. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[Footnote *: D. G. Hogarth, 'Ionia and the East,' p. 21.] +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Indeed, the supreme monument of the matchless literature of Hellas +bore witness to the fact that, prior to the beginnings of Greek +history, there had existed on Greek soil a civilization of a very +high type, differing from, in some respects even superior to, that +which succeeded it, but manifestly refusing to be left out of +consideration in any attempt to describe the beginnings of Greek +culture. The Homeric poems shone like a beacon light across the +dark gulf which separated the Hellas of myth from the Hellas of +history, testifying to a splendour that had been before the darkness, +and prophesying of a splendour that should be when the darkness had +passed. But the very brilliance of their pictures and the magnificence +of the society with which they dealt <a name="page_21"><span +class="page">Page 21</span></a> only added to the complication +of the question, and emphasized the difficulty of deriving the +culture of historic Greece by legitimate filiation from a past +which seemed to have no connection and no community of character +with it. For the Homeric civilization was not a different stage +of development of that same civilization which appears when the +first beginnings of what we are accustomed to call Hellenism are +presented to us; it was totally diverse, and in many respects more +complex and more splendid. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +From the eighth century onwards we are on moderately safe ground +when dealing with the history of Hellas and its culture. We know +something of the actual facts of its history, literary and political. +The chronicles of the more important cities are known with a +definiteness fairly comparable to what we might expect at such +a stage of development. But the Homeric poems take us away from +all that into a world in which a totally different state of things +prevails. The very geography is not that of the historical Hellenic +period. The names that are familiar to us as those of the chief +Greek cities and states are of comparatively minor importance in +the Homeric world; Athens is mentioned, but not with any prominence; +Corinth is merely a dependency of its neighbour Mycenæ; Sparta +only ranks along with other towns of Laconia; Delphi and Olympia +have not yet assumed anything like the place which they afterwards +occupy as religious centres during the historic period. The chief +cities of Hellas are <a name="page_22"><span class="page">Page +22</span></a> Mycenæ, Tiryns, and Orchomenos. Crete, although +its chiefs, Idomeneus and Meriones, are only of secondary rank among +the heroes of the Iliad, is obviously one of the most important +of Grecian lands. It sends eighty ships to the Achæan fleet +at Troy, it is described both in the Iliad and the Odyssey as being +very populous (a hundred cities, Iliad II.; ninety cities, Odyssey +XIX.), and to its capital, Knossos, alone among Greek cities does +Homer apply the epithet 'great.' All which offers a striking contrast +to the comparative insignificance of the towns of the Argolid in +later Greek history, and to the uninfluential part played by Crete. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The centres of power, then, in the Homeric story are widely different +from those of the historic period. The same divergence from later +realities is manifest when we come to look at the social organization +contemplated in the Iliad and the Odyssey. The Homeric state of +society is, in some respects, rude enough. Piracy, for instance, is +recognized as, if not a laudable, at all events a quite ordinary method +of gaining a livelihood. 'Who are you?' says Nestor to Telemachus. +'Whence do you come? Are you engaged in trade, or do you rove at +adventure as sea-robbers who wander at hazard of their lives, bringing +bane to strangers?' The same question is addressed to Odysseus by +Polyphemus, and was plainly the first thing thought of when a seafaring +stranger was encountered. As among the Highlanders and Borderers of +Scotland, cattle-lifting was looked upon as a perfectly respectable +form of <a name="page_23"><span class="page">Page 23</span></a> +employment, and stolen cattle were considered a quite proper gift +for a prospective bridegroom to offer to his father-in-law. The +power of the strong hand was, in most respects, supreme, and the +rights of a tribe or a city were respected more on account of the +ability of its men to defend them than because of any moral obligation. +'We will sack a town for you,' says Menelaus to Telemachus, as an +inducement to him to settle in Laconia. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Along with this primitive rudeness goes, on the other hand, a strongly +aristocratic constitution of society. The great leaders and chiefs, +the long-haired Achæans, are absolutely separated from the +common people, not in rank only, but to all appearance in race. +They are a superior caste, and of a different breed. Even to their +King their subjection is not much more than nominal, and he has to +be very careful of offending their susceptibilities or wounding +their sense of their own importance, while their treatment of the +commons beneath them is sufficiently disdainful. Though the commons +are summoned sometimes to the Council, their function there is merely +a passive one; they are called to hear what has been determined, and +to approve of it, if they so desire, but in no case have they any +alternative to accepting it, even should they disapprove. Altogether +the superiority of the Achæan nobles, and the haughtiness with +which they bear themselves, is such as to suggest that they hold +the position, not of tribal chieftains ruling over clansmen of the +same stock as themselves, but of a separate <a name="page_24"><span +class="page">Page 24</span></a> and conquering race holding dominion +over, and using the services of, the vanquished, much after the +manner of the Norman lordship in Sicily. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +All this is sufficiently different from the state of things during +the historic period. It is not an undeveloped condition of the +same society that is in contemplation; it is a totally distinct +social organization. With regard to the position of woman, the +facts are even more remarkable, for if the Homeric picture be a +true one, historic Hellas, instead of representing an advance upon +the prehistoric age, presents a distinct retrogression. In the +Homeric poems woman occupies a position, not only important, but +even comparable in many respects to that held by her in modern +life. She is not secluded from sight and kept in the background, as +in later Hellenic society; on the contrary, she mixes freely with +the other sex in private and in public, and is uniformly depicted +as exercising a very strong, and generally beneficent, influence. +The very names of Andromache, Penelope, Nausicaa, stand as types +of all that is purest and sweetest in womanhood. The fact that a +wife is purchased by bride-gifts does not militate against the +respect in which she is held or the regard which is paid to her +rights. The contrast between this state of affairs and that prevailing +in later Greek society is sufficiently marked to render comment +unnecessary. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +But perhaps the most striking feature of the setting of the Homeric +story is the type of material civilization which is described in the +poems. We <a name="page_25"><span class="page">Page 25</span></a> +are confronted with a society not by any means in a primitive stage +of development, but, on the contrary, far advanced in the arts +of peace, and capable of the highest achievements in art and +architecture. Some of the proofs of its advancement may be briefly +noticed. Into the vexed question of the Homeric palace, its form, +and the conditions of life thereby indicated, there is no need to +enter; for about the point which chiefly concerns our immediate +purpose there is no question at all. The Homeric palace, described +at some length in at least three instances, is a building not merely +large and commodious, but of somewhat imposing magnificence. The +palace of Alcinous, for example, is pictured for us as gleaming +with the splendour of the sun and moon, with walls of bronze, a +frieze of <i>kuanos</i> (blue glass paste), and golden doors, with +lintels and door-posts of silver, while the approaches to it are +guarded by dogs wrought in silver. The whole reminds one rather of +the description of one of the vast Egyptian temples of the Eighteenth +or Nineteenth Dynasty than of what one would have imagined the +palace of an island chieftain. The Palaces of Priam at Troy, and +of Odysseus at Ithaca, less gorgeously adorned in detail, are not +less stately, and even the abode of Menelaus in comparatively +insignificant Sparta is described as 'gleaming with gold, amber, +silver, and ivory.' The minor appointments of these splendid homes +are in keeping with their structural magnificence. Great vessels +of gold, silver, and bronze are in common use, the richly dyed +and wrought robes <a name="page_26"><span class="page">Page +26</span></a> of the chiefs and their wives and daughters are stored +in chests splendidly decorated and inlaid, and the adornments of +the women are of costly and beautiful fabric in gold and silver. +In the manners and customs of the inhabitants of these stately +houses there is a certain patriarchal simplicity. The Princess +Nausicaa, daughter of King Alcinous, conducts the family washing as +a regular and expected part of her work, while the great chieftains +themselves are men of their hands not only on the battle-field, +but in the common labours of peace. Odysseus is a capable plough +man, carpenter, and shipwright, as well as a good soldier. But +the simplicity is by no means rudeness; it consists with a highly +developed code of manners, and even a considerable refinement. +Brutes like Penelope's suitors may, in half-drunken anger, fling +the furniture or an ox-hoof at the object of their scorn; but there +are brutes in every society, and the manners of the Achæans +in general are stately and dignified. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +On the field of war there is still evidence of an advanced stage +of civilization. The whole question of the equipment of the Homeric +heroes has been the subject of perhaps even more dispute than that +of the Homeric house. Infinite pains have been spent in the effort +to show, on the one hand, that the equipment worn by the heroes +of the Iliad was of the more ancient type, consisting mainly of +a great shield of ox-hide large enough to cover the whole body, +behind which the warrior crouched, wearing for defensive armour +no more than a linen <a name="page_27"><span class="page">Page +27</span></a> corselet and leathern cap and gaiters, and on the +other that the hero wore practically the complete panoply of the +later Hellenic hoplite, the small round shield, the bronze helmet, +with metal cuirass, belt, and greaves; while the question of whether +the offensive weapons were of iron or of bronze has been debated +with equal pertinacity. The discussion of such details is beyond +our purpose, and it is sufficient to say that the poems seem to +contemplate both forms of defensive equipment, the old form of +large shield and light body armour, and the later form of small +shield and metal panoply, as being in common use, while on the +question of iron versus bronze, the evidence seems to indicate +that the age contemplated by the bulk of the references is, in the +main, a bronze-using one, though the knowledge of the superiority +of iron is beginning to make itself evident. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +But the point which is of importance for our present purpose is the +magnificence with which the arms of the Hellenic heroes, when of +metal, are wrought and decorated. The polished helmets, with their +horse-hair plumes of various colours, the in-wrought breastplates, +and the greaves with their silver fastenings, are not only weapons, +but works of art as well. The supreme instance is, of course, the +armour of Achilles, fabricated, according to the poet, by the hands +of Hephæstos, but none the less to be regarded as the ideal +of what the highly wrought armour of the time should be. The shield +of Achilles, with its gorgeous representations of various <a +name="page_28"><span class="page">Page 28</span></a> scenes of +peace and war, seems almost to transcend the possibilities of actual +metal work at such a period; yet we may believe that the poet was +not merely drawing upon his imagination, but giving a heightened +picture of what he had himself witnessed in the way of the armourer's +art. Chiefly to be noticed with regard to it is the way in which +he describes the method used by Hephæstos in producing his +effects—the inlaying of various metals to get the colours +desired, for instance, in the vineyard scene with its dangling +clusters of purple grapes, its poles, and ditch, and fence. Would +any poet have imagined this had he been entirely unacquainted with +similar products of the armourer's art? As we shall see, it is +precisely this use of the inlaying of metal with metal, to represent +the different colours of the various figures involved, which is +characteristic of the skilled armourer's work in the Mycenæan +period. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Such, then, are a few of the outstanding features of the state +of society described for us in the Homeric poems. We are brought +by them face to face with a civilization which has very distinct +and pronounced characteristics of its own. It is certainly not the +civilization of the earliest historic period of Greece; political +organization, the relative importance of states and cities, social +life, art and warfare—all are different from anything we +find in the Hellas of history; in many respects this world of the +poems is at a higher stage of development than that which succeeded +it; but certainly it is <a name="page_29"><span class="page">Page +29</span></a> different. Now, the question of importance for us +is—Had this poetic world of the Iliad and Odyssey any basis +in fact, or was it merely the creation of the poet or poets who +were responsible for the tales of Ilium and of Odysseus? Were they +describing things which they had seen, or of which the tradition +at least had been handed down to them by those who had seen them, +or were they telling of things which never had any existence save +in their own minds? +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +This question, of course, is plainly quite distinct from that of +whether the tales they tell are history or romance. The stories of +the flight of Helen, of the siege of Troy, the anger of Achilles, +the valour of Hector, and the love of Andromache, of the wanderings +of much-enduring Odysseus, and the trials of his faithful wife, +Penelope, may be fact, or they may be fiction, or, more probably +perhaps than either, they may be fact largely mingled with fiction; +but that is not the point. It is the medium in which these stories +are set, the background of human life and society upon which they +are projected. Here is a world, astonishingly real in appearance, +and, if real, supremely interesting to us, as representing what the +subsequent ages knew or had heard by tradition of the earliest phases +of the greatest European civilization. Can we trust the picture, or +must we believe it to be but a dream of a state of things which +never really existed? It is, to say the least of it, extremely +hard to believe that the Homeric world is entirely the product of +the <a name="page_30"><span class="page">Page 30</span></a> poetic +imagination. Imagination can work wonders, but it requires to have +a certain amount of material in fact to start upon in its workings. +If it creates a world entirely out of its own consciousness, that +world may be one of extreme beauty and splendour, but it is most +unlikely that it will present any verisimilitude to actual life. It +will be either vague and shadowy, or else so grandiose and unearthly +in its magnificence as to have no point of connection with ordinary +terrestrial life. But it is exactly here that the realism of the +Homeric world strikes the student. It is not vague—on the +contrary, the preciseness of its detail is almost as striking, +sometimes almost as prosaic, as the detail which makes Robinson +Crusoe the most realistic of all works of fiction; and while its +splendours are such as we look for in vain in early historic Greece, +and are certainly not borrowed from the great civilizations of +Mesopotamia or the Nile Valley, they are such as we can perfectly +well believe to have existed, and such as can be perfectly well +paralleled, though in widely different styles, by Babylonia or +by Thebes. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Was it not more likely that a picture so precise in its outlines, +and so coherent, so thinkable and possible even in its most gorgeous +details, should have had behind it something, probably a great +deal, of fact actually seen and known, than that it should have +been the mere mirage of a poet's dream? 'The picture presented +to us of the Homeric heroes and their surroundings,' says Father +Browne, 'is not merely vivid and complete; it is grand, though +<a name="page_31"><span class="page">Page 31</span></a> with a +grandeur which is homely and simple. Hence the fascination which +we find in the subject of the poems as distinct from the poems +themselves. It may be that this effect is due to the art of the +bards, which well knew how to efface itself in order to ravish +the listener the more. But allowing much to the power of art, the +mind was not yet satisfied. We have said the poems seemed to carry +with them their own evidence that they were not undiluted fiction, +but contained at least an element of objective, perhaps traditional, +truth. It was a beautiful world they told of, and yet it was a world +apart. Agamemnon in the field and Achilles in his tent; Priam in +his palace; Odysseus in his travels; Alcinous with his retainers, +and Arete with her daughter; Penelope and Telemachus in the midst of +the wicked suitors, and the old swineherd and the faithful nurse; +the very shades of the Dead beyond the streams of Oceanus—how +could the bards describe all these wonders if they had not lived +in a world of their own, or at least acquired the knowledge of it +from their immediate predecessors? The gorgeous palaces of the +Kings, with their walls of bronze, their gold and silver ewers +and basins, and their carven bedsteads and chairs of state and +footstools; and all the glittering raiment and the golden-studded +sceptres, and golden-hilted swords, and silvern ankle-bands, and the +ivory and amber and inlaid metal-work, and the iron-axled chariots +with eight spokes to the wheel, and the crimson-cheeked ships and the +fair-cheeked maidens, and <a name="page_32"><span class="page">Page +32</span></a> the stateliness and grace amid the splendour of it +all—why should we obstinately refuse to believe that these +bards knew more than we—that they had seen the vision with +their mortal eye before they took the brush in hand to paint the +picture?[*] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[Footnote *: H. Browne, 'Homeric Study,' pp. 242, 243.] +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Two lines of evidence, then, if given their fair weight, seemed +to point in the same direction. On the one hand, there were the +legends of a prehistoric age of heroes, with their travels and +expeditions and wars, legends with which Greek literature teemed, +and which, however inextricably blended with fancy, and with details +obviously monstrous and impossible, can scarcely be supposed to +have sprung into being without something behind them to account +for their existence. On the other hand, there was this strange, +wonderful, realistic world of the Homeric poems, no longer existing, +it is true, even at the earliest stage of Greek history, but almost +absolutely refusing to be dismissed as a mere figment of the +imagination. Was it, then, impossible to believe that in the bosom +of the great gulf which separated the Hellas of legend from the +Hellas of history there lay a civilization, real, and once living, +of which the legends and the Homeric pictures preserved but the +scanty surviving ruins and relics? +</p> + +<div class="image" style="width: 562px;"> +<a name="plate_IV"> +<img src="images/plate_IV.jpg" width="562" height="730" +alt="Plate IV"></a><p>THE IRON GATE, MYCENÆ (<i>p</i>. +<a href="#page_42">42</a>)</p> +</div> + +<p class="indent"> +Here we have to recall two facts of importance. First, that universal +Greek tradition affirmed that before the birth of historic Greece +there lay a Dark Age, its darkness caused by the descent from the +<a name="page_33"><span class="page">Page 33</span></a> North of +the rude, iron-using Dorian tribes, who found in the lands which +they invaded a civilization of the Bronze Age, far more advanced +than their own, and, by the help of their superior weapons, conquered +and indeed destroyed it. And second, that even in the gorgeous +picture given by the Homeric poems of the period with which they +deal, there is a constant tendency to regard that period as being +only the decadent and inferior heir of a civilization which had +preceded it. Nothing is plainer in Homer than the suggestion that +the men of the age before the Trojan Wars were greater, stronger, +wiser, better in every respect than even the heroes who fought on +'the ringing plains of windy Troy,' even as these were greater +than the men of the poet's own degenerate days. Does it not seem +as though we were being led towards the conclusion that the Homeric +civilization is itself the representation of a very real fact of +history, the picture of a state of things which was submerged and +swept away by the coming of the Dorians, or by whatever inrush of +wild northern tribes the Greeks may have called by that general title, +but which was itself only the last decadent stage of an antecedent +culture, still greater and more highly developed—that of +the legendary period? The answer to this question has come in the +most surprising and romantic fashion from the archæological +discoveries of the last forty years. +</p> + +<h2><a name="page_34"><span class="page">Page 34</span></a> +CHAPTER III</h2> + +<p class="subtitle">SCHLIEMANN AND HIS WORK</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The man whose labours were to give a new impetus to the study of +Greek origins, and to be the beginning of the revelation of an +unknown world of ancient days, was born on January 6, 1822, at +Neu Buckow in Mecklenburg-Schwerin. He was the son of a clergyman +who himself had a deep love for the great tales of antiquity, for +his son has told how his father used often vividly to narrate the +stories of the destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum, and of the +Trojan War. When Schliemann was barely seven years old he received +a present of a child's history of the world, in which the picture of +the destruction of Troy and the flight of Æneas made a profound +impression upon his young mind, and roused in him a passionate desire +to go and see for himself what remained of the ancient splendours +of Ilium. He found it impossible to believe that the massive +fortifications of Troy had vanished without leaving a trace of +their existence. When his father admitted that the walls were once +as huge as those depicted in his history book, but asserted that +they <a name="page_35"><span class="page">Page 35</span></a> were +now totally destroyed, he retorted: 'Father, if such walls once +existed, they cannot possibly have been completely destroyed; vast +ruins of them must still remain, but they are hidden beneath the +dust of ages.' Already he had made the resolution that some day +he would excavate Troy. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The romance of bygone days and of hidden treasure surrounded the +boy's early years, and no doubt had its own influence in determining +his bent. A pond just behind his father's garden had its legend of +a maiden who rose from its waters each midnight, bearing a silver +bowl. In the village an ancient barrow had its story of a robber +knight who had buried his favourite child there in a golden cradle; +and near by was the old castle of Henning von Holstein, who, when +besieged by the Duke of Mecklenburg, had buried his treasures close +to the keep of his stronghold. On such romantic legends Schliemann's +young imagination was nourished. By the time he was ten years old +he had produced a Latin essay on the Trojan War. Such things, which +in another might have been mere childish precocities, were in him +the indications of an enthusiasm for antiquity, which was destined +to be the ruling passion of his whole life. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Yet the beginnings of his career in the world were unromantic to +the last degree. His father's poverty forced him to give up the hope +of a learned life, and at the age of fourteen he was apprenticed +to a small grocer in a country village, in whose employment, surely +uncongenial enough for such a <a name="page_36"><span class="page">Page +36</span></a> spirit, he spent five and a half years, selling butter, +herrings, potato-brandy and the like, and occupying his spare moments +in tidying out the little shop. Even in such circumstances his +passion for the Homeric story found means, sufficiently quaint, for +its gratification. There came one evening to the shop a miller's man, +who had been well educated, but had fallen into poor circumstances, +and had taken to drink, yet even in his degradation had not forgotten +his Homer. 'That evening,' says Schliemann, 'he recited to us about +a hundred lines of the poet, observing the rhythmic cadence of the +verses. Although I did not understand a syllable, the melodious +sound of the words made a deep impression upon me, and I wept bitter +tears over my unhappy fate. Three times over did I get him to repeat +to me those divine verses, rewarding his trouble with three glasses +of whisky, which I bought with the few pence that made up my whole +wealth. From that moment I never ceased to pray God that by His +grace I might yet have the happiness of learning Greek.' +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +To one whose heart was filled with such a passion for learning, no +obstacle could prove insuperable. Yet for many a day the Fates seemed +most unpropitious. Ill-health drove him to emigrate to Venezuela, +but his ship was wrecked on the Dutch coast, and he became the +errand-boy of a business house in Amsterdam. Here in his first +year of service he managed, while going on his master's errands, to +learn English in the first six months and <a name="page_37"><span +class="page">Page 37</span></a> French in the next, and incidentally +to save for intellectual purposes one half of his salary of 800 +francs. The mental training of the first year enabled him to learn +Dutch, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese with much greater rapidity, +each language being acquired in six weeks. In 1846 he was sent by +another firm as their agent to St. Petersburg, where in the next +year he founded a business house of his own, and from that time +all went well with him. The Crimean War brought him opportunities +which he utilized with such ingenuity as to derive considerable +profit from them. By 1858 he considered that the fortune he had +made was sufficient to warrant him in devoting himself entirely +to archæology, and though exceptional circumstances obliged +him to return to business for a little, he finally cut himself +loose from it in 1863, and took up the task which was to occupy +the remainder of his busy life. +</p> + +<div class="image" style="width: 395px;"> +<p><a name="plate_V"> +<img src="images/plate_V_1.jpg" width="384" height="447" +alt="Plate V 1"></a></p> +<p>WALLED PASSAGE IN WALL, TIRYNS (<i>p</i>. +<a href="#page_49">49</a>)</p> +<p><img src="images/plate_V_1.jpg" width="395" height="444" +alt="Plate V 1"></p> +<p>BEEHIVE TOMB (TREASURY OF ATREUS), MYCENÆ (<i>p</i>. +<a href="#page_46">46</a>)</p> +</div> + +<p class="indent"> +His Greek studies had led him to two convictions on which his whole +exploring work was based. First, that the site of ancient Troy +was on the spot called in classical days New Ilium, the Hill of +Hissarlik, near the coast of the Ægean; and second, that the +Greek traveller, Pausanias, was right in stating that the murdered +Agamemnon and his kin were buried within the walls of the Acropolis +at Mycenæ, and not without it. In both these opinions he +ran counter to the prevailing views of his time. It was generally +believed that, if Troy had ever any real existence at all, its site +was to be looked for not <a name="page_38"><span class="page">Page +38</span></a> at Hissarlik, but far inland near Bunarbashi; while +the authority of Pausanias as to the graves of the Atreidæ +was held to be quite unreliable. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Schliemann resolved to put his convictions to the test of actual +excavation. In April, 1870, he cut the first sod of his excavation +at Hissarlik. The work went on with varying, but never brilliant, +fortune, until the year 1873, when his faith and constancy began +at last to meet with their reward. On the south-west of the site +a great city gate was uncovered, lines of wall, already partly +disclosed, began to show themselves more plainly, and quite close +to the gate there was discovered the famous 'Treasure of Priam,' +so called, a considerable mass of vessels and ornaments in gold +and silver, with a number of spearheads, axes, daggers, and cups, +wrought in copper. As the excavations progressed, it became evident +that not one city, but many cities, had stood upon this ancient +site. The First City, reached, of course, at the lowest level of +the excavation, immediately above the virgin soil, belonged to a +very early stage of human development. Its remains yielded such +objects as stone axes and flint knives, together with the black, +hand-made, polished pottery, known as 'bucchero,' which is +characteristic of Neolithic sites in the Ægean, ornamented +frequently with incised patterns which are filled in with a white +chalky substance. The stratum of débris belonging to the +First City averages about 8 feet in depth. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Above this lay a layer of soil about 1 foot 9 inches <a +name="page_39"><span class="page">Page 39</span></a> in depth, and +then, on the top of a great layer of débris, by which the +site had been levelled and extended, came the walls of the Second +City. Here were the remains of a fortified gate with a ramp, paved +with stone, leading up to it (<a href="#plate_II">Plate II. 1</a>), +and a strong wall of sun-dried brick resting upon a scarped stone +substructure. This, with its projecting towers, had evidently once +formed the enclosure of an Acropolis; and within the wall lay the +remains of a large building which appeared to have been a house or +palace. The separate finds included the great treasure already +mentioned, and numerous other articles of use and adornment, golden +hair-pins, bracelets, ear-pendants, a very primitive leaden idol of +female form, and abundance of pottery, of which some specimens belong +to the class of vases with long spouts, known to archæologists +as 'Schnabelkanne,' or 'beak-jugs.' Above the stratum of the Second +City lay the remains of no fewer than seven other settlements, +more or less clearly marked, ending at the uppermost layer with +the ruins of Roman Ilium, and its marble temple of Athena. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The gate and walls of the Second City—the fact that it had +been undoubtedly destroyed by fire, and the evidence of wealth +and artistic faculty offered by the golden treasure—seemed +to Dr. Schliemann decisive evidence of the fact that this had been +the Ilion of the Homeric poems. The treasure was named 'Priam's +Treasure,' the largest building, 'Priam's Palace,' and the gate, +'The Scæan Gate.' <a name="page_40"><span class="page">Page +40</span></a> It quickly became apparent, however, that the Second +City could not claim Homeric honours, but must be of yet more venerable +antiquity. The style, alike of the city buildings and of the articles +found, was much too primitive for the Homeric period, and pointed +to a date much earlier—probably, indeed, about a thousand +years earlier than that of the Trojan War. The great treasure, +whose workmanship seemed to militate against this conclusion, was +suspected to have somehow slipped down during the excavations from +the level of the Sixth City to that of the Second, as it seemed +impossible that such fine work could belong to the very early period +of the Burnt City; but subsequent discoveries, particularly those +of Mr. Seager on the little island of Mokhlos, off the coast of +Crete, have paralleled the splendour of the Trojan treasure with +work which is undoubtedly of the same early date as the Second +City, so that Schliemann's accuracy has been confirmed in this +instance. The citadel itself seemed far too small to fill the place +which Troy occupies in Homer's description, even allowing for poetic +exaggeration. In 1890, the year of his death, Schliemann was on the +way to the solution of the problem, and in 1892, his coadjutor, +Professor Dörpfeld, finally proved that the Sixth City, lying +four strata above Schliemann's Troy, was the true Ilion of the +great epic. Its wider circuit had been missed by Schliemann in his +earlier excavations owing to the fact that, at the centre of the +site where he was working, the débris had been planed and +<a name="page_41"><span class="page">Page 41</span></a> levelled +away by the Romans to make room for the buildings of their New +Ilium. The pottery of the Sixth City was of the type which in the +meantime had come to be called Mycenæan, from the discoveries +in the plain of Argos, and its massive circuit wall, enclosing +an area two and a half times greater than that of the Second +City, is quite worthy of the fame of Homeric Troy. Without much +risk of mistake, we may conclude that we have before us in +<a href="#plate_III">Plate III</a>. the actual wall from whose +summit Andromache beheld the corpse of the gallant Hector dragged +behind the chariot of his relentless foe. The mere fact of his +having to some extent misinterpreted the evidence of his discoveries +can scarcely be said, however, to take anything from the credit +justly due to Schliemann. Had he been spared for but a year or two +longer he could not have failed to complete his work, and to prove, +as his fellow-worker did, that on the site which he had from the +first contended to be that of Troy, there had stood a large and +splendidly built city, which assuredly belongs to the period of +the Trojan War. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The work at Troy, however, had not gone on uninterruptedly between +1870 and Schliemann's death in 1890, and the discoveries which +occupied some of the intervening years were of even greater scientific +importance, though the glamour of romance attaching to the name +of Troy drew perhaps more attention to the work there. A dispute +with the Turkish Government over the disposal of 'Priam's Treasure' +led to obstacles being placed by the <a name="page_42"><span +class="page">Page 42</span></a> Porte in the way of the resumption +of work on the plain of Troy, and in July, 1876, he settled down to +excavate at Mycenæ, the historic capital of the King of men, +Agamemnon, with a view to the proving of his second theory—the +burial of the Atreidæ within the Acropolis of Mycenæ. +The ancient citadel of Agamemnon stands in the plain of Argos, +on an isolated hill 912 feet in height. Before Schliemann turned +his attention to it, it was already well known to students of +archæology from the remains of its walls, and particularly +from the splendid Lion Gate (<a href="#plate_IV">Plate IV.</a>) with +its famous relief of the sacred pillar supported by two colossal +lions, and from the great beehive tombs of the lower city—the +so-called 'Treasuries.' But the chief thing which drew the explorer +to Mycenæ was not these remains; it was the statement of +Pausanias already referred to. 'Some remains of the circuit wall,' +says Pausanias, 'are still to be seen, and the gate which has lions +over it. These were built, they say, by the Cyclopes, who made the +wall at Tiryns for Proitos. Among the ruins at Mycenæ is the +fountain called Perseia, and some subterranean buildings belonging +to Atreus and his children, where their treasures were kept. There +is the tomb of Atreus, and of those whom Aigisthos slew at the banquet, +on their return from Ilion with Agamemnon.... There is also the tomb +of Agamemnon, and that of Eurymedon the charioteer, and the joint tomb +of Teledamos and Pelops, the twin children of Kassandra, whom Aigisthos +slew <a name="page_43"><span class="page">Page 43</span></a> with their +parents while still mere babes.... Klytemnestra and Aigisthos were +buried a little way outside the walls, for they were not thought +worthy to be within, where Agamemnon lay and those who fell with him.' +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Persuaded in his own mind of the truth of this statement, Schliemann, +while clearing the Lion Gate, and investigating the already rifted +tomb known as the Treasury of Atreus, caused a great pit, 113 feet +square, to be dug within the walls at a distance of about 40 feet +from the Lion Gate. With the most extraordinary good fortune he +had hit upon the exact spot which he sought, and had even almost +exactly proportioned his pit to the area within which the treasures +lay. After only a few days' digging, slabs of stone, vertically +placed, began to come to light, and before long a complete double +ring of stone slabs, 87 feet in diameter, was disclosed +(<a href="#plate_II">Plate II. 2</a>). Schliemann's first idea was +that he had discovered the Agora of Mycenæ, the 'well-polished +circle of stones' on which the elders of the city sat for councilor +judgment, as Hephæstos depicted them on the shield of Achilles; +but even this discovery did not satisfy him; he was resolved to go +down to virgin soil or rock, and his perseverance was rewarded. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +First there came into view a circular altar, and several steles of +soft stone with rude carvings in relief, which seemed to point to +interments beneath, and a system of offerings to, or on behalf of, the +dead. Three feet below the altar, and 23 feet <a name="page_44"><span +class="page">Page 44</span></a> below the surface level, there +came to light the top of the first of a group of five rock-hewn +graves. The graves were rectangular, varied in depth from 10 to +16 feet, and ranged in size from 9 by 10 feet to 16 by 22 feet. +They had been carefully lined with a wall of small quarry-stones +and clay, and roofed over with slate slabs; but the roofing had +broken down, owing to the decay of the beams which supported it, +and the graves were filled with earth and pebbles. Mingled with +the débris brought down by the collapse of the roofs lay +human bodies, one in the smallest grave, five in the largest, and +three in each of the others; and along with them had been buried +one of the most remarkable hoards of treasure that ever greeted +the eye of a discoverer. +</p> + +<div class="image" style="width: 431px;"> +<a name="plate_VI"> +<img src="images/plate_VI.jpg" width="431" height="851" +alt="Plate VI"></a> +<p>THE CUP-BEARER, KNOSSOS (<i>p</i>. +<a href="#page_67">67</a>)</p> +<p>From 'The Palace of Minos,' by Arthur J. Evans, in <i>The Monthly +Review</i></p> +</div> + +<p class="indent"> +Gold was there in profusion, beaten into masks for the faces of the +dead (perhaps to protect them from the evil eye), into head-bands, +breast-pieces, plaques of all shapes and sizes, and wrought into +bracelets, rings, pins, baldrics, and dagger and sword hilts. Along +with the gold was store of wrought ivory, amber, silver, bronze, +and alabaster. One grave alone contained no fewer than sixty swords +and daggers; another, in which women only were buried, held six +diadems, fifteen pendants, eleven neck-coils, eight hair ornaments, +ten gold grasshoppers with gold chains, one butterfly, four griffins, +four lions, ten ornaments, each consisting of two stags, ten with +representations of two lions attacking an ox, three fine intaglios, +two pairs of <a name="page_45"><span class="page">Page 45</span></a> +gold scales, fifty-one embossed ornaments, and more than seven +hundred ornaments for sewing on garments! A few scattered objects +and a sixth grave were found later, the latter, however, not by Dr. +Schliemann. The mere money-value of the finds amounted to something +like four thousand pounds sterling! +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Money-value, however, was nothing in Schliemann's eyes compared +with the thought that he had discovered the actual graves which +Pausanias saw, and in which Agamemnon and his companions were buried +after their tragic end at the hands of Aigisthos and Klytemnestra. +To his eager enthusiasm many of the circumstances of the discovery +seemed to lend probability to such a supposition. The disorder +in which the bodies were found, one with its head crushed down +upon the bosom, the half-shut eye of one of the mute company, and +other indications, seemed to point to such haste in the interment +as might have been expected in the case of a King and his companions +who had met with so tragic a fate. Accordingly, the discoverer +announced in his famous telegram to the King of the Hellenes, and +maintained in his works, that he had found Agamemnon and his household. +For a time this view and his enthusiastic advocacy of it gained +the ear of the public; but gradually it became apparent that the +disorder of the graves and the condition of the corpses was due, +not to hasty interment, but to the collapse of the roofs of the +graves; the grave furniture was shown not to belong by any means +<a name="page_46"><span class="page">Page 46</span></a> entirely to +one period; and the number and sex of the persons interred did not +agree with the legend, or with the account of Pausanias. Admiration +turned to incredulity, and even to undeserved ridicule of the +enthusiastic explorer; but the lapse of time has made critics less +inclined to mock at Schliemann's eager belief, and it is largely +conceded now that while perhaps the tombs may not be actually those +of the great King of the Achæans and his friends, they are +at least those which were long held to be such by tradition, and +which Pausanias intended to denote by his descriptions. In any +case, the question of whether the explorer discovered the body +of one dead King or of another is of entirely minor importance. +To find Agamemnon would have been a romantic exploit thoroughly +in accordance with the bent of Schliemann's mind, and a fitting +crown to a life which in itself was the very romance of exploration. +But Schliemann had done something infinitely more important than +to make the find of a dead King, even though that King had reigned +for more than two and a half millenniums in the greatest poem of +the world; he had begun the resurrection of a dead civilization. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Besides the great discovery of the Shaft-Graves, Schliemann carried +on the exploration of the famous beehive tombs in the lower city of +Mycenæ. One of these, the largest, was already well known by the +name of the 'Treasury of Atreus' (<a href="#plate_V">Plate V. 2</a>). +It consists of a long entrance passage running back into the hillside, +and leading to a great vaulted <a name="page_47"><span class="page"> +Page 47</span></a> chamber excavated out of the hill, and shaped like +a beehive. The entrance passage is 20 feet broad and 115 feet long, +and is lined on either side with walls of massive masonry which +increase in height as the hill rises. This passage leads to a vertical +façade 46 feet high, pierced by a door between 17 and 18 feet +in height, which was bordered by columns carrying a cornice, above +which was a triangular relieving space, masked by slabs of red porphyry +adorned with spiral decorations, while the whole façade appears +to have been enriched with bronze ornaments and coloured marbles. +The massive lintel of the door is 29 feet 6 inches long, 16 feet 6 +inches deep, and 3 feet 4 inches high, with a weight of about 120 +tons—a mass of stone fairly comparable with some of the gigantic +blocks in which Egyptian architects delighted. It is, for instance, +about ten tons heavier than the quartzite block which forms the +sepulchral chamber in the pyramid of Amenemhat III. at Hawara. The +great chamber of the tomb consists of an impressive circular vault +48 feet in diameter and in height. Its construction is not that +of true vaulting; but each of the thirty-three courses projects a +little beyond the one below it, until at last they approach closely +at the apex, which is closed by a single slab. The courses, after +being laid, were hewn to a perfectly smooth curve, and carefully +polished, and it appears that the whole of the dome was decorated +with rosettes of bronze, a scheme of adornment which recalls the +bronze walls of the Palace of Alcinous. <a name="page_48"><span +class="page">Page 48</span></a> From the great chamber a side door, +bearing traces of rich decoration, leads to a square room, 27 feet +square by 19 feet high, which may possibly have been the actual +place of interment. Curtius found 'this lofty and solemn vault' +the most imposing of all the monuments of ancient Greece. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +In the same hillside as the Treasury of Atreus, but some 400 yards +north of it, stands the tomb known as the 'Tomb of Klytemnestra,' or +'Mrs. Schliemann's Treasury'—the latter title being due to the +fact that it was partially excavated in 1876 by Dr. Schliemann's wife. +In size it very closely corresponds to the better known tomb, while +its columns of dark green alabaster, its door-lintel of leek-green +marble, and the slabs of red marble which closed the relieving +triangle above the door show that it had been not less magnificent +than its neighbour. +</p> + +<div class="image" style="width: 511px;"> +<a name="plate_VII"> +<img src="images/plate_VII.jpg" width="511" height="815" +alt="Plate VII"></a> +<p>THE LONG GALLERY, KNOSSOS (<i>p</i>. +<a href="#page_68">68</a>)</p> +</div> + +<p class="indent"> +Following up his excavations at Mycenæ, Schliemann, in 1880-81, +excavated at Orchomenos in Bœotia the so-called 'Treasury of Minyas,' +discovering in its square side-chamber a beautiful ceiling formed +of slabs of slate sculptured with an exquisite pattern of rosettes +and spirals, which shows very distinct traces of Egyptian artistic +influence (unless, as Mr. H. R. Hall has now come to believe, we +are to trace the origin of the spiral as a decorative motive, not +to Egypt, but to the Minoans of Crete). At Tiryns, Schliemann began +in 1884 another series of excavations which laid bare the whole +ground-plan of the citadel palace of that <a name="page_49"><span +class="page">Page 49</span></a> ancient fortress town with its +halls and separate apartments for men and women, and the colossal +enclosing wall, in some parts 57 feet thick, with its towers and +galleries and chambers constructed in the thickness of the wall +(<a href="#plate_V">Plate V. 1</a>). The palace revealed evidences +of considerable skill in the decorative arts. A beautiful frieze of +alabaster carved in rosettes and palmettes, inlaid with blue paste, +made plain what Homer meant when he wrote of the Palace of Alcinous: +'Brazen were the walls which ran this way and that from the threshold +to the inmost chamber, and round them was a frieze of blue' +(<i>kuanos</i>); while fresco paintings in several of the rooms +exhibited the spiral and rosette decoration of Orchomenos and Egypt. +But perhaps the most interesting find was the remains of a great +wall-painting in which a mighty bull is represented charging at full +speed, while an athlete, clinging to the monster's horn with one hand, +vaults over his back—a picture which is the first important +example of the now well-known and numerous set of similar +representations which have given us a clue to something of the meaning +of the old legend of the man-destroying Minotaur and his tribute of +human victims. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Schliemann's discoveries, notwithstanding all the incredulity aroused +by his sometimes rather headlong enthusiasm, created an extraordinary +amount of interest among scholars and students of early European +culture. It was felt at once that he had brought the world face +to face with facts which <a name="page_50"><span class="page">Page +50</span></a> must profoundly modify all opinions hitherto held as +to the origins of Greek civilization; for the advanced and fully +ripened art which was disclosed, especially in the wonderful finds +from the Shaft- or Circle-Graves, stood on an entirely different +plane from any art which had hitherto been associated with the +early age of Greece; and it was evident, not only that the date at +which civilization began to reveal itself in Hellas must be pushed +back several centuries, but also that the great differences between +the mature Mycenæan art and the infant art of Greece required +explanation. To the discoverer himself, the supreme interest of his +finds always lay in the thought that they were the direct prototypes, +if not the actual originals, of the civilization described in the +Homeric poems; but to the question whether this was so or not, a +question interesting in itself, but largely academic, there succeeded +a much more important one. Here was proof of the existence of a +civilization, obviously great and long-enduring, whose products +could not be identified with those of any other art known to exist. +To what race of men were the achievements of this early culture +to be ascribed, and what relation did they hold to the Hellenes +of history? +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The work of Schliemann was continued and extended by successors +such as Dörpfeld, Tsountas, Mackenzie, and others, and by +the end of the nineteenth century it had become apparent that the +culture of which the first important traces had been found at +Mycenæ had extended to some extent over <a name="page_51"><span +class="page">Page 51</span></a> all Hellas, but chiefly over the +south-eastern portion of the mainland and over the Cyclades. The +principal find-spots in Greece proper were in the Argolid and in +Attica; but, besides these, abundant material was discovered at +Enkomi (Cyprus) and at Phylâkopi (Melos), while from Vaphio, +near Amyklæ in Laconia, there came, among other treasures, +a pair of most wonderful gold cups, whose workmanship surpassed +anything that could have been imagined of such an early period, +and is only to be matched by the goldsmith work of the Renaissance. +Hissarlik, under Dr. Dörpfeld's hands, yielded from the Sixth +City the evidence of an Asiatic civilization truly contemporaneous +with that of Mycenæ. Even before the end of the century it +became apparent that Crete was destined to prove a focus of this +early culture, and the promise, as we shall see later, has been +more than fulfilled. In Egypt Professor Petrie found deposits of +prehistoric Ægean pottery in the Delta, the Fayum, and even in +Middle Egypt, proving that this civilization, whatever its origin, +had been in contact with the ancient civilization of the Nile Valley, +while even in the Western Mediterranean, in Sicily particularly, +in Italy, Sardinia, and Spain, finds, less plentiful, but quite +unmistakable, bore witness to the wide diffusion of Mycenæan +culture. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Roughly, the result came to this: 'that before the epoch at which +we are used to place the beginnings of Greek civilization—that +is, the opening centuries of the last millennial period B.C.—we +must allow for <a name="page_52"><span class="page">Page 52</span></a> +an immensely long record of human artistic productivity, going +back into the Neolithic Age, and culminating towards the close of +the age of Bronze in a culture more fecund and more refined than +any we are to find again in the same lands till the age of Iron +was far advanced. Man in Hellas was more highly civilized before +history than when history begins to record his state; and there +existed human society in the Hellenic area, organized and productive, +to a period so remote that its origins were more distant from the +age of Pericles than that age is from our own. We have probably to +deal with a total period of civilization in the Ægean not +much shorter than in the Nile Valley.[*] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[Footnote *: Hogarth, 'Authority and Archæology,' p. 230.] +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The estimate in Hogarth's last sentence, which was published in +1899, before Evans's great discoveries in Crete, was one that must +have seemed extravagant to those who, while familiar with the great +antiquity of Mesopotamian and Egyptian culture, had been accustomed +to think of Greek civilization as having its beginning not so very +long before the First Olympiad. It has been fully justified, however, +by the event, and it may now be accepted as an established fact that +the earliest civilization of Greece meets the two great ancient +civilizations of Babylon and Egypt on substantially equal terms. +In antiquity it appears to be practically contemporary with them; +in artistic merit it need not shrink from comparison with either +of them. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +In the earlier stages of the discussion which <a name="page_53"><span +class="page">Page 53</span></a> followed on the discoveries, it was +assumed, perhaps somewhat hastily, that such a culture could not +have been indigenous, resemblances to Egyptian and Mesopotamian +work were pointed out, and it was suggested that the impulse and the +skill which gave rise to the art of Mycenæ were not native +but borrowed, the Phœnicians being generally held to be the +medium through which the influence of the East had filtered into the +Ægean area. As time has gone on, however, the Phœnicians +have gradually come to bulk less and less in the view of students of +the Ægean problem. It is no longer held that they contributed +anything original to the development of Mycenæan culture, and +even as middlemen the tendency is to allow them an influence far +smaller than was once held to be theirs. It has become manifest +that, in at least the case of Crete and Egypt, communication need +not have been through Phœnician media at all, but was far more +probably direct. And with regard to the whole question of the debt +owed to the East by this early European civilization, it is probable +that the Ægean gave quite as much as it borrowed, and that +its artists were sufficiently great to have originated their own +culture. Mycenæan, and still more the great Minoan art of +which Mycenæan has proved to be only a decadent phase, needed +no Oriental crutches. With regard to Egypt, the obligations of the +two cultures were certainly mutual; each influenced the other; +it was not a case of master and scholar, but of two contemporary +civilizations, each fully inspired <a name="page_54"><span +class="page">Page 54</span></a> with a native spirit, each ready +to use whatever seemed good to it in the work of the other, but +both perfectly original in their genius. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The question which was of such supreme interest to Schliemann still +survives, however, though in a wider and more important form than +that in which he conceived of it. It is no longer a question of +whether the graves which he found were actually those of Agamemnon +and his fellow-victims in the dark tragedy of Mycenæ, but of +whether the people and the civilization whose remains have been +brought to light are, or are not, the people and the civilization +from which the Homeric bards drew the whole setting of their poems. +Were the Mycenæans the Greeks of the Iliad and the Odyssey, +and was it their culture that is depicted for us in these great +poems? +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The arguments in favour of such a supposition are of considerable +strength. For one thing, we have the remarkable coincidence between +the geography of the poems and the localities over which the +Mycenæan culture is seen to have extended. The towns and lands +which occupy the foremost place in the Homeric story are also those +in which the most convincing evidences of Mycenæan culture have +been discovered. Foremost, of course, we have Mycenæ itself. +To Homer, 'golden,' 'broad-wayed' Mycenæ is the seat of the +great leader of all the Achæans, the King of men, Agamemnon; +it is also the chief seat of the culture which goes by its name. +Orchomenos, Pylos, Lacedæmon, Attica, all prominent in the +poems, are <a name="page_55"><span class="page">Page 55</span></a> +also well-known seats of Mycenæan civilization. Crete, whose +prominent position in the Homeric world has been already referred +to, we shall shortly see to have been in point of fact the supreme +centre of that still greater and richer civilization of which the +Mycenæan is a later and comparatively degenerate form. There +is no need to enter into further detail; but broadly it is the +fact that the distribution of Mycenæan remains practically +follows, at least to a great extent, the geography of the poems. +The world with which the Homeric bards were familiar was, in the +main, the world in which the civilization of the Mycenæans +prevailed. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The Homeric house also finds a striking parallel in the details +of the Mycenæan palaces whose remains have been preserved. +Leaving aside all disputed points, the broad fact remains that +'all the structural features described, the courtyard, with its +altar to Zeus and trench for sacrifices; the vestibule; the +ante-chamber; the hall, with its fireplace and its pillars; the +bathroom, with passage from the hall; the upper story, sometimes +containing the women's quarters; the spaciousness; the decoration; +even the furniture, have been most wonderfully identified at Tiryns +and Mycenæ, and in Crete.' In Crete, along with the resemblances +above referred to, are found important differences, such as the +position of the hearth, and the details of the lighting. These, +which are probably due to differences of climate, do not, however, +invalidate the fact of the general correspondence. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +<a name="page_56"><span class="page">Page 56</span></a> In details, +we have the frieze of <i>kuanos</i> of the Palace of Alcinous, +paralleled by the fragments discovered, as already mentioned, at +Tiryns, and by similar friezes at Knossos, while the bronze walls +of the same palace have been, if not paralleled, at all events +illustrated, by the bronze decorations of the vaults of the great +bee-hive tombs at Mycenæ and Orchomenos. The parallel is, +perhaps, even closer when we come to the details of metal-working, +which are described for us in Homer, and of which illustrations have +been found in such profusion among the Mycenæan relics. We are +told, for example, that on the brooch of Odysseus was represented a +hound holding a writhing fawn between its forepaws, and we have the +elaborate workmanship of the cup of Nestor—'a right goodly +cup, that the old man brought from home, embossed with studs of +gold, and four handles there were to it, and round each two golden +doves were feeding, and to the cup were two bottoms. Another man +could scarce have lifted the cup from the table, but Nestor the Old +raised it easily.' The Mycenæan finds have yielded examples +of metal-working which seem to come as near to the Homeric pictures +as it is possible for material things to come to verbal descriptions. +One of the golden cups from the Fourth Grave at Mycenæ might +almost have been a copy on a small scale of Nestor's cup, save +that it had only two handles instead of four. On the handles, as +in the Homeric picture, doves are feeding, and like Nestor's, the +Mycenæan cup is riveted with gold. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +<a name="page_57"><span class="page">Page 57</span></a> Or, take +again such examples of another form of art-work in metal as are +given by the scenes of the lion hunt and the hunting-cats on the +dagger-blades found in Graves IV. and V. at Mycenæ. In the first +of these scenes we have a representation of five men attacking three +lions. The foremost man has been thrown down by the assault of the +first lion, and is entangled in his great shield. His four companions +are coming to his help, one armed with a bow, the others carrying +spears and huge shields, two of them of the typical Mycenæan +figure-eight shape. Only the first lion awaits their onset, the +other two are in full flight. The whole work is characterized by +extraordinary vivacity; but it is the technique that is of interest. +The picture is made up out of various metals inlaid on a thin bronze +plate, which is let into the dagger-blade. The lions and the bare +skin of the men are inlaid in gold, the loin-cloths and the shields +are of silver, all the accessories, such as shield-straps and the +patterns on the loin-cloths, are given in a dark substance, while the +ground is coated with a dark enamel to give relief to the figures. +The hunting-cat scene, which presents remarkable resemblances to a +well-known scene from a wall-painting at Thebes, represents cats +hunting wild-fowl in a marsh intersected by a winding river, in +which fish are swimming and papyrus plants growing. 'The cats, the +plants, and the bodies of the ducks are inlaid with gold, the wings +of the ducks and the river are silver, and the fish are given in some +dark substance. On the <a name="page_58"><span class="page">Page +58</span></a> neck of one of the ducks is a red drop of blood, probably +given by alloyed gold.' Here we have the very type of art in which +the decorations of the shield of Achilles were carried out. 'Also +he set therein a vineyard teeming plenteously with clusters, wrought +fair in gold; black were the grapes, but the vines hung throughout +on silver poles. And around it he ran a ditch of <i>kuanos</i>, +and round that a fence of tin.... Also he wrought therein a herd +of kine with upright horns, and the kine were fashioned of gold +and tin.' +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Such are some of the points which countenance the idea that in +the Mycenæan people we have the originals of the people of +the Homeric poems. On the other hand there are difficulties, by +no means inconsiderable, in the way of such a belief. Of these +the chief is the question of the method in which the bodies of the +dead are disposed of. The men of the Homeric poems burned their +dead; the men of the Mycenæan civilization buried theirs. +Undoubtedly this is a serious difficulty in the way of identification, +presupposing, as it does, a different view of the destiny of the soul +after death. The men who burned the bodies of their dead believed +that the soul had no further use for its body after death, but +departed into a distant, shadowy, immaterial region, so that the +body, if it had any connection with the soul, acted rather as a +drag and a defilement, from which it was well that the soul should +be released. Therefore they dematerialized the body, and often the +things used by the body <a name="page_59"><span class="page">Page +59</span></a> during life, by the action of fire. On the other +hand, those who buried their dead believed that the spirit of the +dead man dwelt in some fashion in the tomb, or at least hovered +around the body, waiting, perhaps, for a reincarnation, and capable +of using the weapons, the utensils, and the foods of its former +life. Therefore the body was carefully interred, sometimes even +embalmed, and its weapons and foods, or at all events simulacra +of these, were laid beside it. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The distinction between the two lines of thought is clear and strong; +but it does not necessarily presuppose an absolute distinction of +race. It is not improbable that towards the end of the Mycenæan +period, to which in any case the connection with the Homeric poems +would belong, cremation was beginning to supersede the older practice +of interment. In late Mycenæan graves at Salamis evidences of +cremation are found, and at Mouliana, in Crete, there are instances +of uncremated bones being found along with bronze swords on one +side of a tomb, while on the other were found an iron sword and +cremated bones in a cinerary urn. The distinction, then, is not +necessarily one of race, but of custom, gradually changing, perhaps +within a comparatively short period. It has even been suggested +that no interval of time of any great extent is needed, as the +practice of cremation may quickly develop among any race, being +prompted by the comfortable idea that when the flesh is disposed +of, the possibly inconvenient, possibly even <a name="page_60"><span +class="page">Page 60</span></a> vampire, ghost of a disagreeable +ancestor goes along with it. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Another difficulty arises from the fact that the Homeric poems +certainly contemplate a much wider use of iron than can be found +among the remains of the Mycenæan people. But the weight of +this objection may easily be exaggerated. Certainly the equipment +contemplated for the Homeric heroes is in most cases of bronze, though +the well-known line from the Odyssey, 'iron does of itself attract +a man,' bears witness to a time when iron had become the almost +universal fighting metal. But even in some of the Mycenæan +tombs iron appears in the shape of finger-rings; and in East Cretan +tombs of the latest Minoan period iron swords have been found. And +if, as is generally agreed, the Homeric poems represent the work +of several bards covering a considerable period of time, there is +nothing out of the way in the supposition that, while the earlier +writers represented bronze as the material for weapons, because it +was actually so in their time, the later ones, writing at a period +when iron was largely superseding, but had not altogether superseded, +the older metal, should, while clinging in general to the old poetic +word used by their predecessors, occasionally introduce the name +of the metal which was becoming prevalent in their day. From this +point of view the difficulty seems to disappear. The Homeric age +proper is one of bronze-using people; but, in the later stages of +the development of the poems, iron makes its appearance, just <a +name="page_61"><span class="page">Page 61</span></a> as it had +been gradually doing in the generally bronze-using Mycenæan +civilization. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The same remark applies to the differences of equipment between +the warriors of the Mycenæan and those of the Homeric period. +The Mycenæans used the great hide-shield, either oblong or +8-shaped, covering its bearer from head to foot, with a leather +cap for the head, and no defensive armour of metal. In the Iliad, +on the other hand, what is obviously contemplated in general is +a metal helmet, a metal cuirass, and a comparatively small round +shield. But, again, in later Mycenæan work, such as the famous +Warrior Vase, there is evidence of the use of the small round shield, +while, moreover, in some parts of the poem there are evidences of +the use of the true Mycenæan shield 'like a tower.' Periphetes +of Mycenæ is slain by Hector owing to his having tripped over +the lower edge of his great shield, and his slayer himself bears +a shield of no small proportions. 'So saying, Hector of the glancing +helm departed, and the black hide beat on either side against his +ankles and his neck, even the rim that ran uttermost about his +bossed shield.' So that the poems represent a gradual development +in the use of armour which may not unfairly be compared with the +similar development traceable in the Mycenæan remains. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +On the whole, then, our conclusion is something like this: The +civilization which Schliemann discovered is not precisely that +of the Homeric poems, for the bloom of it belongs to a period +considerably <a name="page_62"><span class="page">Page 62</span></a> +anterior to the period of Achæan supremacy in Greece, and was +the work of a race differing from that of the chiefs who fought +at Troy; but, broadly speaking, what Homer describes is the same +civilization in its latest stage, when the men of Mycenæan +or Minoan stock who created it had passed under the dominion of +the invading Achæan overlords. The Achæan invasion +was not, like that which succeeded it, subversive of the great +culture that belonged to the conquered Mycenæan race; on +the contrary, the invaders entered into and became partakers of +it, carrying on its traditions until the gradual decay, which had +begun already before they made their appearance in Greece, was +terminated by the Dorian invasion, or whatever process of gradual +incursion by ruder tribes may correspond to what the later Greeks +called by that name. And it is this last stage of the Mycenæan +culture, still existing, though under Achæan supremacy, which +is depicted in the Homeric poems. 'Take away from the picture,' +says Father Browne, 'all the features which have been borrowed +from the Dorian invasion, give the post-Dorian poets the credit of +the references to iron and other post-Dorian things, and nothing +remains to disprove the view of those who hold that Schliemann +found—not, indeed, the tomb of Agamemnon—but the tomb +of that Homeric life which Agamemnon represents to us. In the +Mycenæan remains we have uncovered before our eyes the material +form of that impulse of which we had already met the spiritual in +the Homeric page.'[*] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[Footnote *: H. Browne, 'Homeric Study,' pp. 313, 314.] +</p> + +<h2><a name="page_63"><span class="page">Page 63</span></a> +CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<p class="subtitle">THE PALACE OF 'BROAD KNOSSOS'</p> + +<p class="indent"> +In the revival of interest in the origins of Greek civilization +it was manifest that Crete could not long be left out of account, +for the traditions of Minos and his laws, and of the wonderful +works of Dædalus, pointed clearly to the fact that the great +island must have been an early seat of learning and art. Most of +these traditions clustered round Knossos, the famous capital of +Minos, where once stood the Labyrinth, and near to which was Mount +Juktas, the traditional burying-place of Zeus. The remains apparent +on the site of the ancient capital were by no means imposing. In 1834 +Pashley found that 'all the now existing vestiges of the ancient +metropolis of Crete are some rude masses of Roman brick-work'; +and Spratt in 1851 saw very little more, mentioning only 'some +scattered foundations and a few detached masses of masonry of the +Roman time,' though in the time of the Venetian occupation there +was evidently more to be seen, as Cornaro speaks of 'a very large +quantity of ruins, and in particular a wall, many paces long and +very thick.' <a name="page_64"><span class="page">Page 64</span></a> +But expectation still fixed on Knossos as the most probable site +for any Cretan discoveries. +</p> + +<div class="image" style="width: 476px;"> +<a name="plate_VIII"> +<img src="images/plate_VIII.jpg" width="476" height="815" +alt="Plate VIII"></a> +<p>A MAGAZINE WITH JARS AND KASELLES, KNOSSOS +(<i>p</i>. <a href="#page_69">69</a>)</p> +</div> + +<p class="indent"> +The attention of Schliemann and Stillman had been drawn to a hill +called 'Kephala,' overlooking the ancient site of Knossos, on which +stood ruined walls consisting of great gypsum blocks engraved with +curious characters; but attempts at exploration were defeated by +the obstacles raised by the native proprietors. In 1878 Minos +Kalochærinos made some slight excavations, and found a few +great jars or <i>pithai</i>, and some fragments of Mycenæan +pottery; but up to the year 1895, when Dr. A. J. Evans secured a +quarter of the Kephala site from one of the joint proprietors, +nothing of any real moment had been accomplished. Dr. Evans had been +attracted to Crete by the purchase at Athens of some seal-stones +found in the island, engraved with hieroglyphic and linear signs +differing from Egyptian and Hittite characters. In the hope that +he might be led to the discovery of a Cretan system of writing, and +relying upon the ancient Cretan tradition that the Phœnicians +had not invented letters, but had merely changed the forms of an +already existing system, he began in 1894 a series of explorations +in Central and Eastern Crete. On all hands more or less important +evidence of the existence of such a script came to light, especially +from the Dictæan Cave, where a stone libation-altar was found, +inscribed with a dedication in the unknown writing. But Dr. Evans +was persuaded that Knossos was the spot where exploration was most +likely to be rewarded, <a name="page_65"><span class="page">Page +65</span></a> and his purchase of part of the site of Kephala in +1895 was the beginning of a series of campaigns which have had +results not less romantic than those of Schliemann, and even more +important in their additions to our knowledge of the prehistoric +Ægean civilization. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The political troubles of the time were unfavourable to exploration. +Fighting was going on in the island, and religious prejudices ran +very high. When the new political order came into being with the +appointment of Prince George of Greece as Commissioner, an obstacle +was still found in the way in the shape of a French claim to prior +rights of excavation. This, however, was finally withdrawn on the +advice of Prince George, and in the beginning of 1900 Dr. Evans +was at last able to secure the remainder of the site, and on March +23 in that year excavation began, and was carried on with a staff +of from 80 to 150 men until the beginning of June. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Almost at once it became apparent that the faith which had fought +so persistently for the attainment of its object was going to be +rewarded. The remains of walls began to appear, sometimes only a +foot or two, sometimes only a few inches below the surface of the +soil, and by the end of the nine weeks' campaign of exploration about +two acres of a vast prehistoric building had been unearthed—a +palace which, even at this early stage in its disclosure, was already +far larger than those of Tiryns and Mycenæ. On the eastern +slope of the hill, in a deposit of pale <a name="page_66"><span +class="page">Page 66</span></a> clay, were found fragments of the +black, hand-made, polished pottery, known as 'bucchero,' characteristic +of neolithic sites, some of it, as usual, decorated with incised +patterns filled in with white. This pottery was coupled with stone +celts and maces, obsidian knives, and a primitive female image of +incised and inlaid clay. All over the palace area, as the excavations +went farther and farther down, the neolithic deposit was found to +overlie the virgin soil, sometimes to a depth of 24 feet, showing +that the site had been thickly populated in remote prehistoric +times. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +But the neolithic deposit was not the most striking find. On the +south-west side of the site there came to light a spacious paved +court, opening before walls faced with huge blocks of gypsum. At +the southern corner of this court stood a portico, which afforded +access to this portion of the interior of the palace. The portico +had a double door, whose lintel had once been supported by a massive +central column of wood. The wall flanking the entrance had been +decorated with a fresco, part of which represented that favourite +subject of Mycenæan and Minoan art—a great bull; while +on the walls of the corridor which led away from the portal were +still preserved the lower portions of a procession of life-size +painted figures. Conspicuous among these was one figure, probably +that of a Queen, dressed in magnificent apparel, while there were +also remains of the figures of two youths, wearing gold and silver +belts and loin-cloths, one of them bearing a fluted marble vase <a +name="page_67"><span class="page">Page 67</span></a> with a silver +base. At the southern angle of the building, this corridor—the +'Corridor of the Procession'—led round to a great southern +portico with double columns, and in a passage-way behind this portico +there came to light one of the first fairly complete evidences of +the outward fashion and appearance of the great prehistoric race +which had founded the civilization of Knossos and Mycenæ. +This was the fresco-painting, preserved almost perfectly in its +upper part, of a youth bearing a gold-mounted silver cup +(<a href="#plate_VI">Plate VI.</a>). His loin-cloth is decorated +with a beautiful quatrefoil pattern; he wears a silver ear-ornament, +silver rings on the neck and the upper arm, and on the wrist a +bracelet with an agate gem. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +'The colours,' says Dr. Evans in teat brilliant article in the +<i>Monthly Review</i> which first gave to the general public the +story of his first season's discoveries, 'were almost as brilliant +as when laid down over three thousand years before. For the first +time the true portraiture of a man of this mysterious Mycenæan +race rises before us. The flesh-tint, following, perhaps, an Egyptian +precedent, is of a deep reddish-brown. The limbs are finely moulded, +though the waist, as usual in Mycenæan fashions, is tightly +drawn in by a silver-mounted girdle, giving great relief to the hips. +The profile of the face is pure and almost classically Greek.... +The lips are somewhat full, but the physiognomy has certainly no +Semitic cast.... There was something very impressive in this vision +of brilliant youth and of <a name="page_68"><span class="page">Page +68</span></a> male beauty, recalled after so long an interval to our +upper air from what had been, till yesterday, a forgotten world. +Even our untutored Cretan workmen felt the spell and fascination. +They, indeed, regarded the discovery of such a painting in the +bosom of the earth as nothing less than miraculous, and saw in it +the icon of a Saint! The removal of the fresco required a delicate +and laborious piece of under-plastering, which necessitated its +being watched at night, and old Manolis, one of the most trustworthy +of our gang, was told off for the purpose. Somehow or other he +fell asleep, but the wrathful saint appeared to him in a dream. +Waking with a start, he was conscious of a mysterious presence; +the animals round began to low and neigh, and "there were visions +about"; "φανταζε&iota," he said, +in summing up his experiences next morning, "the whole place +spooks!"'[*] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[Footnote *: <i>Monthly Review</i>, March, 1901, pp. 124, 125.] +</p> + +<div class="image" style="width: 408px;"> +<a name="plate_IX"> +<img src="images/plate_IX_1.jpg" width="397" height="458" +alt="Plate IX 1"></a> +<p>MAGAZINE WITH JARS AND KASELLES</p> +<p><img src="images/plate_IX_2.jpg" width="408" height="456" +alt="Plate IX 2"></p> +<p>GREAT JAR WITH TRICKLE ORNAMENT</p> +</div> + +<p class="indent"> +The Southern Portico gave access to a large court which turned out, +from later investigation, to have been really the Central Court of +the palace, the focus of the life of the whole huge building. The +block of building between the West and the Central Courts was divided +into two by a long gallery (<a href="#plate_VII">Plate VII.</a>), +3.40 metres in breadth, running almost the whole length of the +structure, and paved with gypsum blocks. Between this gallery and the +western wall of the palace lay a long range of what had evidently +been magazines for the storage of oil, and perhaps of corn. They were +occupied by rows <a name="page_69"><span class="page">Page 69</span></a> +of huge earthenware jars, or <i>pithoi</i>, sufficiently large to +have held the Forty Thieves, or to have accommodated the soldiers +of Tahuti in their venture on Joppa (<a href="#plate_VIII">Plates +VIII.</a> and <a href="#plate_IX">IX.</a>). In one of the magazines +no fewer than twenty of these jars were found. They were all ornamented, +some of them very elaborately, with spiral and rope-work patterns; one +of them, found, not in a magazine, but in a small room near the Central +Court, was particularly elaborate in its adornment, and stood almost +five feet in height (<a href="#plate_X">Plate X. 2</a>). Down the +centre line of each magazine ran a row of small square openings in +the floor—'kaselles,' as they came to be called—which at +one time had evidently been receptacles, some of them, perhaps, for +oil, but some of them certainly for valuables. They were carefully +lined with lead, and in some cases the slabs of stone covering them +could not be removed without lifting the whole pavement. In spite of +such precautions, however, they had been well rifled in ancient days, +and little was left to tell of what their contents may once have been. +The magazines were well fitted to convey a strong impression, not only +of the size, but also of the splendour of the palace which needed such +storerooms. There was no meanness or squalor about the domestic +offices of the House of Minos. The doorways leading into the magazines +from the Long Corridor were of fine stone-work, and the side-walls, +both of the gallery and the magazines, had been covered with painted +plaster, presenting a white ground on which ran a dado of horizontal +bands of <a name="page_70"><span class="page">Page 70</span></a> red +and blue, further bands of the same colours forming a frieze below +the ceiling level. This, of course, had been merely the basement of +the palace, and had been surmounted by another storey or storeys, +of which nothing was left except fragments of the painted plaster +which had once decorated the walls. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +To the rooms composing the block of building between the Long Gallery +and the Central Court, access had been given from the latter area; +and it was in these rooms that, as the excavations progressed, some +of the most remarkable features of the palace began to disclose +themselves. About halfway along the court were found two small +rooms, connected with one another, in the centre of each of which +stood a single column composed of four gypsum blocks, each block +marked with the sign of the Double Axe; and these pillars suggested +a connection with ancient traditions about Minos and his works +(<a href="#plate_XI">Plate XI.</a>). They were apparently sacred +emblems connected with the worship of a divinity, and the Double Axe +markings pointed to the divinity in question. For the special emblem +of the Cretan Zeus (and also apparently of the female divinity of whom +Zeus was the successor) was the Double Axe, a weapon of which numerous +votive specimens in bronze have been found in the cave-sanctuary of +Dicte, the fabled birthplace of the god. And the name of the Double Axe +is Labrys—a word found also in the title of the Carian Zeus, Zeus +of Labraunda. But tradition linked the names of <a name="page_71"><span +class="page">Page 71</span></a> Minos and Knossos with a great and +wonderful structure of Dædalus which went by the name of +the Labyrinth; and the coincidence between that name and the Labrys +marks on the sacred pillars and on many of the blocks in the palace +at once suggested that here was the source of the old tradition, +and here the actual building, the Labyrinth, which Dædalus +reared for his great master. 'There can be little remaining doubt,' +says Dr. Evans, 'that this vast edifice, which in a broad historic +sense we are justified in calling the "Palace of Minos," is one +and the same as the traditional "Labyrinth." A great part of the +ground-plan itself, with its long corridors and repeated successions +of blind galleries, its tortuous passages and spacious underground +conduit, its bewildering system of small chambers, does, in fact, +present many of the characteristics of a maze.'[*] The connection +thus suggested even by the first year's excavations has grown more +and more probable with the work of each successive season. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[Footnote *: Monthly Review, March, 1901, p. 131.] +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Passing farther north along the line of the Central Court, access +was given by a row of four steps to an ante-chamber, which opened +upon another room, of no great size in itself, but of surpassing +interest from the character of its appointments. 'Already, a few +inches below the surface, freshly preserved fresco began to appear. +Walls were shortly uncovered, decorated with flowering plants and +running water, while on each side of the doorway of a small <a +name="page_72"><span class="page">Page 72</span></a> inner room, +stood guardian griffins with peacock's plumes in the same flowery +landscape. Round the walls ran low stone benches, and between these, +on the north side, separated by a small interval, and raised on a stone +base, rose a gypsum throne with a high back, and originally covered with +decorative designs. Its lower part was adorned with a curiously carved +arch, with crocketed mouldings, showing an extraordinary anticipation +of some most characteristic features of Gothic architecture. Opposite +the throne was a finely wrought tank of gypsum slabs—a feature +borrowed perhaps from an Egyptian palace—approached by a +descending flight of steps, and originally surmounted by cypress-wood +columns, supporting a kind of <i>impluvium</i>. Here truly was the +council chamber of a Mycenæan King or Sovereign Lady.'[*] +The discovery of the very throne of Minos, for such we may fairly +term it, was surely the most dramatic and fitting recompense for the +explorer's patience and persistence. No more ancient throne exists +in Europe, or probably in the world, and none whose associations are +anything like so full of interest (<a href="#plate_I">Plate I.</a>). +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[Footnote *: <i>Monthly Review</i>, March, 1901, pp. 123, 124.] +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The Throne Room still preserved among its débris many relics of +former splendour. Fragments of blue and green porcelain, of gold-foil, +and lapis lazuli and crystal, were scattered on the floor, and several +crystal plaques with painting on the back, among them an exceedingly +fine miniature of a galloping bull on an azure ground; while an agate +plaque, <a name="page_73"><span class="page">Page 73</span></a> +bearing a relief of a dagger laid upon a folded belt, almost equalled +cameo-work in the style and delicacy of its execution. In a small +room on the north side of the Central Court was found a curiously +quaint and delicate specimen of early fresco painting—the +figure of a Little Boy Blue—more thoroughly deserving of the +title than Gainsborough's famous picture, for, strangely enough, +he is blue in his flesh-tints, picking and placing in a vase the +white crocuses that still dapple the Cretan meadows. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The northern side of the palace was finished with another portico, +and in this part of the building there came to light a series of +miniature frescoes, valuable, not only as works of art, but as +contemporary documents for the appearance, dress, and surroundings +of the mysterious people to whom this great building was once home. +Here were groups of ladies with the conventional white complexion +given by the Minoan artists to their womankind, wonderfully bedizened +with costumes resembling far more closely the evening dress of +our own day than the stately robes of classic Greece with their +severe lines. In their very low-necked dresses, with puffed sleeves, +excessively slender waists, and flounced skirts, and their hair +elaborately dressed and curled, they were as far as possible removed +from our ideas of Ariadne and her maids of honour, and might almost +have stepped out of a modern fashion-plate. 'Mais,' exclaimed a +French savant, on his first view of them, 'Mais ce sont des +Parisiennes.' These fine Court ladies were seated, or perhaps rather +<a name="page_74"><span class="page">Page 74</span></a> squatted, +according to the curious Minoan custom, in groups, conversing in +the courts and gardens, and on the balconies of a splendid building. +In the spaces beyond were groups of men, of the same reddish-brown +complexion as the Cup-bearer, wearing loin-cloths and footgear with +puttees halfway up the leg, their long black hair done up into a +crest on the crown of the head. In one group alone thirty men appear +close to a fortified post; in another, youths are hurling javelins +against a besieged city. 'The alternating succession of subjects +in these miniature frescoes suggests the contrasted episodes of +Achilles' shield. It may be that we have here parts of a continuous +historic piece; in any case these unique illustrations of great +crowds of men and women within the walls of towns and palaces supply +a new and striking commentary on the familiar passage of Homer +describing the ancient populousness of the Cretan cities.'[*] Only +the wonderful tomb paintings of ancient Egypt can excel these vivid +miniatures in bringing before us the life of a bygone civilization; +nothing else to approach them has come down from antiquity. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[Footnote *: <i>Monthly Review</i>, March, 1901, p. 126.] +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The main entrance of the palace seemingly lay on the north side, +where the road from the harbour, three and a half miles distant, ran +up to the gates. Here was the one and only trace of fortification +discovered in all the excavations. The entrance passage was a stone +gangway, on the north-west side of which stood a great bastion, with +a guard <a name="page_75"><span class="page">Page 75</span></a> room +and sally-port—a slender apology for defence in the case of +a prize so vast and tempting as the Palace of Knossos. Obviously the +bastion, with its trifling accommodation for an insignificant guard, +was never meant to defend the palace against numerous assailants, +or a set siege; it could only have been sufficient to protect it +against the sudden raid of a handful of pirates sweeping up from the +port (<a href="#plate_XII">Plate XII. 2</a>). How was it that so great +and rich a structure came to be left thus practically defenceless? The +mainland palaces of the Mycenæan Age at Tiryns and Mycenæ +are, so to speak, buried in fortifications. Their vast walls, 57 feet +thick in some parts at Tiryns, 46 feet at Mycenæ, towering still +after so many centuries of ruin to a height of 24½ feet in the case +of the smaller citadel, and of 56 feet at the great stronghold of +Agamemnon; their massive gateways, and the ingenious devices by +which the assailant was obliged to subject himself in his approach +to a destructive fire on his unshielded side—everything about +them points to a land and a time in which life and property were +continually exposed to the dangers of war, and the only security +was to be found within the gates of an impregnable stronghold. +But Knossos, far richer, far more splendid, than either Tiryns +or Mycenæ, lies virtually unguarded, its spacious courts +and pillared porticoes open on every side. Plainly, the Minoan +Kings lived in a land where peace was the rule, and where no enemy +was expected to break rudely in upon <a name="page_76"><span +class="page">Page 76</span></a> their luxurious calm. And the reason +for their confidence and security is not far to seek, if we remember +the statements of Thucydides and Herodotus. +</p> + +<div class="image" style="width: 391px;"> +<p><a name="plate_X"> +<img src="images/plate_X_1.jpg" width="391" height="496" +alt="Plate X 1"></a></p> +<p>PART OF DOLPHIN FRESCO</p> +<p><img src="images/plate_X_2.jpg" width="360" height="498" +alt="Plate X 2"></p> +<p>A GREAT JAR, KNOSSOS</p> +</div> + +<p class="indent"> +'The first King known to us by tradition as having established +a navy is Minos,' says the great Athenian historian. The Minoan +Empire, like our own, rested upon sea-power; its great Kings were +the Sea-Kings of the ancient world—the first Sea-Kings known +to history, over-lords of the Ægean long before 'the grave +Tyrian trader' had learned 'the way of a ship in the sea,' or the +land-loving Egyptian had ventured his timid squadrons at the command +of a great Queen so far as Punt. And so the fortifications of their +capital and palace were not of the huge gypsum blocks which they +knew so well how to handle and work. They were the wooden walls, +the long low black galleys with the vermilion bows, and the square +sail, and the creeping rows of oars, that lay moored or beached +at the mouth of the Kairatos River, or cruised around the island +coast, keeping the Minoan peace of the Ægean. So long as the +war-fleet of Minos was in being, Knossos needed no fortifications. +No expedition of any size could force a landing on the island. +If the crew of a chance pirate-galley, desperate with hunger, or +tempted by reports of the wealth of the great palace, succeeded +in eluding the vigilance of the Minoan cruisers, and made a swift +rush up from the coast, there was the bastion with its armed guard, +enough to deal with the handful of men who could be detached for +such <a name="page_77"><span class="page">Page 77</span></a> a +dare-devil enterprise. But in the fleet of Knossos was her fate; +and if once the fleet failed, she had no second line of defence on +which to rely against any serious attack. There is every evidence +that the fleet did fail at last. The manifest marks of a vast +conflagration, perhaps repeated more than once during the long +history of the palace, and the significant fact that vessels of +metal are next to unknown upon the site, while of gold there is +scarcely a trace, with the exception of scattered pieces of gold-foil, +appear to indicate either that the Minoan Sovereigns failed to +maintain the weapon which had made and guarded their Empire, or +that the Minoan sailors met at last with a stronger fleet, or more +skilful mariners. Sea-power was lost, and with it everything. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Near the main north entrance of the palace was found one of the +great artistic treasures of the season's work. This was a plaster +relief of a great bull's head, which had once formed part of a +complete figure. These figures of bulls, as we have already seen in +connection with the Palace of Tiryns, were among the most favourite +subjects of Mycenæan and Minoan art; but nothing so fine as +the Knossos relief had yet been discovered. 'It is life-sized, +or somewhat over, and modelled in high relief. The eye has an +extraordinary prominence, its pupil is yellow, and the iris a bright +red, of which narrower bands again appear encircling the white towards +the lower circumference of the ball. The horn is of greyish-blue, +and both this and the other parts of <a name="page_78"><span +class="page">Page 78</span></a> the relief are of exceptionally +hard plaster, answering to the Italian <i>gesso duro</i>.... Such +as it is, this painted relief is the most magnificent monument of +Mycenæan plastic art that has come down to our time. The +rendering of the bull, for which the artists of the period showed +so great a predilection, is full of life and spirit. It combines in +a high degree naturalism with grandeur, and it is no exaggeration +to say that no figure of a bull, at once so powerful and so true, +was produced by later classical art.'[*] <a href="#plate_XIII">Plate +XIII.</a> shows that this high praise is not undeserved; to match +the naturalism of this magnificent Minoan monster one must turn to +the Old Kingdom tomb reliefs of Egypt, or to the exquisite Eighteenth +Dynasty statue of a cow unearthed in 1906 by Naville from the Temple +of Mentuhotep Neb-hapet-Ra, at Deir-el-Bahri. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[Footnote *: <i>Annual of the British School at Athens</i>, vol. +vi., p. 52.] +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +But the discovery which will doubtless prove in the end to be of +greater importance than any other, though as yet the main part of +its value is latent, was that of large numbers of clay tablets +incised with inscriptions in the unknown script of the Minoans. By +the end of March the finding of one tablet near the South Portico +gave earnest of future discoveries, and before the season ended over +a thousand had been collected from various deposits in the palace. +Of these deposits, one contained tablets written in hieroglyphic; +but the rest were in the linear script, 'a highly developed form, +with regular divisions between the words, and for elegance scarcely +surpassed <a name="page_79"><span class="page">Page 79</span></a> +by any later form of writing.' The tablets vary in shape and size, +some being flat, elongated bars from two to seven and a half inches +in length, while others are squarer, ranging up to small octavo. +Some of them, along with the linear writing, supply illustrations +of the objects to which the inscriptions refer. There are human +figures, chariots and horses, cuirasses and axes, houses and barns, +and ingots followed by a balance, and accompanied by numerals which +probably indicate their value in Minoan talents. It looks as though +these were documents referring to the royal arsenals and treasuries. +'Other documents, in which neither ciphers nor pictorial illustrations +are to be found, may appeal even more deeply to the imagination. +The analogy of the more or less contemporary tablets, written in +cuneiform script, found in the Palace of Tell-el-Amarna, might +lead us to expect among them the letters from distant governors +or diplomatic correspondence. It is probable that some of them are +contracts or public acts, which may give some actual formulæ of +Minoan legislation. There is, indeed, an atmosphere of legal nicety, +worthy of the House of Minos, in the way in which these records were +secured. The knots of string which, according to the ancient fashion, +stood in the place of locks for the coffers containing the tablets, +were rendered inviolable by the attachment of clay seals, impressed +with the finely engraved signets, the types of which represented a +great variety of subjects, such as ships, chariots, religious scenes, +lions, bulls, and other <a name="page_80"><span class="page">Page +80</span></a> animals. But—as if this precaution was not in +itself considered sufficient—while the clay was still wet +the face of the seal was countermarked by a controlling official, +and the back countersigned and endorsed by an inscription in the +same Mycenæan script as that inscribed on the tablets +themselves.'[*] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[Footnote *: <i>Monthly Review</i>, March, 1901, pp. 129, 130.] +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The tablets had been stored in coffers of wood, clay, or gypsum. +The wooden coffers had perished in the great conflagration which +destroyed the palace, and only their charred fragments remained; +but the destroying fire had probably contributed to the preservation +of the precious writings within, by baking more thoroughly the clay +of which they were composed. As yet, in spite of all efforts, it +has not proved possible to decipher the inscriptions, for there has +so far been no such good fortune as the discovery of a bilingual +inscription to do for Minoan what the Rosetta Stone did for Egyptian +hieroglyphics. But it is not beyond the bounds of probability that +there may yet come to light some treaty between Crete and Egypt +which may put the key into the eager searcher's hands, and enable +us to read the original records of this long-forgotten kingdom +(<a href="#plate_XIV">Plate XIV.</a>). +</p> + +<div class="image" style="width: 513px;"> +<a name="plate_XI"> +<img src="images/plate_XI.jpg" width="513" height="815" +alt="Plate XI"></a> +<p>PILLAR OF THE DOUBLE AXES (<i>p</i>. +<a href="#page_70">70</a>)</p> +</div> + +<p class="indent"> +Even as it is, the discovery of these tablets has altered the whole +conception of the relative ages of the various early beginnings +of writing in the Eastern Mediterranean area. The Hellenic script +is seen to have been in all likelihood no late-born child of the +Phœnician, but to have had an ancestor of its own race; and the +old Cretan tradition on <a name="page_81"><span class="page">Page +81</span></a> which Dr. Evans relied at the commencement of his +work, has proved to be amply justified. 'In any case,' said Dr. +Evans, summing up his first year's results, 'the weighty question, +which years before I had set myself to solve on Cretan soil, has +found, so far at least, an answer. That great early civilization +was not dumb, and the written records of the Hellenic world were +carried back some seven centuries beyond the date of the first-known +historic writings. But what, perhaps, is even more remarkable than +this, is that, when we examine in detail the linear script of these +Mycenæan documents, it is impossible not to recognize that we +have here a system of writing, syllabic and perhaps partly alphabetic, +which stands on a distinctly higher level of development than the +hieroglyphs of Egypt, or the cuneiform script of contemporary Syria +and Babylonia. It is not till some five centuries later that we +find the first dated examples of Phœnician writing.'[*] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[Footnote *: <i>Monthly Review</i>, March, 1901, p. 130.] +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Among the other finds of this wonderful season's work were several +stone vases, of masterly workmanship, in marble, alabaster, and +steatite, a few vases in pottery of the stirrup type (a type common +on other Mycenæan sites, but noticeably rare at Knossos, +probably because in the great palace the bulk of such vases were +of metal, and were carried off by plunderers in the sack), and +a noble head of a lioness, with eyes and nostrils inlaid, which +had evidently once formed part of a fountain. One other discovery +was most precious, <a name="page_82"><span class="page">Page +82</span></a> not for its own artistic value, which is slight enough, +but for the link which it gives with one of the other great sister +civilizations of the ancient world. This was the lower part of a +small diorite statuette of Egyptian workmanship, with an inscription +in hieroglyphic which reads: 'Ab-nub-mes-Sebek-user maat-kheru' +(Ab-nub's child, Sebek-user, deceased). The name of the individual +and the style of the statuette point to Sebek-user, whoever he +may have been, having been an Egyptian of the latter days of the +Middle Kingdom, probably about the Thirteenth Dynasty. This is the +first link in the chain of evidence, which, as we shall see later, +shows the continuous connection between the Minoan and Nilotic +civilizations. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Nine weeks after the excavations on the hill of Kephala had begun, +the season's work was closed, and, surely, never had a like period +of time been more fruitful of fresh knowledge, more illuminative +as to the conditions of ancient life, or more destructive of hoary +prejudices. It was a new world, new because of its very ancientry, +that had begun to rise out of the buried past at the summons of +the patient explorer. +</p> + +<h2><a name="page_83"><span class="page">Page 83</span></a> +CHAPTER V</h2> + +<p class="subtitle">THE PALACE OF 'BROAD KNOSSOS' (<i>continued</i>)</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The discoveries of 1900, important as they were, were evidently +far from having exhausted the hidden treasures of the House of +Minos; but even the explorer himself, who spoke of his task as +being 'barely half completed' by the first year's work, had no +conception of the magnitude of the task which yet lay before him, +or of the richness of the results which it was destined to produce. +The early work in the second year led to a further disclosure of +the large area of the Western Court of the palace, which seems +to have formed the meeting-place between the citizens of Knossos +and their royal masters. Here probably all the business between +the town and the palace-folk was transacted; stores were brought +up, received and paid for by the palace stewards, and passed into +the great magazines; and here, perhaps, the ancients of the Knossian +Assembly gathered in council to discuss affairs, as the men of +the Greek host gathered in the Iliad, while the King sat in state +in the Western Portico, presiding over their deliberations. <a +name="page_84"><span class="page">Page 84</span></a> The Portico +itself, with its wooden central pillar, 16 feet in height, must +have been a sufficiently imposing structure, while the great court +on which it opened, more than 160 feet in length, must have formed +a stately meeting-place for the citizens. Whether as market-place +or open-air council-room, this West Court must have presented a +gay and animated spectacle when the prosperity of the Minoan Empire +was at its height. Along the outer wall of the palace fronting the +court ran a projecting base, which served as a seat where merchants +or suppliants might wait, sheltered from the sun by the shadow of +the vast building at their backs, till their business fell to be +disposed of (<a href="#plate_XV">Plate XV. 1</a>). Meanwhile they +could beguile the time by watching the ever-changing picture in +front of them, where gay courtier figures, with gold and jewels on +neck and arm, mingled with grave citizens of substance from the +town, or gathered round some Egyptian visitor, newly arrived on +board one of the Keftiu ships, to discuss some matter of +trade—a clean-cut and austere-looking figure, in his garb of +pure white linen, beside the more gaudily clothed Minoans. When +their eyes wearied of the glare of sunlight on the red cement +pavement and the brilliant crowd, they could turn to the wall +behind them, where above their heads ran a broad zone of paintings +in fresco—shrines with scenes of religion, conventional +decorations, and lifelike representations of the great bulls which +played so conspicuous, and sometimes so tragic, a part in the Minoan +economy. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +<a name="page_85"><span class="page">Page 85</span></a> But the +main discoveries of the season were to lie on the opposite side of +the building from the Western Court. The Central Court, instead of +being, as it had seemed at first, the boundary of the building on +the eastern side, was now found to have been the focus of the inner +life of the palace. For on its eastern margin, as the excavations +progressed, there came to light a mass of building, fully equal +in importance to that on the western side, and perhaps of even +greater interest. Here the slope of the ground had been such that +storey had been piled above storey, even before the level of the +Central Court had been reached, so that on this side it was not +only the basement of the building that had been preserved, but a +whole complex of rooms going down from the central area to different +levels, and connected with one another by a great staircase, which, +in the course of this and subsequent seasons' excavations, was found +to have had no fewer than five flights of steps. Of this staircase, +thirty-eight steps are still preserved, and good fortune had so +brought it about that at the destruction of the palace some of the +upper chambers had fallen in such a manner that their débris +actually propped up the staircase and some of the upper floorings, +and kept them in place; and thus it has been possible to reconstruct +a large part of the arrangement of the various rooms and floors in +this quarter of the building (<a href="#plate_XVI">Plate XVI. 1</a>). +Far down below the level of the Central Court lay a fine Colonnaded +Hall about 26 feet square, <a name="page_86"><span class="page">Page +86</span></a> from which the great staircase, with pillars and +balustrades, led to the upper quarter (<a href="#plate_XVII">Plate +XVII. 2</a>), while adjoining it was a stately and finely-proportioned +hall—the Hall of the Double Axes—about 80 feet in length +by 26 feet in breadth, and divided transversely by a row of square-sided +pillars (<a href="#plate_XVII">Plate XVII. 1</a>). In this part of the +building, and especially in the Colonnaded Hall, the conflagration in +which the glories of Knossos found their close had been extremely +severe, and the evidences of fierce burning were everywhere. In a +small room in an upper storey, whose floor was near the present surface +of the ground, there came to light also evidence which suggested that +the catastrophe of the palace, in whatever form it may have come, +came suddenly and unexpectedly. The room had evidently been a +sculptor's workshop, and the artist who used it had been employed in +the fabrication of those splendid vessels of carved stone in which +the Minoan magnates delighted. One of them still stood in the room, +finished and ready for transport. It was carved from a veined +limestone approaching to marble in texture, and was of noble +proportions, standing 27¼ inches in height, while its girth +was 6 feet 8¾ inches, and its weight such that it took eleven +men to carry it from the room where it had waited so long for its +resurrection. Its workmanship was superb. The upper rim was decorated +with a spiral band, while round the bulging shoulder ran another +spiral, whose central coils rose up in bold relief into forms like +the shell of a snail, and <a name="page_87"><span class="page">Page +87</span></a> its three handles bore another spiral design. But beside +it stood another amphora, smaller than its neighbour, and giving +unmistakable proof that the artist's work had been suddenly interrupted, +for it had only been roughed out, and its decoration had not been begun. +The skilful hand that should have finished it had perhaps to grasp +sword or spear in the last vain attempt to repel the assault of the +invader, and we can only wonder over his half-done work, and imagine +what untoward fate befell the worker, and for what unknown master, if +he survived the sack, he may have exercised the skill that once +gratified the refined taste of his Minoan lord. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Not far from the sculptor's workshop, and in the same quarter of +the palace, was found a splendid and convincing proof of the +magnificence of the appointments of the House of Minos in its palmy +days. This was a board which had evidently been designed for use +in some game, perhaps resembling draughts or chess, in which men +were moved to and fro from opposite ends. The board was over a +yard in length, and rather more than half a yard in breadth. Its +framework was of ivory, which had originally been overlaid with thin +gold plate, and it was covered with a mosaic of strips and discs +of rock-crystal, which in their turn had been backed alternately +with silver and blue enamel paste. Round its margin ran a border of +marguerites whose central bosses were convex discs of rock-crystal +which had probably been set originally in a blue paste background. +At the top of the board <a name="page_88"><span class="page">Page +88</span></a> were four beautiful reliefs representing nautilus +shells, set round with crystal plaques, and bossed with crystal. +Below them came four large medallions, set among crystal bars backed +with silver plate, and then eleven bars of ribbed crystal and ivory, +alternating with one another. Eight shorter bars of crystal backed +with blue enamel fill spaces on either side of the topmost section +in the lower part of the board, which consists of a two-winged +compartment with ten circular openings, the medallions of which +have been broken out, but were probably of crystal backed with +silver. The remaining space of the board was filled with flat bars +of gold-plated ivory alternating with bars of crystal on the blue +enamel setting. The mere summary of its decoration conveys no idea +of the splendour of a piece of work which, as Professor Burrows says, +'defies description, with its blaze of gold and silver, ivory and +crystal.' The Late Minoan monarch who used it—for so gorgeous +a piece of workmanship can scarcely have been designed for anyone but +a King—must have been as splendid in his amusements as in all +the other appointments of his royalty (<a href="#plate_XVIII">Plate +XVIII.</a>). +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The gaming-board suggested the lighter and more innocent side of +the palace life. A darker and more tragic aspect of it was hinted +at by the fresco which was found in the following season among +débris fallen from a chamber overlooking the so-called Court +of the Olive Spout. This was a picture of those sports of the arena +in which the <a name="page_89"><span class="page">Page 89</span></a> +Minoan and Mycenæan monarchs evidently took such delight, +and in which the main figures were great bulls and toreadors. In +this case the picture is one of three toreadors, two girls and +a boy, with a single bull. The girls are distinguished by their +white skins, their more vari-coloured costumes, their blue and +red diadems, and their curlier hair, but are otherwise dressed +like their male companion. In the centre of the picture the great +bull is seen in full charge. The boy toreador has succeeded in +catching the monster's horns and turning a clean somersault over +his back, while one of the girls holds out her hands to catch his +as he comes to the ground. But the other girl, standing in front +of the bull, is just at the critical moment of the cruel sport. +The great horns are almost passing under her arms, and it looks +almost an even chance whether she will be able to catch them and +vault, as her companion has done, over the bull's back, or whether +she will fail and be gored to death. With such a sport, in which +life or death depended upon an instant, in which a slip of the +foot, a misjudgment of distance, or a wavering of hand or eye meant +horrible destruction, we may be sure that the tragedies of the +Minoan bull-ring were many and terrible, and that the fair dames +of the Knossian Palace, modern in costume and appearance as they +seem to us, were as habituated to scenes of cruel bloodshed as +any Roman lady who watched the sports of the Colosseum, and saw +gladiators hack one another to pieces for her pleasure. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +<a name="page_90"><span class="page">Page 90</span></a> That the +sport of the bull-ring, and particularly this exciting and dangerous +game of bull-grappling, or +τανροκαθαψια, +was an established and habitual form of Minoan sport is proved by the +multitude of representations of it which have survived. The charging +bull of Tiryns, the first to be discovered, was a mystery so long as +it stood alone; but it is only one of a succession of such +pictures—painted upon walls, engraved upon gems, and stamped on +seal impressions—which show that the Cretans and Mycenæans +were as fond of their bull-fights as a modern Spaniard of his. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Where did they get the toreadors, male and female, whose lives were +to be devoted to such a terrible sport—a sport practically +bound to end fatally sooner or later? We may be fairly sure, at +all events, that bull-grappling was not taken up voluntarily even +by the male, and still less by the female, toreadors; and one of +the discoveries made in the excavations of 1901, and followed up +later, gave its own suggestion of an explanation. Not very far +from the North Entrance of the palace, beneath the room where, +the year before, had been found the fresco of the Little Boy Blue +gathering crocuses—an innocent figure to cover so grim a +revelation—there came to light the walls of two deep pits, +going right down, nearly 25 feet, to the virgin soil. The pits +were lined with stone-work faced with smooth cement, and it seems +most probable that these were the dungeons of the palace, in which +we may imagine that the miserable captives <a name="page_91"><span +class="page">Page 91</span></a> brought back by the great King's +fleet from its voyages of conquest and plunder, and the human tribute +paid by the conquered states, dragged out their existence until +the time came for them either to be trained for the cruel sport +to which they were devoted, or actually to take their places in +the bull-ring. If it be so, then the dungeons of Minos would keep +their captives securely enough; escape from the deep pits, with their +smooth and slippery walls, must have been practically impossible, +save by connivance on the part of the guards, or by the intervention +of some tender-hearted Ariadne. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +If those dark walls could only reveal the story of the doomed lives +which they once imprisoned, we should probably be able to realize, +even more fully than we do, the shadowed side of all the glittering +splendour of Knossos, and the grim element of barbaric cruelty +which mingled with a refined artistic taste and a delight in all +forms of beauty. In none of these great civilizations of the ancient +world were splendour and cruelty separated by any great interval +from one another, nor was a very remarkable degree of refinement +inconsistent with a carelessness of life, and even such a thirst +for blood, as we would consider more natural in a savage state; +but it is seldom that the evidences of the two things lie so close +to one another as where at Knossos the innocent figure of the +crocus-gatherer almost covers the very mouth of the horrible pit +in which the captives of Minos waited for the day when their lives +were to be staked on the hazard of the arena. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +<a name="page_92"><span class="page">Page 92</span></a> Among the +other treasures recovered by this season's work was a quantity of +fine painted pottery which had fallen from the upper rooms into +the basement when the palace floors collapsed. Some of the fragments +were of that early polychrome style known as 'Kamares ware,' from +the cave on the southern slope of Mount Ida, where it was first +discovered by Mr. J. L. Myres. Its designs are purely conventional +and largely geometric—zigzags, crosses, spirals, and concentric +semicircles—and are executed in beautiful tints of brown, red, +yellow, black, and white, the design being sometimes in dark on a +light ground, and sometimes in light upon dark. The extraordinary +thinness of the walls of these polychrome vessels, and the fineness +of the clay from which they are fabricated, show to what a pitch the +potter's craft had reached at the early period to which they belong. +Of the later pottery of Knossos, which substituted naturalistic +motives, executed in monochrome, for the conventional polychrome +designs of the Kamares period, many specimens were also found during +the excavations of this season. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The frescoes of the previous year were supplemented by the discovery +of a number of others, representing zones of human figures, about +one-third of life-size, set out on blue and yellow fields with +triple borders of black, red, and white bands. One well-preserved +figure is that of a girl with very large eyes, lips of brilliant +red, and curling black hair. Her high-bodied dress is looped up +at the <a name="page_93"><span class="page">Page 93</span></a> +shoulder with a bunch of blue, with red and black stripes, and +fringed ends. A border of the same robe, adorned with smaller loops, +crosses the bosom, and between its blue and red bands the white +tint of the skin displays itself, showing that the material of +the robe was diaphanous. Relief work in stucco was represented +by fragments of a life-sized figure, since pieced together by M. +Gilliéron, which must have been that of some Minoan King. +The head wears a fleur-de-lys crown and peacock plumes, and round +the neck of the finely modelled torso there runs a collar of +fleur-de-lys ornament. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Again the connection of Knossos with Egypt was evidenced, and this +time in most interesting fashion. Near the wall of a bathroom which +was unearthed by the north-west side of the North Portico, there was +found the lid of an Egyptian alabastron, bearing the cartouche of +a King, which reads, 'Neter nefer S'user-en-Ra, sa Ra Khyan.' These +are the names of one of the most famous Kings of the enigmatical +Hyksos race—Khyan—'the Embracer of the Lands,' as he +called himself, one of whose memorials, in the shape of a lion +figure, carved in granite, and bearing his cartouche upon its breast, +was found as far east as Baghdad, and is now in the British Museum. +The statuette of Sebek-user, son of Ab-nub, evidenced a connection +between Knossos and Egypt in the time of the later Middle Kingdom. +This cartouche of Khyan shows that the connection was maintained +in that dark period of Egyptian history which lay between <a +name="page_94"><span class="page">Page 94</span></a> the fall of +the Middle Kingdom and the rise of the Empire. The intercourse +between Crete and Egypt, however, goes much farther back than either +the domination of the Hyksos or the Middle Kingdom. The discovery +of various stone vessels in translucent diorite, and other hard +materials familiar to the student of Early Egyptian work as +characteristic of the taste of the earliest dynasties, shows that +for the beginning of the connection between the two great Empires +we must go back to the early days of the Old Kingdom in Egypt. The +two civilizations, as we shall see later, can be equated period +by period from the earliest times until the catastrophe of Knossos. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Among the seal impressions in clay, which were found in considerable +numbers this season, were two worthy of attention: the one of great +importance, the other scarcely of importance, but at least of interest. +The first was an impression of the figure of a female divinity, +dressed in the usual flounced garb of the Mycenæan period, +standing upon a sacred rock on which two guardian lions rest their +forefeet, the arrangement of the design being very much the same +as that of the relief on the Lion Gate at Mycenæ, only with +the figure of the goddess taking the place of the sacred pillar. In +her hands the goddess holds something which may be either a weapon +or a sceptre, and before her stands a male votary in an attitude of +adoration. In the background is a shrine with sacred columns, in +front of which rise the 'horns of consecration,' which were <a +name="page_95"><span class="page">Page 95</span></a> characteristic +of Minoan temples, as apparently also of other Eastern religious +structures. The second discovery was a clay matrix, formed from +the impression of an actual seal, and evidently designed for the +purpose of providing counterfeit impressions. In fact, we have +here an evidence, brought to light after three millenniums, of some +very ancient attempt at forgery in the very palace of the great +law-giver. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The main result of the season of 1902 was the practical reconstruction +of a large part of the Eastern or Domestic Quarter of the palace. +The chief room in this part of the building was the Queen's Megaron, +an inner chamber divided transversely by a row of pillars, along +whose bases ran a raised seat, where, no doubt, the maids of honour +of the Minoan Court were wont to sit and gossip. The pillared portico +opened upon another elongated area, a characteristic feature of +Minoan architecture, which served the purpose of a light-shaft, +illuminating the inner room. The light-well had been covered with +a brilliant white plaster, on which were the remains of a bird +fresco—a long, curving wing, with feathers of red, blue, +yellow, white, and black. Adjacent to the Queen's Megaron was a +small bathroom, constructed for a portable bath—a fragment +of which, in painted terra-cotta, was found in the portico of the +adjoining hall. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The fresco of the bull-fight, already referred to, was paralleled in +subject, and more than matched in artistic quality, by the discovery, +in a small secluded room which had apparently served as a <a +name="page_96"><span class="page">Page 96</span></a> treasury, of +a deposit of ivory figurines of the most exquisite workmanship. +The height of the best preserved specimen is about 11½ inches, +and it is hard to say whether the boldness of the design or the +precision with which the details of the tiny figure are wrought out +is the more admirable. The attitude is that of a man flinging himself +forth in the abandon of a violent leap, with legs and arms extended. +His straining muscles are indicated with perfect faithfulness, and +even the veins in the diminutive hand and the nails of the tiny +fingers are clearly marked. The hair had been formed by curling +strands of thin gold wire inserted in the skull. There can be no doubt +that these figures formed part of a scene like that of the toreador +fresco, for the violent motion suggested is consistent with nothing +but some desperate feat of agility like bull-grappling. Probably the +leaping figures were suspended by thin gold wires over the backs of +ivory bulls, and thus presented a realistic miniature reproduction +of the Minoan bull-ring. The extraordinary multiplication of such +scenes, in painting, in the round, on gems and seal impressions, +helps one to realize the hold which the passion of bull-fighting, +or, rather, bull-grappling, had upon the Cretan mind, a hold no +doubt connected with the important part which the bull appears +to have played in the Minoan religion (<a href="#plate_XIX">Plate +XIX.</a>). +</p> + +<div class="image" style="width: 427px;"> +<p><a name="plate_XII"> +<img src="images/plate_XII_1.jpg" width="364" height="529" + alt="Plate XII 1"></a></p> +<p>MINOAN PAVED ROAD (<i>p</i>. + <a href="#page_110">110</a>)</p> +<p><img src="images/plate_XII_2.jpg" width="427" height="533" + alt="Plate XII 2"></p> +<p>NORTH ENTRANCE, KNOSSOS (<i>p</i>. + <a href="#page_75">75</a>)</p> +</div> + +<p class="indent"> +One of the season's finds was peculiarly useful and interesting, as +having yielded a considerable mass of material for reconstructing +the appearance <a name="page_97"><span class="page">Page 97</span></a> +of a Minoan town. A great chest of cypress wood—in which +perhaps some Knossian Nausicaa once kept her store of linen—had +been decorated with a series of enamelled plaques, depicting a +Minoan town, with its towers and houses, its fields and cattle +and orchards. The chest itself had perished in the conflagration +of the palace, leaving only a charred mass of woodwork; but the +plaques survived. Some of them represent houses, evidently of wood +and plaster fabric, for the round ends of the beams show in the +frontage. On the ground-floor are the doors, in some cases double; +above are second and third storeys, with rows of windows fitted with +some red material, which may have been oiled and tinted parchment, +while some of the houses have an attic storey with windows above the +third floor. It is evident that the houses of the Minoan burghers +were not the closely-packed mud hovels, separated from one another +only by narrow alleys, which characterize the plan of the Egyptian +town discovered by Petrie at Illahun, but were substantial structures, +giving accommodation which, even to modern ideas, would seem +respectable. Of course, one must suppose that the poorer quarters +of the town would scarcely be represented on a fabric designed +for use in the palace; but the actual remains of a Minoan town, +unearthed at Gournia by Mrs. H. B. Hawes, show that that town, +at least, was largely composed of houses which must have pretty +closely resembled those on the porcelain plaques of Knossos. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Most surprising of all, however, in many respects, <a +name="page_98"><span class="page">Page 98</span></a> was the revelation +of the amazingly complete system of drainage with which the palace +was provided. The gradient of the hill which underlay the domestic +quarter of the building enabled the architect to arrange for a +drainage system on a scale of completeness which is not only +unparalleled in ancient times, but which it would be hard to match +in Europe until a period as late as the middle of the nineteenth +century of our era. A number of stone shafts, descending from the +upper floors, lead to a well-built stone conduit, measuring 1 metre +by 1/2 metre, whose inner surface is lined with smooth cement. +These shafts were for the purpose of leading into this main conduit +the surface-water from the roofs of the palace buildings, and thus +securing a periodical flushing of the drains. In connection with +this surface-water system, there was elaborated a system of latrines +and other contrivances of a sanitary nature, which are 'staggeringly +modern' in their appointments. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +In the north-eastern quarter, under the Corridor of the Game-Board, +are still preserved some of the terra-cotta pipes which served as +connections to the main drain. They are actually faucet-jointed +pipes of quite modern type, each section 2½ feet in length and +6 inches in diameter at the wide end, and narrowing to 4 inches at +the smaller end. 'Jamming was carefully prevented by a stop-ridge +that ran round the outside of each narrow end a few inches from the +mouth, while the inside of the butt, or broader end, was provided +with a raised collar that enabled it to <a name="page_99"><span +class="page">Page 99</span></a> bear the pressure of the next pipe's +stop-ridge, and gave an extra hold for the cement that bound the +two pipes together'[*] (<a href="#plate_XX">Plate XX. 2</a>). +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[Footnote *: R. M. Burrows, 'The Discoveries in Crete,' p. 9.] +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Indeed, the hydraulic science of the Minoan architects is altogether +wonderful in the completeness with which it provided for even the +smallest details. On a staircase near the east bastion, on the +lower part of the slope, a stone runnel for carrying off the surface +water follows the line of the steps. Lest the steepness of the +gradient should allow the water to descend too rapidly and flood +the pavement below, the runnel is so constructed that the water +follows a series of parabolic curves, and the rapidity of its fall +is thus checked by friction. The main drains are duly provided +with manholes for inspection, and 'are so roomy,' says Dr. Evans, +'that two of my Cretan workmen spent days within them clearing out +the accumulated earth and rubble without physical inconvenience.' +Those who remember the many extant descriptions of the sanitary +arrangements, or rather the want of sanitary arrangements, in such +a town as the Edinburgh of the end of the eighteenth century, will +best appreciate the care and forethought with which the Minoan +architects, more than 3,000 years earlier, had provided for the +sanitation of the great Palace of Minos (<a href="#plate_XVI">Plates +XVI. 2</a> and <a href="#plate_XX">XX. 1</a>). +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Turning from the material to the spiritual, evidence as to the +religious conceptions of the inhabitants of the palace was forthcoming +in two instances. In one early chamber there was found a little +painted <a name="page_100"><span class="page">Page 100</span></a> +terra-cotta object consisting of a group of three columns standing +on an oblong platform. The square capitals of the columns each +carried two round beams, their ends showing, exactly as in the +case of the pillar on the Lion Gate at Mycenæ; and on the top +of the beams doves were perched. Here is the evidence of a cult in +which a Dove Goddess—a Goddess of the Air—was worshipped +under the form of a trinity of pillars; and confirmation of the +existence of such a form of belief was afforded by the discovery, +in the south-east corner of the palace, of a little shrine, in which, +along with the usual 'horns of consecration' and sacred Double Axes, +were found three figures of a goddess, of very archaic form, on +the head of one of which there was also perched a dove. The Double +Axes in the shrine again emphasized the importance in the palace +worship of the Labrys, and underlined the suggestion that the Palace +of Knossos is nothing more nor less than the legendary Labyrinth of +Minos. 'That the <i>Labrys</i> symbol should be the distinguishing +cult sign of the Minoan Palace makes it more and more probable that +we must in fact recognize in this vast building, with its maze of +corridors and chambers and its network of subterranean ducts, the +local habitation and name of the traditional Labyrinth.'[*] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[Footnote *: A. J. Evans, <i>Annual of the British School at Athens</i>, +vol. viii., p. 103.] +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The season of 1903 was marked by two important discoveries within +the palace area. Of these we may first consider the so-called Theatral +Area. <a name="page_101"><span class="page">Page 101</span></a> (<a +href="#plate_XXI">Plates XXI.</a> and <a href="#plate_XXII">XXII.</a>). +Such an area had been found at Phæstos by the Italian explorers, +and it was natural to expect that something corresponding to it would +not be lacking at Knossos. When found, it proved to be of later date +and of more developed form than the structure at Phæstos; but +the general idea was the same. At the extreme north-west angle of the +palace, abutting on the West Court, there was discovered a paved area +about 40 by 30 feet, divided up the centre by a causeway. On its +eastern and southern sides it was overlooked by two tiers of steps, +the eastern tier having at one time consisted of eighteen rows, while +the greatest number on the south side was six, diminishing to three as +the ground sloped upwards. At the southeastern angle, where the two +tiers met, a bastion of solid masonry projected between them. +</p> + +<div class="image" style="width: 888px;"> +<a name="plate_XIII"> +<img src="images/plate_XIII.jpg" width="888" height="525" + alt="Plate XIII"></a> +<p>RELIEF OF BULL'S HEAD (<i>p</i>. + <a href="#page_77">77</a>)</p> +<p>From 'The Palace of Minos,' by Arthur J. Evans, in <i>The Monthly + Review</i>.</p> +</div> + +<p class="indent"> +This area, for whatever purpose it may have been designed, was +evidently an integral portion of the Later Palace structure, for no +fewer than five causeways converge upon it from different directions; +but it was in no sense a thoroughfare, and the rows of steps around +it do not lead, and can never have led, anywhere. What can have been +the purpose of its existence? Dr. Evans's view, which is generally +accepted, is that it was some sort of a primitive theatre, where +the inhabitants of the palace gathered to witness sports and shows +of some kind, the tiers of steps affording sitting accommodation +for them, while the bastion at the south-east angle may have been +a kind of Royal Box, from which Minoan <a name="page_102"><span +class="page">Page 102</span></a> majesty and its Court circle surveyed +the games. There would be accommodation on the steps for some four +or five hundred spectators. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +It must be confessed that the place leaves much to be desired as +a theatre. The shallow steps must have made somewhat uncomfortable +sitting-places, though one must remember that the Minoan ladies +often, apparently, adopted a sitting posture which was more like +squatting than sitting, and that a seat found in 1901, evidently +designed for a woman's use, was only a trifle over 5 inches in +height. But male dignity required more lofty sitting accommodation; +the seat of the throne of Minos is nearly 23 inches high, and the +spectators of the Knossian theatre cannot have been all women. +Neither does the shape of the area appear to be particularly well +adapted to the purpose suggested; and, on the whole, if it were really +designed for a theatre, we must admit that the Minoan architects +were less happily inspired in its erection than in most of their +other works. At the same time, however, the obstinate fact remains +that we can suggest no other conceivable purpose which the place can +have served; and so, until some more likely use can be suggested, +we are scarcely entitled to demur to Dr. Evans's theory. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Admitting, then, for want of any better explanation, that it may +have been a Theatral Area, what were the games or shows which were +here presented to the Minoan Court and its dependents? Certainly +not the bull-fight. For that there is manifestly no space, as the +flat area is not larger than a good-sized <a name="page_103"><span +class="page">Page 103</span></a> room; while the undefended position +of the spectators would as certainly have resulted in tragedies +to them as to the toreadors. But from the great rhyton found at +Hagia Triada, from a steatite relief found at Knossos in Igor, +and from various seal-impressions, we know that boxing was one +of the favourite sports of the Minoans, as it was of the Homeric +and the classical Greeks; and the Theatral Area may have served +well enough for such exhibitions as those in which Epeus knocked +out Euryalus, and Odysseus smashed the jaw of Irus. Or perhaps +it may have been the scene of less brutal entertainments in the +shape of dances, such as those which delighted the eyes of Odysseus +at the Palace of Alcinous. To this day the Cretans are fond of +dancing, and in ancient times the dance had often a religious +significance, and was part of the ceremonial of worship. So that +it is not impossible that we have here a spot whose associations +with the House of Minos are both religious and literary—'the +Choros (or dancing-ground) which Dædalus wrought in broad +Knossos for fair-haired Ariadne' (Iliad XVIII., 590). +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +If the Theatral Area be really the scene of the palace sports, +it has for us a romantic as well as an historical interest; for +Plutarch tells us that it was at the games that Ariadne first met +Theseus, and fell in love with him on witnessing his grace and +prowess in the wrestling ring. It may be permissible to indulge +the imagination with the thought that we can still behold the very +place where, while the <a name="page_104"><span class="page">Page +104</span></a> grim King and his gaily-bedecked courtiers looked +on at the sports which were meant only as a prelude to a dreadful +tragedy, the actors in one of the great romances of the world found +love waiting for them before the gates of death. In any case, the +spot may well have been a most fitting one for the birth of an +immortal tale of love. For it is not improbable that, in its religious +aspect, it had a connection with a greater, a Divine namesake of +the human Ariadne. The great goddess of Knossos, in one aspect of +her nature, was the same whom the Greeks knew later as Aphrodite, +the foam-born Goddess of Love. To this goddess there was attached +in Crete the native dialect epithet of 'The Exceeding Holy One,' +'Ariadne,' and the Theatral Area may well have been the place where +ceremonial dances were performed in her honour. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Within the palace walls abundant remains of fine polychrome ware of +the Middle Minoan period were found as the season's work went on. +The dungeons of the preceding year's excavations were supplemented +by the discovery of four more, making six in all, and it was shown +that these pits must have belonged to a very early period in the +history of the buildings, for they have no structural connection +with the walls of the Later Palace, which, indeed, cross them in +some places. But the great discovery within the area was that of +the Temple Repositories. As the eastern side of the palace gave +evidence of having been the domestic quarter, so the west-central +part showed traces of having had a special <a name="page_105"><span +class="page">Page 105</span></a> religious significance in the +palace life. Religion, indeed, seems to have bulked very largely +in the economy of the House of Minos, which is what might have +been expected when one remembers the closeness of the relations +between Zeus and Minos as depicted in the legends, and realizes +that very probably the Kings of Knossos were Priest-Kings, and +perhaps even incarnations of the Bull-god. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Near the west-central part of the palace the Double Axe sign occurred +very frequently, and other evidences seemed to suggest that somewhere +in this vicinity there must have been a sanctuary of some sort. +This season's explorations confirmed the suggestion, for, near +the Pillar Room at the west side of the Central Court, there were +discovered two large cists, which had been used for the storage of +objects connected with the palace cult. The cist which was first +opened was closely packed, to a depth of 1.10 metres, with vases; and +below these there was a deposit of fragments and complete examples +of faïence, including the figures of a Snake Goddess and her +votaresses, votive robes and girdles, cups and vases with painted +designs, and reliefs of cows and calves, wild goats and kids. In +fact, this Repository was a perfect treasure-house of objects in +faïence; but in the second cist such objects were wanting, +with the exception that a missing portion of the Snake Goddess +was found, the place of the faïence being taken by gold-foil +and crystal plaques. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Some of the small faïence reliefs are of particularly <a +name="page_106"><span class="page">Page 106</span></a> exquisite +design and execution, particularly one of a Cretan wild-goat and +her young, the subject being executed in pale green, with dark +sepia markings, and characterized by great directness and naturalism +of treatment. Most interesting, however, were the figures of the +Snake Goddess and her votaresses. The goddess is 13½ inches +in height. She wears a high tiara of purplish-brown, with a white +border, and her dress consists of a richly embroidered jacket, +with laced bodice, and a skirt with a short double <i>panier</i> +or apron. Her hair is dressed in a fringe above her forehead, and +falls behind on her neck and shoulders; the eyes and eyebrows are +black, and the ears are of extraordinary size; the bust is almost +entirely bare. But the curious feature of the little figure is +that around her are coiled three snakes. One, which is grasped in +the right hand, passes up the arm, descends behind the shoulders +and down the left arm to the hand, which holds the tail. Two other +snakes are interlaced around her hips, and a fourth coils itself +around the high tiara. The figure of the votaress is somewhat similar; +but her skirt is flounced all the way down in the regular Minoan +style, and she holds a snake in her right hand. The characteristic +feature of both figures is the modernness of their lines, which +are as different as possible from those of the statues of classic +Greece. The waist is exceedingly slender, and altogether 'the lines +adopted are those considered ideal by the modern corset-maker rather +than those of the sculptor.' +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +<a name="page_107"><span class="page">Page 107</span></a> There +can be little doubt that these tiny figures point to the worship +of an earth goddess, whose emblem is the snake—the other +aspect of the heavenly divinity whose symbols are the doves. It may +be noted that at Gournia Miss Boyd (Mrs. Hawes) found a primitive +figure of a goddess, twined with snakes and accompanied by doves, +together with a low, three-legged altar, and the familiar horns +of consecration. Strangely enough, along with the Snake Goddess +of Knossos there was found in the Temple Repositories a cross of +veined marble, with limbs of equal length, which Dr. Evans believes +to have actually been the central object of worship in the cult, +and which he has placed in this position in his reconstruction +of the little shrine. This discovery, 'pointing to the fact that +a cross of orthodox Greek shape was not only a religious symbol +of the Minoan cult, but an actual object of worship, cannot but +have a profound interest in its relation to the later cult of the +same emblem which still holds the Christian world.' The fact of +the equal-limbed cross having at so early a date been the object +of worship also suggests the reason why the Eastern Church has +always preferred the Greek form of cross to the unequal-limbed form +of the Western Church. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Outside the area of the palace proper discoveries of almost equal +importance were made. About 130 yards to the east of the Northern +Entrance there came to light the walls of a building which Dr. Evans +has designated the Royal Villa. It proved <a name="page_108"><span +class="page">Page 108</span></a> to be by far the finest example yet +discovered of Minoan domestic architecture on a moderate scale, +and contained a finely preserved double staircase; while among the +relics found within its walls were some very beautiful examples +of the ceramic art, including a fine 'stirrup' or 'false-necked' +vase of the Later Palace style, decorated in lustrous orange-brown +on a paler lustred ground. Still more beautiful was a tall painted +jar, nearly 4 feet in height, bearing an exquisite papyrus design +in relief (<a href="#plate_XXIII">Plate XXIII.</a>). +</p> + +<div class="image" style="width: 608px;"> +<a name="plate_XIV"> +<img src="images/plate_XIV.jpg" width="608" height="784" + alt="Plate XIV"></a> +<p>CLAY TABLET WITH LINEAR SCRIPT, KNOSSOS (<i>pp</i>. + <a href="#page_80">80</a> & <a href="#page_241">241</a>)</p> +<p>From 'The Palace of Minos,' by Arthur J. Evans, in <i>The Monthly + Review</i></p> +</div> + +<p class="indent"> +The main feature of the Villa was a long pillared hall, measuring +about 37 by 15 feet. At the one end of it was a raised daïs, +separated by a balustrade from the rest of the hall, and approached +by an opening in the balustrade with three steps. Immediately in face +of the opening a square niche breaks the wall behind the daïs, +and here stand the broken fragments of a gypsum throne. A fine stone +lamp of lilac gypsum stands on the second step of the daïs +(<a href="#plate_XXIV">Plate XXIV.</a>). The two rows of pillars +which run down the hall divide it into a nave and side aisles, +and the hall presents all the elements of a primitive basilica, +with its throne for the presiding Bishop or Priest-King. It is +possible that we have here the first suggestion of that style of +architecture which, passing through the stage where the King-Archon +of Athens sat in the 'Stoa Basilike' to try cases of impiety, found +its full development at last in the Roman Basilica, the earliest +type of Christian church. 'Is the Priest-King of Knossos, who here +<a name="page_109"><span class="page">Page 109</span></a> gave +his decisions,' says Professor Burrows, 'a direct ancestor of +Prætor and Bishop, seated in the Apse within the Chancel, +speaking to the people that stood below in Nave and Aisles?'[*] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[Footnote *: 'The Discoveries in Crete,' pp. 10, 11.] +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +So far in the explorations at Knossos metal-work had been conspicuous +by its absence. That the Minoans were skilled metal-workers was +obvious, for many of their ceramic triumphs presented manifest +indications of having been adaptations of metal forms; and the gold +cups of Vaphio, which, there can be little doubt, came originally +from Crete, bore witness to a skill which would not have disgraced +the best Renaissance goldsmiths. But the men, whoever they may +have been, who plundered the palace at the time of its great +catastrophe, had done their work thoroughly, and left behind them +little trace either of the precious metals or of bronze. It turned +out, however, that in a block of building which stands between the +West Court and the paved area to the north-west of the palace, a +strange chance had preserved enough to testify to the art of the +bronze-workers of Knossos. One of the floors of this building had +sunk in the conflagration before the plunderers had had time to +explore the room beneath, and under its débris were found +five magnificent bronze vessels—four large basins and a +single-handled ewer. The largest basin, 39 centimetres in diameter, +is exquisitely wrought with a foliated margin and handle, while +another has a lovely design of conventionalized lilies on its border. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +<a name="page_110"><span class="page">Page 110</span></a> Mention +has already been made of the paved causeway which bisects the Theatral +Area of the palace. This was found, in 1904, to have a continuation in +the shape of a well-made road leading in a north-westerly direction +towards the hillside (<a href="#plate_XII">Plate XII. 1</a>). It +was overlaid by a Roman roadway, and an interesting comparison +was thus made possible between the Minoan work and that of the +great road-makers of later days. The Roman road came out rather +badly from the comparison, the earlier construction being superior +in every respect. The central part of the Minoan road consisted of +a well-paved causeway, rather more than 4½ feet wide, while +on either side of this there extended to a breadth of more than +3½ feet a strip of pebbles, clay, and pounded potsherds rammed +hard, making the whole breadth of the road almost 12 feet. Close +by this first European example of scientific road-making ran the +remains of water conduits, which may have led from a spring on Mount +Juktas, and near the road also were found magazines of clay tablets, +giving details of numbers of chariots, bows, and arrows, while in +the immediate neighbourhood of these were two actual deposits of +bronze-headed shafts. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +As the Minoan road was followed up in 1905, it led the explorers +towards an important building in the face of the hill to the north-west. +Its exploration was rendered extremely difficult by the fact that its +masonry ran right back into the side of the <a name="page_111"><span +class="page">Page 111</span></a> hill, which was covered by an olive +wood, beneath whose roots lay a stratum made up of the remains of +Græco-Roman houses. But the building, when explored, proved +to be well worth the labour, for the Little Palace, as it is called, +was an important structure with a frontage of over 114 feet, and +its pillared hall was worthy of comparison even with the fine rooms +of its great neighbour. In Late Minoan times part of this fine +hall had been used as a shrine, and in it were found, along with +the usual 'horns of consecration,' three fetish idols, grotesque +natural concretions of quasi-human type. Of these, the largest +had some resemblance to a woman of ample contours, while a smaller +nodule suggested the figure of an infant, and near it was a rude +representation of a Cretan wild-goat. The third nodule was of apelike +aspect. In view of all the religious associations of Crete, it +can scarcely be doubted that these grotesque images, 'not made +with hands,' represent Mother Rhea, the infant Zeus, and the goat +Amaltheia. The cult of stones, meteorites and concretions such as +these of the Little Palace, has been widespread in all ages; one +has only to remember the black stone which forms the most sacred +treasure of Mecca, the black stone which stood in the Temple of +the Great Mother at Rome, and the image of the great goddess Diana +at Ephesus, 'which fell down from Jupiter.' Hesiod's story of how +Kronos or Saturn devoured a stone under the belief that he was +swallowing the infant Zeus evidently belongs to the recollections +<a name="page_112"><span class="page">Page 112</span></a> of a +worship in which such natural idols as these were adored. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Hitherto Knossos had yielded only one small and inadequate +representation of that seafaring enterprise upon which the Minoan +power rested, though even this had, in its own way, a certain +suggestiveness of the romance and terror of the sea. It was a +seal-impression, found in 1903, in the Temple Repositories, on +which a great sea-monster, with dog's head and open jaws, is seen +rising from the waves and attacking a fisherman, who stands up in +his light skiff endeavouring to defend himself. The Little Palace +yielded a somewhat more adequate representation of the Minoan marine +in the shape of another seal-impression, which showed part of a +vessel carrying one square sail, and propelled also by a single +bank of oars, whose rowers sit under an awning. Imposed upon the +figure of the vessel is that of a gigantic horse, and the impression +has been construed as a record of the first importation of the +thoroughbred horse into Crete, probably from Libya, an interpretation +which seems to demand a certain amount of faith and imagination, for +Mosso's criticism, that 'the perspective is faulty,' is extremely +mild. But at least the representation of the vessel itself gives +us some idea of the galleys which maintained the Minoan peace in +the Ægean. +</p> + +<div class="image" style="width: 417px;"> +<p><a name="plate_XV"> +<img src="images/plate_XV_1.jpg" width="421" height="392" + alt="Plate XV 1"></a></p> +<p>(1) PALACE WALL, WEST SIDE. MOUNT JUKTAS IN BACKGROUND +(<i>p</i>. <a href="#page_84">84</a>)</p> +<p><img src="images/plate_XV_2.jpg" width="417" height="463" + alt="Plate XV 2"></p> +<p>(2) BATHROOM, KNOSSOS</p> +</div> + +<p class="indent"> +Among other treasures yielded by the Little Palace was a vessel of +black steatite in the shape of a bull's head. The idea was already +familiar <a name="page_113"><span class="page">Page 113</span></a> +from other examples, but the execution of this specimen was beyond +comparison fine. 'The modelling of the head and curly hair,' says +Dr. Evans, 'is beautifully executed, and some of the technical +details are unique. The nostrils are inlaid with a kind of shell +like that out of which cameos are made, and the one eye which was +perfectly preserved presented a still more remarkable feature. +The eye within the socket was cut out of a piece of rock-crystal, +the pupil and iris being indicated by means of colours applied to +the lower face of the crystal which had been hollowed out, and +had a certain magnifying power.'[*] Students of Early Egyptian +art will be reminded of the details of the eyes in the statues +of Rahotep and Nefert, and in the bronze statue of Pepy. 'Even +after the Cnossian ivories, faience figurines, and faience and +plaster reliefs,' writes Mr. Hogarth, 'after the Cnossian and Haghia +Triadha frescoes, after the finest "Kamares" pottery, and the finest +intaglios, the Vaphio goblets and the Mycencæ dagger blades, +one was still not prepared for the bull's head <i>rhyton</i> ... with +its painted transparencies for eyes, and its admirable modelling, +and the striking contrast between the black polished steatite of +the mass and the creamy cameo shell of the inlay work.[**] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[Footnote *: The <i>Times</i>, August 27, 1908.] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[Footnote **: <i>Fortnightly Review</i>, October, 1908, pp. 600, +601.] +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Within the palace proper, the work of 1907 witnessed the discovery +of a huge beehive chamber excavated in the rock underlying the +Southern Portico. <a name="page_114"><span class="page">Page +114</span></a> It had been filled in with later débris and +sherds of the Middle Minoan period, and evidently belonged to a +period antedating that of the construction of even the earliest +palace. Its floor was only reached in 1908 by a small shaft at +the depth of 52 feet from the summit of its cupola; and as yet the +floor remains largely unexplored, and may be expected to furnish +valuable information as to the Early Minoan culture. Professor Murray +has suggested that this huge underground vault may be the actual +Labyrinth of the legend, the underground Temple of the Bull-God, and +the scene of the dark tragedies which belong to the story of the +Minotaur; but for the confirmation or negation of this suggestion we +must wait until the great vault itself has been thoroughly explored. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Such, then, have been the outstanding results of the excavation +of the ancient palace of the Cretan Sea-Kings, so far as it has +yet proceeded. Of the wealth of material which has been brought to +light much, of course, still waits, and, perhaps, may long wait, +for interpretation. The facts are there, but the significance of +them is not always easily discerned. But, at least, the importance +of the supreme fact cannot be questioned; the emergence of this +magnificent relic of a civilization, so great and so advanced as to +fill the mind with wonder, so curiously corroborating the ancient +legends as to the greatness and power of the House of Minos, and +yet so absolutely lost as to have left no trace of itself, save in +romantic story, until the patience and skill of <a name="page_115"><span +class="page">Page 115</span></a> present-day explorers restored its +relics to the light of day to tell, though as yet only imperfectly, +their own tale of splendour and disaster. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The interpretation and co-ordination of the immense body of material +gathered by Dr. Evans must for long be the work of scholars. Perhaps +it is not too much to hope that when the Minoan script has at length +yielded up its secrets we shall be able to comprehend clearly those +historical outlines of the rise and magnificence and fall of a +great monarchy and culture, which at present have to be cautiously +and sometimes precariously inferred from the indications afforded +by scraps of potsherd and fragments of stone or metal. And then +the actual story of the House of Minos will appeal to all. To-day, +perhaps, the main impression left on the ordinary student by this +resurrection is one of sadness. Here was a kingdom so great and +so imposing, a civilization so highly advanced and so full of the +joy of living. And it has all passed away and been forgotten, with +its vivid life, and its hopes and fears; and we can only wonder +how life looked to the men and women who peopled the courts of +the vast palace, and what part was played by them in the fragments +of old legend that have come down to us. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The pathos of this aspect of his discoveries has not been missed by +the explorer. Writing of the restoration of the Queen's apartment +of the palace, a restoration rendered necessary by the decomposing +action of wind and rain on the long-buried materials, Dr. Evans +says: 'From the open court to the east, <a name="page_116"><span +class="page">Page 116</span></a> and the narrower area that flanks +the inner section of the hall, the light pours in between the piers +and columns just as it did of old. In cooler tones it steals into +the little bathroom behind. It dimly illumines the painted spiral +frieze above its white gypsum dado, and falls below on the small +terra-cotta bath-tub, standing much as it was left some three and +a half millenniums back. The little bath bears a painted design +of a character that marks the close of the great "Palace Style." +By whom was it last used? By a Queen, perhaps, and mother, for +some "Hope of Minos"—a hope that failed.'[*] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[Footnote *: The <i>Times</i>, August 27, 1908.] +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The little bath-tub in the Queen's Megaron at Knossos takes its +place with the children's toys of the Twelfth Dynasty town at Kahun +in bringing home to us the actual humanity of the people who used +to be paragraphs in Lemprière's 'Classical Dictionary' or +Rollin's 'Ancient History.' +</p> + +<h2><a name="page_117"><span class="page">Page 117</span></a> +CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<p class="subtitle">PHÆSTOS, HAGIA TRIADA, AND EASTERN CRETE</p> + +<p class="indent"> +We have followed the fortunes of the excavations at Knossos in +considerable detail, not only as being the most important, but as +illustrating also in the fullest manner the legendary and religious +history of Crete. But they are very far from being the only important +investigations which have been carried on in the island, and it +may even be said that, had Knossos never been excavated, it would +still have been possible, from the results of the excavations made +at other sites, to deduce the conclusion which has been arrived +at as to the supreme position of Crete in the early Ægean +civilization. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Both in the Iliad and the Odyssey Phæstos is mentioned along +with Knossos as one of the chief towns of Crete; and it is at and +near Phæstos that the most extensive and important remains +of Minoan culture have been discovered, apart from the work at +Knossos. The splendid valley of the Messara, on the southern side +of the island, is dominated towards its seaward end by three hills, +rising in steps one above the other, and on the lowest of the <a +name="page_118"><span class="page">Page 118</span></a> three, +overlooking the plain, stood the Palace of Phæstos, the second +great seat of the Minoan lords of Crete. As in the case of Knossos, a +few blocks of hewn stone, standing among the furrows of the cornfield +which occupied the site, were the only indications of the great +structure which had once crowned the hill, and it was the existence +of these which induced the Italian Archæological Mission to +attempt the excavation. In April, 1900, the first reconnaissance of +the ground was made, with no very encouraging results. By September +of the same year the great palace had been discovered, though, of +course, the full revelation of its features was a matter of much +longer time. The work has been carried on by Professor Halbherr, +Signor Pernier, and others, concurrently with the excavations of +Dr. Evans; and the result has been the revelation of a palace, +similar in many respects to the House of Minos at Knossos, though +on a somewhat smaller scale, and characterized, like the Labyrinth, +by distinct periods of building. At Phæstos, indeed, the +remains of the earlier palace, consisting of the Theatral Area and +West Court, with the one-columned portico at its south end, are +of earlier date than the existing important architectural features +at Knossos, belonging to the period known as Middle Minoan II., +the time when the beautiful polychrome Kamares ware was in its +glory, while the main scheme of the palace at Knossos, as at present +existing, must be placed somewhere in the following period, Middle +Minoan III. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +<a name="page_119"><span class="page">Page 119</span></a> This +first palace of Phæstos had been destroyed, like the early +palace at Knossos, but not at the same time, for it apparently lasted +till the beginning of the Late Minoan period, while at Knossos the +catastrophe of the first palace took place at the end of Middle +Minoan II. From this fact it has been suggested that the first +destruction of Knossos was the result of civil war, in which the +lords of Phæstos overthrew their northern brethren of the +greater palace, but the evidence seems somewhat scanty to bear +such an inference. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +After the catastrophe at Phæstos, a thick layer of lime mixed +with clay and pebbles was thrown over the remains of the ruined +structure as a preparation for the rebuilding of the palace, and +thus the relics of the earlier building, which are now unveiled +in close connection with the later work, though on a rather lower +level, were completely covered up before the second palace rose +upon the site. The Theatral Area at Phæstos to some extent +resembles that of Knossos, but is simpler, lacking the tier of steps +at right angles to the main tier, and lacking also the Bastion, +or Royal Box, which at Knossos occupies the angle of the junction +of the two tiers. It consists of a paved court, ending, on the +west side, in a flight of ten steps, more than 60 feet in length, +behind which stands a wall of large limestone blocks. As at Knossos, +a flagged pathway ran across the area, obliquely, however, in this +case. Beneath the structure of the second palace were discovered +some of the chambers of the earlier <a name="page_120"><span +class="page">Page 120</span></a> building, with a number of very +fine Kamares vases (<a href="#plate_XXVI">Plate XXVI.</a>). +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +But the chief glory of the palace at Phæstos is the great +flight of steps, 45 feet in width, which formed its state entrance, +the broadest and most splendid staircase that ever a royal palace +had (<a href="#plate_XXVI">Plate XXVI.</a>). 'No architect,' says +Mosso, 'has ever made such a flight of steps out of Crete.' At the +head of the entrance staircase stood a columned portico, behind +which was the great reception-hall of the palace. The halls and +courts of Phæstos are comparable for spaciousness even with +the finest of those at Knossos, and, indeed, the Megaron, so called +(wrongly), of Phæstos is a more spacious apartment than the +Hall of the Double Axes at the sister palace, the area of the +Phæstos chamber being over 3,000 square feet, as against the +2,000 odd square feet of the Hall of the Double Axes. The Central +Court, 150 feet long by 70 broad, is a fine paved quadrangle, but +has not the impressiveness of the Central Court at Knossos, with +its area of about 20,000 square feet. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +On the whole, the two palaces wonderfully resemble each other in +the general ideas that determine their structure, though, of course, +there are many variations in detail. But, as contrasted with the +sister palace, the stately building at Phæstos has exhibited +a most extraordinary dearth of the objects of art which formed so +great a part of the treasures of Knossos. Apart from the Kamares vases +and one graceful flower fresco, little of <a name="page_121"><span +class="page">Page 121</span></a> importance has been found. The +comparative absence of metal-work at Knossos can be explained by +the greed of the plunderers who sacked the palace; but Phæstos +is almost barren, not of metal-work alone. All the more interesting, +therefore, was the discovery, made in 1908, of the largest inscribed +clay tablet which has yet been found on any Minoan site. This was +a disc of terra-cotta, 6.67 inches in diameter, and covered on +both sides with an inscription which coils round from the centre +outwards. 'It is by far the largest hieroglyphic inscription yet +discovered in Crete. It contains some 241 signs and 61 sign groups, +and it exhibits the remarkable peculiarity that every sign has +been separately impressed on the clay while in a soft state by a +stamp or punch. It is, in fact, a printed inscription.'[*] One of +the hieroglyphs, frequently repeated, is the representation of the +head of a warrior wearing a feathered headdress which remarkably +resembles the crested helmets of the Pulosathu, or Philistines, +on the reliefs of Ramses III. at Medinet Habu. From his analysis +of the various signs Dr. Evans has concluded that the inscription +is not Cretan, but may represent a script, perhaps Lycian, in use +in the coast-lands of Asia Minor. No interpretation of the writing +can yet be given, but Dr. Evans has pointed out evidences of a +metrical arrangement among the signs, and has suggested that the <a +name="page_122"><span class="page">Page 122</span></a> inscription +may conceivably be a hymn in honour of the Anatolian Great Mother, +a goddess who corresponded to the Nature Goddess worshipped in +Minoan Crete, whose traditions have survived under the titles of +Rhea, Britomartis, Aphrodite Ariadne, and Artemis Dictynna. The +pottery in connection with which it was found dates it to at least +1600, perhaps to 1800, B.C.[**] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[Footnote *: A. J. Evans, 'Scripta Minoa,' p. 24.] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[Footnote **: See Appendix, p. 264.] +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The hill of Hagia Triada, about two miles to the north-west of +Phæstos, proved sufficiently fruitful to compensate the Italian +explorers for the incomprehensible barrenness of Phæstos. +Here stand the ruins of the Venetian church of St. George, itself +built of stone which was hewn originally by Minoan masons. The +retaining wall of the raised ground in front of the church had +given way, exposing a section of archæological relics, Minoan +potsherds, and fragments of alabaster, to a depth of more than six +feet; and this accidental exposure led to the discovery of the Royal +Villa, which the lords of Phæstos had erected as a dependency +of the great palace, or as a country seat. Hagia Triada proved to +be as rich in objects of artistic interest as Phæstos had +been poor. Some of the fresco work discovered, in particular a scene +with a cat hunting a red pheasant, reminiscent of the hunting-cat +scene on the Mycenæ dagger-blade, is of extraordinary merit. +The cat scene is judged by Professor Burrows to be superior in +vivacity to the famous Egyptian Eighteenth Dynasty tomb-picture +of the marsh-fowler with the trained cat, though to those familiar +with <a name="page_123"><span class="page">Page 123</span></a> the +wonderful dash of the Egyptian work in question this will seem a +hard saying. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +There can be nothing but admiration, however, for the three astonishing +vases of black soapstone which were discovered at the villa. They +remain a most convincing evidence of the maturity of Minoan art, +and the mastery to which it had attained over the expression of +the human form in low relief. It has been already noticed that +the fine Minoan pottery is largely an imitation of earlier work +in metal, and this is true also of these stone vases. What the +Minoan craftsman was capable of when he was allowed to deal with the +precious metals we can see from the few specimens which have survived +to the present time. The Vaphio gold cups, with their bull-trapping +scenes, are generally admitted now to be of Cretan workmanship, +though found in the Peloponnese, and Benvenuto Cellini himself +need not have been ashamed to turn out such work, admirable alike +in design and execution. Little of such gold-work has survived, for +obvious reasons. The metal was too precious to escape the plunderer +in the evil days which fell upon the Minoan Empire; and the artistic +value of the vases and bowls would seem trifling to the conquerors +in comparison with the worth of the metal. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +But the artists of the time worked not only in the precious metals, +but also in stone, trying to reproduce there the forms with which +they had decorated the vessels wrought in the costlier medium. +Probably, when the steatite was worked to its finished shape, <a +name="page_124"><span class="page">Page 124</span></a> it was covered +with a thin coating of gold-leaf, at least this suggestion, originally +made by Evans, has been confirmed in one instance, where part of +the gold-leaf was found still adhering to a vase discovered at +Palaikastro by Mr. Currelly. In the case of the Hagia Triada vases +the gold-coated steatite had no charms for the plunderer, who merely +stripped off the gold-leaf and left its foundation to testify to +us of the skill of these ancient craftsmen. The largest of the +three stands 18 inches in height. It is divided by horizontal bands +into four zones. Three of these show boxers in all attitudes of +the prize-ring—striking, guarding, falling; while the second +zone from the top exhibits one of the bull-grappling scenes so +common in Minoan art, with two charging bulls, one of them tossing +on his horns a gymnast who appears to have missed his leap and +paid the penalty. The figures are admirably modelled and true to +nature, save for the convention of the exaggeratedly slender Minoan +waist, which seems to create an impression of unusual height and +length of limb. The second vase (<a href="#plate_XXVII">Plate +XXVII.</a>) is much smaller, and represents a procession which +has been variously interpreted as a band of soldiers or marines +returning in triumph from a victory, or as a body of harvesters +marching in some sort of harvest thanksgiving festival. This +interpretation seems, on the whole, the more probable of the two. +In the middle of the procession is a figure, interesting from the +fact that he is so different from his companions. He has not the +usual pinched-in waist of <a name="page_125"><span class="page">Page +125</span></a> the Cretans, but is quite normally developed, and he +bears in his hand the <i>sistrum</i>, or metal rattle, which was +one of the regular sacred musical instruments of the Egyptians. +In all probability he is meant to represent an Egyptian priest, +though what he is doing in a Cretan festival it is hard to tell. +The three figures, possibly of women, who are following him, have +their mouths wide open, and are evidently singing lustily. One of +the figures, that of an elderly man, who appears to be the chief +of the party, is clad in a curious, copelike garment, which may +be either a ceremonial robe or a wadded cuirass. Apart from all +questions of what kind of incident the artist meant to represent, +the artistic value of his work is unquestionable. It has been said +of this little vase that 'not until the fifth century B. C. should +we find a sculptor capable of representing, with such absolute +truth, a party of men in motion.' +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The smallest of the three vases, only 4 inches in height, bears the +representation of a body of soldiers with heads and feet showing +above and below their great shields, which are locked together +into a wall. The shields are evidently covered with hide, as the +bulls' tails still show upon them. But the interest centres in +two figures which stand apart from the others. One seems to be a +chieftain or general; he has long, flowing hair, a golden collar +round his neck, and bracelets on his arms, while in his outstretched +right hand he holds a long staff, which may be the shaft of a lance, +or, more probably, an emblem of authority, like the staves carried +by Egyptian nobles <a name="page_126"><span class="page">Page +126</span></a> and officials. His legs are covered halfway up to +the knee by a genuine pair of puttees, five turns of the bandage +being clearly marked. He appears to be giving orders to the other +figure, perhaps that of a captain or under-officer, who stands +before him in an attitude of respectful attention. The captain +is slightly lower in stature than his chief, though this may be +due to the fact that room has had to be found for the tall curving +plume of the low helmet which he wears. His neck is adorned with a +single torque, and he carries a long heavy sword sloped over his +right shoulder. Instead of wearing puttees, like his commander, he +wears half-boots, like those on the figurine discovered by Dawkins +at Petsofa. Neither the chieftain nor his officer appears to wear +any defensive armour; their only clothing is a scalloped loin-cloth, +slightly more heavily bordered in the case of the chief than in +that of the soldier; and the modelling of the bodies, with the +indications of muscular development, particularly in the legs of +the chieftain, is exceedingly fine, and of an accuracy marvellous +when the diminutive scale of the figures is considered. The little +vase is a valuable document for the appearance and equipment of +the warriors of those far-off times, but it is also a treasure +of art. 'The ideal grace and dignity of these two figures,' says +Professor Burrows, 'the pose with which they throw head and body +back, is beyond any representation of the human figure hitherto +known before the best period of Archaic Hellenic art.' +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +<a name="page_127"><span class="page">Page 127</span></a> The interest +of another of the Hagia Triada finds arises from the fact that it +appears to represent a religious ceremony in honour of the dead. +The object in question is a limestone sarcophagus covered with +plaster, on which various funerary ceremonies are painted. The +artistic merit of the work is small, for the figures are badly +drawn and carelessly painted, and in all likelihood represent the +decaying art of the Third Late Minoan period; but the subjects and +their arrangement are of importance (<a href="#plate_XXVIII">Plate +XXVIII.</a>). On one side of the sarcophagus a figure stands against +the door of a tomb. He is closely swathed, the arms being within his +wrappings, and his attitude is so immobile as to suggest that he +is dead. Towards him advance three figures, one bearing something +which, by a stretch of charity, may be described as the model of +a boat, the others bearing calves, which, curiously enough, are +represented, like the great bulls of the frescoes, as in full gallop. +At the other end of the panel a priestess pours a libation into +an urn standing between two Double Axes, with birds perched upon +them. Behind the priestess is a woman carrying over her shoulders +a yoke, from which hang two vessels, while behind her, again, comes +a man dressed in a long robe, and playing upon a seven-stringed +lyre. On the opposite side of the sarcophagus, the painting, much +defaced, shows another priestess before an altar, with a Double Axe +standing beside it, a man playing on a flute, and five women moving +in procession. On the ends of the sarcophagus are pictures, in one +case <a name="page_128"><span class="page">Page 128</span></a> of a +chariot drawn by two horses, and driven by two women; in the other, +of a chariot drawn by griffins and driven by a woman, who has beside +her a swathed figure, perhaps again representing a dead person. The +figures of the lyre and flute players are interesting as affording +very early information concerning the forms of European musical +instruments. The double flute employed shows eight perforations, +and probably the full number, allowing for those covered by the +player's hands, was fourteen. The lyre approximates to the familiar +classic form, and the number of its strings shows that Terpander can +no longer claim credit as being the inventor of the seven-stringed +lyre, which was in use in Crete at least eight centuries before the +date at which his instrument was mutilated by the unsympathetic +judges at Sparta to put him on a level with his four-stringed +competitors. +</p> + +<div class="image" style="width: 417px;"> +<a name="plate_XVI"> +<img src="images/plate_XVI_1.jpg" width="383" height="463" + alt="Plate XVI 1"></a> +<p>A FLIGHT OF THE QUADRUPLE STAIRCASE +(<i>p</i>. <a href="#page_85">85</a>)</p> +<p><img src="images/plate_XVI_2.jpg" width="417" height="463" + alt="Plate XVI 2"></p> +<p>WALL WITH DRAIN (<i>p</i>. <a href="#page_98">98</a>)</p> +</div> + +<p class="indent"> +More important, however, is the suggestion of Egyptian influence +in the grouping of the figures. No one familiar with the details of +the ceremony of 'opening the mouth' of the deceased, so continually +represented in Egyptian funerary scenes, can fail to recognize the +original inspiration of the scene on the Hagia Triada sarcophagus. +The tomb in the background, the stiff swathed figure propped like +a log in front of it, the leafy branch before the dead man, taking +the place of the bunches of lotus-blooms, the offerings of meat, and +the sacrifice of the bull—this is an Egyptian funeral with the +mourners dressed in Cretan clothes. We have <a name="page_129"><span +class="page">Page 129</span></a> already seen a priest from the banks +of the Nile brandishing his sistrum in the Harvest Procession; +and the sarcophagus suggests that Egyptian religious influence +was telling, if not on the actual views of the Cretans as to the +state of man after death, at all events upon the ceremonial by +means of which these views were expressed. Phæstos and Hagia +Triada, we must remember, owing to their position, would be more +exposed to Egyptian influence than even Knossos, where traces of +it are not lacking. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The villa at Hagia Triada showed the same attentive care for sanitary +arrangements which has been already noticed at Knossos. Mosso has +noted an illustration of the honesty with which the work had been +executed. 'One day, after a heavy downpour of rain, I was interested +to find that all the drains acted perfectly, and I saw the water +flow from sewers through which a man could walk upright. I doubt +if there is any other instance of a drainage system acting after +4,000 years.' +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The excavations at Knossos, Phæstos, and Hagia Triada have +yielded, in the main, evidence of the splendour of the Minoan Kings; +but other sites in the island, while presenting perhaps nothing so +striking, have added largely to our knowledge of the common life +of the Minoan race. At Gournia an American lady, Miss Harriet Boyd +(now Mrs. Hawes), made the remarkable discovery of a whole town, +mainly dating from the close of the Middle Minoan period, though +the site had been occupied from the beginning of the Bronze Age. +Gournia <a name="page_130"><span class="page">Page 130</span></a> +had had its modest palace, occupying an area of about half an acre, +with its adaptation, on a diminutive scale, of the Knossian Theatral +Area, its magazines, and its West Court, where palace and town +met, as at Knossos, for business purposes. But the main interest +of the little town centred in its shrine and in the houses of the +burghers, with their evidences of a wonderfully even standard of +comfortable and peaceful life, by no means untinged with artistic +elegance. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The shrine, discovered in 1901, stood in the very heart of the +town, and was reached by a much-worn paved way. The sacred enclosure +was only some 12 feet square, and Mrs. Hawes is inclined to believe +that its rough walls never stood more than 18 inches high, forming +merely a little <i>temenos</i>, in which stood a sacred tree, and +the small group of cult objects which were still huddled together in +a corner of the shrine. 'It is true that they are very crude, made +in coarse terra-cotta, with no artistic skill; nevertheless, they are +eloquent, for they tell us that the Great Goddess was worshipped in +the town-shrine of Gournia, as in the Palace of Knossos. Here were her +images twined with snakes, her doves, the "horns of consecration," +the low, three-legged altar-table, and cultus vases. To complete the +list, a potsherd was found with the Double Axe moulded upon it, an +indication, perhaps, that some who claimed kin with the masters of +Crete paid their devotions at this unpretentious shrine.'[*] The +<a name="page_131"><span class="page">Page 131</span></a> smallness +of the shrine at Gournia may be compared with the smallness of the +sacred rooms at Knossos, and seems to have been characteristic +of the Minoan worship. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[Footnote *: 'Crete the Forerunner of Greece,' p. 98.] +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The 5-feet-broad roadways of the town, neatly paved, are conclusive +evidence of the infrequent use of wheeled vehicles. Flush with their +borders stand the fronts of the houses. Two-storey houses were +common, some of them with a basement storey beneath the ground-floor +when the slope of the hill admitted of such an arrangement. In all +likelihood the general appearance of the homes was much like that +of the comfortable-looking houses depicted on the faïence plaques +of Knossos, already referred to. Even ordinary craftsmen's houses +have six to eight rooms, while those of the wealthier burghers +have perhaps twice as many. Here and there evidences of the former +occupations of the inhabitants came to light—a complete set +of carpenter's tools in one house, a set of loom weights in another, +the block-mould in which a smith had cast his tools in a third. +That the citizens of the little town were not entirely ignorant +of letters was evidenced by the presence of a tablet bearing an +inscription in the linear script of Knossos, Class A, and the beauty +of their painted pottery shows that they were by no means lacking +in refinement and artistic feeling. The town was sacked and burned +about 1500 B.C., as its discoverer thinks, perhaps a century before +the fall of the great palace at Knossos. Partially reoccupied, +like other Cretan sites, during the Third Late Minoan period, <a +name="page_132"><span class="page">Page 132</span></a> it has since +then lain tenantless, waiting the day when its ruined houses should +be revealed again to testify to the quiet and peaceful prosperity +that reigned under the ægis of the great sea-power of the +House of Minos. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +At Palaikastro another town of closely-packed houses, covering a +space of more than 400 by 350 feet, has been revealed. Its existing +remains are of somewhat later date than those of Gournia, and the +houses are, on the whole, rather larger, but their general style +is much the same. Near the town, at Petsofa, Professor J. L. Myres +has unearthed, among a wealth of other votive offerings, a number +of curious clay figurines, interesting as being among the earliest +examples of polychrome decoration (they belong to Middle Minoan I., +and are painted in a scheme of black and white, red and orange), but +still more interesting—'with their open corsage, wide-standing +collars, high shoe-horn hats, elaborate crinolines, and their general +impression of an inaccurate attempt at representing Queen +Elizabeth'—as evidence of how utterly unlike was the costume +of prehistoric woman in the Ægean area to the stately and +simple lines of the classic Greek dress. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The Cretan discoveries have tended as much as any work of recent years +to reduce the extravagant claims which used to be put forward on +behalf of the Phœnicians as originators of many of the elements +of ancient civilization, and evidence is now forthcoming to show that +originality in even their most famous and characteristic industry, the +dyeing of <a name="page_133"><span class="page">Page 133</span></a> +robes with the renowned 'Tyrian purple,' must be denied to them and +claimed for the Minoans. In 1903, Messrs. Bosanquet and Currelly +found on the island of Kouphonisi (Leuke), off the south-east coast +of Crete, a bank of the pounded shell of the murex from which the +purple dye was obtained, associated with pottery of the Middle +Minoan period; and in 1904 they discovered at Palaikastro two similar +purple shell deposits, in either case associated with pottery of +the same date. +</p> + +<div class="image" style="width: 545px;"> +<p><a name="plate_XVII"> +<img src="images/plate_XVII_1.jpg" width="543" height="330" + alt="Plate XVII 1"></a></p> +<p>(1) HALL OF THE DOUBLE AXES +(<i>p</i>. <a href="#page_86">86</a>)</p> +<p><img src="images/plate_XVII_2.jpg" width="545" height="403" + alt="Plate XVII 2"></p> +<p>(2) GREAT STAIRCASE, KNOSSOS +(<i>p</i>. <a href="#page_86">86</a>)</p> +</div> + +<p class="indent"> +At Zakro, on the eastern coast of the island, Mr. Hogarth has excavated +the remains of what must have been an important trading-station. +In one single house of one of its merchants he came upon 500 clay +seal-impressions, with specimens of almost every type of Cretan +seal design, which had evidently been used for sealing bales of +goods. Some of the Zakro pottery also was of extreme beauty, one +specimen in particular, conspicuous from the fact that its delicate +decoration had been laid on subsequent to the firing of the vessel, +and could be removed by the slightest touch of the finger, showing +evident traces of Egyptian influence in its adaptation of the familiar +lotus design of Nilotic decorative art (<a href="#plate_XIX">Plate +XXIX. 2</a>). +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +On the tiny island of Mokhlos, only some 200 yards off the northern +coast of Crete, to which it was probably united in ancient days, Mr. +Seager has excavated, in 1907 and 1908, an Early Minoan necropolis, +from which have come some remarkable specimens of the skill with +which the ancient Cretan <a name="page_134"><span class="page">Page +134</span></a> workmen could handle both stone and the precious +metals. Scores of beautiful vases of alabaster, breccia, marble, +and soapstone, wrought in some cases to the thinness of a modern +china cup, suggest at once the protodynastic Egyptian bowls of +diorite and syenite, and show that if the Cretan took the idea from +Egyptian models, he was not behind his master in the skill with +which he carried it out. Not less surprising is the work in gold, +which includes 'fine chains—as beautifully wrought as the best +Alexandrian fabrics of the beginning of our era—artificial +leaves and flowers, and (the distant anticipation, surely, of the +gold masks of the Mycenæ graves) gold bands with engraved +and <i>repoussé</i> eyes for the protective blinding of +the dead.'[*][**] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[Footnote *: A. J. Evans, the <i>Times</i>, August 27, 1908.] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[Footnote **: For Mr. Seager's work on the Island of Pseira, see +'Excavations on the Island of Pseira, Crete,' by R. B. Seager. +Philadelphia, 1910.] +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Excavating outside the area of the palace at Knossos, Dr. Evans +opened, on a hill known as Zafer Papoura, about half a mile north +of the palace, a large number of Minoan tombs dating from the Third +Middle Minoan period onwards. They revealed a civilization still high, +though giving evidence of gradual decline in its later stages. The +earlier tombs provided, what had been singularly lacking at Knossos, +a number of fine specimens of the 'stirrup-' or 'false-necked' vase. +There was also a number of bronze vessels and weapons, including +swords, some of which were nearly a metre in length. In one tomb, +which had evidently belonged to a chieftain, there was found a +short <a name="page_135"><span class="page">Page 135</span></a> +sword of elaborate workmanship, with a pommel of translucent agate, +and a gold-plated hilt, on which was engraved a scene of a lion +chasing and capturing one of the Cretan wild-goats. The occurrence +in some of the tombs of a long rapier and a shorter sword or dagger +is unexpected, as there are no representations of the two weapons +being worn together in Minoan warfare. Mr. Andrew Lang has made +the picturesque suggestion that we may have here an anticipation +of the duelling custom of the Elizabethan age, in which the dagger +was held in the left hand, and used for parrying thrusts, or for +work at close quarters, as in the savage encounter between Sir +Hatton Cheek and Sir Thomas Dutton at Calais in 1610. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +On the hill of Isopata, between Knossos and the sea, Dr. Evans +also discovered a stately sepulchre, whose occupant had evidently +been some Minoan King of the Third Middle period. The tomb consisted +of a rectangular chamber measuring about 8 by 6 metres, and built +of courses of limestone blocks, which projected one beyond the +other until they met in a high gable, forming a false arch similar +to those of the beehive tombs at Mycenæ. The back wall of +the chamber had a central cell opposite to its blocked entrance, +and the portal, also false-arched, led into a lofty entrance-hall, +in the side walls of which, facing one another, were two cells, +which had been used for interments. The whole was approached by +an imposing avenue cut in the solid rock. The tomb had been rifled +in ancient days, but there still remained a golden hair-pin, <a +name="page_136"><span class="page">Page 136</span></a> parts of +two silver vessels, and a large bronze mirror; while among the +stone vessels found a diorite bowl again recalled the hard stone +vessels of the Early Egyptian dynasties. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The Dictæan Cave has already been mentioned as being peculiarly +associated with the legends about the birth of Zeus and his relationship +with Minos. Hesiod states that Rhea carried the new-born Zeus to +Lyttos, and thence to a cavern in Mount Aigaios, the north-west +peak of Dicte. Lucretius, Virgil, and Dionysius of Halicarnassus +all knew of a story in which the whole childhood of Zeus had been +passed in a cave on Dicte, and Dionysius assigns to the Dictæan +Cave that finding of the law by Minos which presents so curious a +parallel to the giving of the tables of the law to Moses on Mount +Sinai. Minos, he says, went down into the Sacred Cave, and reappeared +with the law, saying that it was from Zeus himself. And the last +legend, related by Lucian, places in the same cave that union of +Zeus with Europa from which Minos sprang. The Dictæan Cave, +then, is of special interest in connection with the origins of +the Minoan civilization, or, rather, with the fancies which later +minds wove around some of the sacred conceptions of the Minoan +civilization. It is a large double cavern, south-west of Psychro, +and some 500 feet above the latter place. Its exploration by Mr. +Hogarth revealed ample evidence of its early connection with the +cult of that divinity upon whom the Greeks foisted their own ideas +of Zeus. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +<a name="page_137"><span class="page">Page 137</span></a> A scarped +terrace overlooking the slope of the hill gives access to the shallow +upper grotto, in which were found the remains of an altar, and +close by a table of offerings, while the ground beneath the floor +of the cave yielded, in regular stratification, Kamares ware, +immediately above the virgin soil; then glazed ware, with cloudy +brown stripes on a creamy slip; then regular Mycenæan ware, +with the familiar marine and plant designs; and, uppermost, bronze. +The lower grotto has at first a sheer fall from the upper one, +then slopes away for some 200 feet to an icy pool surrounded with +a forest of stalagmites; and in this gloomy cavern the evidence +was manifest of an ancient cult of a divinity to whom the Double +Axe was sacred. There was a great mass of votive offerings of all +sorts—engraved gems, bronze statuettes (including a +Twenty-second-Dynasty figure of the Egyptian god Amen-Ra), and +an abundance of common rings, pins, brooches, and knives; but the +chief feature of the find was the Double Axe, of which numerous +specimens were found embedded in the stalagmites around the dark +pool at the foot of the cavern, some of them still retaining their +original shafts. It is evident that the cave on Dicte was the seat +of a very ancient worship, connected with that worship whose emblems +were the Double Axe Pillars in the Palace of Knossos, and that +this worship, as revealed by the character of the remains in the +grotto, goes back to the early days of the Minoan civilization. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Throughout all these explorations, covering a <a name="page_138"><span +class="page">Page 138</span></a> considerable portion of the island, +one common feature presents itself—a feature already noted +and commented on in connection with Knossos. Nowhere have we met +with anything in the remotest degree resembling the colossal citadel +walls which are the most striking feature of Mycenæ and Tiryns. +Phæstos and Hagia Triada are as devoid of fortification as +Knossos. Gournia and Palaikastro are open towns. Everything points +to the existence of a strong and peaceful rule, allowing the natural +bent of the island race to develop quietly and steadily during long +periods in those lines of work, alike useful and artistic, whose +remains excite our admiration to-day, and resting for generation +after generation on the sea-power which kept all enemies far from +the shores of the fortunate island and guarded the trade-routes +of the Ægean. +</p> + +<h2><a name="page_139"><span class="page">Page 139</span></a> +CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<p class="subtitle">CRETE AND EGYPT</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The question of the relationship between the Minoan civilization +and the other great civilizations of the ancient world, particularly +those of Babylonia and Egypt, is not only of great intrinsic interest, +but also of very considerable importance to the attempt at a +reconstruction of the outlines of Minoan history and chronology. +For it is only by means of synchronisms with the more or less +satisfactorily, established chronology of one or other of these +kingdoms that even the most approximate system of dating can be +arrived at for the various epochs of the great civilization which the +Cretan discoveries have revealed. Had it been possible to establish +synchronisms with both Babylonian and Egyptian chronology, the result +would not only have been satisfactory as regards our knowledge +of the Minoan periods, but might have proved to have a secondary +outcome of the very greatest importance in the settlement of the +acute controversy which at present rages round the chronology of +ancient Egypt from the earliest period down to the rise of the New +<a name="page_140"><span class="page">Page 140</span></a> Empire. +As it is, this has so far proved to be impossible by reason of the +absence from the chain of the Babylonian link. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +It may be held as reasonably certain that for many centuries there +was no lack of intercourse and interchange of commodities and ideas +between Crete and Asia; indeed, it is beginning to be more and +more manifest that in that ancient world there was infinitely more +intercommunication between the different peoples than had been +suspected. Far from the prehistoric age being a time of stagnation, +it was rather a time of ceaseless movement. Perhaps the most striking +example of the distance across which communication could take place +in almost incredibly early times is afforded by the discovery on the +site of ancient Troy—the Second City, roughly contemporary +with Early Minoan III.—of a piece of white jade, a stone +peculiar to China. By what long and devious routes it had reached +the coast of Asia Minor who can say? Yet the fact of its occurrence +there proves the fact of communication. +</p> + +<div class="image" style="width: 811px;"> +<a name="plate_XVIII"> +<img src="images/plate_XVIII.jpg" width="811" height="469" + alt="Plate XVIII"></a> +<p>THE KING'S GAMING-BOARD + (<i>p</i>. <a href="#page_87">87</a>)</p> +</div> + +<p class="indent"> +Up to the present time it cannot be said that any object unquestionably +Mesopotamian has been found on any Ægean site, nor any object +unquestionably Ægean on a Mesopotamian one. But it has been +suggested that certain carved ivories found by Layard at Nimrûd +in the Palace of Sennacherib show manifest traces of Ægean +influence; and in Southern Syria, at all events—at Gezer, +Tell-es-Safi, and elsewhere—indisputably Ægean pottery +<a name="page_141"><span class="page">Page 141</span></a> and weapons +have been discovered in sufficient quantity to show that there +was certainly communication between the Minoan civilization and +the shores of Asia. Intercourse is suggested also by the obvious +communities of religious conception existing between Crete and Asia. +In both places the divine spirit is believed to associate itself +with sacred pillars, such as the Double Axe pillars at Knossos; +in both it is personified as a Woman Goddess, the mother of all +life, to whom is added a son, who is also a consort; while the +emblems of the ancient cults—the guardian lions of the goddess +on the hill, the Double Axe, and the triple pillars with perching +doves—are property common to both Crete and Asia. This may not +point, however, to a continued intercourse, but only to community +at some early point of the history of both races. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Of actual traces of Mesopotamian influence singularly few are to +be found in Crete. Dr. Evans has shown the correspondence of a +purple gypsum weight found during the second season's excavations +at Knossos, with the light Babylonian talent, while the ingots of +bronze from Hagia Triada represent the same standard of weight. +It may be that the drainage system so highly developed at Knossos +and Hagia Triada found its first suggestion in the terra-cotta +drain-pipes discovered at Niffur by Hilprecht, though it is by no +means obvious that copying should be necessary in such a matter. +The clay tablets engraved with hieroglyphic and linear script suggest +at once the corresponding and universal use <a name="page_142"><span +class="page">Page 142</span></a> of the clay tablet for the cuneiform +script of Babylonia; and that is practically all that can be said +of any connection between the cultures of Crete and Mesopotamia. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The case is quite different, however, when we come to the relations +between Crete and the great civilization of the Nile Valley. In +this case there is, if not abundance, at all events a sufficiency +of evidence as to an intercourse which extended through practically +the whole duration of the Minoan Empire. For the Early Dynastic +period of Egyptian history the evidence is somewhat slight, and +the interpretation of it not always certain. When we come to the +Middle Kingdom of Egypt—a period contemporaneous with Middle +Minoan II. and III.—it becomes both more abundant and more +unquestionable in meaning; while with the New Empire (Eighteenth +Dynasty) and Late Minoan II. we reach absolutely firm ground, the +correspondence of art motives, and the actual proofs of intercourse, +especially on the Egyptian side, being indisputable. Our object, +then, in this chapter is to exhibit the evidence of the relationship +between Crete and Egypt, and to inquire to what conclusion it leads +us concerning the dates of the various periods of Minoan history. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +For the earliest period we are left with somewhat scanty evidence. +Professor Petrie has found in some of the First Dynasty graves at Abydos +vases of black hand-burnished ware, which are very closely allied, +both inform and colour, to the primitive <a name="page_143"><span +class="page">Page 143</span></a> 'bucchero' discovered immediately +above the Neolithic deposit in the West Court at Knossos; and he +has suggested that, as the pottery is not Egyptian in style, it +may have been imported from Crete. On various sites in the palace +at Knossos there have been found stone vessels of diorite, syenite, +and liparite, exquisitely wrought. Now, such work is eminently +characteristic of the Early Egyptian Dynastic period, the artists of +that time taking a pride in turning out bowls of these intensely +hard stones, wrought sometimes to such a degree of fineness as to +be translucent. The chances are against these bowls having been +imported in later days, as the taste for them gradually died out +in Egypt, and 'no ancient nation had antiquarian tastes till the +time of the Saïtes in Egypt and of the Romans still later.' +The stone vessels discovered by Mr. Seager at Mokhlos, though wrought +out of beautiful native materials, betray, according to Dr. Evans, +the strong influence of protodynastic Egyptian models. Coming down a +little farther, to Early Minoan III., there is evidence of Egyptian +influence in the fact that the ivory seals of this period seem +to derive their motives from the so-called 'button-seals' of the +Sixth Egyptian Dynasty. Mr. H. R. Hall believes that the derivation +was the other way about. 'It would seem very probable that this +decidedly foreign decoration motive was adopted by the Egyptians +from the Ægeans about the end of the Old Kingdom (=Early Minoan +III.), so that the Egyptian seal designs are copied from those of +the Cretan seal-stones, <a name="page_144"><span class="page">Page +144</span></a> rather than the reverse. Egyptian designs were very +ancient, and had the spiral been Egyptian, we should have found +it in the art of the Old Kingdom. It was a foreign importation, +and its place of origin is evident.'[*] Whether in this case the +Minoan borrowed from the Egyptian or the Egyptian from the Minoan +is, however, immaterial; either way the fact of intercourse is +established. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[Footnote *: Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archæology, +vol. xxxi., part v., p. 222.] +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +We may assume, then, that, in all probability, there was intercourse +of some kind between Crete and Egypt as early as the time of the +First Egyptian Dynasty, and that by the time of the Sixth Dynasty, +which marks the close of the great period of the Old Kingdom in +Egypt—the period of the Pyramid Builders (Third to Sixth +Dynasty)—intercourse was common. In fact, it may be said +that, from the origin of both peoples, the likelihood is that they +were in contact. It is possible enough that both the Nilotic and +the Minoan civilization sprang from a common stock, and that the +Neolithic Cretans and the Neolithic Egyptians were alike members +of the same widespread Mediterranean race. +</p> + +<div class="image" style="width: 391px;"> +<p><a name="plate_XIX"> +<img src="images/plate_XIX_1.jpg" width="391" height="535" + alt="Plate XIX 1"></a></p> +<p><img src="images/plate_XIX_2.jpg" width="383" height="539" + alt="Plate XIX 2"></p> +<p>IVORY FIGURES AND HEADS FROM KNOSSOS (<i>p</i>. +<a href="#page_76">76</a>)</p> +<p>From 'Annual of the British School of Athens,' by permission</p> +</div> + +<p class="indent"> +How was the connection between Crete and Egypt maintained at this +extremely early period? Professor Petrie believes that it was by +the natural and direct sea-route across the Mediterranean. The +representations of vessels painted on pre-dynastic Egyptian ware +show that the Neolithic Egyptians were familiar, to some extent, +with the building and <a name="page_145"><span class="page">Page +145</span></a> the use of ships, and Professor Petrie supposes +that galleys such as those represented were the ships by means +of which the Egyptians and Cretans maintained their intercourse. +Mr. Hall, on the other hand, maintains that this is impossible, +and that the boats of the pre-dynastic ware are merely small +river-craft, totally unfitted for seafaring work.[*] In his 'Oldest +Civilization of Greece' he roundly asserts 'that these boats were +the ships which plied between Crete and Egypt some 4,000 years +B.C. Nothing can ever prove'; and he therefore believes that the +communication was kept up by way of Cyprus and the Palestinian +coast. But the evidence either way is of so extremely slight a +character, and the delineations in question are so rude, that it +might as well be said that nothing can ever prove that these boats +were <i>not</i> the ships which plied between Crete and Egypt. +It does not seem obvious why the voyage between Crete and Egypt +should be impossible to navigators who could accomplish that between +Crete and Cyprus; and if communication were maintained by way of +Cyprus, it seems strange that that island should show practically +no trace of having been influenced by Minoan civilization until +a comparatively late date. 'It was not till the Cretan culture +had passed its zenith and was already decadent that it reached +Cyprus.'[**] That the Homeric Greeks were by no means daring navigators +does not necessarily <a name="page_146"><span class="page">Page +146</span></a> imply that an island race, whose whole tradition +throughout its history was of sea-power, should have been equally +timid. When it is remembered in what type of vessel the Northmen +risked the Atlantic passage, one would be slow to believe that +even in immediately post-Neolithic times the Cretans could not +have evolved a type of boat as adequate to the run between Crete +and the Nile mouths as the 'long serpents' were to face the Atlantic +rollers. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[Footnote *: 'Egypt and Western Asia,' p. 129.] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[Footnote **: H. R. Hall, Proceedings of the Society of Biblical +Archæology, vol. xxxi., part v., p. 227.] +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +But however the case may stand with regard to the pre-dynastic +period, there can be no question that by the end of the Third Dynasty +even Egypt had developed a marine not inadequate to the requirements +of the Cretan passage. We know that Sneferu, the last King of the +Third Dynasty, sent a fleet of forty ships to the Syrian coast +for cedar-wood, and that in his reign a vessel was built of the +very respectable length of 170 feet. Coming farther down, we know +also that Sahura of the Fifth Dynasty sent a fleet down the Red +Sea as far as Punt or Somaliland. And if the Egyptians, by no means +a great seafaring race, were able to do such things at this period +of their history, surely an island race, whose sole pathway to the +outer world lay across the sea, would not be behind them. There can +scarcely be any question that, by the time of the Pyramid builders +at latest, Cretan galleys were making the voyage to the Nile mouths, +and unloading at the quays of Memphis, under the shadow of the +new Pyramids, their primitive wares, <a name="page_147"><span +class="page">Page 147</span></a> among them the rude, hand-burnished +black pottery, in return for which they carried back some of the +wonderful fabric of the Egyptian stone-workers. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +But supposing that the connection between the primitive Minoan +civilization and the earliest Dynasties of Egypt is a thing established, +what does this enable us to assert as to the date to which we are to +ascribe the dawn of the earliest culture that can be called European? +Here, unfortunately, we are at once involved in a controversy in which +centuries are unconsidered trifles, and a millennium is no more +than a respectable, but by no means formidable, quantity. Egyptian +chronology may be regarded as practically settled from the beginning +of the Eighteenth Dynasty downwards. There is a general consent of +authority that Aahmes, the founder of that Dynasty, began to reign +about 1580 B.C., and the dates assigned by the various schools of +chronology to the subsequent Dynasties differ only by quantities so +small as to be practically negligible. But when we attempt to trace +the chronology upwards from 1580 B.C., the consent of authorities +immediately vanishes, and is replaced by a gulf of divergence which +there is no possibility of bridging. The great divergence occurs in +the well-known dark period of Egyptian history between the Twelfth +and the Eighteenth Dynasties, where monumental evidence is extremely +scanty, almost non-existent, and where historians have to grope +for facts with no better light to guide them than is afforded by +the History of Manetho, and the torn <a name="page_148"><span +class="page">Page 148</span></a> fragments of the Turin Papyrus. +The traditional dating used to place the end of the Twelfth Dynasty +somewhere around 2500 B.C., allowing thus some 900 odd years for the +intervening dynasties before the rise of the Eighteenth. The modern +German school, however, represented by Erman, Mahler, Meyer, and the +American, Professor Breasted, arguing from the astronomical evidence +of the Kahun Papyrus, cuts this allowance short by over 700 years, +allowing only 208 years for the great gap, and proposing to pack the +five Dynasties and the Hyksos domination into that time. Professor +Petrie, finally, accepting, like the German school, the astronomical +evidence of the Kahun Papyrus, interprets it differently, and pushes +back the dates by a complete cycle of 1,460 years, allowing 1,666 +years for the gap between the Twelfth Dynasty and the Eighteenth. +Thus, even between the traditional and the German dating there is a +gulf of 700 years for all dates of the Twelfth Dynasty, while as +between the German dating and that of Professor Petrie the gulf +widens to over 1,400 years. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Into the question of which system of dating should be adopted it +is impossible to enter, though it may be said that if 1,666 years +seems a huge allowance for the five Dynasties, 208 years seems +almost incredibly small. The result is what concerns us here, and +we are faced with the fact that, while the traditional dating places +the First Egyptian Dynasty at about 4000 B.C., the German school +would bring it down to 3400 B.C., and Professor Petrie thrusts it +<a name="page_149"><span class="page">Page 149</span></a> back +to 5510 B.C. Dr. Evans, in provisionally assigning dates to the +periods of Minoan history, formerly drew nearer to the traditional +than to either the German dating or that of Professor Petrie; but +he has gradually modified this position, and now dates his Middle +Minoan II., which synchronizes with the Twelfth Egyptian Dynasty, +at 2000 B.C., thus practically accepting the chronology of the +German school. This would place Early Minoan I., which must be +equated with the First Dynasty, about 3400 B.C. Practically, all +that can be said with a moderate amount of certainty is that the +earliest civilization of Crete, like that of Egypt, was in existence +at a period not much later than 3500 B.C., while it is not impossible +that it may be 1,500 years older. Even accepting the lower figure, the +antiquity of man's first settlements on the hill of Kephala becomes +absolutely staggering to the mind. If the growth of deposit on the +hill was at the rate of something like 3 feet in a millennium—a +reasonable supposition—it follows that we must place the +earliest habitations of Neolithic man at Knossos not later than +10000, perhaps as early as 12000 B.C. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +It is not till many centuries after the Sixth Egyptian Dynasty +had passed away that we come upon fresh evidence of the connection +between the two countries. The earlier palaces at Knossos and +Phæstos had been built, and the first period of Middle Minoan, +with its beginnings of polychrome decoration and its Queen Elizabeth +figurines from Petsofa, had come and gone in Crete, while in <a +name="page_150"><span class="page">Page 150</span></a> Egypt the +corresponding period had been marked by the troublous times between +the Seventh and the Eleventh Dynasties. But the rise of the Twelfth +Dynasty in Egypt marked the beginning of a more stable state of +affairs in the Nile Valley, and in this period, which corresponds +with Dr. Evans's Middle Minoan II., there are again evidences of +touch between the two kingdoms. With regard to absolute dating, we +are of course as much in the dark as ever, and may choose between +2000, 2500, and 3459 B.C. In any case, at this point, put it +provisionally at 2000 B.C., the Egypt of the Senuserts and Amenemhats +and the Crete of Middle Minoan II. are manifestly contemporaneous, +and in well-established connection. In Crete this was the period +when the beautiful polychrome Kamares ware was at the height of +its popularity, and at Kahun, close to the pyramid of Senusert +II., Professor Petrie some years ago discovered some unquestionable +specimens of this fine ware, which had certainly been imported from +Crete, as the fabric is one quite unknown to native Egyptian ceramic +art. Even more conclusive was Professor Garstang's discovery, in an +untouched tomb at Abydos, of a polychrome vessel in the latest +style of the period, in company with glazed steatite cylinders, +which bear the names of Senusert III. and Amenemhat III., the last +great Kings of the Twelfth Dynasty. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +But the most interesting link between the two countries is found +in the fact that in this period there was erected in Egypt the +building which came to be <a name="page_151"><span class="page">Page +151</span></a> looked on as the parallel to the Cretan Labyrinth, +and which, with a curious inversion of the actual facts, was long +supposed to be the original from which the Cretan Labyrinth was +derived. The pyramid of Amenemhat III., the greatest King of the +great Twelfth Dynasty, and indeed one of the greatest men who ever +held the Egyptian sceptre, stood at Hawara, near the mouth of the +Fayum. Not far from it Amenemhat erected a huge temple, such as +had never been built before, and never was built again, even in +that land of gigantic structures. The great building was erected, +in a taste eminently characteristic of the Middle Kingdom, of great +blocks of fine limestone and crystalline quartzite. It has long +since disappeared, having been used as a quarry for thousands of +years; but the size of the site, which can still be traced, shows +that in actual area the temple covered a space of ground within +which Karnak, Luqsor, and the Ramesseum, huge as they all are, +could quite well have stood together. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Even in the time of Herodotus enough was still remaining of this +vast building to excite his profound wonder and admiration, and it +seemed to him a more remarkable structure than even the Pyramids. 'It +has,' he says, 'twelve courts enclosed with walls, with doors opposite +each other, six facing the north, and six the south, contiguous to +one another, and the same exterior wall encloses them. It contains +two kinds of rooms, some under ground, and some above ground over +them, to the number of 3,000, 1,500 of each.' He was not allowed to +inspect the underground <a name="page_152"><span class="page">Page +152</span></a> chambers. 'But the upper ones, which surpass all +human works, I myself saw; for the passages through the corridors, +and the windings through the courts, from their great variety, +presented a thousand occasions of wonder as I passed from a court +to the rooms, and from the rooms to halls, and to other corridors +from the halls, and to other courts from the rooms. The roofs of +all these are of stone, as also are the walls; but the walls are +full of sculptured figures. Each court is surrounded with a colonnade +of white stone, closely fitted.'[*] Herodotus believed that the +building belonged to the time of Psamtek I., in which, of course, +he was ludicrously far astray, but otherwise there seems no reason +to question that his description actually represents what he saw, +though no doubt his lively mind somewhat multiplied the number +of the rooms. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[Footnote *: Herodotus II. 148.] +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Pliny the elder, judging from his description, evidently saw much +the same thing at Hawara as Herodotus had seen, though time must +have somewhat diminished the splendour of the building. Now, to this +temple there was already applied in the time of Herodotus the name +Labyrinth. It used to be believed that the Hawara Labyrinth gave its +name to the Cretan one, and an Egyptian etymology was arranged for +the word 'labyrinth,' according to which it would have meant 'the +temple at the mouth of the canal.' The Egyptian form of the title, +however, is 'a mere figment of the philological imagination.' Probably +originality lies in the <a name="page_153"><span class="page">Page +153</span></a> other direction. The first palace at Knossos dates +from a period certainly as early as, probably somewhat earlier +than, the Hawara temple; and since the derivation of the word +'labyrinth' from the Labrys or Double Axe, making the palace the +House or Place of the Double Axe, seems quite satisfactory, the +Egyptian Labyrinth in all likelihood derived its name from the +House of Minos at Knossos. Apart, however, from any mere question +of names, there appears the interesting parallel that the two most +famous Labyrinths, the first palace at Knossos, and the great Hawara +temple, actually belong to the same period—a period when, +as we know from the other evidence, there was certainly active +intercourse between the two nations. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Mr. Hall has pointed out[*] the resemblance between the actual +building at Knossos and the descriptions left to us of its Egyptian +contemporary. The literary tradition of the Labyrinth of Minos +is that it was a place of mazy passages and windings, difficult +to traverse without a guide or clue, and the actual remains at +Knossos show that the palace must have answered very well to such +a description, while the feature of the Hawara temple which struck +both Herodotus and Pliny was precisely the same. 'The passages +through the corridors and the windings through the courts, from +their great variety, presented a thousand occasions of wonder.' +The resemblance extended to the material of which the buildings +were erected. The fine white limestone <a name="page_154"><span +class="page">Page 154</span></a> of Hawara must have closely resembled +the shining white gypsum of Knossos, and though the Egyptian Labyrinth +has passed away too completely for us to be able to judge of its +masonry, yet the splendid building work of the Eleventh Dynasty +temple of Mentuhotep Neb-hapet-Ra at Deir-el-Bahri, with its great +blocks of limestone beautifully fitted and laid, affords a good +Middle Kingdom parallel to the great gypsum blocks of the Knossian +palace. Of course we cannot attribute to Cretan influence the style +of the Egyptian building in this respect. For hundreds of years the +Egyptians had been past masters in the art of great construction +with huge blocks of stone, so that, if there is to be any derivation +on this point, it may rather have been Crete which followed the +example of Egypt. But it may not be altogether a mere coincidence +that, in a period of Egyptian history which we know to have been +linked with an important epoch of Cretan development, there should +have been erected in Egypt a building absolutely unparalleled, so +far as we know, among the architectural triumphs of that nation, +but bearing no distant resemblance, if the descriptions are to be +trusted, to the great palace which the Minoan Sovereigns had newly +reared, or were, perhaps, still rearing, for themselves at Knossos. +Is it permissible to fancy that the envoys of Amenemhat III. may +have brought back to Egypt reports and descriptions of the great +Cretan palace which may have fired that King with the desire to +leave behind him a memorial, unique among Egyptian buildings, but +<a name="page_155"><span class="page">Page 155</span></a> inspired +by the actual achievements of his brother monarchs in Crete? Whether +the idea of this relation between the two buildings be merely fanciful +or not, their resemblances add another illustration to the proofs of +the close connection between the Minoan and the Egyptian cultures +in the third millennium B.C. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[Footnote *: <i>Journal of Hellenic Studies</i>, 1905, part ii.] +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +With the succeeding Cretan epoch, Middle Minoan III., we come into +touch with the dark age of Egyptian history, the great gap covering +Dynasties XIII.-XVII., towards the close of which is to be placed +the Hyksos domination. As the age was so troubled in Egypt, it +is scarcely probable that we shall find much evidence there of +any connection between the two lands; but the evidence found on +Cretan soil, though slight, is conclusive as to the fact that +communication was maintained. For the earlier part of the period +we have the statuette, already mentioned as having been found at +Knossos, bearing the name of 'Ab-nub's child, Sebek-user, deceased, +born of the lady Sat-Hathor.' 'Who Sebek-user was,' as Mr. Hall +remarks, 'and how his statuette got to Crete, we have no means +of knowing.' But the 'deceased' in the inscription shows that the +statuette was a funerary or memorial one, and it is hardly likely +that such an object was imported merely for its own sake or for +its artistic value, which is slight enough. May it not be that +either Ab-nub, the father, or Sebek-user, the son, or both, may +have been Egyptians resident at the Court of Knossos, either <a +name="page_156"><span class="page">Page 156</span></a> as +representatives of Egyptian interests or as skilled artificers, +and that the statuette is the memorial of one who died far from +his native land, but not without friends to see that he did not +lack the funerary attentions which would have been his at home? No +doubt there was interchange of persons as well as of commodities +between the two lands; some of the artists and craftsmen of both +countries would naturally go to where there was a demand arising +for their work, or where instructors were being sought to teach +the new arts; and Ab-nub and his son Sebek-user may have drifted +to Knossos in this manner, and found at last their graves there. +Were they conceivably responsible for the 'imported alabaster vases +dating from the Middle Kingdom of Egypt,' which were found in the +royal tomb at Isopata? +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Towards the close of this epoch the ceramic art of Knossos shows +features which are directly attributable to Egyptian influence. +The art of glazing pottery was not a native Cretan, but an Egyptian +art; it is in full use in Egypt from the very beginnings of the +First Dynasty. But now we find it appearing in a high state of +development in Crete in the beautiful faïence reliefs of the +wild-goat and kids, the vases with the wild-rose in relief on the +lip, and the figurines of the Snake Goddess and her votaresses. +The Cretan artists, however, though they borrowed the process, +adapted it to their own tastes. In Egypt the native faïence +of the time is of strictly conventional type, with black design +on <a name="page_157"><span class="page">Page 157</span></a> blue; +but the Cretan emancipated himself from these limits, and made his +faïence reliefs in the polychrome style, which still persisted, +though now no longer so prevalent as it had once been. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The disastrous period of the Hyksos domination in Egypt has left +but one trace at Knossos, but that is of peculiar interest, for +it is the lid of an alabastron bearing the name of the Hyksos King +Khyan. It cannot be said that we know any of the Hyksos Kings, +but Khyan is the one whose relics are the most widely distributed +and have the most interest. The finding of the lid at Knossos, his +farthest west, is balanced by the lion, bearing his cartouche, +found many years ago at Baghdad, his farthest east, while in his +inscriptions he calls himself 'Embracer of territories.' So it +has been suggested that the Knossos lid and the Baghdad lion are +the scanty relics of a great Hyksos empire which once extended +from the Euphrates to the First Cataract of the Nile, and possibly +also held Crete in subjection. In all likelihood, however, the +idea is merely a dream; certainly so far as regards Crete it is +most improbable. In the palmiest days of the Egyptian navy the +Pharaohs never held any dominion over Crete, and even Cyprus was +never really under their rule. It is much less likely still that a +King of the Hyksos race, whose whole tradition is of the land and +the desert, should have succeeded in establishing any suzerainty +over a race whose whole tradition is of the sea, and which was +then in the full pride of its strength. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +<a name="page_158"><span class="page">Page 158</span></a> Another +era of history has passed away before we again find Crete and Egypt +in close touch with one another. In Crete the last period of Middle +Minoan had been succeeded by the first of Late Minoan, in which the +great palace of the Middle period was being gradually transformed +into a still larger and more magnificent structure, which was not to +be completed until the succeeding period. In Egypt the Seventeenth +Dynasty had at last, after long hesitation, picked up the gauntlet +thrown down by the Hyksos conquerors, and the War of Independence +had resulted in the expulsion of the Desert Princes and their race. +The conquering Dynasty had been succeeded by the Eighteenth, the +Dynasty of Queen Hatshepsut, Tahutmes III., and Amenhotep III., +and Egypt was in the full tide of a great revival, alike in +world-influence, in trade, and in art. Queen Hatshepsut, who states +in one of her inscriptions that 'her spirits inclined towards foreign +peoples,' had sent out her squadron to Somaliland, and Tahutmes +III. had organized a war-fleet on the Mediterranean coast-line. The +ancient Empire of the Nile was opening its arms in every direction +to outside influences, and was drawing into the ports of the great +river the commercial and artistic products of every known people. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Among the races who are most prominent in the Egyptian records +of the period are the Keftiu, who are frequently represented in +the paintings of the time, and always with the same characteristic +features, the same dress and bearing, the same <a name="page_159"><span +class="page">Page 159</span></a> products of commerce and art. Who, +then, were the Keftiu? The word means the people or the country 'at +the back of'—in other words, at the back of 'the Very Green,' +as the Egyptians called the Mediterranean. So that the Keftians with +whom the merchants and courtiers of Egypt grew familiar in the +times of Hatshepsut and Tahutmes III. Were to them the men 'from +the back of beyond'—the farthest distant people with whom they +had any dealings. But what race could correspond to these 'back of +beyond' men? In Ptolemaic times the word 'Keftiu' was unquestionably +applied to the Phœnicians, who had for long been the great seafarers +and carriers of the Mediterranean; and till recent years it was +generally believed that the Keftiu of the Eighteenth Dynasty were +Phœnicians also, though their faces, as depicted on the Egyptian +wall-paintings, did not bear the slightest trace of Semitic cast. +But the discoveries of the last few years have demolished that +idea for ever, along with many other beliefs as to the influence of +the overrated Phœnicians upon the culture of the Mediterranean +area, and the pictures of the Minoans of Knossos have made it certain +that the Keftiu of the Eighteenth Dynasty were none others than +the ambassadors, sailors, and merchants of the Sea-Kings of Crete. +Fortunately, the tomb-painting which has preserved so many interesting +details of Egyptian life, was never more assiduously practised +or more happily inspired than at this period. In all the chief +tombs there are pictured processions of Northerners, <a +name="page_160"><span class="page">Page 160</span></a> Westerners, +Easterners, and Southerners, the North being represented by Semites, +the East by the men of Punt, the South by negroes, and the West +by the Keftiu; and we can compare the men of the Knossos frescoes +with their fellow-countrymen as depicted on the tomb-walls of the +Theban grandees, and be certain that, allowing for the differences +in the style of art, they are essentially the same people. The +tombs which preserve best the figures of the Keftiu are those of +Sen-mut and Rekh-ma-ra. That of Sen-mut is the earlier, though +only by a generation, or perhaps rather less. He was the architect +of Queen Hatshepsut, the man who planned and executed the great +colonnaded temple at Deir-el-Bahri, and who set up Hatshepsut's +gigantic obelisks. His tomb at Thebes overlooks the temple which +he built at his Queen's command to be 'a paradise for Amen,' and +on its walls we can see 'the men from the back of beyond' walking +in procession, each with his offering to present to the Pharaoh. +There can be no question as to who they are. The half-boots and +puttees, the decorated girdle compressing the waist, not quite +so tightly as in the Minoan representations, the gaily adorned +loin-cloth, which is the only article of attire, all are practically +identical with the type of such a fresco as that of the Cupbearer +at Knossos. The conscientious Egyptian artists have carefully +represented also the elaborate coiffure which was characteristic of +the Minoans, who allowed their hair to fall in long tails down their +shoulders, doing part of it up in a knot <a name="page_161"><span +class="page">Page 161</span></a> or curl on the top of the head. +The tribute-bearers carry in their hands or upon their shoulders +great vessels of gold and silver, some of them exactly resembling +in shape the Vaphio cups, though much larger than these, some of +them of the type of the bronze ewer found in the north-west house +at Knossos. +</p> + +<div class="image" style="width: 497px;"> +<p><a name="plate_XX"> +<img src="images/plate_XX_1.jpg" width="497" height="361" + alt="Plate XX 1"></a></p> +<p>(1) MAIN DRAIN, KNOSSOS +(<i>p</i>. <a href="#page_98">98</a>)</p> +<p><img src="images/plate_XX_2.jpg" width="496" height="421" + alt="Plate XX 2"></p> +<p>(2) TERRA-COTTA DRAIN PIPES +(<i>p</i>. <a href="#page_98">98</a>) +</div> + +<p class="indent"> +Rekh-ma-ra, in whose tomb are the other notable pictures of the +Keftiu, was also a great figure in Egyptian history in the next +reign. He was Vizier to Tahutmes III., the conquering Pharaoh of +the Eighteenth Dynasty. The pictures on the walls of his tomb are, +at least in some cases, evidently more than mere racial studies; +they are careful portraits. 'The first man, "The Great Chief of +the Kefti, and the Isles of the Green Sea," is young, and has a +remarkably small mouth with an amiable expression. His complexion is +fair rather than dark, but his hair is dark brown. His lieutenant, +the next in order, is of a different type—elderly, with a +most forbidding visage, Roman nose, and nut-cracker jaws. Most of +the others are very much alike—young, dark in complexion, +and with long black hair hanging below their waists and twisted +up into fantastic knots and curls on the tops of their heads.'[*] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[Footnote *: H. R. Hall, 'Egypt and Western Asia,' p. 362.] +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +These Keftiu, then, were the Minoans of the Great Palace period of +Crete, the pre-Hellenic Greeks, the Pelasgi of old Greek tradition, +in whose time the great civilization of the Minoan Empire reached its +culminating point, and was within a little <a name="page_162"><span +class="page">Page 162</span></a> of its final disaster. It is a +fortunate circumstance that Sen-mut and Rekh-ma-ra should have +caused them to be portrayed when they did, for in two or three +generations more the glory of Knossos had passed away, never to be +revived. Greece gave to Egyptian scholars the key to the translation +of the hieroglyphics in the Greek version of the Egyptian text on +the Rosetta Stone; the paintings of the Theban tombs have paid +back an instalment of that debt in showing us the likenesses of +those 'Greeks before the Greeks' who dwelt in Crete. Perhaps some +day the debt will be fully repaid by the discovery of a bilingual +text in Egyptian and Minoan, giving us in hieroglyphics a version +of some passage of that Minoan script which now exists only to +tantalize us with records of an ancient history which we cannot read. +Such a discovery is by no means beyond the bounds of possibility. +It is not so long since Boghaz-Keui supplied us with a cuneiform +version of the famous treaty between the Egyptians and the Hittites +in the time of Ramses II.; perhaps some site in Crete or Egypt +may yet provide us with a bilingual treaty between Tahutmes III. +and the Minoan Sovereign of his time. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +After the time of Tahutmes, the evidences of connection between the +two lands grow scanty once more. The fact that the faïence of +the time of Amenhotep III. has discarded the old Egyptian tradition +of black upon blue, and now rejoices in splendid chocolates, purples, +violets, reds, and apple-greens, shows that Cretan influence was still +strong. <a name="page_163"><span class="page">Page 163</span></a> +Fragments of Late Minoan pottery found in abundance on the site of +Akhenaten's new capital at Tell-el-Amarna show that even in the +reign of this King, the heretic son and successor of Amenhotep +III., Crete was still trading with Egypt. But before Akhenaten +came to the throne, about 1380 B.C.—possibly twenty years +before that event—the great catastrophe which brought the +Minoan Empire of Knossos to a close had already happened. The Cretan +wares which filtered into Egypt after 1400 B.C. were the products +of the Minoan decadence, when the survivors of the Empire of the +Sea-Kings—a broken and dwindling race—were still trying +to maintain a slowly failing tradition of art under the new masters, +perhaps the Mycenæans of the mainland, who, driven forth +themselves by the pressure of Northern invaders, had crushed in +their turn the gentler sister civilization of Crete. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The Mycenæan 'stirrup-vases' pictured in the tomb of Ramses +III. (1202-1170 B.C.), and the representations in the tomb of Imadua +of gold cups of the Vaphio type, carry the connection down to the last +dregs of the dying' race; but by the time of Ramses III. the Minoan +kingdom had probably been dead and buried for about two centuries. +In fact, with the rise of the Nineteenth Dynasty in Egypt (1350 +B.C.), the name of the Keftiu disappears from the Egyptian records, +and in the place of the men from the back of beyond there appears +a confused jumble of warring sea-tribes, some of them possibly the +men who had overthrown the <a name="page_164"><span class="page">Page +164</span></a> Minoan Empire, some of them probably representing +the broken fragments of that Empire itself, who unite in attacks +upon Egypt, but are foiled and overthrown. In the record of the +earlier of these invasions, that which took place in the reign +of Merenptah (1234-1214 B.C.), the successor of Ramses II., it +is difficult to trace any names that have Cretan connections. The +Aqayuasha may conceivably have been Achæans; but that is +another story. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +But when we come to deal with the great invasion in the reign of +Ramses III., about 1200 B.C., we get into touch with tribes which +bear almost beyond question the marks of Cretan origin, and one of +which is particularly interesting to us on other grounds. In the +eighth year of Ramses III. The eastern coasts of the Mediterranean +were swept by a great invasion of the 'Peoples of the Sea.' 'The +isles were restless, disturbed among themselves,' says Ramses in +his inscription at Medinet Habu. Very probably the incursion was the +result of the southward movement of the invading northern tribes, +whose pressure was forcing the ancient Ægean peoples to migrate +and seek new homes for themselves. Landing in Northern Syria, the +sea-peoples quickly made themselves masters of the fragments of +the once formidable Hittite confederacy, and, absorbing in their +alliance the Hittites, who may indeed have been of their own kin, +they moved southwards along the sea-coast, their fleet of war-galleys +keeping pace with the advance of the land <a name="page_165"><span +class="page">Page 165</span></a> army. They established a central +camp and place of arms in the land of Amor, or of the Amorites, and +their southward movement speedily became a menace to the Egyptian +Empire. Ramses III., the last great soldier of the true Egyptian +stock, made effective preparations to meet them. Gathering at the +Nile mouths a numerous fleet, which carried large numbers of the +dreaded Egyptian archers, he advanced with the land army to meet +the invaders, his fleet also accompanying the march of the army. +The locality of the encounter between the two forces is doubtful, +some placing it in Phœnicia, and others much nearer to the Egyptian +frontier. In any case, a great battle was fought, both by land +and sea, and the Egyptian army and fleet were entirely successful +in the double encounter. The reliefs of Ramses at Medinet Habu +show the details of the battle, the Egyptian fleet penetrating +and overthrowing that of the sea-peoples, while the Pharaoh from +the shore assists by archery in the discomfiture of his enemies. +The result of the double victory was to put an effective check +on any aspirations which the invaders may have cherished in the +direction of a permanent occupation of Egypt, though quite probably +they continued to hold the territory they had already gained. +</p> + +<div class="image" style="width: 809px;"> +<a name="plate_XXI"> +<img src="images/plate_XXI.jpg" width="809" height="476" + alt="Plate XXI"></a> +<p>THEATRAL AREA, KNOSSOS: BEFORE RESTORATION +(<i>p</i>. <a href="#page_100">100</a>)</p> +</div> + +<p class="indent"> +The tribes which are mentioned in the inscriptions of Ramses as +having been leagued together in this attempt are the Danauna, the +Uashasha, the Zakkaru, the Shakalsha, and the Pulosathu, in alliance +with the North Syrian tribes. The Danauna <a name="page_166"><span +class="page">Page 166</span></a> are evidently the Danaoi, or Argives, +the same race which, under Achæan overlords, composed the mass +of the Greek army at the siege of Troy. As Danaos, the name-hero +of the race, was King of Rhodes and Argos, these sea-Danaoi may have +been Rhodian Argives. The Shakalsha are a more doubtful quantity, +having been variously identified with the Sikels of ancient Sicily +and with the Sagalassians of Pisidia. But the remaining tribes are +in all probability Cretans, fragments of the old Minoan Empire +which had collapsed two centuries before, and was now gradually +becoming disintegrated under the continued pressure from the north. +The Zakkaru have been connected by Professor Petrie with the coast-town +of Zakro, in Eastern Crete, and the identification, though not +absolutely certain, is at all events very probable. The Uashasha +have been associated by Mr. H. R. Hall with the town of Axos, in +Crete. There remain the Pulosathu, who are, almost beyond question, +the Philistines, so well known to us from their connection with +the rise of the Hebrew monarchy. The Hebrew tradition brought the +Philistines from Kaphtor, and Kaphtor is plainly nothing else than +the Egyptian Kefti, or Keftiu. In the Philistines, then, we have the +last organized remnant of the old Minoan sea-power. Thrown back from +the frontier of Egypt by the victory of Ramses III., they established +themselves on the maritime plain of Palestine, where perhaps the +Minoans had already occupied trading-settlements, and there formed +a community consisting of <a name="page_167"><span class="page">Page +167</span></a> five cities, governed by five confederate tyrants. +No doubt they brought under and held in subjection the ancient +Canaanite population of the district, whom they would rule as the +Normans ruled the inhabitants of Sicily. In the district which +they governed, and especially at Tell-es-Safi (Gath), Messrs. Bliss +and Macalister have discovered many specimens of pottery which +is obviously Cretan of the Third Late Minoan period, together with +ware which is local in the sense of having been manufactured on +the spot, but is quite certainly Late Minoan also in its design +and decoration. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +So, then, the nation with which we have all been familiar from the +earliest days of childhood as the hated rival of the young Hebrew +state, whose wars with the Hebrews are the subject of so many of +the heroic stories of Israel's Iron Age, was the last survival of +the great race of Minos. Samson made sport for his Cretan captors +in a Minoan Theatral Area by the portico of some degenerate House +of Minos, half palace, half shrine, with Cretan ladies in their +strangely modern garb of frills and flounces looking down from +the balconies to see his feats of strength, as their ancestresses +had looked down at Knossos on the boxing and bull-grappling of the +palmy days when Knossos ruled the Ægean. The great champion +whom David met and slew in the vale of Elah was a Cretan, a Pelasgian, +one of the Greeks before the Greeks, wearing the bronze panoply with +the feather-crested helmet which his people had adopted in their +later days in place of <a name="page_168"><span class="page">Page +168</span></a> the old leathern cap and huge figure-eight shield. +Ittai of Gath, David's faithful captain of the bodyguard, and David's +body-guards themselves, the Cherethites and Pelethites (Cretans +and Philistines), were all of the same race. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Though these last supporters of the great Minoan tradition had +fallen upon evil times, it is evident that they were not altogether +degenerate. The references to their cities in Scripture show that +they still retained the national taste for splendid buildings; +and no doubt their culture, though belonging to the last and most +debased period of Minoan art, was far in advance of that of the +rude Hebrew tribes. The golden mice and tumours which they sent to +the Hebrews along with the ark of Jehovah recall on the one hand +the skill of the Minoan goldsmiths, and on the other the votive +images of animals and diseased human organs placed in the old shrine +at Petsofa. The respect which was excited by their warlike prowess +can easily be read between the lines of the Hebrew story. A race +that to its opponents appears to breed giants is a race that has +proved itself thoroughly respectable on the field of war; and the +fact that a small league of five towns maintained itself so long as +it did, and was able to make itself so dreaded, points to bravery +and skill in arms altogether out of proportion to its actual strength +in mere numbers. Evidently the last Minoans succeeded in creating +an atmosphere for themselves in Palestine, and in impressing the +surrounding peoples with a wholesome terror of them. We may imagine +<a name="page_169"><span class="page">Page 169</span></a> the men +from Crete, lithe and agile, as we see them on the Boxer Vase of +Hagia Triada, swaggering in their bronze armour among the weaker +Orientals, much as the later Greek hoplite of the times of Psamtek +I. or Haa-ab-ra domineered over the native Egyptians. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +But all the same the Philistine was an anachronism, a survival from +an older world. The day of the Minoan, like that of his early friend +the Egyptian, had passed away. The stars of new races were rising +above the horizon, and new claimants were dividing the heritage of +the ancient world. To the new Greek the realm of knowledge and +art which his Cretan forerunner had not unworthily cultivated; to +the Mesopotamian the realm of armed dominance, to which also the +Cretan had once laid claim; to the Hebrew the realm of spiritual +thought, in which, by reason of our ignorance, we can say next to +nothing of the Cretan's achievement, save only that he too sought +for God, if haply he might feel after Him and find Him. +</p> + +<h2><a name="page_170"><span class="page">Page 170</span></a> +CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<p class="subtitle">THE DESTROYERS</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The Empire of the Sea-Kings had not been immune from disaster and +defeat any more than any other great Empire of the ancient world. +The times of conquest and triumph, when Knossos exacted its human +tribute from the vanquished states, Megara or Athens, or from its +own far-spread dependencies, had occasionally been broken by periods +when victory left its banners, and when the indignities it had +inflicted on other states were retaliated on itself. Once at least +in the long history of the palace at Knossos, if not twice, there +had come a disastrous day when the Minoan fleet had either been +defeated or eluded, when some invading force had landed and swept +up the valley, had overcome what resistance could be made by the +guard of the unfortified palace, and had ebbed back again to its +ships, leaving death and fire-blackened walls behind it. The Second +Middle Minoan period closes with the evidence of such a general +catastrophe, in which the palace was sacked and fired, and there +are also traces which suggest that <a name="page_171"><span +class="page">Page 171</span></a> the end of the preceding period +was marked by a similar disaster. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +But these catastrophes, whether the agents of them were mere sea-rovers, +making a daring raid upon the eyrie of the great sea-power, or +the warriors of rival mainland states, eager to avenge upon their +enemy what they themselves had suffered at her hands, or, as Dr. +Evans and other explorers incline rather to believe, Cretans from +Phæstos, whose purpose was merely to overthrow the ruling +dynasty, scarcely interrupted the current of Minoan development. If +the enemy came from without, he came only to destroy and plunder, +not to occupy, and, having done his work, departed; if from within +the Empire, his triumph made no breach in the continuity of the +Minoan tradition. The palace rose again from its ashes, greater +and more glorious than before, and men of the same stock carried +on the work that had been checked for a while by the rough hand of +war. The men of the Third Middle Minoan period reared the beginnings +of the second palace on the site where the first had stood, and in +the relics of their arts and crafts the same spirit which informed +the earlier period still prevails, with no greater modifications +than such as come naturally to the art of any nation by the mere +lapse of time. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +From the beginning of Middle Minoan III. to the end of Late Minoan +II.—a period, that is to say, of either some 500 or almost +2,000 years, according to the scheme of Egyptian chronology which +we may adopt—the civilization of Crete apparently followed +<a name="page_172"><span class="page">Page 172</span></a> a course +of even and peaceful development. At Knossos, Phæstos, and +Hagia Triada the great palaces slowly grew to their final glory. +The art that had produced the beautiful polychrome Kamares ware +passed away, and was succeeded by the naturalism which has left us +the Blue Boy who gathers the white crocuses, and the faïence +reliefs of the Temple Repositories, a naturalism which, with various +modifications in style and material, persists to the end of Late +Minoan I. In the midst of this period (Late Minoan I.) come what +are perhaps the highest developments of Minoan art in the shape of +the steatite vases of Hagia Triada, Boxer, Harvester, and Chieftain. +On the mainland the kindred culture of Mycenæ was rising to +its culmination, and the art represented in the Circle-Graves was +almost in the fulness of its bloom. Naturalism declines in its +turn, and is succeeded by the Later Palace style, more grandiose, +more mannered, and less free than that which had preceded it. It +was in the Later Palace period (Late Minoan II.) that the miniature +frescoes were painted, to preserve for us the strangely modern +style of the Minoan Court, with its flounced and furbelowed dames. +Naturalism, though failing, was still capable of great things, and +its last efforts in the palace at Knossos gave us the magnificent +reliefs of painted stucco, such as the bull's head and the King with +the peacock plumes. Over the seas, the Egyptians of the Eighteenth +Dynasty were setting down on their tomb walls those likenesses +of the Keftiu which have helped us <a name="page_173"><span +class="page">Page 173</span></a> to the date of this last development +of Minoan greatness. +</p> + +<div class="image" style="width: 775px;"> +<a name="plate_XXII"> +<img src="images/plate_XXII.jpg" width="775" height="556" + alt="Plate XXII"></a> +<p>THEATRAL AREA, KNOSSOS: RESTORED +(<i>p</i>. <a href="#page_100">100</a>)<br /> +<i>G. Maraghiannis</i></p> +</div> + +<p class="indent"> +Probably the power and grandeur of the Empire was never more imposing +than during the hundred years before 1400 B.C. The House of Minos +at Knossos had reached its full development, and stood in all its +splendour, an imposing mass of building, crowning the hill of Kephala +with its five storeys around the great Central. Court, its Theatral +Area, and its outlying dependencies. Within its spacious porticoes and +corridors the walls glowed with the brilliant colours of innumerable +frescoes and reliefs in coloured plaster. The Cup-Bearer, the Queen's +Procession, the Miniature Frescoes of the Palace Sports, stood out in +all their freshness. Magnificent urns in painted pottery, with reliefs +like those of the great papyrus vase (<a href="#plate_XXIII">Plate +XXIII.</a>), decorated the halls and courts, and were rivalled by +huge stone amphoræ, exquisitely carved. The King and his +courtiers were served in costly vessels of gold, silver, and bronze +<i>repoussé</i> work. The Empire of the Sea-Kings was at +its apogee, and on every hand there were the evidences of security +and luxury. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +But, as in the contemporary Egypt of Amenhotep III. a similar +development in all the comforts and luxuries of civilized life +was swiftly followed by the downfall under Akhenaten, so in Crete +the luxury of Late Minoan II. was only the prelude to its great and +final disaster. Exactly when the catastrophe came we cannot tell. +The Cretan Empire was certainly still existent in all its glory +in 1449 <a name="page_174"><span class="page">Page 174</span></a> +B.C., when Amenhotep II., the son of the great Tahutmes III., came +to the throne, for Rekh-ma-ra, the Vizier of Tahutmes, in whose +tomb the visit of the Keftian ambassadors is pictured, survived, +as we know, into the reign of Amenhotep. The twenty-six years of +Amenhotep II.'s reign, and the almost nine of Tahutmes IV., bring +us to the accession of Amenhotep III. in 1414, and the thirty-six +years of the latter take us to 1379 B.C. or thereby, when the heretic +Akhenaten, whose reign was to witness the downfall of the Egyptian +Empire in Syria, ascended the throne. Somewhere within these seventy +years the Empire of the Minoans passed away in fire and bloodshed, +and we shall probably not go far wrong if we suppose that the great +catastrophe came about the year 1400 B.C. The conclusion of Dr. +Evans is that 'it seems reasonable to suppose that the overthrow +at Knossos had taken place not later than the first half of the +fourteenth century.'[*] Mrs. H. B. Hawes places the fall of Knossos +at 1450; but Rekh-ma-ra must have still been living at that date, +and, as Professor Burrows remarks, 'it would at least be a strange +coincidence if Egyptian artists were painting the glories of the +Palace at the very moment when they were passing away.' +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[Footnote *: 'Scripta Minoa,' pp. 52, 53.] +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +That there was a huge disaster, which broke for ever the power of +the Sea-Kings, is unmistakable. The Minoan kingdom did not fall from +over-ripeness and decay, as was the case with so many other empires. +The latest relics of its art before the <a name="page_175"><span +class="page">Page 175</span></a> catastrophe show no signs of decadence; +the latest specimens of its linear writing show a marked advance on +those of preceding periods. A civilization in full strength and +growth was suddenly and fatally arrested. Everywhere throughout +the palace at Knossos there are traces of a vast conflagration. +The charred ends of beams and pillars, the very preservation of +the clay tablets with their enigmatic records, a preservation due, +probably, to the tremendous heat to which they were exposed by the +furious blazing of the oil in the store jars of the magazines, the +traces of the blackening of fire upon the walls—everything +tells of an overwhelming tragedy. Nor was the catastrophe the result +of an accident. There is no mistaking the significance of the fact +that in the palace scarcely a trace of precious metal, and next +to no trace of bronze has been discovered. Fire at Knossos was +accompanied by plunder, and the plundering was thorough. A few +scraps of gold-leaf, and the little deposit of bronze vessels that +had been preserved from the plunderers by the fact that the floor +of the room in which they were found had sunk in the ruin of the +conflagration, are evidences, better than absolute barrenness would +have been, to the fact that the place was pillaged with minute +thoroughness, and the unfinished stone jar in the sculptor's workshop +tells its own tale of a sudden summons from peaceful and happy +toil to the stern realities of warfare. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The evidence from Phæstos and Hagia Triada tallies with that from +Knossos. Everywhere there <a name="page_176"><span class="page">Page +176</span></a> are the traces of fire on the walls, and a sudden +interruption of quiet and luxurious life. The very stone lamps +still stand in the rooms at Hagia Triada, and on the stairs of +the Basilica at Knossos, as they stood to lighten the last night +of the doomed Minoans. Of course there are no records, and if there +were we could not read them; but it is easy to imagine the disastrous +sea-fight off the mouth of the Kairatos River, or elsewhere along +the coast, the wrecks of the once invincible Minoan fleet driven +ashore in hopeless ruin in the shallow bay, like the Athenian fleet +at Syracuse, the swift march of the mainland conquerors up the +valley, the brief, desperate resistance of the palace guards, and +then the horrors of the sack, and the long column of flushed victors +winding down to their ships, laden with booty, and driving with them +crowds of captive women. Similar scenes must have been enacted at +Phæstos and Hagia Triada, either by other forces of invaders, +or by the same host sweeping round the island. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +From this overwhelming disaster the Minoan Empire never recovered. +The palace at Knossos was never reoccupied as a palace, at least on +anything like the scale of its former magnificence. The invaders +possibly departed as swiftly as they had come, or if, as seems +more probable, they eventually established themselves as a ruling +caste among the subject Minoans, they chose for their dwellings +other sites than those of the old palaces. The broken fragments of +the Minoan race crept back after the sack to the blackened ruins +of their holy and beautiful house, not to rebuild it, but to divide +its <a name="page_177"><span class="page">Page 177</span></a> stately +rooms and those of its dependencies by rude walls into poor +dwelling-houses, where they lived on—a very different life +from that of the golden days before the sack. +</p> + +<div class="image" style="width: 563px;"> +<a name="plate_XXIII"> +<img src="images/plate_XXIII.jpg" width="563" height="709" + alt="Plate XXIII"></a> +<p>GREAT JAR WITH PAPYRUS RELIEFS +(<i>p</i>. <a href="#page_206">206</a>)</p> +</div> + +<p class="indent"> +In their own way they strove to continue, possibly under the modifying +influence of the art tradition of their conquerors, the great story +of the art of Knossos. There is no abrupt break in the style of the +pottery and other articles belonging to the latest Minoan period, as +compared with that of the days before the catastrophe. Technical skill +is almost as great as ever; it is degeneration in the inspiration of +the art that has begun. The spirit of the nation has been broken, +and its art is no longer living. Though the old models are followed, +it is with less complete understanding, with a perpetually increasing +interval, and with less and less fidelity. 'With the inability to +create new ideas of art and life,' says Dr. Mackenzie, 'is coupled +the slavish adherence to inherited tradition and custom in both. +Nothing new is produced, and nothing old is changed.'[*] 'For Crete +the sack is Ægospotami, Late Minoan III., the long months +that culminate in the surrender of Athens; the sack is Leipzig, +Late Minoan III., the slow closing in on Paris that leads up to the +abdication of Napoleon.'[**] Finally, even the technique fails, and +the great art which gave to the world the figures of the Cup-Bearer +and the King with the Peacock Plumes dies out in monstrosities. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[Footnote *: <i>Annual of the British School at Athens</i>, vol. +xiii., p. 426.] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[Footnote **: R. M. Burrows, 'The Discoveries in Crete,' p. 100.] +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +<a name="page_178"><span class="page">Page 178</span></a> The long +decay was to some extent arrested by the coming of other waves +of invaders, probably Achæans, to whose influence may be +attributed the change in customs which begins to show itself in the +post-Minoan period. Burning begins to take the place of inhumation +as a means of disposing of the dead; Continental types of weapons +make their appearance in the tombs; iron swords and daggers are +even found. In life the men who use these weapons are clad, not +with the Minoan loin-cloth, but with the garments which we associate +with the Greeks of the Classical period, garments which require +the use of the fibula or safety-pin to fasten them. The potter's +art begins to find new motives, and to develop the use of the human +form as a type of adornment in a manner almost entirely foreign to +the Minoan tradition. At last, perhaps four centuries after the +fall of Knossos, comes the great tidal wave of Dorian invasion, +engulfing the work alike of conquerors and conquered, and blowing +out all the landmarks of the ancient cultures. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +And through all these changes, and ever since, the ruined House of +Minos remained absolutely deserted, until, more than 3,000 years +after the sack, its echoes were wakened by the spades and picks +of Dr. Evans's workmen. Around the ruins grim and cruel legends +swiftly grew up. The old traditions, dimly surviving in the minds +of the native Cretans, of the bull-fight and the prize-ring, and +the tribute of toreadors from the conquered nations, seemed to be +corroborated by the very decorations of the <a name="page_179"><span +class="page">Page 179</span></a> palace walls, still visible amidst +the ruins, and around them were woven the stories which have come +down to us as legends of early Greece. 'Let us place ourselves for +a moment,' says Dr. Evans, 'in the position of the first Dorian +colonists of Knossos after the great overthrow, when features now +laboriously uncovered by the spade were still perceptible amid the +mass of ruins. The name [Labyrinth] was still preserved, though +the exact meaning, as supplied by the native Cretan dialect, had +been probably lost. Hard by the western gate, in her royal robes, +to-day but partially visible, stood Queen Ariadne herself—and +might not the comely youth in front of her be the hero Theseus, +about to receive the coil of thread for his errand of liberation +down the mazy galleries beyond? Within, fresh and beautiful on the +walls of the inmost chambers, were the captive boys and maidens +locked up here by the tyrant of old. At more than one turn rose a +mighty bull, in some cases, no doubt, according to the favourite +Mycenæan motive, grappled with by a half-naked man. The type +of the Minotaur itself as a man-bull was not wanting on the soil +of prehistoric Knossos, and more than one gem found on this site +represents a monster with the lower body of a man and the forepart +of a bull. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +'One may feel assured that the effect of these artistic creations +on the rude Greek settler of those days was not less than that of +the disinterred fresco on the Cretan workman of to-day. Everything +around—the dark passages, the lifelike figures <a +name="page_180"><span class="page">Page 180</span></a> surviving +from an older world, would conspire to produce a sense of the +supernatural. It was haunted ground, and then, as now, "phantasms" +were about. The later stories of the grisly King and his man-eating +bull sprang, as it were, from the soil, and the whole site called forth +a superstitious awe. It was left severely alone by the new-comers. +Another Knossos grew up on the lower slopes of the hill to the north, +and the old Palace site became "a desolation and hissing." Gradually +earth's mantle covered the ruined heaps, and by the time of the +Romans the Labyrinth had become nothing more than a tradition and +a name.'[*] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[Footnote *: <i>Monthly Review</i>, March, 1901, pp. 131, 132.] +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Who, then, were the invaders who, whether they remained as a ruling +caste in the land which they had conquered, or merely destroyed +and departed, inflicted upon the Minoan civilization a blow from +which it never recovered? The Cretans of Præsos, whose story +of the Sicilian expedition of Minos has already been mentioned, +stated to Herodotus that, after that great disaster, 'to Crete, +thus destitute of inhabitants ... other men, and especially the +Grecians, went, and settled there.' As Mr. Hogarth has pointed out, +'the men of Præsos were no doubt, in the true saga spirit, +foreshortening history by crystallizing a process into a single +event.' It is very improbable, in view of the evidence afforded by +the long survival and gradual decay of the Minoan tradition, that +there was any immediate general occupation of the island on the part +of the conquering race. The <a name="page_181"><span class="page">Page +181</span></a> process which finally resulted in the island of +Crete becoming 'the mixed land,' with a heterogeneous population +of Pelasgians, Dorians, Achæans, and other tribes, must have +been a gradual one, extending, in all probability, over several +centuries. Any large influx of foreign elements was impossible so +long as Crete was dominated by a great and warlike central power; +but once that power was broken by the catastrophe in which the +Palaces of Knossos and Phæstos were overthrown, there was +nothing to hinder the gradual drifting in of the wandering tribes +of the Ægean and of the North. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +How that catastrophe came about we can see, not with any certainty +of detail, but with some amount of probability as to its general +outlines, from that echo of a period of wandering and strife in +the Mediterranean area which comes to us from the records of Ramses +III. at Medinet Habu. 'The isles were restless, disturbed among +themselves,' and it was one of the later waves of that storm which +broke itself against the armed strength of Egypt about 1200 B.C. +Probably the process of migration had been going on for several +generations. The rude but vigorous tribes of the North had been +pressing down upon the races which had created that remarkable +Bronze Age civilization of the Danubian area, whose relics have +been coming to light of late years; and these in their turn, under +the pressure from the North, had been moving down towards the +Mediterranean, driving before them the peoples, probably of kindred +stock to <a name="page_182"><span class="page">Page 182</span></a> +themselves, who had occupied the lands of the Mycenæan +civilization. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +We know that long before the Homeric poems took shape the Achæans +had established themselves as the ruling caste in the Argolid, +in Laconia, and elsewhere; and that the pressure had begun even +while Mycenæ was at the height of its power is suggested +by the figures on one of the steles of the Circle-Graves, where a +Mycenæan chieftain in his chariot is pursuing an enemy whose +leaf-shaped sword shows that he was one of the Danubian race. The +Mycenæan was the victor in the first shock; but the steady +pressure of the tribes from the North was not to be permanently +resisted, and the end was the establishment of an alien race in +power at Mycenæ. The Mycenæan stele, where the chief +of the ancient stock pursues his Northern assailant, has its +<i>motif</i> reversed in the archaic Greek stele discovered by +Dr. Pernier at Gortyna, where a big Northerner with round shield +and greaves threatens a tiny Minoan or Mycenæan, crouching +behind his figure-of-eight shield. The two rude pictures may be +taken as typical of the beginning and the end of the process which +resulted in the establishment of the race of Agamemnon at 'Golden +Mycenæ.' Pressed upon thus by the warlike Achæans, +perhaps already forced from their homes on the mainland, the +Mycenæans of Tiryns and Mycenæ were obliged to fare +forth in search of new dwelling-places. Not unnaturally the emigrants +may have turned to the land from which their civilization had <a +name="page_183"><span class="page">Page 183</span></a> originally +sprung, in the expectation that the Cretans would not refuse a +welcome and a home to men of their own stock. Seemingly they were +disappointed in their expectation. The Minoans, or, at least, the +Minoan rulers, were not prepared to admit peacefully the incursion +of this new element into their kingdom; and the wanderers, under +the spur of desperate need, took by force what was denied to them as +suppliants. So, in all probability, the glory of the Minoan Empire +was destroyed by the hands of its own children, the descendants +of men whom Knossos herself had sent forth to hold her mainland +colonies.[*] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[Footnote *: <i>Cf</i>. Dr. Mackenzie, <i>Annual of the British +School at Athens</i>, vol. xiii., pp. 424, 425.] +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +In such circumstances there would be no sudden eclipse of the ancient +culture. Modified slightly, if at all, by the influx of what, after +all, was a kindred element, it would persist, as the evidence shows +it persisted, until it perished of natural decay. Even when the +Achæans, and, later still, the Dorians, followed in the wake +of the Mycenæan immigrants, though their advent brought, as +we have seen, important changes in customs and in art motives, +the ancient native culture remained the fundamental element of +the newer civilization. It has been pointed out by Mr. Hogarth +that the Geometric vases of the early Iron Age in Crete exhibit +in their decoration merely stylized Minoan motives, while 'the +shields and other bronzes of the Idæan Cave, the latest of +which come down probably to <a name="page_184"><span class="page">Page +184</span></a> the ninth or even the eighth century, are artistic +descendants of Minoan masterpieces modified by some element of +uncouthness which was probably of Northern origin.'[*] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[Footnote *: <i>Fortnightly Review</i>, October, 1908, p. 602.] +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Thus in slow decay, after the great catastrophe, passed away the +great civilization of the Minoan Empire. Not all of the tribes +which had owned the dominion of the House of Minos were content, +however, to remain as subjects to the mainland conquerors. The +destruction of the central power at Knossos must have involved, as +Dr. Evans has suggested,[*] the collapse of much of the commerce +on which the island of the Hundred Cities depended for the support +of its great population. Already in the reign of Amenhotep III. +of Egypt, that powerful monarch had been obliged to establish a +special coastguard service at the mouths of the Nile to protect +his trade-routes against the Lycian pirates. When the Minoan fleet +was no longer in being to police the Ægean, these and other +piratical races must have quickly driven the Cretan merchant marine +from the seas. The purple fisheries and the oil trade would dwindle +and die, and the population which had been supported by them would be +driven from a land which could no longer maintain it. The colonizing +movement which has left traces of Minoan culture in Anatolia, in +Palestine, in Sicily, and even in Spain, began, no doubt, at an +earlier period, when the Empire of the Sea-Kings was in its full +strength; <a name="page_185"><span class="page">Page 185</span></a> +but it probably received a considerable impulse at this time of +forced emigration. The sudden introduction of the same culture +into Cyprus at some period after 1400 B.C. has been referred to +conquest by men of the Ægean race, who may very well have +been the men of Knossos driven forth by the pressure of altered +conditions to find a new home for themselves. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[Footnote *: 'Scripta Minoa,' p. 59.] +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The Mycenæan pottery found at Tell-el-Amarna shows that there +was still an opening in Egypt for the products of Ægean art +at least as late as the reign of Akhenaten; and it is more than +probable that in Egypt many of the <i>émigrés</i> +of the Minoan <i>débâcle</i> found a home. The art +of the reign of Akhenaten is characterized by the somewhat sudden +outburst of a naturalistic style almost entirely foreign to the +Egyptian tradition; and, as Mr. Hall foresaw eleven years ago, +it has been suggested[*] that the naturalism of Tell-el-Amarna +owes some of its inspiration to the influence of the fugitives +who brought with them from Crete the traditions of the great art +of Knossos. Such a suggestion is no longer so improbable as it +seemed to be in 1901, when it was still a tenable theory that the +new development of Egyptian art was due to Mesopotamian influence, +and came from Mitanni with Queen Tyi, the wife of Amenhotep III. +Now that it is certain that Tyi was no Mitannian, but a native +Egyptian, that door is closed, and we must suppose either that +Egyptian art suddenly and spontaneously <a name="page_186"><span +class="page">Page 186</span></a> awakened to a new style of vision +and execution, from which, again, it as suddenly departed, or else +that some foreign influence was working strongly upon the rigid +Egyptian convention, modifying and vivifying it. If a foreign influence, +why not the influence of the Minoan <i>émigrés</i>, +whose art we at least know to have been capable of such an effect? +Of course, it is, after all, matter of surmise, and perhaps the +chances are rather in favour of the new art of Akhenaten's time +having been a genuinely native growth, influenced and inspired by +the new ideas with which the heretic King was seeking to leaven +the national life; but it is certainly far from unlikely that the +break-up of the Minoan Empire did influence the art of Egypt, and +perhaps that or other nations, in a manner something similar to, +though on a smaller scale than, that in which the capture of +Constantinople influenced the culture of Europe in the fifteenth +century. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[Footnote *: R. M. Burrows, 'The Discoveries in Crete,' p. 96.] +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +We have already seen the evidence for the migration of Minoan tribes +of a later age in the assault of the Zakkaru and Pulosathu upon +Egypt 200 years after the fall of Knossos, and the establishment +of the latter tribe as an independent power upon the coast of +Palestine—events which may have been due to the advance of +another wave of Northern colonists upon the shores of Crete. One +more glimpse of the dying sea-power of the Cretan race, now itself +disorganized and predatory, is given us by the Golenischeff papyrus, +which tells, among other adventures of the unfortunate Wen-Amon, +envoy of Her-hor, <a name="page_187"><span class="page">Page +187</span></a> the priest-King of Upper Egypt (<i>circa</i> 1100 +B.C.), how the Egyptian ambassador was threatened with capture by +eleven ships of Zakru pirates, who put into Byblos when he was +about to sail thence. Whether these were genuine Minoans or not, +it is impossible to tell; their immediate connection was apparently +with Dor, on the coast of Palestine; but their name suggests the +town of Zakro, in Eastern Crete, and it is not unlikely that they +belonged to the same race as the Zakkaru of the time of Ramses +III. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Thereafter the Egyptian records are silent as to the scattered +tribes of Crete, just as they had been silent since the rise of +the Nineteenth Dynasty as to the organized Empire of the Keftians. +The eleven shiploads of Zakru sea-robbers are the last degenerate +representatives of the great marine which, under the Kings of the +House of Minos, had once held the undisputed Empire of the Ægean. +The ring of Minos was destined to lie for long ages beneath the +waves before the descendants of Theseus brought it up again. +</p> + +<h2><a name="page_188"><span class="page">Page 188</span></a> +CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<p class="subtitle">THE PERIODS OF MINOAN CULTURE</p> + +<p class="indent"> +We must now endeavour to form some idea of the various periods +into which the long enduring culture of the Minoan Empire more +or less naturally falls, and to note some of the characteristic +features of each period. The chief aid in the formation of such +an idea is given by the remains of the pottery which have survived +from each period, and it is largely from the classification of +the pottery at Knossos and other sites that the scheme adopted +by Dr. Evans and other workers has been derived. The deposit left +by Neolithic man on the hill of Kephala averages about 6 metres +in thickness below the later deposit which marks the occupation +of the site by the post-Neolithic culture. We are thus led to an +almost fabulous antiquity for the first occupation of the site. +In the earliest beginnings of human development, progress, with +its consequent accumulation, is slow, and if we allow a rate of +3 feet of deposit for each thousand years, we shall probably not +be very far wrong. Such an allowance brings us to about 10,000 +B.C. as the time <a name="page_189"><span class="page">Page +189</span></a> when Neolithic man began his first settlement on +the hill of Knossos. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +<i>Neolithic Age</i>.—The remains found in the deposit of +this period are naturally of a very simple and primitive character. +They consist of pottery, handmade without any use of the wheel, +and hand-burnished, black in colour, and, in the latest specimens, +adorned with incised ornament, which is sometimes filled in with a +white chalky substance. While this description is characteristic +of the deposit generally, a gradual progress in the potter's art is +traceable from the virgin soil upwards. In the earliest stratum, +immediately above the depositless virgin soil, the pottery, for the +depth of the first metre, was entirely plain, unfired, polished +within and without, with no appearance of narrowed necks or moulded +bases. The next metre shows the beginning of incised ornament, but +in almost inappreciable quantity, and the third and fourth metres +show the gradual, but extremely slow, growth of this species of +decoration, the proportion of incised vases in the fourth metre only +reaching 3 per cent. The fifth metre deposit, however, discloses one +important innovation. The proportion of incised vases is scarcely +greater than in the preceding stratum, but almost all of them have +the incisions filled in with the white chalky substance already +alluded to, forming a geometric design of white upon black. Along +with this new development of the incised ware goes a development +of the unincised, whose surface is now not only polished to the +highest <a name="page_190"><span class="page">Page 190</span></a> +degree of lustre, but is thereafter rippled in vertical lines by the +pressure of some blunt instrument, so as to produce an undulating +effect, like that of the ripple marks on sand. The rippling of +the unincised pottery continues along with the chalk filling of +the incised through the remainder of the Neolithic series, and, +in fact, appears to have enjoyed an even superior popularity. In +the sixth metre from the virgin soil indications begin to present +themselves of the fact that the Neolithic period is about to draw +to a close, for some of the pottery is beginning to assume the +shapes which are characteristic of the painted ware of the earliest +Minoan period, and in the following metre paint begins to make its +appearance as a means of decoration in rivalry with the incision +and rippling of the earlier strata. From this point, then, we begin +to get into touch with the genuine Minoan periods, of which, according +to Dr. Evans's classification, there are three—Early, Middle, +and Late Minoan—each in its turn subdivided into three +sub-periods. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +<i>Early Minoan I</i>.—The pottery of this period takes over +in great part the style of the primitive hand-burnished black ware +inherited from the preceding age. But though this supplies the +greater proportion of the material, it is not the characteristic +feature. This is supplied by the fact that the potter now begins +to use paint as a means for producing the lustrous black surface +which his Neolithic predecessor produced by hand-burnishing. A +lustrous black glaze medium is spread as a slip over the <a +name="page_191"><span class="page">Page 191</span></a> surface of +the clay, so as to produce an effect generally similar to that of +the hand-polished ware, and on this lustrous slip the decoration +is painted, generally in white, more rarely in vermilion. Thus we +have painted vases, with light design upon a dark ground. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Having made this step, the artist varied his procedure by applying +the black slip itself as the decoration in bands upon the natural +buff colour of the clay, thus giving a decorative scheme of dark +design upon a light ground. The ware now for the first time gives +evidence of having been fired. The primitive 'bucchero,' still +surviving alongside of the painted pottery, is very closely related +to the imported vases found by Petrie in First Dynasty tombs at +Abydos; and a further link with Egypt is afforded by the fact that +vases of Proto-Dynastic Egyptian form in diorite and syenite were +discovered in the south and east quarters of the palace at Knossos. +Early Minoan I. is thus to be equated with the earliest beginnings +of Dynastic rule in Egypt—that is to say, it dates from about +5500 B.C. if Petrie's date for the First Dynasty be adopted, or +from about 3400 B.C. if the Berlin dating be preferred. From this +period there survive no remains of building at Knossos. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +<i>Early Minoan II</i>.—The distinguishing characteristic +of the second period of Early Minoan is the greater freedom and +originality shown in the designs of the vases. The style of painted +decoration remains much the same as in the preceding period; <a +name="page_192"><span class="page">Page 192</span></a> but the +vases now develop long spouts or beaks, and are the 'beak-jugs' +(Schnabelkanne) of the German archæologists. While a tendency +may be observed to vary the straight line decoration of Early Minoan +I. by the introduction of simple curves, there is also a revival +of the fashion for the old incised geometric-patterned ware. A +curious development of this period is found in the mottled ware +from Vasiliki, where the decoration was accomplished neither by +incising nor by painting a design, but by a method of firing in +which the vases, first painted red, were so placed that the hot +coals actually came into contact with the vases at certain points, +and produced black patches upon the red paint. The resultant mottled +surface was then hand-polished, and sometimes, but more rarely, +used as the medium for a design in white. To this period belong the +oldest parts of the deposit at Hagios Onouphrios, and the greater +part of the contents of the bee-hive chamber tomb at Hagia Triada, +where, along with incised and early painted vases, were found copper +daggers with very short triangular blades, a number of rude stone +seals, and very primitive idols, rudely imitating the human form. +There are still no traces of any surviving building on the hill +of Knossos, nor is there any definite link with Egypt to afford +an opportunity for determining the date of the period. +</p> + +<div class="image" style="width: 419px;"> +<p><a name="plate_XXIV"> +<img src="images/plate_XXIV_1.jpg" width="419" height="420" + alt="Plate XXIV 1"></a></p> +<p>THE BASILICA.</p> +<p><img src="images/plate_XXIV_2.jpg" width="384" height="421" + alt="Plate XXIV 2"></p> +<p>STONE LAMP.</p> +<p>THE ROYAL VILLA, KNOSSOS +(<i>p</i>. <a href="#page_108">108</a>)</p> +</div> + +<p class="indent"> +<i>Early Minoan III</i>.—In this period the proportion of +painted vases steadily increases, though for a time there is also +a revival of the incised ornament, <a name="page_193"><span +class="page">Page 193</span></a> attributed by Dr. Evans to influence +from the Cyclades, which at this time also gave to Crete the idea +of the flat, banjo-shaped human figurines which are characteristic +of the early deposits of Melos and Amorgos. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The use of the potter's wheel probably now begins, and the clay is +carefully sifted and fired, the favourite colour scheme being white +on lustrous brown or black slip, though sometimes the alternative +scheme of dark upon light is adopted; and vases are sometimes fashioned +out of very thin clay, in anticipation of the fine egg-shell Kamares +ware of Middle Minoan II. The chief decorative motive is a horizontal +band, or more than one, around the upper part of the vase. On these +bands the chief ornament is the zig-zag, and curves directly derived +therefrom, and the spiral begins to appear as a form of decoration. +It is uncertain whether the credit for the origination of this +favourite form of decorative motive is to be attributed to Egypt +or to Crete. Miss Hall[*] regards the Early Minoan III. spirals +as late-comers in the field, attributing the first development of +the spiral to the painters of Egyptian pre-Dynastic vases; but Mr. +H. R. Hall[**] denies the right of the volutes on the pre-Dynastic +vases to be regarded as spirals at all, considers that the true +spiral appears suddenly in Egypt as 'a new and unprecedented thing' +about the beginning of <a name="page_194"><span class="page">Page +194</span></a> the Middle Kingdom, and infers that in its use the +Cretans were original, and the Egyptians merely borrowers; while +Dr. Evans[***] denies originality to both, and holds that the use +of the spiral was first developed on the European side of the +Ægean. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[Footnote *: 'The Decorative Art of Crete in the Bronze Age,' p. 9.] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[Footnote **: Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archæology, +vol. xxxi., part 5, pp. 221, 222.] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[Footnote ***: 'Scripta Minoa,' p. 126.] +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The fact that the seals of this period show motives derived from +the Egyptian Sixth Dynasty 'button-seals' suggests that Early Minoan +III. is to be equated with the end of the Old Kingdom in Egypt. +This, however, is but a slight help as to the positive date of +the Minoan period, owing to the huge gap between the different +systems of Egyptian chronology. All that can be said is that on +Petrie's system of dating the Minoan period which is contemporary +with the end of the Sixth Dynasty would date about 4000 B.C., and +on the Berlin system about 2475 B.C. Though the two cultures are +contemporaneous, it is, of course, by no means to be inferred that +the art of Early Minoan III. has left us any relics which are worthy +of being placed on a level with the wonderful work of the Egyptian +Old Kingdom artists. The primitive pictographs on the bead-seals +of this period mark the beginnings of this form of Minoan script, +which persisted until Late Minoan I., when it was at last superseded +by the linear form of writing which had made its appearance in +Middle Minoan III. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +<i>Middle Minoan I</i>.—With this period we have distinct +advance in more directions than one. The Minoan artist is beginning +to feel his way towards <a name="page_195"><span class="page">Page +195</span></a> that polychrome style of decoration which reached +such a remarkable development in the Kamares vases of the succeeding +stage. In the decoration of his ware, which does not exhibit any +marked advance in form upon that of Early Minoan III., he has begun +to supplement the familiar white on the dark slip by adding yellow, +orange, red, and crimson. The Petsofa figurines, already alluded +to, which belong to this period, have a colour scheme of black +and white, red and orange. Along with this development of the use +of colour goes a corresponding advance in design. The motives of +the former period are continued, but are much more developed, and +more freely handled. Instead of being stiffly disposed in bands +round the vessel, they are now frequently grouped with the idea +of covering the ground of the vases in a graceful manner without +any attempt at formal definition of the limits of each article of +the design, the artist's idea being simply to fill, in a manner +satisfying to the eye, the space upon which he had to work. The +zonal system still persists side by side with the freer style, and +is often very skilfully handled as a means of decoration. One of +the characteristic features of Middle Minoan ceramic art—the +use of relief to enhance the effect of the polychrome decoration +through the addition of contrasts of light and shade—is seen +coming into use in the earliest part of the period. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Decoration is still geometric, and was to continue so for long. +Not until Middle Minoan III. do we <a name="page_196"><span +class="page">Page 196</span></a> get a really naturalistic style +of decorative art. But in Middle Minoan I. there are indications +which, though slight, seem to point to a striving after realism +on the part of some of the artists of the period. This tendency +is apparent even in some of the geometric designs, which are so +disposed as to form an approach to naturalistic patterns. But the +most remarkable example of the tendency is seen in a fragment of +a vase from Knossos, figured by Dr. Mackenzie,[*] on which the +figures of three of the Cretan wild goats are followed by that +of a gigantic beetle with a tail. 'The subject of the design,' +says Dr. Mackenzie, 'in its naturalistic character is so advanced +that, were it not for the company in which the fragments occur, +we should be tempted to assign it to a much later age.' It is +unfortunate that only a part of the design has survived, and that +no parallel to it has ever been found. Was it merely a sport, the +freak of some ancient potter who was weary of the conventional +designs of his time, and tried his hand at something new, combining +the wild life that he could see from the window of his workshop +with that which crawled upon its floor, without ever dreaming of +the problem he was setting for the students of 4,000 years later to +exercise themselves upon? The style of the goat and beetle fragment +is dark upon light. The goats are surrounded by an incised outline, +and filled in with lustrous black glaze; the beetle is drawn freely +in the black glaze, without incision, <a name="page_197"><span +class="page">Page 197</span></a> almost as though it had been a +humorous afterthought of the potter. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[Footnote *: <i>Journal of Hellenic Studies</i>, vol. xxvi., part +I, plate ix. 3.] +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Middle Minoan I. has no surviving link with Egyptian art, a fact +which may be explained by the consideration that from the end of the +Sixth Dynasty to the establishment of the Eleventh, Egypt appears +to have been passing through a time of great confusion. The period +is practically a Dark Age so far as Egyptian history is concerned. +</p> + +<div class="image" style="width: 500px;"> +<p><a name="plate_XXV"> +<img src="images/plate_XXV_1.jpg" width="500" height="332" + alt="Plate XXV 1"></a></p> +<p>(1) KNOSSOS VALLEY</p> +<p><img src="images/plate_XXV_2.jpg" width="500" height="458" + alt="Plate XXV 2"></p> +<p>(2) EXCAVATING AT KNOSSOS</p> +</div> + +<p class="indent"> +<i>Middle Minoan II</i>.—We now come to the period when the +first undoubted traces of the Cretan palaces begin to reveal themselves. +The chief architectural remains of the period are, however, not at +Knossos, but at Phæstos. There the Theatral Area, at least, +was in existence early in this period, possibly in the later part +of the preceding one. But at Knossos the chief evidence for the +high state of civilization attained in this period is the pottery, +which reaches a very advanced development. This is the age of the +splendid polychrome vessels of the type called 'Kamares,' from +the cave on Mount Ida where they were first discovered by Mr. J. +L. Myres. The vases and cups of this fabric, from the delicacy of +their forms, the grace of their designs, and the richness of their +colour, are among the most notable survivals of Minoan ceramic +art. The clay is fine and carefully sifted, and the walls of the +vessels are of extreme thinness and delicacy, approaching to that +of the finest egg-shell china. The designs upon the vases <a +name="page_198"><span class="page">Page 198</span></a> are often +moulded in low relief as well as painted, and the thinness of their +walls, the form of their handles, and the knobs upon them, which +are evidently meant to suggest rivets, show that the potters of +the time were endeavouring to emulate the achievements of their +brother artists, the metal workers. The designs upon the vases +themselves are conventional, the idea being to produce a rich and +harmonious effect of form and colour rather than to secure any +imitation of Nature. Indeed, the patterns are very largely geometric; +the zig-zag, the cross, and concentric circles occur frequently; +and when plant life is imitated it is skilfully conventionalized, +as in the case of the water-lily cup, perhaps the most beautiful +specimen of the ware of the period, on which the white petals start +from a centre at the foot of the cup and enfold its body. The ground +of this cup is lustrous black, and the white of the petals is +accentuated by thin lines of red, while a geometric pattern moulded +in low relief runs round the rim of the cup above the waterlilies +(<a href="#plate_XXIX">Plate XXIX. 4</a>). The colours of the vases +are varied, consisting chiefly of white, orange, crimson, red, and +yellow, and each colour is used in several shades. 'Black shades into +purple, white into cream; brown has sometimes a red, and sometimes +an olive tint; yellows are either pale or orange; and red is not +only a crude vermilion, but is weakened to pink, or strengthened +with shades of orange and cherry and terra-cotta.' In the decoration +of the vases both styles flourish side by <a name="page_199"><span +class="page">Page 199</span></a> side, dark design upon light ground, +and light upon dark. In some vessels of the period there is a +combination of conventionalized naturalistic ornament and geometric +design. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +A distinct link between Egypt and Middle Minoan II. is afforded by +the fact that at Kahun, close to the pyramid of Senusert II., near +the Fayum, Professor Petrie discovered vases which are unquestionably +of Kamares type, while the synchronism with the Twelfth Dynasty was +fully established by Professor Garstang's discovery at Abydos of +fragments of a polychrome vessel of late Middle Minoan II. type in +an untouched tomb, which also contained glazed steatite cylinders +with the names of Senusert III. and Amenemhat III. Middle Minoan +II., then, equates with the times of the Twelfth Egyptian Dynasty, +a period which was in many respects the most brilliant of Egyptian +history. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +When we come to inquire, however, as to positive date, we are still +met, though almost for the last time, by the great discrepancy +between the systems of Egyptian dating. The Twelfth Dynasty is +placed by Professor Petrie at about 3400 B.C., by the traditional +dating about 2500 B.C., while the modern German school brings down +the date as low as 2000 B.C. No more can be said than that Middle +Minoan II. certainly does not begin earlier than 3400 B.C., and +can scarcely begin later than 2000 B.C. The period closes with the +evidence of a great catastrophe at Knossos, in which the palace <a +name="page_200"><span class="page">Page 200</span></a> was burned; +and, as already mentioned, the fact that Phæstos shows no +evidence of such a disaster at this point has roused the suspicion +that the Lords of Phæstos may have been responsible for the +destruction of the greater palace. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +<i>Middle Minoan III</i>.—To this period belong the beginnings +of the second palace at Knossos. The western portion of the palace +probably dates largely from this time, though it was altered and +extended later; and we must place here the Temple Repositories, +and certain other chambers on the northeast side of the Central +Court, though they were covered up and built over in Late Minoan +I. At all events, a very great and splendid building must have +existed upon the site at this time. Egypt was passing through the +dark period between the Thirteenth and Seventeenth Dynasties, which +includes the domination of the Hyksos; but the civilization of +Crete, on the contrary, was continually and steadily advancing. To +this age belong many of the most interesting and precious relics +of the Minoan culture. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The art of the period gradually undergoes a great change from that +of Middle Minoan II. Polychrome decoration steadily declines, and +is superseded by monochrome. The beautiful lustrous black glaze +ground of the vases is replaced by a dull purple slip on which +the decoration is often laid in a powdery white paint. The best +designs are found in this white upon a lilac or mauve ground. In +the designs themselves conventionalism and geometric ornament <a +name="page_201"><span class="page">Page 201</span></a> pass away, +and are followed by a development of naturalism. Dr. Mackenzie +has pointed out that it is to this growth of naturalism that we +must trace the gradual disappearance of polychrome decoration. +'Once we have the portrayal of natural objects, such as flowers, +which becomes so rife before the close of the Middle Minoan Age, +it soon becomes apparent that a scale of colours, which in their +relation to each other were capable of producing polychrome effects +of great beauty, was quite inadequate towards the reproduction of +the natural colours of objects. Thus green, for example, which is +the first necessity towards the rendering of leaves and stems, did +not exist in the colour repertory of the vase painter. The ceramic +artist must thus have felt that with his limited scale of colours +he could not produce the same natural effects as the wall-painter +with his. On the other hand, he must have been equally conscious +that natural objects such as flowers did not look natural in a +polychrome guise which was not that of Nature. The only solution +of the colour difficulty in the circumstances was a compromise in +the shape of a convention. Thus the tendency came into being to +make all natural objects either simply light on a dark ground, +or dark on a light ground.'[*] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[Footnote *: <i>Journal of Hellenic Studies</i>, vol. Xxvi., part +I, pp. 257, 258.] +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The two flowers most generally used for the purpose of ornamentation +are the lily and the crocus. For the first time the importance of +pottery as an evidence of the condition of the art of the period +<a name="page_202"><span class="page">Page 202</span></a> is second +to that of other artistic products. It is to Middle Minoan III. that +there belongs the wonderful fabric of faïence, of which so +many specimens were discovered in the Temple Repositories. In them +the same tendency towards naturalism reveals itself. The wild-goat +suckling its kid, the flying-fish, the porcelain vases, one of them +with cockle-shell relief, and another with ferns and rose-leaves +on a ground of pale green, are all instances of the naturalistic +growth. Evidence is also afforded of a great delight in scenes +connected with the sea, and we have the flying-fish and the seal +with the seaman in his skiff defending himself against the attacks +of the sea-monster, to witness to the Minoan appreciation alike +of the curiosities and the dangers of the deep. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Fresco-painting also begins to leave survivals, and we have particularly +the fresco of the Blue Boy gathering white crocuses. At the beginning +of the period the old form of pictographic writing is still in general +use, but by the close of Middle Minoan III. the earlier type of the +linear script, Class A, has made its appearance and is extensively +used. The Middle Minoans of the Third period were the fabricators +of the huge knobbed and corded <i>pithoi</i>, or jars, some of them +with the curious 'trickle,' ornament, which is surely decoration +reduced to its last straits. The artist merely dabbed quantities +of brown glaze paint around the rims of his jars, and allowed it +to trickle down the sides at its own will. The result is curious, +but can scarcely be <a name="page_203"><span class="page">Page +203</span></a> called beautiful (<a href="#plate_IX">Plate IX. +2</a>). 'Ab-nub's child, Sebek-user, deceased,' whose statuette +was found at Knossos, gives us a point of connection between the +earlier part of Middle Minoan III. and the Thirteenth Egyptian +Dynasty, while the alabastron of Khyan links the later portion of +the period with the Hyksos domination in Egypt. The King who built +the great tomb at Isopata, already described, must have reigned +at Knossos during this period. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +<i>Late Minoan I</i>.—In this period we come into touch with +a great deal of the fine work of the Royal Villa at Hagia Triada, +which has been already described. A considerable portion of the +area of the palace at Knossos, dating from the preceding age, is +now covered up by new construction, and the second palace begins +to assume the form which was completed in the subsequent period. +In pottery the naturalistic style still persists, but the technique +begins to modify, and the white design on a dark ground occurs less +frequently than design in dark glaze paint on the natural light +ground of the clay. Ornament begins to partake increasingly of a +marine character; the octopus, the Triton shell, the nautilus, and +seaweed, appear as designs, and are executed in lifelike fashion, +which contrasts strongly with the later conventionalized method +of representing them. Indeed, Middle Minoan III. And Late Minoan +I. and II. show a distinct appreciation of and delight in all the +beauty and wonder of the sea, which suggest the important part +which it played in the lives of the Cretan populace. 'At <a +name="page_204"><span class="page">Page 204</span></a> ports where +sailors and fishermen and divers for sponge and purple went and +came, it was natural for an imaginative race to acquire that sense +of the magic and mystery of the sea, that curiosity about the life +in its depths, which found expression in these ceramic pictures.'[*] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[Footnote *: R. C. Bosanquet, <i>Journal of Hellenic Studies</i>, +vol. xxiv., part 2, p. 322.] +</p> + +<div class="image" style="width: 778px;"> +<a name="plate_XXVI"> +<img src="images/plate_XXVI.jpg" width="778" height="563" + alt="Plate XXVI"></a> +<p>GREAT STAIRCASE, PHÆSTOS +(<i>p</i>. <a href="#page_120">120</a>)<br /> +<i>G. Maraghiannis</i></p> +</div> + +<p class="indent"> +Along with the marine designs went naturalistic representations of +flowers and grasses—the lily and the crocus, already familiar +from earlier work, the Egyptian lotus in a form adapted to the taste +of the Minoan artist, and ivy leaves and tendrils. A peculiarly +graceful design on a vase from Zakro shows an adaptation of the +Egyptian lotus, presenting that favourite Nilotic motive in a style +more flexible and easy than that of the native representations of +it. The design in this case is painted in white on a reddish-brown +ground, and its peculiarity is that the white was laid on after +the vase had been fired, and can be removed with the finger (<a +href="#plate_XXIX">Plate XXIX. 2</a>). The three vases from Hagia +Triada, the Boxer, the Harvester, and the Chieftain, belong to +this period, as do also the frescoes of the Hunting Cat and the +Climbing Plants, and probably the Royal Gaming Board from the palace +at Knossos. At this time, too, we come upon the long bronze swords +which had succeeded the daggers of the preceding ages. Hieroglyphic +writing is now superseded by the linear script of Class A, which now +comes into regular use, although at Knossos <a name="page_205"><span +class="page">Page 205</span></a> the documents in this script, +according to Dr. Evans, are only to be found in the stratum belonging +to the last period of Middle Minoan, their place being supplied +by Class B, which occurs only at Knossos. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +At Hagia Triada and Gournia the older forms of vase are mingled with +early specimens of the type variously known as 'Bügelkanne,' +'Vases à Étrier,' or 'Stirrup-vases.' These vases, +named from the stirrup-like appearance of their curving handles, +may more correctly be called 'false-necked vases,' from the fact +that the neck to which the handles unite is closed, and another +neck is formed, farther away from the handles, for convenience +in pouring. The false-necked vase is the characteristic pottery +type of Late Minoan III., and occurs very frequently on the +Mycenæan sites of that period. The seals with fantastic forms +of monsters, such as those found in such numbers at Zakro, date from +the beginning of Late Minoan I., and to this period also belong +the earlier of the Shaft- or Circle-Graves at Mycenæ, so that +now for the first time Minoan can be equated with Mycenæan. We +are still without any system of dating that is absolutely certain, +but this is the last period of which such a remark is true. The +next period brings us into touch with Egyptian synchronisms whose +date is certain to within a few years. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +<i>Late Minoan II</i>.—To Late Minoan II. belong the great +glories of the second palace at Knossos, which arrived at its greatest +splendour just before the time at which it was to be destroyed. Now +<a name="page_206"><span class="page">Page 206</span></a> were +built the Throne Room and its antechamber, and the Royal Villa +with its daïs and throne and columned hall, while the walls +of the completed palace were covered with the splendid frescoes +of whose beauties the Cup-Bearer and the spectators watching the +games give us evidence. The reliefs in hard plaster, such as the +bull's head and the King with the peacock plumes, show the style +of decoration which gave variety on the walls to the paintings on +the flat. In pottery the change of style and decoration is gradual, +but quite pronounced. The chief characteristic of the time is the +fabrication of large decorated vases and <i>pithoi</i>, such as +the beautiful papyrus relief vase of the Royal Villa, nearly 4 +feet in height (<a href="#plate_XXIII">Plate XXIII.</a>; see also +<a href="#plate_XXX">Plate XXX.</a>). Naturalism still survives in +occasional designs, but the bulk of the design is conventional, +and the composition of the various elements is often extremely +skilful. A typical form of vessel of this period is the long narrow +strainer, which is borne by the Cup-Bearer in the palace fresco, +and of which various specimens have been found. In many cases these +strainers were made of variegated marble, though pottery was also +used for them. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The bronze vessels from the north-west house at Knossos, and the +swords from the earlier Zafer Papoura graves, testify to the skill +with which metal was wrought. One of these swords from the chieftain's +grave, the short weapon which the noble of Late Minoan II. carried +along with his long rapier, perhaps for parrying thrusts, as the +gallants <a name="page_207"><span class="page">Page 207</span></a> +of Queen Elizabeth's time used their daggers, has a pommel of +translucent agate, and a gold-plated hilt engraved with a design +of a lion chasing and capturing a wild-goat. Great bronze vessels +were wrought with splendid conventional designs, and some of the +stone vases of the period are amazing in the skill with which they +were worked and decorated. 'How the hard material was worked with +precision in the <i>inside</i> of vessels which have only the narrowest +of neck orifices, and that in an age of soft bronze tools, is as +great a mystery as the mode of working diorite and granite in +prehistoric Egypt.'[*] Perhaps the most splendid specimen is the +great amphora, 2 feet high by 6 feet in circumference, with its +two magnificent spiral bands, which was found in the so-called +Sculptor's Workshop at Knossos, beside the smaller vessel which +had only been roughed out when the catastrophe of the palace came. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[Footnote *: D. G. Hogarth, <i>Cornhill Magazine</i>, March, 1903, +p. 329.] +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The linear script, Class B, now supersedes the earlier type, Class +A. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +In this period we come for the first time into a sphere where there +is practically an absolute certainty in dating; for now we have the +Keftiu appearing in the tomb frescoes of the Eighteenth Dynasty +at Thebes, with their vessels of characteristic Minoan type, and +their purely Minoan style of dress and general appearance. Sen-mut's +tomb gives us a date about 1480 B.C., and Rekh-ma-ra's may bring +us down to 1450 B.C., or thereby. It is <a name="page_208"><span +class="page">Page 208</span></a> somewhat striking that the periods +of greatest splendour alike for the Egyptian Empire and for the +Minoan should virtually coincide. In either case, the duration +of the culmination of splendour was short. The magnificence of +the Egypt of Hatshepsut, Tahutmes III., and Amenhotep III., was +speedily to be clouded and dimmed by the disasters of the reign +of Akhenaten; but even before the glory of the Eighteenth Dynasty +had passed away, the sun of the Minoan Empire had set. Late Minoan +II., with all its triumphs of architecture and art, was brought to +an abrupt close by the sack of the palaces, probably about 1400 +B.C., and the great frescoes of the palace at Knossos were the last +evidences of a magnificence which was never to be revived again +on Cretan soil. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +During this period intercourse between Crete and Egypt must have +been frequent and close. It is not only indicated by the evidence +of the Sen-mut and Rekh-ma-ra tombs, but by the parallelism in +the styles of art in the two countries. The art of each remains +truly national, but the frescoes of Knossos and Hagia Triada and +those of the Eighteenth Dynasty in Egypt are inspired by the same +spirit, though in either case the result is modified by national +characteristics. +</p> + +<div class="image" style="width: 783px;"> +<a name="plate_XXVII"> +<img src="images/plate_XXVII.jpg" width="783" height="572" + alt="Plate XXVII"></a> +<p>THE HARVESTER VASE, HAGIA TRIADA +(<i>p</i>. <a href="#page_124">124</a>)<br /> +<i>G. Maraghiannis</i></p> +</div> + +<p class="indent"> +<i>Late Minoan III</i>.—This, the last period of the Minoan +civilization, commences with the destruction of the palace of Knossost +somewhere before 1400 B.C., and presents no definite line of +termination. <a name="page_209"><span class="page">Page 209</span></a> +The great style of art represented by the preceding period does +not at once degenerate into barbarism. If, as seems probable, the +men who destroyed the Cretan palaces were Mycenæans of the +mainland, more or less of the same stock as the Cretan representatives +of the Minoan tradition, we can see how the catastrophe of the +palaces need not have been followed by any immediate catastrophe +of the art of Crete. At the same time the true spirit of the Minoan +race had been destroyed, and degeneration of the standard of art +naturally followed. The level of artistic work in the earlier part +of the period is still high—in fact, it is that of what is +considered the best Mycenæan art—the technical skill +which produced the masterpieces of the Palace period still survives, +but the inspiration which gave it life is gone. Originality in design +vanishes first, and is gradually followed by skill in execution; +the old types are reproduced in more and more slovenly fashion, +and at last even the material employed follows the example of +degeneration. This period of gradual decadence is, however, the +period of greatest diffusion of the products of Minoan, or, rather, +as we may now call it, of Mycenæan art. At Ialysos in Rhodes, +and in the lower town of Mycenæ, types parallel with the work +of Crete are found, and Tell-el-Amarna furnishes specimens of pottery +whose degeneracy from the type of the Palace period declares them +to belong to these days of decadence. Specimens of Late Minoan +III. work are found at Tarentum, and the island of Torcello, near +Venice, and even as far <a name="page_210"><span class="page">Page +210</span></a> west as Spain. One of the characteristic features +of the period is the fact that the stirrup-vase, found at Hagia +Triada and Gournia in Late Minoan I., but almost totally wanting +in Late Minoan II., now becomes common. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Towards the close of the period the site of the palace at Knossos +was partially reoccupied by a humbler race of men, who used the +rooms that had once witnessed the pride of the Minoan Sovereigns, +dividing them up by flimsy partition-walls to suit their smaller +needs. An age of transition succeeded, during which the character +of the Cretan population was gradually modified by successive waves +of invasion from the mainland, until Crete assumed the guise of +'the mixed land,' under which Homer knew it; and finally came the +great invasion of the Dorians, which brought in for Crete, as for +the rest of Greece, the dark age which preceded the dawn of the +true Hellenic culture. +</p> + +<h2><a name="page_211"><span class="page">Page 211</span></a> +CHAPTER X</h2> + +<p class="subtitle">LIFE UNDER THE SEA-KINGS</p> + +<p class="indent"> +What manner of men were the people who developed the Bronze Age +civilization of Crete? Can we form any idea of their physical +characteristics, of their homes and social conditions, of the general +aspect of their daily life, and of the occupations in which they +were engaged? Such questions can only be answered more or less +generally in the absence of written material, or, rather, in our +lack of understanding of the written material that exists; but, +still, a considerable mass of evidence is in existence from which +some broad outlines may be deduced with moderate certainty, and +the object of this chapter is to present these outlines. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +First, as to the physical characteristics of the race. Two lines +of evidence are here available. On the one hand, there is that +afforded by the actual remains of the bodies of men and women of +the Minoan race which have been exhumed from ossuaries of the Bronze +Age, and studied by anthropologists. <a name="page_212"><span +class="page">Page 212</span></a> Generally speaking, the result +of their investigations has been to show that the Minoans belonged +to the southernmost of the three great racial belts into which +the ancient peoples of Europe may be divided—the so-called +Mediterranean race. That is to say, they were a people of the +long-headed type, dark in colouring and small in stature. The average +height, estimated from the bones which have been measured, is somewhat +under 5 feet 4 inches, which is about 2 inches less than the average +of the modern Cretans, and corresponds more to the stature of the +Sardinians and Sicilians of the present time. A few skulls of the +broad-headed type appear among the general long-headedness, and +probably point to some intermixture of race; but, as a whole, the +people were long-headed. The shortness of stature indicated by the +bones is a feature which one would scarcely have inferred from the +other line of evidence available—the actual representations +of men and women of their own race which the Minoans have left in +their fresco-paintings; but allowance must, of course, be made +for the artistic convention which tended to accentuate slenderness +of figure, and therefore to increase apparent height. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Judging from the surviving pictures, the Minoan men were bronzed, +with dark hair and beardless faces; their figures were slender, and +their slenderness was made all the more conspicuous by the fashion +which prevailed of drawing in the waist by a tightly fastened belt, +which seems, in some cases at least, to have had metal edges; but +muscularly <a name="page_213"><span class="page">Page 213</span></a> +they were well developed, and the pictures suggest litheness and +agility in a high degree. 'One would say a small-boned race, relying +more on quickness of limb and brain than on weight and size.' The +hair of the men was worn in a somewhat elaborate fashion, being +done up in three coils on the top of the head, while the ends of +it fell in three long curls upon the shoulders. On the other hand, +their dress was extremely simple, consisting normally of nothing +but a loin-cloth, girt by the broad belt already mentioned, the +material of which the loincloth was made being frequently gaily +coloured or patterned, as in the case of the Cup-Bearer, whose +garment is adorned with a dainty quatre-foil design. That more +elaborate robes were worn on certain occasions of importance is +shown by the sarcophagus at Hagia Triada (<a href="#plate_XXVIII">Plate +XXVIII.</a>), where the lyre player wears a long robe coming down to +the ankles and bordered with lines of colour, while the other men +in the scene wear tucked robes reaching a little below the knees +(or possibly baggy Turkish trousers); and also by the Harvester +Vase, where the chief figure in the procession is clad in a stiff +garment, which has been variously interpreted as a wadded cuirass, +or as a cope of some stiff fabric. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +On their feet they wore sometimes shoes, with puttees twisted round +the lower part of the leg, and sometimes half-boots, as shown on +the Chieftain Vase and one of the Petsofa figurines. Indeed, the +footgear of the Minoans seems to have been somewhat elaborate. In +the representations of the <a name="page_214"><span class="page">Page +214</span></a> Keftiu, on the walls of Rekh-ma-ra's tomb, the shoes +are white, and have bindings of red and blue, and in some cases +are delicately embroidered. Such examples as the shoe on an ivory +figure found at Knossos, and the terra-cotta model of a shoe found at +Sitia, show the daintiness with which the Minoans indulged themselves +in the matter of footwear. In personal adornment the men to some +extent made up for their simplicity in the matter of dress. The +Cup-Bearer wears a couple of thick bracelets on his upper arm, +and another, which bears an agate signet, on his wrist; and such +decorations seem to have been in common use. The King whose figure +in low relief has been reconstructed from fragments found at Knossos, +wears peacock plumes upon his head, while round his neck he has a +collar of fleur-de-lys, wrought, no doubt, in precious metal. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The Minoan women are depicted with a perfectly white skin, which +contrasts strongly with the bronzed hue of the men. The deep coppery +tint of the men, and the dead white skin of the women is, of course, +to be accepted only as a convention, similar to that adopted by +Egyptian artists, meant to express a difference of complexion caused +by greater or less exposure to the weather; and we need not imagine +that there was so great a contrast between the colouring of men +and women in actual life as would appear from the paintings. If +the dress of the male portion of the populace was simple, that +of the female was the reverse. An elaborate and tight-fitting <a +name="page_215"><span class="page">Page 215</span></a> bodice, +cut excessively low at the neck, covered, or affected to cover, +the upper part of the body, which is so wasp-waisted as to suggest +universal tight-lacing. From the broad belt hung down bell-shaped +skirts, sometimes flounced throughout their whole length, sometimes +richly embroidered, as in the case of a votive skirt represented +in faïence among the belongings of the Snake Goddess found +in the Temple Repositories. In some cases—<i>e.g.</i>, that +of the votaress of the Snake Goddess—the skirt, below a small +panier or apron, is composed of different coloured materials combined +in a chequer pattern distantly resembling tartan. A fresco from +Hagia Triada represents a curious and elaborate form of dress, +consisting apparently of wide trousers of blue material dotted +with red crosses on a light ground, and most wonderfully frilled +and vandyked. Diaphanous material was sometimes used for part of +the covering of the upper part of the body, as in the case of some +of the figures from the Knossos frescoes. Hairdressing, as already +noticed, was very elaborate, and above the wonderful erections of +curls and ringlets which crowned their heads, the Minoan ladies, if +one may judge from the Petsofa figurines, wore hats of quite modern +type, and fairly comparable in size even with those of the present +day. A seal from Mycenæ, representing three ladies adorned +with accordion-pleated skirts, shows that heels of a fair height were +sometimes worn on the shoes. Necklaces, bracelets, and other articles +of adornment were in general use, and the workmanship of some of +the surviving specimens <a name="page_216"><span class="page">Page +216</span></a> is astonishingly fine (<a href="#plate_XXXII">Plate +XXXII.</a>). Altogether, so far as can be estimated from the +representations which have come down to us, the appearance of a +Minoan assembly would, to a modern eye, seem curiously mixed. The +men would fit in with our ideas of their period, but the women +would remind us more of a European gathering of the mid-nineteenth +century. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The houses which were occupied by these modern-looking ladies and +their mates were unexpectedly unlike anything in the house-building +of the Classical period. There is little of the uniformity of style +and arrangement which characterizes the ordinary Greek house. The +Minoan burgher built his home as the requirements of his site and +of his household suggested, and was not the slave of any fixed +convention in the matter of plan. The houses at Gournia, Palaikastro, +and Zakro, which may be taken as typical specimens of ordinary Minoan +domestic architecture, must have been much more like modern houses +than anything that we know of in Greek towns of the Classical period; +and the elevations of Minoan villas preserved in the faïence +plaques from the chest at Knossos suggest the frontages of a suburban +avenue. Some of the Knossian plaques show houses of three and four +storeys, with windows filled in with a red material which, as Dr. +Evans suggests, may have been oiled and tinted parchment. In such +houses, as distinguished from the palaces, there was no separation +between the apartments of men and women. The <a name="page_217"><span +class="page">Page 217</span></a> fabric of the houses was generally +of sun-dried brick, reared upon lower walls of stone; some of the +Knossian villas, however, were plastered and timbered, the round +beam-ends showing in the frontage. Oblong windows took the place +of the light-wells which give indirect illumination to the palace +rooms. The accommodation must have been fairly extensive. The smaller +houses have six to eight rooms, the larger ones twice that number; +while one of the houses in Palaikastro has no fewer than twenty-three +rooms. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Within doors the walls were finished with smooth plaster, and probably +decorated with painting, though, of course, on a humbler scale than +in the palaces. The floors were of flagstones and cement, even +in the upper storeys, and in some cases of cobbles or of earth +rammed hard. The furniture of the rooms has perished, except in +the case of such articles as were of stone or plaster; but the +evidence we possess of the comfort and even the luxury of the life +of these times in other respects suggests that the townsfolk of +Gournia and the other Cretan towns were not lacking in any of the +essentials of a comfortable home life. The great chest at Knossos +which was once decorated with the faïence plaques was, of +course, part of the furnishing of a royal home, and we are not +to suppose that such magnificent pieces of furniture were common; +but in their own fashion the ordinary Minoan houses were doubtless +quite adequately appointed, and the great variety of <a +name="page_218"><span class="page">Page 218</span></a> domestic +utensils which has survived shows that life in the Bronze Age homes +of Crete was by no means a thing of primitive and rough-and-ready +simplicity, but was well and carefully organized in its details. +It has been remarked that 'cooking in Homer is monotonous, because +no one eats anything but roast meat'; but this accusation could +not be brought against the Minoans, who had evidently attained to +a considerable skill and variety in the way in which they prepared +their viands for the table. The three-legged copper pot which was +the most common vessel for cooking purposes was supplemented by +stewpans with condensing-lids, and a variety of other forms of +saucepan, while the number of different types of perforated vessels +for straining and other purposes shows the care with which the art +of cooking was attended to. Probably the Minoan kitchen, though +we are still much in the dark as to its form, was almost as well +equipped for its special functions as the kitchen of the present +day. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +We are, unfortunately, without any evidence as to the appearance +of the great palaces in their finished state. The inner plan can +be traced, but it is difficult to arrive at any idea of what these +huge buildings must have looked like from the outside. It is fairly +evident, however, that there cannot have been any symmetrical balancing +of the different architectural features. The palaces were more +like small towns than simple residences, and the impression made +upon the eye must have been due more <a name="page_219"><span +class="page">Page 219</span></a> to the great mass and extent of +the building than to any symmetry of plan. Probably we must conceive +of them as great complex blocks of solid building, rising in terrace +above terrace, the flat roofs giving an appearance of squareness +and solidity to the whole. On a closer approach the eye would be +impressed by the wide and spacious courts, the stately porticoes, +the noble stairways, and the wealth of colour everywhere displayed; +but, on the whole, so far as can be judged, it was only from within +that the splendour of the Minoan palaces could be fairly estimated. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +A palace such as that of Knossos sheltered an extraordinary variety +and complexity of life. An abundance of humbler rooms served for +the accommodation of the artists and artisans who were needed for +the service and adornment of the palace, and of whom whole companies +must have lived within the walls, 'dwelling with the king for his +work,' like the potters and foresters mentioned in Scripture. Several +shrines and altars provided for the religious needs of the community. +Rooms of state were set apart for public audiences and for council +meetings. In fact, the building was not only a King's dwelling-place, +but the administrative centre of a whole empire, and within its +walls there was room for the offices of the various departments +and for the housing of their records. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The domestic quarter of the palace still reveals in some of its +rooms the environment of luxury and beauty in which the Minoan +royalties lived. The <a name="page_220"><span class="page">Page +220</span></a> Queen's Megaron may be taken as typical. A row of +pillars rising from a low, continuous base divides the room into +two parts. The upper surface of the base on either side of the +pillars is of stucco moulded so as to form a long couch, which was +doubtless covered with cushions when the room was in use. Light +was furnished in the day-time, according to Cretan Palace practice, +not by windows, but by light-wells, of which there are two, one on +the south and one on the east side. In one of these light-shafts +the brilliant white stucco surface which reflected the light into +the room is decorated with a modelled and painted relief, of which +a fragment has survived, representing a bird of gorgeous plumage, +with long curving wing, and feathers of red, blue, yellow, white, +and black. Near the light-well on the other side of the line of +pillars, outside nature was brought within doors by a beautiful +piece of fresco-painting which shows fishes swimming through the +water, and dashing off foam-bells and ripples in their rapid course. +Along the north wall of the room ran another gay fresco, representing +a company of dancing-girls on a scale of half life-size. One of +the dancers is clad in a jacket with a yellow ground and blue and +red embroidered border, beneath which is a diaphanous chemise. Her +left arm is bent, and her right stretched forward; her features +are piquant, if not beautiful, and a slight dimple shows at the +corner of her lips. Her long black hair, elaborately waved and +crimped, floats out on either side of her head as she turns in the +<a name="page_221"><span class="page">Page 221</span></a> movement +of the dance. The fragments of decoration which have survived help us +to realize a very beautiful room, gay with colour, yet never garish +because of the softness of the indirect illumination, in which we may +imagine the Minoan Court ladies, in their modern gowns, reclining +on the cushions of the long couch, discussing the incidents of the +last bull-grappling entertainment, the skill of the young Athenian +Theseus, and the obvious infatuation of Princess Ariadne, or employing +their time more usefully in some of the wonderful embroidery-work +in which the fashion of the period delighted. By night the scene +in the palace would be even more picturesque. Greatstone lamps, +standing on tall bases, and each bearing several wicks on the margin +of its broad bowl of oil, flared in the rooms and corridors, lighting +up the brightly coloured walls, and sending many-tinted reflections +dancing from the bronze and copper vases and urns which decorated +the passages and the landings of the stairways; while through the +breadths of light and shadow moved in an always changing stream +of colour the gaily dressed figures of the Minoan Court. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Even at this exceedingly early stage of human progress, the various +branches of industry had become fairly separated and specialized, +more so, perhaps, than in the Homeric period, and a considerable +variety of tools was employed in the various crafts. The carpenter +was evidently a highly skilled craftsman, and the tools which have +survived show the variety of work which he undertook. At <a +name="page_222"><span class="page">Page 222</span></a> Knossos a +carefully hewn tomb held, along with the body of the dead artificer, +specimens of the tools of his trade—a bronze saw, adze, and +chisel. 'A whole carpenter's kit lay concealed in a cranny of a +Gournia house, left behind in the owner's hurried flight when the +town was attacked and burned. He used saws long and short, heavy +chisels for stone and light for wood, awls, nails, files, and axes +much battered by use; and, what is very important to note, they +resemble in shape the tools of to-day so closely that they furnish +one of the strongest links between the first great civilization +of Europe and our own.'[*] Such tools were, of course, of bronze. +Probably the chief industry of the island was the manufacture and +export of olive oil. The palace at Knossos has its Room of the +Olive Press, and its conduit for conveying the product of the press +to the place where it was to be stored for use; and probably many +of the great jars now in the magazines were used for the storage of +this indispensable article. As we have seen, Dr. Evans conjectures +that it was the decay of the trade in oil during the troubled days +after the sack of the palaces that drove the Minoans abroad from +their island home to seek their fortunes elsewhere. Besides the +trade in oil, it would seem that there must have been a trade in the +purple of the murex, and no doubt the Keftiu mariners found a ready +market for this much-prized product long before the Phœnicians +dreamed of Tyrian purple. Minoan pottery was manifestly also an +article of export—a fragile cargo <a name="page_223"><span +class="page">Page 223</span></a> for those days. The fact that two +of the Keftiu envoys in the Rekh-ma-ra frescoes carry ingots of +copper of the same shape as those found by Dr. Halbherr at Hagia +Triada suggests that Crete may have exported copper to Egypt in the +time of Tahutmes III. as Cyprus exported it in large quantities +in that of Amenhotep III. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[Footnote *: C. H. and H. Hawes, 'Crete the Forerunner of Greece,' +p. 37.] +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +It is unfortunate that so far we have no large-scale representations +of the ships in which these early masters of the ocean conducted the +sea-borne commerce of the Ægean world. The various seal-stones +and impressions, and the gold ring from Mokhlos, are interesting, +but it would have been much more satisfactory had we been able to +see representations of the Minoan galleys as complete as those which +Queen Hatshepsut has left of the ships of her merchant squadron. +The vessels represented are almost universally single-masted, with +one bank of oars, whose number varies from five to eleven a side, +a high stern, and a bow ending either in a barbed point or an open +beak, which suggests resemblances to the galleys of the sea-peoples +who were defeated by Ramses III. In some instances the length of +the voyage undertaken appears to be indicated. A crescent moon on +the forestay, and another on the backstay of a vessel with seven +oars a side, may point to a two months' voyage, while a disc over +the beak of another which has no oars at all may indicate one of +a year's duration, or perhaps, more probably, one of a complete +month. The supreme part which the sea <a name="page_224"><span +class="page">Page 224</span></a> played in the life of the Cretans +is shown unmistakably by the fact that practically every Minoan site +of importance is on the coast, or within easy reach of it, while +the innate national delight in all the wonderful creatures of the +marine world is seen in the constant use of their forms as motives +in decorative work. No designs are so common on Minoan pottery as +those derived from the sea; the octopus, the murex, the nautilus, +the coral, and various forms of algæ, occur continually, and +are utilized with great skill, while such pictures as the Dolphin +Fresco (<a href="#plate_X">Plate X. 1</a>) show the fascination +which marine life had upon the Minoan mind, and the care with which +it was observed. That commerce was thoroughly organized and attended +to with that careful precision which seems to have been characteristic +of the race is seen from the Zakro excavations, where Mr. Hogarth +found 500 seal impressions in the house of a single merchant. Trade +must have been very far removed indeed from primitive conditions +when merchants were so careful about the security of their bales +of goods. +</p> + +<div class="image" style="width: 811px;"> +<a name="plate_XXVIII"> +<img src="images/plate_XXVIII.jpg" width="811" height="519" + alt="Plate XXVIII"></a> +<p>SARCOPHAGUS FROM HAGIA TRIADA +(<i>p</i>. <a href="#page_127">127</a>)<br /> +<i>G. Maraghiannis</i></p> +</div> + +<p class="indent"> +So far as the evidence goes, the Minoan Empire does not appear +to have been a specially warlike one. No doubt there was a good +deal of fighting in its history, as was the case with all ancient +empires. But the insular position of Crete, and the predominance +which the Minoan navy established on the sea, saved the island +Empire from the necessity of becoming a great military power, and +the absence of the spirit of militarism is reflected in the <a +name="page_225"><span class="page">Page 225</span></a> national +art. While an Assyrian palace would have been decorated from end +to end with pictures of barbarous bloodshed and plunder, while even +the milder Egyptians would have adorned their walls with records +of the conquests of their Pharaohs, the Kings of the House of Minos +turned to other and more gentle scenes for the decoration of their +homes. Flower-gatherers and dancing-girls, harvest festivals and +religious processions, appealed to their minds far more than the +endless and monotonous succession of horrors with which the Mesopotamian +monarchs delighted to disfigure their walls; and even the dangers +of the bull-ring, as seen on the Knossian frescoes, are mild and +gentle when compared with the abominations where Teumman has his +head sawed off with a short dagger, and other unfortunates are +flayed alive, or have their tongues torn out. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The archives of the palace at Knossos certainly show that a military +force was kept on foot, and was thoroughly organized and well looked +after. There are records of numbers of chariots, and of the issue +of equipments to the charioteers of the force; and many of the +tablets refer to stores of lances, swords, bows, and arrows, a +store of nearly 9,000 arrows being mentioned in one of the finds; +while an actual magazine, containing hundreds of bronze arrow-heads, +has been discovered. We may remember that in ancient warfare the +Cretan bowmen were as famous as the Balearic slingers or the archers +of England. On the whole, however, the <a name="page_226"><span +class="page">Page 226</span></a> genius of the Minoans, like our +own, was more commercial than military, though, no doubt, they +were not devoid of the fighting spirit when occasion arose. Their +kinsmen of Mycenæ and Tiryns, less happily situated, were +forced to develop the military side of life; but the position and +the maritime power of Crete secured for the fortunate island those +long centuries of tranquil growth which were so fruitful in the +arts of peace. With one possible exception, no records appear to +have been found as yet dealing with the Minoan marine; but it is +impossible to believe that a people so methodical, who kept such +careful record of their military stores, should not have had a +thoroughly organized department to deal with the infinitely more +important matter of their navy, and perhaps the records of the +Minoan Board of Admiralty may yet come to light and be deciphered, +to enable us to understand how the first great sea-power of history +dealt with its fleets. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Comparatively few agricultural tools have survived, probably because +few were used; but some bronze sickles have been found. These are +not curved like the modern ones, but are bent at an angle, and +have a longer handle, so that the peasants would not be obliged +to bend down so much in the work of reaping. The figures on the +Harvester Vase carry a curious implement, which has been variously +described, according as those who deal with it believe the vase to +represent a triumphal march of warriors returning from battle or +a harvest procession. <a name="page_227"><span class="page">Page +227</span></a> In the first case it is described as a kind of trident +with a hook attached to it, for the purpose of grappling the rigging +of an opponent's vessel; in the second, it is looked upon as a +common hay-fork. The resemblance to a hay-fork seems satisfactory +enough, though the three prongs are much longer than the two of the +implement used nowadays, and the hook attached remains unexplained; +but if the implement must be supposed to be a military weapon, +it seems singularly ill-contrived and inadequate for such rough +service. It might conceivably be a trident for spearing fish, but, +on the whole, the hay-fork idea seems most satisfactory. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Hand-querns were used for the grinding of corn, and numbers of +these and of mortars for pounding grain remain. Indeed, in some +cases the actual grains of barley and the pease which were stored +for future use still remain in the great jars. In a jar at Hissarlik, +Schliemann found no less than 440 pounds of pease, and some of his +workmen lived for a time on this food, which might conceivably +have been stored against a siege of Troy earlier than that recorded +in the Iliad. The olive-tree was of great importance, as yielding +the staple product of the island, and the fig-tree seems also to +have been in general cultivation, and was held to be sacred; but, +strangely enough, though wine must have been in constant use, as +is shown by the vessels for its storage and service, there is only +one representation of the vine, and even in that case the identity +of the object depicted is doubtful. Weaving was an art in <a +name="page_228"><span class="page">Page 228</span></a> which the +Minoans were well skilled, to judge from the fabrics which are +represented in the frescoes. As in Penelope's time, it was a domestic +art, and probably almost every household had its loom, where the +women turned out the materials for ordinary wear. In many of the +houses have been found the loom-weights, mostly of stone or clay, +which took the place of the more modern weaver's beam in serving +to keep the threads taut; and there are also numbers of the stone +discs which were attached, in spinning, to the foot of the spindle, to +keep it straight and in motion. These loom-weights and spindle-discs +are frequently ornamented with spiral incisions. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +But the arts in which the islanders were supreme were those of the +potter and the metal-worker, the chief evidences of whose skill +have been already discussed. The reputation of Crete as a centre +of metal-working became legendary in ancient times, and, in all +likelihood, the bronze-worker and his fellows, the gold- and +silver-smiths, attained the height of their skill before their +brethren the potters, since, as we have seen, many of the finest +pottery specimens are obviously designed on bronze, or, at all +events, on metal models, the resemblance even going so far as the +copying of the seams and rivets of the metal originals. Bronze was +smelted in furnaces, the remains of one of which still exist near +Gournia; and was cast in moulds, many of which have survived. The +tools and weapons which were made of the metal show an average alloy +of about <a name="page_229"><span class="page">Page 229</span></a> +ten per cent. of tin. For beaten work, copper in an almost pure +state appears to have been used. Gold was in extensive use for +the best class of ornamental work, and the Vaphio cups, which are +now held to have been imported to Laconia from Crete, are evidence +of the marvellous skill which the Minoan goldsmiths had attained; +while the necklaces and other articles of personal adornment found +at Mokhlos and in the beehive tombs at Phæstos (<a +href="#plate_XXXII">Plate XXXII.</a>), are only to be matched, among +ancient work, by the diadems of the Twelfth Dynasty Princesses, found +at Dahshur in Egypt. Silver is comparatively scarce on Minoan, as +on other Ægean sites, though a number of fine silver vessels +have been found at Knossos and elsewhere; and this scarcity is +perhaps due, not only to the greed of the plunderers, but also to +the fact that, during the greater part of the period covered by +the Minoan Empire, the metal itself was actually scarcer and more +valuable than gold. In Egypt, whose supplies of silver apparently +came from Cilicia, it maintained a higher value than gold until +the time of the Eighteenth Dynasty, or about the period of the +fall of Knossos; but then and thereafter its value fell, owing +to increasing supplies, below that of the more precious metal. +It does not appear that the gold-silver alloy—'electrum,' +of which the Egyptians were so fond—was used by the Minoans. +</p> + +<div class="image" style="width: 743px;"> +<a name="plate_XXIX"> +<img src="images/plate_XXIX.jpg" width="743" height="542" + alt="Plate XXIX"></a> +<p>MINOAN POTTERY (<i>pp</i> <a href="#page_198">198</a> +& <a href="#page_204">204</a>)</p> +<p>Reproduced from <i>The Journal of Hellenic Studies</i>, by +permission of the Council of the Hellenic Society</p> +</div> + +<p class="indent"> +Of the social life of the people in these prehistoric times we know +practically nothing. Only one inference, <a name="page_230"><span +class="page">Page 230</span></a> possibly precarious enough, may +be made from one of the features of the architecture of Knossos. +There is no attempt to seclude the life of the palace from that +of the town and country around it. On the contrary, the building +seems almost to have been arranged with the view of affording the +citizens of the Minoan Empire every facility for intercourse with +the royal household. The great West Court, with its portico and +its seats along the palace wall, suggests considerable freedom of +access for the populace to the immediate neighbourhood of royalty. +It is perhaps rather a large inference to conclude that 'the very +architecture of the Palaces of Knossos and Phæstos may testify +to the power of the democracy';[*] but at least the thoughtfulness +with which the comfort of the people visiting the palace was provided +for, and the general openness and lack of any jealous seclusion, +testified to by the whole style of the buildings, suggest that +the relations between the Kings of the House of Minos and their +subjects were much more human and pleasant than those obtaining +in most ancient kingdoms. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[Footnote *: Mosso, 'The Palaces of Crete,' p. 163.] +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +From their art one would, on the whole, conclude the people to +have been a somewhat attractive race, frankly enjoying the more +pleasant aspects of life, and capable of a keen delight in all the +beauties of Nature. Minoan art has little that is sombre about it; +it is redolent of the open air and the free ocean, and a people who +so rejoiced in natural beauty and delighted to surround themselves +with their own reproductions and interpretations of it can scarcely +<a name="page_231"><span class="page">Page 231</span></a> have +been bowed beneath a heavy yoke of servitude, or have lived other +than a comparatively free and independent life. How much the Greeks +of the Classic period imbibed of the spirit of this gifted and +artistic race we can only imagine. The artistic standpoint of the +Hellenic Greek is somewhat different from that of his Minoan or +Mycenæan forerunner, and he has lost that keen feeling for +Nature which is so conspicuous in the work of the earlier stock; +but the two races are at least at one in that profound love of +beauty which is the dominant characteristic of the Greek nature, +and it may well be that something of that feeling formed part of +the heritage which the conqueror took over from the conquered, +and which, added to the virility and intellectual power of the +northern race, made the historic Greek the most brilliant type of +humanity that the world has ever seen. +</p> + +<h2><a name="page_232"><span class="page">Page 232</span></a> +CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<p class="subtitle">LETTERS AND RELIGION</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Of all the discoveries yet made on Cretan soil, that which, in +the end, will doubtless prove to be of the greatest importance is +the discovery of the various systems of writing which the Minoans +successively devised and used. As yet knowledge with regard to these +systems has not advanced beyond the description of the materials +and their comparison with those furnished by other scripts, a task +which has so far been accomplished by Dr. Evans in the first volume +of his 'Scripta Minoa.' An immense amount of material has been +accumulated, and has been separated into various classes, which +have been shown to be characteristic of different periods of Minoan +history. It is possible to arrive at a general understanding of +the matters to which certain items of the material refer, but the +actual reading of the inscribed tablets has as yet proved to be +impossible. To all appearance, moreover, a considerable proportion +of the material appears to be not literary, in any true sense, but +to consist of inventories and accounts, perhaps also of legal <a +name="page_233"><span class="page">Page 233</span></a> documents +and other such records of purely business and practical interest. +Even so it would be a matter of no small importance could it be +found possible to decipher the records, let us say, of the War +Office or Admiralty of Knossos, or to survey the details of royal +house-keeping in those far-off days; and it may still be hoped +that, when the ardently desired bilingual inscription at last turns +up and makes decipherment possible, we may find that documents +of more genuinely literary interest are not altogether lacking. +One thing at least is abundantly clear—that, as Dr. Evans +put it in the summary of his first year's results, 'that great +early civilization was not dumb,' but, on the contrary, had means +of expression amply adequate to its needs. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +In 1894 M. Perrot wrote:[*] 'As at present advised, we can continue +to affirm that for the whole of this period, nowhere, neither in +the Peloponnese nor in Greece proper, no more on the buildings +than on the thousand and one objects of luxury or domestic use that +have come out of the tombs, has there anything been discovered which +resembled any kind of writing.' The statement was perfectly true to +the facts as then known; but it was obviously unthinkable that, +while the Egyptians and Babylonians had their fully developed scripts, +and while ruder races, such as the Hittites, had their systems of +writing, the men who built the splendid walls and palaces of Tiryns +and Mycenæ, and <a name="page_234"><span class="page">Page +234</span></a> wrought the diadems and decorations of the Shaft-Graves, +should have been so far back in one of the chiefest essentials of +human progress as to be unable to communicate with one another +by means of writing. We have already seen how the discoveries of +the first year's work at Knossos settled that question for ever, +and revealed the existence of more than one form of writing. Since +then the material has been rapidly accumulating, and at present the +number of objects—tablets, labels, and other articles-inscribed +with the various Cretan scripts can be counted by thousands. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[Footnote *: Perrot et Chipiez, 'La Grèce primitive: l'Art +mycénien,' p. 985.] +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The earliest form of Minoan writing that can be traced consists of +rude pictographic symbols engraved upon bead-seals and gems. This +primitive pictographic writing is characteristic of the Early Minoan +period, and throughout the succeeding period of Middle Minoan it was +gradually developed into a hieroglyphic system which is believed +to present some analogies to the Hittite form of writing. But in +the latest phases of the Third Middle Minoan period there begins +to appear, at Knossos and elsewhere, a series of inscriptions in a +very different style. The characters are no longer hieroglyphic, +but have become definitely linear, and are arranged very much as +in ordinary writing. In general they are incised upon the clay +tablets of which so many hundreds have been found, but there are +several instances in which they have been written with ink, apparently +with a reed pen, as in the case of the two Middle Minoan III. cups +<a name="page_235"><span class="page">Page 235</span></a> found +at Knossos, which bear linear inscriptions executed before the +clay was fired. While in the case of the hieroglyphic inscriptions +the characters run indifferently from left to right, or from right +to left, in this linear script their fixed direction is the usual +one, from left to right. Suffixes were apparently used to indicate +gender, and pictorial signs indicating the contents of the document +are also in use, though more sparingly than they came to be in +the later form of script. Such signs as occur seem to show that +the documents in which they are found mainly related to matters +of business. The saffron-flower, various vessels, tripods, and +balances, probably for the weighing of precious metals, occur most +frequently among these determinatives. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +At Knossos this form of linear writing, Dr. Evans's Class A, appears +to have had a comparatively short vogue. Documents belonging to it +are only found in the particular stratum which is connected with +Middle Minoan III., and are to be dated, according to Dr. Evans's +latest revision of the chronology, not later than 1600 B.C., the +period at which Middle Minoan III. closes. In the Late Minoan periods +which follow, the linear script of Class A is superseded at Knossos +by another form, Class B. In other parts of the island, however, +Class A seems to have survived as a general form of writing much +longer than at Knossos. At Hagia Triada the very large deposits +of linear writing—larger, indeed, than the representation +of Class A at Knossos—belong <a name="page_236"><span +class="page">Page 236</span></a> to the First Late Minoan period, +and are contemporary with the wonderful work of the steatite vases +and the fresco of the hunting-cat; while at Phæstos the final +catastrophe of the palace took place at a time when the linear +writing of Class A was still in full use. At Zakro, Palaikastro, +Gournia, and elsewhere, examples of this script have been found, +showing that it was prevalent, at all events, throughout Central +and Eastern Crete; and in all cases it is associated with remains +which belong to the close of Middle Minoan III. and the beginnings +of the Late Minoan period. But it would appear that this form of +writing was not confined to Crete, but was more widely diffused. +Traces of it, or of a script very closely allied with it, have +been found at Thera, while at Phylakopi in Melos evidence has come +to light of a whole series of marks closely corresponding to the +Cretan Class A. This would seem to suggest what in itself is entirely +probable, that the language used in Minoan Crete was predominant, +or at all events was understood and largely used, throughout the +Ægean area. The inscription on the libation table found by +Dr. Evans at the Dictæan Cave belongs to this class, and also +that upon the similar object found by Mr. Currelly at Palaikastro. +</p> + +<div class="image" style="width: 545px;"> +<a name="plate_XXX"> +<img src="images/plate_XXX.jpg" width="545" height="805" + alt="Plate XXX"></a> +<p>LATE MINOAN VASE FROM MYCENÆ +(<i>p</i>. <a href="#page_206">206</a>)</p> +<p>Reproduced from <i>The Journal of Hellenic Studies</i>, by +permission of the Council of the Hellenic Society</p> +</div> + +<p class="indent"> +When, at the beginning of the Late Minoan period, the Palace of +Knossos was remodelled, another great change accompanied the +architectural one. This was the entire supersession of the linear +script, Class A, by another similar but independent form, which has +been named Class B. Somewhat <a name="page_237"><span class="page">Page +237</span></a> remarkably, although the specimens of the script +discovered at the Palace of Knossos and its immediate dependencies +are far more numerous than those of Class A, the use of Class B +seems, so far as the evidence yet collected goes, to have been +entirely confined to Knossos. The beginning of the use of this system +may have been in the early part of the fifteenth century B.C., +and it was in full service at the great catastrophe of Knossos, +at the end of the fifteenth or beginning of the fourteenth century +B.C. Its use still continued after the fall of the Minoan power, +tablets inscribed with this form of writing being found in the Late +Minoan III. House of the Fetish Shrine at Knossos. According to +Dr. Evans, whose 'Scripta Minoa' sums up all that is at present +known of these enigmatic Cretan writings, Class B is not a mere +outgrowth of Class A. The scripts are certainly allied, and there are +indications that B is the more highly developed of the two, having +a smaller selection of characters and a less complicated system of +compound signs; but at the same time several of the signs found +in B do not occur in A at all, and some of those which belong to +both scripts are found in a more primitive form in B. The language +expressed in both scripts must, however, have been essentially +the same. It is suggested, therefore, that in the supersession +of Class A by Class B we have another indication of the dynastic +revolution which is supposed to have caused that ruin of the palace +which closed the Middle Minoan period. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The records of Class B give evidence of a <a name="page_238"><span +class="page">Page 238</span></a> very considerable advance in the +art of writing. 'The characters themselves have a European aspect. +They are of upright habit, and of a simple and definite outline, +which throws into sharp relief the cumbrous and obscure cuneiform +system of Babylonia. Although not so cursive in form as the Hieratic +or Demotic types of Egyptian writing, there is here a much more +limited selection of types. It would seem that the characters stood +for syllables or even letters, though they could in most cases +also be used as words.... The spaces and lines between the words, +the <i>espacement</i> into distinct paragraphs, and the variation +in the size of the characters on the same tablet, according to the +relative importance of the text, show a striving after clearness +and method such as can by no means be said to be a characteristic +of Classical Greek inscriptions.'[*] A decimal system of numbers +was in use, the highest single amount referred to being 19,000, +and percentages were evidently well understood, as a whole series +of tablets is devoted to them. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[Footnote *: 'Scripta Minoa,' pp. 39, 40.] +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The tablets themselves were originally of unburnt, but sun-dried, +clay, and their preservation, as we have seen, is probably due to +the excessive heat to which they were exposed during the great +fire which destroyed the palace. 'Fire itself, so fatal to other +libraries, has thus insured the preservation of the archives of +Minoan Knossos.' Great care was plainly bestowed upon the storage +of the tablets. <a name="page_239"><span class="page">Page +239</span></a> They were stored in chests and coffers of various +materials, and were evidently carefully separated according to +the different departments to which their contents referred. In +one deposit near the northern entrance, which was the 'Sea-Gate' +of the palace, the largest of the seatings which had secured the +cases in which the tablets were stored bore a representation of a +ship, possibly an indication of the fact that these tablets belonged +to the Minoan Board of Admiralty. One set of tablets had been stored +in a room which presents all the appearance of having been an office, +and the frequent occurrence in this deposit of the figures of a +horse's head, a chariot, and a cuirass, suggests that the store +belonged to the Minoan War Office, and refers to the equipment +of the Chariot Brigade of the Knossian army. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Further evidence of the business-like methods of the Minoan officials +was given by the fact that many of the seals belonging to the various +stores were countermarked on the face, and had their backs countersigned +and endorsed, evidently by examining officials, while they appear to +have been regularly filed and docketed for reference. Indeed, the +Minoan methods have already borne the test of having been accepted +as evidence in a modern court of law. 'In 1901,' says Dr. Evans, +'I discovered that certain tablets had been abstracted from the +excavations, and had shortly afterwards been purchased by the museum +at Athens. It further appeared that one of our workmen—a +certain <a name="page_240"><span class="page">Page 240</span></a> +Aristides—had left the excavation about the same time for +Greece, and had been seen in Athens offering "antikas" for sale +under suspicious circumstances. On examining the inscriptions on +the stolen tablets I observed a formula that showed that some or +all of the pieces belonged to a deposit found in Magazine XV. A +reference to our daybooks brought out the fact that the same Aristides +had taken part in the excavation of this particular magazine a +little before the date of his hasty departure. On his return to +Crete, some months later, he was accordingly arrested, and the +evidence supplied by the Minoan formula was accepted by the Candia +Tribunal as a crowning proof of his guilt. Aristides—"the +Unjust"—was thus condemned to three months' imprisonment.' +Few criminals attain to the dignity of being convicted on evidence +3,500 years old. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Certain of the tablets contain lists of persons of both sexes, +apparently denoted by their personal names, the signs which appear +to stand for the name being followed in each case by an ideograph +which is the determinative of 'man,' or 'woman,' as the case may +be. It is, of course, impossible to say as yet to what rank or class +the people thus catalogued may have belonged; but the conjecture +may be hazarded that these lists may be the major-domo's records +of the male and female slaves of the household, or perhaps of the +artisans who appear to have dwelt within the precincts of the palace. +Another type of record is given by tablets such as that represented +<a name="page_241"><span class="page">Page 241</span></a> in <a +href="#plate_XIV">Plate XIV</a>. The tablet contains eight lines +of well-written inscription, and consists apparently of twenty +words, divided into three paragraphs. In this case there are no +determinatives and no numerals; and it is possible that the document +may be a contract, or perhaps an official proclamation. +</p> + +<div class="image" style="width: 545px;"> +<a name="plate_XXXI"> +<img src="images/plate_XXXI.jpg" width="545" height="743" + alt="Plate XXXI"></a> +<p>KAMARES VASES FROM PHÆSTOS AND HAGIA TRIADA +(<i>pp</i>. <a href="#page_120">120</a> & +<a href="#page_197">197</a>)<br /> +<i>G. Maraghiannis</i></p> +</div> + +<p class="indent"> +That such tablets were not the only form in which the Minoans executed +the writing of their various documents is evident from the fact +already noticed, that inscriptions have been found executed with a +reed-pen, and, though those extant are written on clay vessels, it +is obvious that the reed-pen was not a very suitable instrument for +writing on such materials, and that its existence presupposes some +substance more adapted to the cursive writing of a pen—parchment, +possibly, or papyrus, which could be readily obtained from Egypt. +Unfortunately, such materials, on which, in all probability, the +real literary documents of the Minoans, if there were any such +documents, would be written, can scarcely have survived the fire +which destroyed the palace, or, if by any chance they escaped that, +the subsequent action of the climate; so that whatever genuinely +literary fragments may yet come to light must be looked for on the +larger tablets, and at the best can scarcely be more than brief +extracts. We cannot expect from Crete a wealth of papyri such as +Egypt has preserved for the archæologist. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Into quite a different category from any of the ordinary Minoan +tablets comes the disc found at Phæstos in 1908. Its general +character has been <a name="page_242"><span class="page">Page +242</span></a> already described. The long inscription which covers +both of its faces is written in a form of hieroglyphics which, to +some extent, resembles the Minoan pictographic system, but is not +the same. The crested helmets which occur frequently as signs, the +round shields, the fashion of dress of both men and women, and the +style of architecture depicted in the hieroglyphic rendering of a +house or pagoda, are not Minoan; and, on the whole, the evidence +seems to point to the disc being the product of some allied culture, +perhaps Lycian, in which a language closely akin to that of Minoan +Crete was used. The inscription on the disc is carefully balanced +and arranged, and each side contains exactly the same number of +sign-groups, with one additional group on face A, which is separated +from the preceding part of the inscription by a dash. Certain sets +of sign-groups recur in the same order, as though they constituted +some kind of refrain. From these indications it has been suggested +that the whole inscription is a metrical composition, a short poem +or hymn—perhaps one leaf of an Anatolian Book of Psalms whose +other pages have perished. It is agreed that the language and religion +of the western coast of Asia Minor were closely allied to those of +Crete, and it is possible that when the Minoans developed their +own language on somewhat different lines from the mainlanders, +they maintained in parts of their religious service the old form +of the speech common to themselves and their Anatolian relatives, +as a kind of sacred language.[*] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[Footnote *: See Appendix, p. 264.] +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +<a name="page_243"><span class="page">Page 243</span></a> Thus, +it is abundantly evident that the civilization of Minoan Crete, +far from being dumb, had varied and perfectly adequate means of +expressing itself. The old Cretan tradition that the Phœnicians +did not invent the letters of the alphabet, but only changed those +already existing, is amply justified; for this seems to have been +precisely what they did. The Phœnician mind, if not original, +was at all events practical. The great stumbling-block in the way of +the ancient scripts was their complexity—a fault which the +Minoan users of the Linear Script, Class B, had evidently already +begun to recognize and endeavour to amend. What the Phœnicians +did was to carry the process of simplification farther still, and to +appropriate for their own use out of the elements already existing +around them a conveniently short and simple system of signs. The +position which they came to occupy, after the Minoan empire of the +sea had passed away, as the great carriers and middlemen of the +Mediterranean, gave their system a spread and a utility possible to +no other system of writing; and so the Phœnician alphabet +gradually came to take its place as the basis of all subsequent +scripts. Unquestionably it was a great and important service which +was thus rendered by them; but, all the same, the beginnings of +European writing must be traced not to them, but to their +predecessors the Minoans, and the clay tablets of Knossos, +Phæstos, and Hagia Triada are the lineal ancestors of all +the written literature of Europe. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +<a name="page_244"><span class="page">Page 244</span></a> In attempting +to deal with the Minoan religion we are met by the fact that it +is as yet quite impossible to present any connected view of the +subject. As in the case of their literature we have the actual +records but cannot read them, so in the case of their religion +a considerable mass of facts is apparent, but we have no means +of co-ordinating them so as to arrive at any definite idea of a +religious system. Some of the ritual we can see, and even understand +something of the Divinity to whom it was addressed, but the theology +is lacking. Accordingly, nothing more can be done than to present +the fragmentary facts which are apparent. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The Minoans, it seems fairly clear, were never, like their successors +the Greeks, the possessors of a well-peopled Pantheon; nor was the +chief object of their adoration a male deity like the Greek Zeus. +There are, indeed, traces of a male divinity, who was adopted by +the Greeks when they obtained predominance in the island, as the +representative of their own supreme deity, and who became the Cretan +Zeus. But in Minoan times this being occupied a very subordinate place, +and undoubtedly the chief object of worship was a goddess—a +Nature Goddess, a Great Mother— ποτνια +θηρων, the Lady of the Wild Creatures—who +was the source of all life, higher and lower, its guardian during the +period of its earthly existence, and its ruler in the underworld. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The functions of this great deity, it has been aptly pointed out, +are substantially those claimed for herself <a name="page_245"><span +class="page">Page 245</span></a> by Artemis in Browning's poem, +'Artemis Prologizes': +</p> + +<p class="bquote"> +'Through heaven I roll my lucid moon along;<br /> + I shed in hell o'er my pale people peace;<br /> + On earth, I, caring for the creatures, guard<br /> + Each pregnant yellow wolf and fox-bitch sleek,<br /> + And every feathered mother's callow brood,<br /> + And all that love green haunts and loneliness.' +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +She was a goddess alike of the air, the earth, and the underworld, and +representations of her have survived in which her various attributes +are expressed. As goddess of the air, she is represented by a female +figure crowned with doves; as goddess of the underworld, her emblems +are the snakes, which we see twined round the faïence figure +at Knossos, or the terra-cotta in the Gournia shrine. Her figure +is often seen upon seals and gems, standing on the top of the rock +or mountain, with guardian lions in attendance, one on either side, +and sometimes with a male votary in the background. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The earliest form of her worship, and one which proved very persistent, +was apparently aniconic. The divinity was not embodied in any graven +image, but was inherent in such objects as the rude natural concretions +found in the House of the Fetish Shrine, or was supposed to dwell +in sacred trees, on which sometimes perch the doves which indicate +that the goddess is present as ruler of the air, or which are twined +with serpents, showing her presence as goddess of the earth and +underworld. In the place <a name="page_246"><span class="page">Page +246</span></a> of sacred trees we have often sacred pillars, which +seem to have been objects of worship down to Late Minoan II. at +least, since in the Royal Villa at Knossos, dating from this period, +there is a pillar-room similar to the much earlier pillar-rooms +of the Great Palace. The little group of three pillars found at +Knossos evidently represents the divinity in her aspect as a heavenly +goddess, for the pillars have doves perching upon their capitals. +Sometimes, as in the case of the Lion Gate at Mycenæ, and +other representations, we have the pillar with the two supporting +lions, an anticipation of the anthropomorphic figure of the goddess +on the rock. It is possible that in some cases the figures of the +Double Axes standing between horns of consecration were also looked +upon as embodiments of the divinity. A similar mode of representing +deity occurs in the earlier stages of many religions, and the sacred +pillar set up by Jacob at Bethel may be instanced as an example +of its presence in the beginnings of the Hebrew worship. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +In general the Minoan Great Mother appears to have been looked +upon as a being of beneficence, and as the giver of 'every good +and perfect gift'; but her association with the lion and the snake +shows that there was also a more mysterious and awful side to her +character. When the later Greeks came into the island and found +this deity in possession, she became identified, in the various +aspects of her many-sided nature, with various goddesses of the +Hellenic Pantheon. Foremost and specially <a name="page_247"><span +class="page">Page 247</span></a> she became Rhea, the mother of +the gods, who had fled to Crete to bear her son Zeus. Otherwise +she was Hera, the sister and the spouse of Zeus, and in this case +the story of the marriage of the great goddess and the supreme god +probably represents the fusion of religious ideas on the part of +the two races, the conquerors taking over the deity of the conquered +race, and uniting her with the Sky God whom they had brought with +them from their Northern home. She also survived as Aphrodite, +as Demeter, and, in her capacity as Lady of the Wild Beasts, as +Artemis. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The suggestion of the association of Zeus with the Minoan goddess +may have been given to the Northern conquerors by a feature of the +Cretan religion which they found already in existence. On certain +seal impressions and engraved gems there are indications that the +great Nature Goddess was sometimes associated with a male divinity. +This being, however, seems to have occupied an obscure and inferior +position. In most of the scenes in which he is represented he, +is either in the background, or reverentially stands before the +seated female divinity. It would appear that the Achæans +appropriated this insignificant god as the representative of their +own Zeus, attributed to him birth from the Great Goddess in her own +cave-sanctuary of Dicte, and endowed him with many of the attributes +which she had formerly possessed, including the Double Axe emblem +of sovereignty, so that in Hellenic times the supreme deity of +the island was always the Cretan Zeus, <a name="page_248"><span +class="page">Page 248</span></a> Zeus of the Double Axe, though +in reality he was no Cretan god at all, or at best a secondary +divinity, dressed in borrowed plumes and with greatness thrust upon +him. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +As to the forms of worship with which the Great Mother of Crete was +served, comparatively little is known. The most striking feature +is the seemingly total absence of what we should call temples. +In this respect Crete presents a curious contrast to Egypt: in +Egypt we have an abundance of vast temples, but practically no +surviving palaces; in Crete the case is exactly reversed, and we +have huge palaces but no temples. The reason of this appears to +be, as Dr. Mackenzie has pointed out,[*] that the Minoan religion +was of an entirely domestic character. 'At Knossos all shrines +are either house-shrines or palace-shrines. The divinities are +household and dynastic divinities having an ancestral character +and an ancestral reputation to maintain.' To put it in a word, +worship in the Minoan religion was essentially Family Worship. +No doubt there were public ceremonials also, in which the King, +who seems to have been Priest as well as King (if, indeed, he was +not viewed as an incarnation of deity), performed the principal +part; but there can have been nothing like the habitual publicity +of parts of the worship of the god which was contemplated in the +great peristyle courts of the Egyptian temples and the processional +arrangements of part of their service. 'At Knossos,' says Dr. <a +name="page_249"><span class="page">Page 249</span></a> Mackenzie, +'we found, as a matter of fact, that there was a tendency for each +house to have a room set apart for family worship. Of such shrines +the palace was found to have more than one. Those shrines were +found to be in a very private part of the house, and usually to +have no thoroughfare through them.' +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[Footnote *: <i>Annual of the British School at Athens</i>, vol. +xiv., p. 366.] +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +What these shrines were like we may to some extent judge from the +fragmentary fresco found at Knossos, representing one of the +pillar-shrines where the Great Goddess was worshipped in her emblems +of the sacred pillars. The structure consists of a taller central +chamber, with a lower wing on either side of it. The material of +which it is built is apparently wood, faced and decorated in certain +parts with chequer-work in black-and-white plaster. The whole building +rests upon large blocks of stone, immediately above which in the +central chamber comes a solid piece of building, adorned first +with the chequer-work, and then, above this, with two half-rosettes +bordered with <i>kuanos</i>. Over this rises the open chamber of +the shrine, which contains nothing but two pillars of the familiar +Minoan-Mycenæan type, tapering downwards from the capitals. +These rise from between the sacred horns, which occur in practically +every religious scene as emblems of consecration (<i>cf.</i> the +'horns of the altar' in the Hebrew temple worship). The lower chambers +on either side contain each a single pillar, again rising from +between the horns of consecration. A Minoan lady, dressed in a gown +of bluish-green, sits with her back to the wall of the right-hand +lower chamber, and the scale of the <a name="page_250"><span +class="page">Page 250</span></a> shrine is given by the fact that, +her seat being on the same level as the floor of the chamber, her +head is in a line with the roof beam which rests on the capital +of the sacred pillar. The remains of an actual shrine discovered +in 1907 close to the Central Court at Knossos show that the fresco +does not exaggerate the smallness of the sacred buildings. The +Gournia shrine, situated in the centre of the town, is about twelve +feet square, and its discoverer believes that the walls of the +sacred enclosure may never have stood more than eighteen inches +high. Here, again, were the horns of consecration, the doves, and +the snakes twined round the image of the goddess. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Of what sort were the acts of worship in connection with the Minoan +Religion? Sacrifice was certainly prominent, and the bull was probably +the chief victim offered to the goddess. In one of the scenes on +the Hagia Triada sarcophagus, a bull is being sacrificed, and his +blood is dripping into a vessel placed beneath his head. Behind is +the figure of a woman, whose hands are stretched out, presumably +to hold the cords with which the victim is bound. Two kids crouch +on the ground below the bull, perhaps to be offered in their turn. +Libation also formed part of the ceremonial, and on the same sarcophagus +there are two scenes in which it occurs. In the one instance (<a +href="#plate_XXVIII">Plate XXVIII.</a>), the vessel into which +the offering is being poured stands between two sacred Double Axes +with birds perched upon them; in the other the libation-vessel +stands upon an altar with a Double Axe behind it. The three <a +name="page_251"><span class="page">Page 251</span></a> receptacles +of the Dictæan Libation Table suggest a threefold offering +like that of mingled milk and honey, sweet wine, and water, which, +in the Homeric period, was made to the Shades of the Dead and to +the Nymphs. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +As was perhaps natural in the cult of a goddess, the chief part +in the ritual seems to have been taken by priestesses. Men share +in the ceremonies also, but not so frequently, and apparently in +subordinate rôles. Part of the ritual evidently consisted +of dancing, and music also had its place, as is evident from the +figures of the lyre and flute players on the sarcophagus of Hagia +Triada. The question of whether the Minoans had any worship of +ancesters or sacrifice to the dead is raised by several relics. +Above the Shaft-Graves at Mycenæ stood a circular altar, +where offerings must have been made either to the Shades of the +Dead or on behalf of them, and the scenes on the Hagia Triada +sarcophagus, resembling so curiously those of the Egyptian ceremony +of 'the Opening of the Mouth,' suggest a belief in the continued +existence of the spirit, either as an object to be propitiated +by sacrifice, or as a being which needed to be sustained in its +disembodied state by offerings of meat and drink. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The relation of the Minoan King to the religion of his country +is a point of some interest, though the facts known are scarcely +sufficient to afford ground for more than surmise. The very structure +of the palace at Knossos gives evidence of the importance of the part +which he played in spiritual matters, and <a name="page_252"><span +class="page">Page 252</span></a> of the intimate connection which +existed in the Minoan, as in so many other ancient faiths, between +Royalty and Religion. There are not only several shrines and altars +in the palace, but it is probable, as Dr. Mackenzie has pointed +out,[*] that the so-called bathrooms at Knossos and Phæstos +are not bathrooms at all, but small chapels or oratories, so that +altogether religion bulks very largely in the arrangements of the +Royal dwelling. In fact, the Kings and Queens of Knossos were +Priest-Kings and Priest-Queens, the heads of the spiritual as well as +of the material life of their people; and it is not at all unlikely, +from what is known of the religious views of other ancient peoples, +that the Priest-King was looked upon as an incarnation of divinity. +If so, of what divinity? It is here that, in all likelihood, we +get near the heart of the Minotaur legend. 'The characteristic +mythical monster of Crete,' says Miss Jane Harrison,[**] 'was the +bull-headed Minotaur. Behind the legend of Pasiphae, made monstrous +by the misunderstanding of immigrant conquerors, it can scarcely be +doubted that there lurks some sacred mystical ceremony of ritual wedlock +(ιερος γαμος) +with a primitive bull-headed divinity.... The bull-Dionysos of Thrace, +when he came to Crete, found a monstrous god, own cousin to himself.... +Of the ritual of the bull-god in Crete, we know that it consisted in +part of the tearing and eating of a bull, <a name="page_253"><span +class="page">Page 253</span></a> and behind is the dreadful suspicion +of human sacrifice.' The actual evidence found on Minoan sites for the +existence of such a bull-headed divinity is somewhat slight, the +clearest instance being a seal-impression from Knossos, representing +a monster who bears an animal head, possibly a bull's, upon a human +body, and who is evidently regarded as divine, since he is seated and +reverently approached by a human worshipper; but, taken in connection +with the universal currency of the Minotaur legend, it is probably +sufficient. What relation this monstrous divinity held to the other +objects of Minoan worship is not apparent. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[Footnote *: <i>Annual of the British School at Athens</i>, xiv., +p. 366. The suggestion is also made by Mosso, 'The Palaces of Crete,' +pp. 64-66.] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[Footnote **: 'Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion,' pp. +482, 483.] +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +It may be, then, that this deity was the one of whom the King was +supposed to be the representative and incarnation, and in that +case the bull-grappling, which was so constant a feature of the +palace sports, had a deeper significance, and was in reality part of +the ceremonial associated with the worship of the Cretan bull-god. +In this connection Professor Murray has emphasized[*] certain facts +in connection with the legendary history of Minos, which would +seem to link the Cretan monarchy with a custom not infrequently +observed in connection with other ancient monarchies and faiths. +It will be remembered that the legend of Minos states variously +that he 'ruled for nine years, the gossip of Great Zeus,' and that +every nine years he went into the cave of Zeus or of the bull-god, +to converse with Zeus, to receive new commandments, and to <a +name="page_254"><span class="page">Page 254</span></a> give account +of his stewardship. The nine-year period recurs in the account +of the bloody tribute of seven youths and seven maidens who were +offered to the Minotaur every ninth year. May we not, therefore, +have in these statements a distorted recollection of the fact that +the Royal Incarnation of the Bull-God originally held his office +only for a term of nine years, and that at the end of that period +he went into the Dictæan Cave, the sanctuary of his divinity, +and was there slain in sacrifice, while from the cave his successor +came forth, and was hailed as the rejuvenated incarnation of divinity, +to reign in his turn, and then to perish as his predecessor had +done? In this case the seven youths and seven maidens who were +offered to the Minotaur at the end of the nine-year period may +have been slain with him to be his companions and servants in the +underworld, or, as is perhaps more likely, they may, in a later +stage of the custom, have been accepted as his substitutes, so +that the death of the King was merely a ritual one. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[Footnote *: 'The Rise of the Greek Epic,' pp. 127, 128.] +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Of course, this explanation of the Minos legend and the story of +the human tribute is in the meantime only a supposition, and not +susceptible of absolute proof; but the constant recurrence of the +nine-year period is, at least, very striking, and it is worth +remembering that a custom precisely similar to that suggested has +existed in connection with several ancient monarchies, and, indeed, +survives to the present day. In the ancient Ethiopian kingdom the +King was obliged to slay himself when commanded to do so by the +priests. A similar custom <a name="page_255"><span class="page">Page +255</span></a> prevailed in Babylonia and among the ancient Prussians, +while several modern African tribes slay their King when the first +sign of age or infirmity begins to show itself in him. Professor +Flinders Petrie has shown[*] that the greatest of the Egyptian +feasts, the 'Sed' Festival, was a ceremonial survival of a time +when the Pharaoh, the Priest-King and representative of God on +earth, was slain at fixed intervals. The object in all such cases +is manifestly to secure that the incarnation of divinity shall +always be in the prime of his vigour, and shall never know decay. +It is impossible, no doubt, to say that such a feature belonged to +the Minoan religious polity; the evidence is not such as to admit +of certainty, yet it is not unlikely that in a custom similar to +this lies the interpretation of the main features of the Minotaur +legend. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[Footnote *: 'Researches in Sinai,' pp. 181-185.] +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Such, then, was the Empire of the Minoan Sea-Kings as it has been +revealed to us by the excavations and researches of the last ten +years. Apart from the actual information gained of this great race, +which must henceforward be regarded as one of the originating sources +of Greek civilization and learning, and therefore, to a great extent, +of all European culture, perhaps the most striking and interesting +result that has been attained is the remarkable confirmation given to +the broad outlines of those traditions about Crete which have survived +in the legends and in the narratives of the Greek historians. The fable +of the Minotaur is now seen to be no mere <a name="page_256"><span +class="page">Page 256</span></a> wild and monstrous imagining, +but a reflection, vague and grotesque as seen through the mist of +centuries, of customs which did actually exist in the palace life +of Knossos, and were very probably parts of the religious practice +of the country. The slaying of the Minotaur by the Athenian Theseus +may well be an echo of the conquest of the Minoan Empire by the +mainland tribes. The story which makes Theseus bring up from the +Palace of Amphitrite the ring which Minos had thrown into the sea, +seems almost certainly to be a symbolic expression of the passing +over of the sea-power of the Ægean from the once-omnipotent +Minoans to the Achæans and the other restless tribes who for +generations after the fall of Knossos held the dominion of the +ocean, and were the terror of all peaceful nations, and a menace to +the existence of even so great a power as Egypt. No one now dreams +of hesitating to accept the statements of Herodotus and Thucydides +as to the great sea-empire of Crete. Whoever the Minos to whom +they allude may have been—whether he was actually a single +great historical monarch who brought the glory of the kingdom to its +culmination, or whether the name was the title of a race of Kings, +is a matter of small moment. In either case the sea-power of Minoan +Crete was a reality which endured, not for one reign, but for many +reigns; and it is practically certain that, during a long period +of history, the whole sea-borne trade of Europe, Asia, and Africa, +was in the hands of these, the earliest lords of the ocean. +</p> + +<div class="image" style="width: 779px;"> +<a name="plate_XXXII"> +<img src="images/plate_XXXII.jpg" width="779" height="561" + alt="Plate XXXII"></a> +<p>GOLDSMITHS' WORK FROM BEEHIVE TOMBS, PHÆSTOS +(<i>p</i>. <a href="#page_216">216</a>)<br /> +<i>G. Maraghiannis</i></p> +</div> + +<p class="indent"> +The recollections of the fallen power that survived <a +name="page_257"><span class="page">Page 257</span></a> in the Greek +mind were chiefly those connected with the oppressive aspect of the +dominion which the Lord of Knossos exercised over the Ægean +area; but in Egypt there lingered for centuries a tradition which did +more justice to the glories of Minoan Crete. In the Timæus, +Plato tells a story of how Solon went to Egypt, and was told by +a priest at Sais that long ago there had been a great island in +the western sea, where a wonderful central power held sway, not +only over the whole of its own land, but also over other islands +and parts of the continent. In an attempt at universal conquest, +this island State made war upon Greece and Egypt, but was defeated +by the Athenians, and overwhelmed by the sea as a punishment for its +sins, leaving only a range of mud-banks, dangerous to navigation, +to mark the place where it had been. In the Timæus and Critias, +Plato describes with considerable detail the features of the island +State, and the details are such that he might almost have been +describing what the Egyptian priest who originally told the story +was no doubt endeavouring to describe—the actual port and +Palace of Knossos, with the life that went on there. 'The great +harbour, for example, with its shipping and its merchants coming +from all parts, the elaborate bathrooms, the stadium, and the solemn +sacrifice of a bull, are all thoroughly, though not exclusively, +Minoan; but when we read how the bull is hunted "in the temple of +Poseidon without weapons but with staves and nooses," we have an +unmistakable description of the bull-ring at Knossos, the very thing +which struck foreigners <a name="page_258"><span class="page">Page +258</span></a> most, and which gave rise to the legend of the +Minotaur.'[*] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[Footnote *: 'The Lost Continent,' <i>Times</i>, February 19, 1909. +The anonymous writer was the first to identify Crete with the 'Lost +Atlantis.'] +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The boundaries which Plato assigns to the Empire of the lost State +are practically identical with those over which Minoan influence is +now known to have spread, while the description of the island itself +is such as to make it almost certain that Crete was the original +from which it was drawn. 'The island was the way to other islands, +and from these islands you might pass to the whole of the opposite +continent which surrounded the true ocean.' So Plato describes +Atlantis; and when you set beside his sentence a modern description of +Crete—'a half-way house between three continents, flanked by the +great Libyan promontory, and linked by smaller island stepping-stones +to the Peloponnese and the mainland of Anatolia'—there can be +little doubt that the two descriptions refer to the same island. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +The only difficulty in the way of accepting the identification is +that it is stated that the lost Atlantis lay beyond the Pillars +of Hercules; but doubtless this statement is due to Solon's +misinterpretation of what was said by his Egyptian informant, or to +the Saite priest's endeavour to accommodate his ancient tradition +to the wider geographical knowledge of his own time. The old Egyptian +conception of the universe held that the heavens were supported +on four pillars, which were actual mountains; and probably the +original story placed <a name="page_259"><span class="page">Page +259</span></a> the lost island beyond these pillars as a metaphorical +way of stating that it was very far distant, as indeed it was to +voyagers in those early days. But by Solon's time the limits of +navigation were extended far beyond those of the early seafarers. +The Phœnician trader had pushed at least as far west as Spain; +Necho's fleet had circumnavigated Africa; and so 'the island farthest +west,' which naturally meant Crete to the Egyptian of the Eighteenth +Dynasty who first recorded the catastrophe of the Minoan Empire, +had to be thrust out beyond the Straits of Gibraltar to satisfy +the wider ideas of the men of Solon's and Necho's time. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Almost certainly then, Plato's story gives the Saite version of the +actual Egyptian records of the greatness and the final disaster of +that great island state with which Egypt so long maintained intercourse. +Doubtless to the men of the latter part of the Eighteenth Dynasty the +sudden blotting out of Minoan trade and influence by the overthrow +of Knossos seemed as strange and mysterious as though Crete had +actually been swallowed up by the sea. The island never regained +its lost supremacy, and gradually sank into the insignificance +which is its characteristic throughout the Classical period. So, +though neither the priest of Sais nor his Greek auditor, and still +less Plato, dreamed of the fact, the wonderful island State of which +the Egyptian tradition preserved the memory, was indeed Minoan +Crete, and the men of the Lost Atlantis whose portraits Produs saw +in Egypt were none other than the Keftiu of the tombs of Sen-mut +and Rekh-ma-ra. +</p> + +<h2><a name="page_260"><span class="page">Page 260</span></a> +CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY</h2> + +<p class="indent"> +Prior to 1580 B.C. the dates in the summary must be regarded as +merely provisional, and the margin of possible error is wide. The +tendency on the part of the Cretan explorers has been to accept +in the main the Berlin system of Egyptian dating in preference +to that advocated by Professor Flinders Petrie ('Researches in +Sinai,' pp. 163-185), on the ground that the development of the +Minoan culture can scarcely have required so long a period as that +given by the Sinai dating. It must be remembered, however, that +the question is still unsettled, and that the longer system of +Professor Petrie must be regarded as at least possible. +</p> + +<table border="0"> + <tr> + <td colspan="2" class="center">CRETE.</td> + <td class="center" style="width: 33%;">EGYPT (BERLIN).</td> + <td class="center" style="width: 33%;">EGYPT (PETRIE).</td></tr> + <tr><td class="center">B.C.</td></tr> + <tr><td valign="top" class="right">10000-3000,</td> + <td valign="top">Neolithic Age.</td></tr> + <tr><td valign="top" class="right"><i>c.</i> 3000-2600,</td> + <td valign="top">Early Minoan I.</td> + <td valign="top">Dynasties I.-V., 3400-2625 B.C.</td> + <td valign="top">Dynasties I.-V., 5510-4206 B.C.</td></tr> + <tr><td valign="top" class="right"><i>c.</i> 2600-2400</td> + <td valign="top"> " " II.</td> + <td valign="top">Dynasty VI., 2625-2475 "</td> + <td valign="top">Dynasty VI., 4206-4003 "</td></tr> + <tr><td valign="top" class="right"><i>c.</i> 2400-2200</td> + <td valign="top"> " " III.</td> + <td valign="top">Dynasties VII.-X., 2475-2160 "</td> + <td valign="top">Dynasties VII.-X., 4003-3502 "</td></tr> + <tr><td valign="top" class="right"><i>c.</i> 2200-2000,</td> + <td valign="top">Middle Minoan I. (earlier palaces at Knossos + and Phæstos).</td> + <td valign="top">Dynasty XI., 2160-2000 "</td> + <td valign="top">Dynasty XI., 3502-3459 "</td></tr> + <tr><td valign="top" class="right"><i>c.</i> 2000-1850,</td> + <td valign="top">Middle Minoan II. (pottery of Kamares Cave; + at end of period destruction of Knossos).</td> + <td valign="top">Dynasty XII., 2000-1788 "</td> + <td valign="top">Dynasty XII., 3459-3246 "</td></tr> + <tr><td valign="top" rowspan="2" class="right"> + <i>c.</i> 1850-1600,</td> + <td valign="top" rowspan="2">Middle Minoan III. (Later Palace + Knossos; first Villa Hagia Triada; early in period, statuette + of Sebek-user; late, Alabastron of Khyan).</td> + <td valign="top">Dynasties XIII.-XVII., 1788-1580 B.C.</td> + <td valign="top">Dynasties XIII.-XVII., 3246-1580 B.C.</td></tr> + <tr><td valign="top" colspan="2" style="text-align: center;"> + (Period of confusion and of Hyksos domination.) + <a name="page_261"><span class="page">Page + 261</span></a></td></tr> + <tr><td valign="top" class="right">1600-1500,</td> + <td valign="top">Late Minoan I. (Later Palace Phæstos + begun).</td></tr> + <tr><td valign="top" rowspan="2" class="right">1500-1400,</td> + <td valign="top" rowspan="2">Late Minoan II. (Later Palace Knossos + completed; <i>c.</i> 1400, fall of Knossos).</td> + <td valign="top">Dynasty XVIII., 1580-1350 B.C.</td> + <td valign="top">Dynasty XVIII., 1580-1322 B.C.</td></tr> + <tr><td colspan="2" style="text-align: center;"> + (Keftiu on walls of tombs of Sen-mut and Rekh-ma-ra.)</td></tr> + <tr><td valign="top" class="right">1400——</td> + <td valign="top">Late Minoan III. (period of partial + reoccupation and decline).</td> + <td valign="top">Dynasty XIX., 1350-1205 B.C.</td> + <td valign="top">Dynasty XIX., 1322-1202 B.C.</td></tr> + <tr><td valign="top" class="right"><i>c.</i> 1200 (?)</td> + <td valign="top">Homeric Age.</td> + <td valign="top">Dynasty XX., 1200-1090 "</td> + <td valign="top">Dynasty XX., 1202-1102 "</td></tr> + <tr><td colspan="2"> </td> + <td colspan="2" valign="top" style="text-align: center;"> + (Cretan tribes mentioned and portrayed by Ramses III., + Medinet Habu.)</td></tr> + <tr><td colspan="2"> </td> + <td valign="top">Dynasty XXI., 1090-945 B.C.</td> + <td valign="top">Dynasty XXI., 1102-952 B.C.</td></tr> + <tr><td colspan="2"> </td> + <td colspan="2" valign="top" style="text-align: center;"> + (Zakru pirates mentioned by Wen-Amon, Golenischeff + Papyrus.)</td></tr> +</table> + +<h2><a name="page_262"><span class="page">Page 262</span></a> +BIBLIOGRAPHY</h2> + +<p class="indent"> +In the following short list will be found the volumes on the Minoan +and Mycenæan civilizations which are most accessible to the +ordinary reader: +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +<i>Annual of the British School at Athens</i>, vols. vi.- . (Reports +of excavations by Evans, Hogarth, and others, and many articles +of interest on the results of discovery. Well illustrated.) +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +<i>Journal of Hellenic Studies</i>, vols. xx.- . (Articles by Evans, +Hall, Mackenzie, Rouse, and others. Admirable illustrations.) +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +BROWNE, H.: <i>Homeric Study</i>. (Relations of Homeric and Minoan +civilizations). +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +BURROWS, R. M.: <i>The Discoveries in Crete</i>. (An able discussion +of the results of excavations). +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +EVANS, A. J.: <i>Cretan Pictograms and Pre-Phœnician Script.</i> +(Dr. Evans's earlier volume on the Minoan writing.) <i>Essai de +Classification des Époques de la Civilisation Minoenne.</i> +(Short summary of the Minoan periods.) <i>Mycœnean Tree and Pillar +Cult</i>. (Reprint from <i>Journal of Hellenic Studies</i>, vol. +xxi.) <i>Prehistoric Tombs of Knossos</i>. (Isopata, etc.). <i>Scripta +Minoa</i>. (Latest and fullest discussion of Minoan script.) Articles +in the <i>Times</i> newspaper and the <i>Monthly Review</i>. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +HALL, E. H.: <i>The Decorative Art of Crete in the Bronze Age</i>. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +HALL, H. R.: <i>Egypt and Western Asia</i>. (Relations of Crete +and Egypt.) <i>The Oldest Civilization of Greece</i>. (Deals with +Mycenæan discoveries up to 1901.) Various articles in the +Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archæology, the <i>Journal +of Hellenic Studies</i>, etc. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +HARRISON, J. E.: <i>Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion. +The Religion of Ancient Greece</i>. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +<a name="page_263"><span class="page">Page 263</span></a> HAWES, +C. H. and H.: <i>Crete the Forerunner of Greece</i>. (Concise and +interesting manual.) +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +HAWES, H. B.: <i>Gournia, Vasiliki, and other Prehistoric Sites +on the Isthmus of Hierapetra, Crete</i>. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +HOGARTH, D. G.: <i>Authority and Archœology</i>; (Contains summary +of earlier Mycenæan discoveries.) <i>Ionia and the East</i>. +(Relations of Oriental and early Greek civilizations.) Articles +in <i>Cornhill Magazine</i> and <i>Fortnightly Review</i>. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +LANG, A.: <i>Homer and his Age</i>. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +MOSSO, A.: <i>The Palaces of Crete and their Builders</i>. (Chiefly +useful for its numerous illustrations.) +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +MURRAY, G.: <i>The Rise of the Greek Epic</i>. (Exceedingly vivid +and suggestive.) +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +RIDGEWAY, W.: <i>The Early Age of Greece</i>. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +SCHUCHHARDT, C.: <i>Schliemann's Excavations</i>. (Useful summary +of the work of Schliemann, translated by E. Sellers.) +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +SEAGER, R. B.: <i>Excavations on the Island of Pseira, Crete</i>. +Philadelphia, 1910. (Finely illustrated.) +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +TSOUNTAS AND MANATT: <i>The Mycenæan Age</i>. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +For the chronology of Ancient Egypt see— +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +BREASTED, H.: <i>History of Egypt</i>. (1906. Abridged issue, 1908.) +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +PETRIE, W. M. F.: <i>History of Egypt</i>, vols. i.-iii. <i>Researches +in Sinai</i>. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +For the topography of Crete, Pashley's <i>Travels in Crete</i> +and Spratt's <i>Travels and Researches in Crete</i> will still be +found interesting and useful, though published in 1837 and 1865 +respectively. For the history of the island in mediæval and +modern times <i>A Short Popular History of Crete</i>, by J. H. +Freese, may be consulted. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +<i>Antiquités Crétoises</i>, by G. Maraghiannis, +Candia, Crete, gives fifty excellent plates of Minoan relics, chiefly +from Phæstos and Hagia Triada, with a short introduction by +Signor Pernier, of the Italian Archæological Mission. +</p> + +<h2><a name="page_264"><span class="page">Page 264</span></a> +APPENDIX</h2> + +<p class="subtitle">TRANSLATIONS OF THE PHÆSTOS DISK</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Two translations of the Phæstos disk have been put forward. +The first is by Professor George Hempl, of Stanford University, +U.S.A., and appeared in <i>Harper's Magazine</i> for January, 1911, +under the title, 'The Solving of an Ancient Riddle.' The second, +by Miss F. Melian Stawell, of Newnham College, appeared in the +<i>Burlington Magazine</i> of April, 1911, under the title, 'An +Interpretation of the Phaistos Disk.' +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Both are characterized by considerable ingenuity; but the trouble is +that they do not agree in the very least. Professor Hempl maintains +that the disk is the record of a dedication of oxen at a shrine in +Phæstos, in atonement of a robbery perpetrated by Cretan +sea-rovers on some shrine of the great goddess in Asia Minor. Miss +Stawell, on the other hand, believes that the disk is the matrix +for casting a pair of cymbals, and that the inscription is the +invocation which the worshippers had to chant to the goddess. +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +A comparison of portions of the two renderings will at least show +that certainty can scarcely be said to have been reached. Professor +Hempl thus renders the opening lines of Face A: +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +'Lo, Xipho the prophetess dedicates spoils from a spoiler of the +prophetess. Zeus, guard us. In silence put aside the most dainty +portions of the still unroasted animal. Athene Minerva, be gracious. +Silence! The victims have been put to death. Silence!' +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +Compare Miss Stawell's translation of the same lines: +</p> + +<p class="indent"> +'Lady, 0 hearken! Cunning one! Ah, Queen! I will sing, Lady, oh, +thou must deliver! Divine One, mighty Queen! Divine One, Giver of +Rain! Lady, Mistress, Come! Lady, be gracious! Goddess, be merciful! +Behold, Lady, I call on thee with the clash! Athena, behold, Warrior! +Help! Lady, come! Lady—keep silence, I sacrifice—Lady, +come!' +</p> + +<h2><a name="page_265"><span class="page">Page 265</span></a> +INDEX</h2> + +<p class="center">A</p> + +<p class="index">Aahmes, founder of Eighteenth Dynasty, +<a href="#page_147">147</a></p> + +<p class="index">Abnub, <a href="#page_82">82</a>, +<a href="#page_155">155</a>, <a href="#page_203">203</a></p> + +<p class="index">Abydos: First Dynasty graves at, +<a href="#page_142">142</a>, <a href="#page_191">191</a>; +Twelfth Dynasty grave at, <a href="#page_150">150</a>, +<a href="#page_199">199</a></p> + +<p class="index">Achæans: position of, in Homeric poems, +<a href="#page_23">23</a>; manners of, <a href="#page_26">26</a>; +invasion of Greece, <a href="#page_62">62</a>; influence of, on +Cretan customs, <a href="#page_178">178</a>; +conquest of Mycenæ, <a href="#page_182">182</a>; modifications +of Minoan religion by, <a href="#page_247">247</a></p> + +<p class="index">Achilles: arms of, <a href="#page_27">27</a>; +shield of, <a href="#page_27">27</a>, <a href="#page_28">28</a>, +<a href="#page_58">58</a>, <a href="#page_74">74</a></p> + +<p class="index">Ægean, <a href="#page_13">13</a></p> + +<p class="index">Ægeus, King of Athens, +<a href="#page_10">10-13</a></p> + +<p class="index">Agamemnon, Tomb of, <a href="#page_37">37</a>, +<a href="#page_42">42</a>, <a href="#page_43">43</a>, +<a href="#page_45">45</a>, <a href="#page_46">46</a></p> + +<p class="index">Agriculture, Minoan, <a href="#page_226">226</a></p> + +<p class="index">Aigaios, Mount, <a href="#page_136">136</a></p> + +<p class="index">Aithra, mother of Theseus, <a href="#page_11">11</a></p> + +<p class="index">Akhenaten, <a href="#page_163">163</a>, +<a href="#page_173">173</a>, <a href="#page_174">174</a>, +<a href="#page_185">185</a>, <a href="#page_208">208</a></p> + +<p class="index">Alabastron of Khyan, <a href="#page_93">93</a></p> + +<p class="index">Alcinous, Palace of, <a href="#page_25">25</a>, +<a href="#page_26">26</a>, <a href="#page_47">47</a>, +<a href="#page_49">49</a>, <a href="#page_56">56</a></p> + +<p class="index">Altar: in Dictæan Cave, +<a href="#page_137">137</a>; at Shaft-Graves, +<a href="#page_251">251</a></p> + +<p class="index">Amaltheia, <a href="#page_7">7</a>, +<a href="#page_111">111</a></p> + +<p class="index">Amenemhat III., <a href="#page_150">150</a>; +Labyrinth of, <a href="#page_150">150-155</a>; pyramid of, +<a href="#page_47">47</a>; cylinders of, <a href="#page_199">199</a></p> + +<p class="index">Amenhotep, II., <a href="#page_174">174</a></p> + +<p class="index">Amenhotep III., <a href="#page_158">158</a>, +<a href="#page_162">162</a>, <a href="#page_173">173</a>, +<a href="#page_174">174</a>, <a href="#page_184">184</a>, +<a href="#page_185">185</a>, <a href="#page_208">208</a></p> + +<p class="index">Amen-Ra, statuette of, in Dictæan Cave, +<a href="#page_137">137</a></p> + +<p class="index">Amor, Amorites, <a href="#page_165">165</a></p> + +<p class="index">Amorgos, <a href="#page_193">193</a></p> + +<p class="index">Anatolia, <a href="#page_6">6</a>; Minoan settlements +in, <a href="#page_184">184</a></p> + +<p class="index">Androgeos, son of Minos, <a href="#page_10">10</a></p> + +<p class="index">Andromache, <a href="#page_24">24</a>, +<a href="#page_41">41</a></p> + +<p class="index">Aniconic worship, <a href="#page_245">245</a>, +<a href="#page_246">246</a></p> + +<p class="index">Aphrodite: aspect of Cretan goddess, +<a href="#page_104">104</a>, <a href="#page_122">122</a>; +identified with Minoan goddess, <a href="#page_247">247</a></p> + +<p class="index">Aqayuasha invade Egypt, <a href="#page_164">164</a></p> + +<p class="index">Archon, the King, <a href="#page_108">108</a></p> + +<p class="index">Argives, <a href="#page_166">166</a></p> + +<p class="index">Argolid: place of, in Greek history, +<a href="#page_22">22</a>; conquest of, by Achæans, +<a href="#page_182">182</a></p> + +<p class="index">Ariadne, <a href="#page_3">3</a>, +<a href="#page_179">179</a>; flees with Theseus and deserted by him, +<a href="#page_13">13</a>; Choros of, at Knossos, +<a href="#page_103">103</a>; title of Cretan goddess, +<a href="#page_104">104</a>, <a href="#page_122">122</a></p> + +<p class="index">Aristides, 'The Unjust,' <a href="#page_240">240</a></p> + +<p class="index">Armour: Homeric, <a href="#page_26">26-28</a>, +<a href="#page_61">61</a>; Mycenæan, <a href="#page_61">61</a></p> + +<p class="index">Army, Minoan, <a href="#page_225">225</a>, +<a href="#page_226">226</a></p> + +<p class="index">Arrows, deposits of, at Knossos, +<a href="#page_110">110</a>, <a href="#page_225">225</a></p> + +<p class="index">Artemis Dictynna, aspect of Cretan goddess, +<a href="#page_122">122</a>, <a href="#page_247">247</a></p> + +<p class="index">Asia, community of religious conceptions between Crete +and, <a href="#page_141">141</a></p> + +<p class="index">Athens: conquered by Minos, <a href="#page_10">10</a>, +<a href="#page_170">170</a>; place in Homeric poems, +<a href="#page_21">21</a></p> + +<p class="index">Atlantis, Plato's legend of, +<a href="#page_257">257-259</a></p> + +<p class="index">Atreus, Treasury of, <a href="#page_43">43</a>, +<a href="#page_46">46-48</a></p> + +<p class="index">Axos, <a href="#page_166">166</a></p> + +<p class="center">B</p> + +<p class="index">Babylonia, relations with Crete, +<a href="#page_139">139-142</a></p> + +<p class="index"> +<a name="page_266"><span class="page">Page 266</span></a> +Bacchylides, legend of Theseus and the ring of Minos, +<a href="#page_13">13</a></p> + +<p class="index">Basilica, origin of, <a href="#page_108">108</a></p> + +<p class="index">Bathroom of Queen's Megaron, <a href="#page_95">95</a></p> + +<p class="index">Beak-jugs=schnabelkanne, <i>q.v.</i></p> + +<p class="index">Beehive chamber at Knossos, <a href="#page_113">113</a>, +<a href="#page_114">114</a></p> + +<p class="index">Beehive tombs: at Mycenæ, +<a href="#page_46">46-48</a>, <a href="#page_56">56</a>; at +Orchomenos, <a href="#page_48">48</a>, <a href="#page_56">56</a>; +at Phæstos, <a href="#page_229">229</a></p> + +<p class="index">Bliss finds Minoan pottery at Telles-Safi, +<a href="#page_167">167</a></p> + +<p class="index">Boghaz-Keui, treaty between Hittites and Egyptians +discovered at, <a href="#page_162">162</a></p> + +<p class="index">Bosanquet, Mr.: Minoan purple, +<a href="#page_133">133</a>; marine decoration, +<a href="#page_204">204</a></p> + +<p class="index">Boxer Vase, the, <a href="#page_124">124</a>, +<a href="#page_169">169</a>, <a href="#page_172">172</a>, +<a href="#page_204">204</a></p> + +<p class="index">Boxing, Minoan, <a href="#page_103">103</a></p> + +<p class="index">Breasted, H., Egyptian chronology, +<a href="#page_148">148</a></p> + +<p class="index">Britomartis, <a href="#page_122">122</a></p> + +<p class="index">Bronze, use of, for weapons, +<a href="#page_27">27</a>, <a href="#page_60">60</a>, +<a href="#page_228">228</a></p> + +<p class="index">Browne, H., 'Homeric Study,' +<a href="#page_30">30-32</a>, <a href="#page_62">62</a></p> + +<p class="index">Bucchero: deposit of, at Knossos, +<a href="#page_66">66</a>, <a href="#page_189">189</a>, +<a href="#page_191">191</a>; at Abydos, <a href="#page_142">142</a>, +<a href="#page_143">143</a></p> + +<p class="index">Bügelkanne=stirrup-vases, <i>q.v.</i></p> + +<p class="index">Bull: fresco of, at Tiryns, <a href="#page_49">49</a>, +<a href="#page_90">90</a>; at Knossos, <a href="#page_66">66</a>; relief +of, at Knossos, <a href="#page_77">77</a>, <a href="#page_78">78</a>, +<a href="#page_172">172</a>; fresco, <a href="#page_88">88</a>, +<a href="#page_89">89</a></p> + +<p class="index">Bull-god, <a href="#page_105">105</a>, +<a href="#page_252">252</a>, <a href="#page_253">253</a></p> + +<p class="index">Bull-grappling, <a href="#page_88">88-91</a>, +<a href="#page_257">257</a>, <a href="#page_258">258</a></p> + +<p class="index">Bunarbashi, supposed site of Troy, +<a href="#page_38">38</a></p> + +<p class="index">Burial, <a href="#page_58">58-60</a></p> + +<p class="index">Burrows, Professor: quoted, <a href="#page_88">88</a>, +<a href="#page_98">98</a>, <a href="#page_99">99</a>, +<a href="#page_108">108</a>, <a href="#page_109">109</a>, +<a href="#page_122">122</a>, <a href="#page_174">174</a>, +<a href="#page_177">177</a>; Minoan art in Egypt, +<a href="#page_185">185</a></p> + +<p class="index">Button seals, <a href="#page_143">143</a>, +<a href="#page_194">194</a></p> + +<p class="index">Byblos, Wen-Amon at, <a href="#page_186">186</a></p> + +<p class="center">C</p> + +<p class="index">Callimachus, character of Cretans, +<a href="#page_8">8</a></p> + +<p class="index">Carians expelled by Minos, <a href="#page_9">9</a></p> + +<p class="index">Carpenter, tools of, <a href="#page_221">221</a>, +<a href="#page_222">222</a></p> + +<p class="index">Chariots, <a href="#page_225">225</a></p> + +<p class="index">Cherethites=Cretans, <a href="#page_168">168</a></p> + +<p class="index">Chieftain Vase, the, <a href="#page_125">125</a>, +<a href="#page_126">126</a>, <a href="#page_172">172</a>, +<a href="#page_204">204</a>, <a href="#page_213">213</a></p> + +<p class="index">Choros built by Dædalus at Knossos, +<a href="#page_14">14</a></p> + +<p class="index">Chronology, Egyptian and Minoan, +<a href="#page_147">147</a> <i>et seq.</i></p> + +<p class="index">Cilicia, <a href="#page_229">229</a></p> + +<p class="index">Circle-Graves=Shaft-Graves, +<a href="#page_43">43-46</a>, <a href="#page_172">172</a>, +<a href="#page_205">205</a>; steles of, <a href="#page_182">182</a>; +altars at, <a href="#page_251">251</a></p> + +<p class="index">Cists in Temple Repositories, +<a href="#page_105">105</a></p> + +<p class="index">Colonnades, Hall of, <a href="#page_85">85</a></p> + +<p class="index">Cooking utensils, <a href="#page_218">218</a></p> + +<p class="index">Copper: export of, <a href="#page_223">223</a>; +use of, in beaten work, <a href="#page_229">229</a></p> + +<p class="index">Corinth in Homeric poems, <a href="#page_21">21</a></p> + +<p class="index">Cornaro describes ruins at Knossos, +<a href="#page_63">63</a></p> + +<p class="index">Court: Western, Knossos, <a href="#page_66">66</a>, +<a href="#page_83">83</a>, <a href="#page_84">84</a>; Central, Knossos, +<a href="#page_68">68</a>, <a href="#page_70">70</a>, +<a href="#page_85">85</a>; of the Olive Spout, <a href="#page_88">88</a></p> + +<p class="index">Cremation, <a href="#page_58">58-60</a></p> + +<p class="index">Critias, the, legend of Atlantis, +<a href="#page_257">257-259</a></p> + +<p class="index">Cross in Snake Goddess shrine, +<a href="#page_107">107</a></p> + +<p class="index">Cuirass. See Armour</p> + +<p class="index">Cuneiform, <a href="#page_81">81</a>, +<a href="#page_142">142</a></p> + +<p class="index">Cup-Bearer: Fresco of, <a href="#page_67">67</a>, +<a href="#page_68">68</a>, <a href="#page_173">173</a>, +<a href="#page_206">206</a>; dress of, <a href="#page_213">213</a>, +<a href="#page_214">214</a></p> + +<p class="index">Currelly, Mr., <a href="#page_124">124</a>, +<a href="#page_133">133</a>, <a href="#page_236">236</a></p> + +<p class="index">Curtius on Treasury of Atreus, +<a href="#page_48">48</a></p> + +<p class="index">Cyclades, <a href="#page_9">9</a>; +influence on Minoan art, <a href="#page_193">193</a></p> + +<p class="index">Cyprus, <a href="#page_51">51</a>, +<a href="#page_157">157</a>; Minoan civilization in, +<a href="#page_145">145</a>, <a href="#page_185">185</a>; +export of copper, <a href="#page_223">223</a></p> + +<p class="center">D</p> + +<p class="index">Dædalus, <a href="#page_3">3</a>; builds +Labyrinth, <a href="#page_10">10</a>, <a href="#page_14">14</a>; +flees to Sicily, <a href="#page_14">14</a>, <a href="#page_15">15</a>; +makes Choros at Knossos, <a href="#page_103">103</a></p> + +<p class="index">Daggers from Shaft-Graves, <a href="#page_57">57</a>, +<a href="#page_58">58</a></p> + +<p class="index">Dahshur, Egyptian jewellery from +<a href="#page_229">229</a></p> + +<p class="index">Danaos, King of Argos and Rhodes +<a href="#page_166">166</a></p> + +<p class="index">Danauna=Danaoi invade Egypt, +<a href="#page_165">165</a>, <a href="#page_166">166</a></p> + +<p class="index"> +<a name="page_267"><span class="page">Page 267</span></a> +Dancing, Minoan, <a href="#page_103">103</a></p> + +<p class="index">Dancing-girls, fresco of, <a href="#page_220">220</a></p> + +<p class="index">Danubian civilization, <a href="#page_181">181</a>, +<a href="#page_182">182</a></p> + +<p class="index">David, <a href="#page_167">167</a>, +<a href="#page_168">168</a></p> + +<p class="index">Dawkins, Mr., <a href="#page_126">126</a></p> + +<p class="index">Dead, disposal of, <a href="#page_58">58-60</a>, +<a href="#page_178">178</a></p> + +<p class="index">Decimal system, Minoan, <a href="#page_238">238</a></p> + +<p class="index">Deir-el-Bahri: Eleventh Dynasty temple at, +<a href="#page_154">154</a>; Hatshepsut's temple at, +<a href="#page_160">160</a>; tomb of Senmut, <a href="#page_160">160</a></p> + +<p class="index">Demeter identified with Minoan goddess, +<a href="#page_247">247</a></p> + +<p class="index">Determinatives in Minoan writing, +<a href="#page_235">235</a>, <a href="#page_240">240</a></p> + +<p class="index">Diana, of Ephesus, <a href="#page_111">111</a></p> + +<p class="index">Dictæan Cave, <a href="#page_7">7</a>, +<a href="#page_8">8</a>, <a href="#page_64">64</a>, +<a href="#page_70">70</a>, <a href="#page_136">136</a>, +<a href="#page_137">137</a>, <a href="#page_247">247</a>, +<a href="#page_254">254</a></p> + +<p class="index">Dionysius of Halicarnassus, <a href="#page_136">136</a></p> + +<p class="index">Dionysos, <a href="#page_252">252</a></p> + +<p class="index">Disc, hieroglyphic, of Phæstos, +<a href="#page_121">121</a>, <a href="#page_241">241</a>, +<a href="#page_242">242</a></p> + +<p class="index">Dolphin Fresco, <a href="#page_224">224</a></p> + +<p class="index">Dor, <a href="#page_187">187</a></p> + +<p class="index">Dorian (Dorians): conquest, <a href="#page_2">2</a>, +<a href="#page_4">4</a>, <a href="#page_33">33</a>, +<a href="#page_62">62</a>; invasion of Crete, +<a href="#page_178">178</a>, <a href="#page_210">210</a></p> + +<p class="index">Dörpfeld, Professor, discovers Sixth City of +Troy, <a href="#page_40">40</a>, <a href="#page_41">41</a>, +<a href="#page_50">50</a>, <a href="#page_51">51</a></p> + +<p class="index">Double Axe, <a href="#page_246">246</a>; pillars of, +at Knossos, <a href="#page_70">70</a>; emblem of Divinity, +<a href="#page_70">70</a>;</p> + +<p class="index">of Zeus of Labraunda, <a href="#page_70">70</a>; at +Gournia, <a href="#page_130">130</a>; in Dictæan Cave, +<a href="#page_137">137</a>; on</p> + +<p class="index">sarcophagus, <a href="#page_250">250</a>; Hall of +the, <a href="#page_86">86</a>, <a href="#page_120">120</a>; in shrines +at Knossos, <a href="#page_100">100</a>, <a href="#page_105">105</a></p> + +<p class="index">Drainage: at Knossos, <a href="#page_98">98</a>, +<a href="#page_99">99</a>; at Hagia Triada, +<a href="#page_129">129</a></p> + +<p class="index">Dress: of Minoan women, <a href="#page_73">73</a>; +of men, <a href="#page_74">74</a>, <a href="#page_213">213-216</a></p> + +<p class="index">Dungeons of Knossos, <a href="#page_90">90</a>, +<a href="#page_91">91</a>, <a href="#page_104">104</a></p> + +<p class="index">Dynasties, Egyptian: First, date of, +<a href="#page_148">148</a>; Third, <a href="#page_146">146</a>; +Fifth, <a href="#page_146">146</a>; Sixth, <a href="#page_143">143</a>, +<a href="#page_149">149</a>; Twelfth, <a href="#page_148">148</a>, +<a href="#page_150">150-155</a>, <a href="#page_199">199</a>; Thirteenth, +<a href="#page_200">200</a>; Seventeenth, <a href="#page_158">158</a>, +<a href="#page_200">200</a>; Eighteenth, <a href="#page_158">158-163</a>; +Nineteenth, <a href="#page_163">163</a></p> + +<p class="center">E</p> + +<p class="index">Egypt: relations of, with Crete, +<a href="#page_139">139</a>; chronology of, <a href="#page_147">147</a> +<i>et seq.</i></p> + +<p class="index">Electrum, <a href="#page_229">229</a></p> + +<p class="index">Enkomi, <a href="#page_51">51</a></p> + +<p class="index">Epeus, <a href="#page_103">103</a></p> + +<p class="index">Erman Egyptian chronology, <a href="#page_148">148</a></p> + +<p class="index">Ethiopia, King of, obliged to slay himself at command +of priests, <a href="#page_254">254</a></p> + +<p class="index">Europa, mother of Minos, <a href="#page_7">7</a>, +<a href="#page_8">8</a>, <a href="#page_136">136</a></p> + +<p class="index">Euryalus, <a href="#page_103">103</a></p> + +<p class="index">Evans, A. J., <a href="#page_1">1</a>, +<a href="#page_2">2</a>; purchases hill of Kephala, +<a href="#page_64">64</a>, <a href="#page_65">65</a>; discoveries at +Knossos, <a href="#page_65">65-116</a>; derivation of Labyrinth, +<a href="#page_71">71</a>; on relief of bull's head, +<a href="#page_77">77</a>, <a href="#page_78">78</a>; on tablets of +Knossos, <a href="#page_79">79</a>, <a href="#page_80">80</a>; drains +at Knossos, <a href="#page_99">99</a>; bull's head <i>rhyton</i>, +<a href="#page_113">113</a>; restoration of Queen's Megaron, +<a href="#page_115">115</a>; 'Scripta Minoa' quoted, +<a href="#page_121">121</a>; excavations at Zafer Papoura, +<a href="#page_134">134</a>; at Isopata, <a href="#page_135">135</a>; +Minoan chronology, <a href="#page_149">149</a>; first destruction of +Knossos, <a href="#page_171">171</a>; date of sack +of Knossos, <a href="#page_174">174</a>; growth of Cretan legends, +<a href="#page_179">179</a>, <a href="#page_180">180</a>; classification +of Minoan periods, <a href="#page_190">190</a>; origin of spiral, +<a href="#page_194">194</a>; decline of Minoan oil-trade, +<a href="#page_222">222</a>; Minoan writing, <a href="#page_232">232</a>, +<a href="#page_233">233</a>, <a href="#page_235">235</a>, +<a href="#page_236">236</a>, <a href="#page_237">237-238</a>, +<a href="#page_239">239</a>, <a href="#page_240">240</a></p> + +<p class="center">F</p> + +<p class="index">Fetish shrine at Knossos, <a href="#page_111">111</a>, +<a href="#page_237">237</a>, <a href="#page_245">245</a></p> + +<p class="index">Fibula, use of, in late Minoan III., +<a href="#page_178">178</a></p> + +<p class="index">Fig-tree, <a href="#page_227">227</a></p> + +<p class="index">Figurines: ivory, at Knossos, +<a href="#page_96">96</a>; faïence, <a href="#page_105">105</a>, +<a href="#page_106">106</a>, <a href="#page_156">156</a>; banjo, +<a href="#page_193">193</a></p> + +<p class="index">Flute on Hagia Triada sarcophagus, +<a href="#page_127">127</a>, <a href="#page_128">128</a></p> + +<p class="index">Fortifications: of Knossos, <a href="#page_74">74</a>, +<a href="#page_75">75</a>, <a href="#page_76">76</a>; of Tiryns and +Mycenæ, <a href="#page_75">75</a>, <a href="#page_138">138</a></p> + +<p class="index"> +<a name="page_268"><span class="page">Page 268</span></a> +Fresco (Frescoes): bull at Tiryns, <a href="#page_49">49</a>; at Knossos, +<a href="#page_66">66</a>; Procession at +Knossos, <a href="#page_66">66</a>; Cup-Bearer, <a href="#page_67">67</a>, +<a href="#page_68">68</a>, <a href="#page_173">173</a>, +<a href="#page_206">206</a>; of Throne Room, <a href="#page_71">71</a>, +<a href="#page_72">72</a>; Blue Boy, <a href="#page_73">73</a>, +<a href="#page_90">90</a>, <a href="#page_172">172</a>, +<a href="#page_202">202</a>; miniature, <a href="#page_73">73</a>, +<a href="#page_74">74</a>, <a href="#page_172">172</a>, +<a href="#page_173">173</a>, <a href="#page_206">206</a>; toreador, +<a href="#page_88">88</a>, <a href="#page_89">89</a>; bird, +<a href="#page_95">95</a>, <a href="#page_220">220</a>; dancing-girls, +<a href="#page_220">220</a>; Dolphin, <a href="#page_224">224</a>.</p> + +<p class="index">Frieze (Friezes): at Tiryns, <a href="#page_49">49</a>, +<a href="#page_56">56</a>; at Knossos, <a href="#page_56">56</a></p> + +<p class="center">G</p> + +<p class="index">Gallery, the Long, <a href="#page_68">68-70</a></p> + +<p class="index">Gaming Board, the King's, Knossos, +<a href="#page_87">87</a>, <a href="#page_88">88</a>, +<a href="#page_204">204</a></p> + +<p class="index">Garstang, Professor, Kamares vase at Abydos, +<a href="#page_150">150</a>, <a href="#page_199">199</a></p> + +<p class="index">Gath=Tell-es-Safi, <i>q.v.</i></p> + +<p class="index">Gaza, <a href="#page_10">10</a></p> + +<p class="index">Gezer, Minoan pottery at, <a href="#page_140">140</a></p> + +<p class="index">Gilliéron, M., reconstruction of relief, +<a href="#page_93">93</a></p> + +<p class="index">God, Minoan: insignificance of, +<a href="#page_247">247</a>; identified with Zeus, +<a href="#page_247">247</a></p> + +<p class="index">Goddess: seal-impression of, +<a href="#page_94">94</a>; Dove Goddess, <a href="#page_100">100</a>, +<a href="#page_107">107</a>, <a href="#page_245">245</a>; Snake, +<a href="#page_105">105-107</a>, <a href="#page_130">130</a>, +<a href="#page_156">156</a>, <a href="#page_245">245</a>; +Minoan supreme deity, <a href="#page_244">244</a>; representations +of, <a href="#page_245">245</a>, <a href="#page_246">246</a>; +identified with Greek goddesses, <a href="#page_246">246</a>, +<a href="#page_247">247</a></p> + +<p class="index">Gold: abundance of, in Shaft-Graves, +<a href="#page_44">44</a>, <a href="#page_45">45</a> ; absence of, at +Knossos, <a href="#page_77">77</a></p> + +<p class="index">Goldsmith's work at Mokhlos, <a href="#page_134">134</a></p> + +<p class="index">Gortyna, stele of, <a href="#page_182">182</a></p> + +<p class="index">Gournia: Minoan houses at, <a href="#page_97">97</a>, +<a href="#page_130">130</a>, <a href="#page_131">131</a>, +<a href="#page_216">216</a>; shrine at, <a href="#page_107">107</a>, +<a href="#page_130">130</a>, <a href="#page_245">245</a>; Minoan town, +<a href="#page_129">129-132</a>; sack of, <a href="#page_131">131</a>; +stirrup-vases at, <a href="#page_205">205</a>; furnace near, +<a href="#page_228">228</a>; linear script at, +<a href="#page_236">236</a></p> + +<p class="index">Grote denies historicity of Greek legends, +<a href="#page_3">3</a>, <a href="#page_17">17</a></p> + +<p class="center">H</p> + +<p class="index">Haa-ab-ra, <a href="#page_169">169</a></p> + +<p class="index">Hagia Triada: Boxer <i>rhyton</i>, +<a href="#page_103">103</a>; villa at, <a href="#page_122">122</a>; +artistic work, <a href="#page_122">122</a>, <a href="#page_203">203</a>; +vases of, <a href="#page_123">123-126</a>; sarcophagus, of, +<a href="#page_127">127-129</a>; sanitation of, +<a href="#page_129">129</a>; sack of, <a href="#page_175">175</a>, +<a href="#page_176">176</a>; bee-hive tomb at, +<a href="#page_192">192</a>; dress on fresco from, +<a href="#page_215">215</a>; linear script at, +<a href="#page_235">235</a>, <a href="#page_236">236</a></p> + +<p class="index">Hagios Onouphrios, deposita at, +<a href="#page_192">192</a></p> + +<p class="index">Halbherr, Professor: work at Phæstos, +<a href="#page_118">118</a>; discovery of copper at Hagia Triada, +<a href="#page_223">223</a></p> + +<p class="index">Hall of Colonnades, Knossos, <a href="#page_85">85</a>; +of Double Axes, Knossos, <a href="#page_86">86</a></p> + +<p class="index">Hall, H. R., <a href="#page_155">155</a>; origin of +spiral, <a href="#page_48">48</a>, <a href="#page_143">143</a>, +<a href="#page_193">193</a>; sea-route to Egypt, +<a href="#page_145">145</a>; on Labyrinth, <a href="#page_153">153</a>; +Keftiu in tomb of Rekh-ma-ra, <a href="#page_161">161</a>; +identification of Uashasha, <a href="#page_166">166</a>; Minoan influence +on Egyptian art, <a href="#page_185">185</a></p> + +<p class="index">Hall, Miss, origin of spiral, +<a href="#page_193">193</a></p> + +<p class="index">Harrison, Miss J., on the Minotaur legend, +<a href="#page_252">252</a></p> + +<p class="index">Harvester Vase, the, <a href="#page_124">124</a>, +<a href="#page_125">125</a>, <a href="#page_129">129</a>, +<a href="#page_172">172</a>, <a href="#page_204">204</a>, +<a href="#page_213">213</a>, <a href="#page_226">226</a></p> + +<p class="index">Hatshepsut, <a href="#page_158">158</a>, +<a href="#page_160">160</a>, <a href="#page_208">208</a>, +<a href="#page_223">223</a></p> + +<p class="index">Hawara, Labyrinth at, <a href="#page_150">150-155</a></p> + +<p class="index">Hawes, Mrs.: carpenters' tools at Gournia, +<a href="#page_222">222</a>; discoveries at Gournia, +<a href="#page_97">97</a>, <a href="#page_107">107</a>, +<a href="#page_129">129</a>, <a href="#page_130">130</a>; sack of +Knossos, <a href="#page_174">174</a></p> + +<p class="index">Hector, <a href="#page_41">41</a>; slays Periphetes, +<a href="#page_61">61</a>; shield of, <a href="#page_61">61</a></p> + +<p class="index">Helmet. See Armour</p> + +<p class="index">Hephæstos makes arms of Achilles, +<a href="#page_27">27</a>, <a href="#page_28">28</a></p> + +<p class="index">Hera identified with Minoan goddess, +<a href="#page_247">247</a></p> + +<p class="index">Herakleids, return of, <a href="#page_2">2</a></p> + +<p class="index">Her-hor, <a href="#page_186">186</a>, +<a href="#page_187">187</a></p> + +<p class="index">Herodotus: on sea-power of Minos, +<a href="#page_9">9</a>, <a href="#page_76">76</a>, +<a href="#page_256">256</a>; Labyrinth at Hawara, +<a href="#page_151">151</a>, <a href="#page_152">152</a>;</p> + +<p class="index">Greek settlement in Crete, <a href="#page_180">180</a></p> + +<p class="index">Hesiod: legend of Kronos, <a href="#page_111">111</a>, +<a href="#page_136">136</a></p> + +<p class="index">Hieroglyphics: Minoan, <a href="#page_64">64</a>, +<a href="#page_78">78</a>; Egyptian and Hittite, +<a href="#page_64">64</a>, <a href="#page_80">80</a>, +<a href="#page_81">81</a></p> + +<p class="index">Hilprecht, <a href="#page_141">141</a></p> + +<p class="index">Hissarlik, site of Troy, <a href="#page_37">37</a>, +<a href="#page_51">51</a></p> + +<p class="index">Hittites: Treaty with Egypt, +<a href="#page_162">162</a>; absorbed in advance of sea-peoples, +<a href="#page_164">164</a></p> + +<p class="index"> +<a name="page_269"><span class="page">Page 269</span></a> +Hogarth, D. G.: quoted, <a href="#page_20">20</a>; duration of +Mycenæan civilization, <a href="#page_51">51</a>, +<a href="#page_52">52</a>; on bull's head <i>rhyton</i>, +<a href="#page_113">113</a>; excavations at Zakro, +<a href="#page_133">133</a>, <a href="#page_224">224</a>; at +Dictæan Cave, <a href="#page_136">136</a>, +<a href="#page_137">137</a>; Greek settlement in Crete, +<a href="#page_180">180</a>; geometric vases of Iron Age, +<a href="#page_183">183</a>, <a href="#page_184">184</a>; Minoan +craftsmanship, <a href="#page_207">207</a></p> + +<p class="index">Homeric civilization, <a href="#page_21">21-33</a>; +houses, <a href="#page_25">25</a>, <a href="#page_55">55</a>; crafts +in, <a href="#page_56">56-58</a>; disposal of dead, +<a href="#page_58">58</a></p> + +<p class="index">Homeric poems, <a href="#page_20">20</a>; geography of, +<a href="#page_54">54</a>; houses in, <a href="#page_25">25</a>, +<a href="#page_55">55</a>; crafts in, <a href="#page_56">56-58</a></p> + +<p class="index">'Horns of consecration,' <a href="#page_94">94</a>, +<a href="#page_95">95</a>, <a href="#page_100">100</a>, +<a href="#page_130">130</a>, <a href="#page_246">246</a>, +<a href="#page_249">249</a>, <a href="#page_250">250</a></p> + +<p class="index">Horse on seal-impression at Knossos, +<a href="#page_112">112</a></p> + +<p class="index">Houses: Minoan, <a href="#page_97">97</a>, +<a href="#page_216">216-218</a>; at Gournia, <a href="#page_130">130</a>, +<a href="#page_131">131</a>; fabric of, <a href="#page_217">217</a></p> + +<p class="index">Hyksos, <a href="#page_93">93</a>, +<a href="#page_94">94</a>, <a href="#page_155">155</a>, +<a href="#page_157">157</a>, <a href="#page_200">200</a>, +<a href="#page_203">203</a></p> + +<p class="index">Hyria, foundation of, <a href="#page_15">15</a></p> + +<p class="center">I</p> + +<p class="index">Ialysos, Late Minoan III. work at, +<a href="#page_209">209</a></p> + +<p class="index">Icarus, son of Dædalus, <a href="#page_14">14</a></p> + +<p class="index">Ida, Mount, <a href="#page_92">92</a>; Kamares cave +on, <a href="#page_197">197</a></p> + +<p class="index">Idæan Cave, <a href="#page_7">7</a>; bronzes +of, <a href="#page_183">183</a>, <a href="#page_184">184</a></p> + +<p class="index">Idomeneus in Iliad, <a href="#page_22">22</a></p> + +<p class="index">Illahun, <a href="#page_97">97</a></p> + +<p class="index">Imadua, tomb of, <a href="#page_163">163</a></p> + +<p class="index">Incised ornament, <a href="#page_189">189</a>, +<a href="#page_192">192</a>, <a href="#page_193">193</a></p> + +<p class="index">Iron: use of for weapons, <a href="#page_27">27</a>, +<a href="#page_60">60</a>; in Late Minoan III., +<a href="#page_178">178</a></p> + +<p class="index">Irus, <a href="#page_103">103</a></p> + +<p class="index">Isopata, royal tomb at, <a href="#page_135">135</a>, +<a href="#page_136">136</a>, <a href="#page_156">156</a>, +<a href="#page_203">203</a></p> + +<p class="index">Ittai, Captain of David's bodyguard, +<a href="#page_168">168</a></p> + +<p class="center">J</p> + +<p class="index">Jacob, sacred pillar of, at Bethel, +<a href="#page_246">246</a></p> + +<p class="index">Jade, white, discovered at Troy, +<a href="#page_140">140</a></p> + +<p class="index">Juktas, Mount: tomb of Zeus on, +<a href="#page_7">7</a>, <a href="#page_63">63</a>; springs on, +<a href="#page_110">110</a></p> + +<p class="center">K</p> + +<p class="index">Kahun: Twelfth Dynasty town at, +<a href="#page_116">116</a>; papyrus, <a href="#page_148">148</a>; +Kamares ware at, <a href="#page_150">150</a>, +<a href="#page_199">199</a></p> + +<p class="index">Kairatos River, <a href="#page_76">76</a>, +<a href="#page_176">176</a></p> + +<p class="index">Kalochærinos, excavations at Knossos, +<a href="#page_64">64</a></p> + +<p class="index">Kamares ware, <a href="#page_92">92</a>, +<a href="#page_118">118</a>, <a href="#page_120">120</a>, +<a href="#page_137">137</a>, <a href="#page_150">150</a>, +<a href="#page_172">172</a>, <a href="#page_197">197-199</a></p> + +<p class="index">Kamikos besieged by Minos, <a href="#page_15">15</a></p> + +<p class="index">Kaphtor=Crete and Kefti, <a href="#page_166">166</a></p> + +<p class="index">Karnak, <a href="#page_151">151</a></p> + +<p class="index">Kaselles at Knossos, <a href="#page_69">69</a></p> + +<p class="index">Keftiu, the, <a href="#page_158">158-163</a>, +<a href="#page_259">259</a></p> + +<p class="index">Kephala, site of Palace of Knossos, +<a href="#page_64">64</a>, <a href="#page_65">65</a></p> + +<p class="index">Kerkuon slain by Theseus, <a href="#page_11">11</a></p> + +<p class="index">Khyan: alabastron of, <a href="#page_93">93</a>, +<a href="#page_157">157</a>, <a href="#page_203">203</a>; lion of, +<a href="#page_157">157</a></p> + +<p class="index">King, Minoan, relation to religion, +<a href="#page_248">248</a>, <a href="#page_251">251-255</a></p> + +<p class="index">Kokalos, King of Kamikos, <a href="#page_14">14</a></p> + +<p class="index">Klytemnestra, Treasury of, <a href="#page_48">48</a></p> + +<p class="index">Knossos, <a href="#page_5">5</a>; in Iliad, +<a href="#page_22">22</a>; Palace of, <a href="#page_63">63-116</a>; +ruins at, <a href="#page_63">63</a>, <a href="#page_64">64</a>; +Neolithic remains at, <a href="#page_66">66</a>; fortifications of, +<a href="#page_74">74</a>, <a href="#page_75">75</a>; sack of, +<a href="#page_86">86</a>; Royal Villa, <a href="#page_107">107-109</a>; +Minoan road, <a href="#page_110">110</a>; Little Palace, +<a href="#page_110">110-113</a>; beehive chamber, +<a href="#page_113">113</a>, <a href="#page_114">114</a>; Queen's Megaron, +<a href="#page_115">115</a>, <a href="#page_116">116</a>; sack of, +<a href="#page_173">173-176</a>; reoccupation of, +<a href="#page_176">176</a>, <a href="#page_177">177</a>, +<a href="#page_210">210</a>; first sack of, <a href="#page_199">199</a></p> + +<p class="index">Kouphonisi. See Leuke</p> + +<p class="index">Kronos, <a href="#page_6">6</a>, +<a href="#page_7">7</a>, <a href="#page_111">111</a></p> + +<p class="index">Kuanos, <a href="#page_25">25</a>, +<a href="#page_49">49</a>, <a href="#page_56">56</a>, +<a href="#page_58">58</a></p> + +<p class="center">L</p> + +<p class="index">Labrys: name of Double Axe, <a href="#page_70">70</a>; +derivation of Labyrinth, <a href="#page_71">71</a>, +<a href="#page_100">100</a></p> + +<p class="index">Labyrinth, <a href="#page_3">3</a>, +<a href="#page_10">10</a>, <a href="#page_11">11</a>, +<a href="#page_13">13</a>, <a href="#page_14">14</a>, +<a href="#page_18">18</a>; derivation of name, +<a href="#page_71">71</a>, <a href="#page_153">153</a>; +beehive chamber, Knossos, <a href="#page_114">114</a>; Minoan and +Egyptian Labyrinths, <a href="#page_150">150-155</a></p> + +<p class="index">Lamp, stone, in Royal Villa, +<a href="#page_108">108</a>, <a href="#page_221">221</a></p> + +<p class="index"> +<a name="page_270"><span class="page">Page 270</span></a> +Lang, Mr. A., Minoan swords, <a href="#page_135">135</a></p> + +<p class="index">Layard, <a href="#page_140">140</a></p> + +<p class="index">Legends of Crete, <a href="#page_6">6-18</a></p> + +<p class="index">Leuke, deposit of purple shell at, +<a href="#page_133">133</a></p> + +<p class="index">Libation table: of Dictæan Cave, +<a href="#page_64">64</a>, <a href="#page_236">236</a>, +<a href="#page_251">251</a>; of Palaikastro, <a href="#page_236">236</a></p> + +<p class="index">Light-wells, <a href="#page_217">217</a>, +<a href="#page_220">220</a></p> + +<p class="index">Linear Script: Class A, <a href="#page_202">202</a>, +<a href="#page_204">204</a>, <a href="#page_234">234-236</a>; Class B, +<a href="#page_205">205</a>, <a href="#page_207">207</a>, +<a href="#page_236">236</a>, <a href="#page_238">238</a></p> + +<p class="index">Lion Gate, <a href="#page_42">42-43</a>, +<a href="#page_94">94</a>, <a href="#page_100">100</a>, +<a href="#page_246">246</a></p> + +<p class="index">Loin-cloth, <a href="#page_213">213</a></p> + +<p class="index">Loom-weights, <a href="#page_228">228</a>; at Gournia, +<a href="#page_131">131</a></p> + +<p class="index">Lotus, Minoan use of, <a href="#page_204">204</a></p> + +<p class="index">Lucian, <a href="#page_136">136</a></p> + +<p class="index">Lucretius, <a href="#page_136">136</a></p> + +<p class="index">Luqsor, <a href="#page_151">151</a></p> + +<p class="index">Lycian pirates, <a href="#page_184">184</a></p> + +<p class="index">Lyre on Hagia Triada sarcophagus, +<a href="#page_127">127</a>, <a href="#page_128">128</a></p> + +<p class="index">Lyttos, <a href="#page_136">136</a></p> + +<p class="center">M</p> + +<p class="index">Macalister finds Minoan pottery at Tell-es-Safi, +<a href="#page_167">167</a></p> + +<p class="index">Mackenzie, Dr.: decay of Minoan art, +<a href="#page_177">177</a>; naturalism in Minoan art, +<a href="#page_196">196</a>, <a href="#page_201">201</a>; character of +Minoan religion, <a href="#page_248">248</a>, +<a href="#page_249">249</a>; Minoan bathrooms, +<a href="#page_252">252</a></p> + +<p class="index">Magazines at Knossos, <a href="#page_68">68</a>, +<a href="#page_69">69</a></p> + +<p class="index">Mahler, Egyptian chronology, <a href="#page_148">148</a></p> + +<p class="index">Manetho, history of, <a href="#page_147">147</a></p> + +<p class="index">Manolis, <a href="#page_68">68</a></p> + +<p class="index">Mecca, <a href="#page_111">111</a></p> + +<p class="index">Medinet Habu, reliefs at, <a href="#page_121">121</a>, +<a href="#page_164">164</a>, <a href="#page_165">165</a>, +<a href="#page_181">181</a></p> + +<p class="index">Mediterranean race, <a href="#page_212">212</a></p> + +<p class="index">Megara conquered by Minos, <a href="#page_10">10</a>, +<a href="#page_170">170</a></p> + +<p class="index">Megaron: Queen's, <a href="#page_95">95</a>, +<a href="#page_115">115</a>, <a href="#page_116">116</a>, +<a href="#page_220">220</a>, <a href="#page_221">221</a>; of +Phæstos, <a href="#page_120">120</a></p> + +<p class="index">Melos, <a href="#page_51">51</a>, +<a href="#page_193">193</a></p> + +<p class="index">Menelaus, <a href="#page_15">15</a>, +<a href="#page_23">23</a>; Palace of, <a href="#page_25">25</a></p> + +<p class="index">Mentuhotep Neb-hapet-Ra, Temple of, +<a href="#page_78">78</a>, <a href="#page_154">154</a></p> + +<p class="index">Merenptah, <a href="#page_164">164</a></p> + +<p class="index">Meriones in Iliad, <a href="#page_22">22</a></p> + +<p class="index">Messara Valley, <a href="#page_117">117</a></p> + +<p class="index">Metal-working: Homeric and Mycenæan, +<a href="#page_56">56-58</a>; at Knossos, <a href="#page_109">109</a></p> + +<p class="index">Meyer, Egyptian chronology, <a href="#page_148">148</a></p> + +<p class="index">Middle Kingdom of Egypt, <a href="#page_82">82</a>, +<a href="#page_93">93</a>, <a href="#page_94">94</a>, +<a href="#page_150">150-155</a></p> + +<p class="index">Minoa, <a href="#page_10">10</a>, +<a href="#page_15">15</a></p> + +<p class="index">Minoan culture: date of beginning of, +<a href="#page_147">147-149</a>; periods of—Early Minoan I., +Middle Minoan II., <a href="#page_149">149</a>, +<a href="#page_150">150-155</a>; Middle Minoan III., +<a href="#page_155">155-157</a>; Late Minoan I., +<a href="#page_158">158</a>; Late Minoan III., pottery of, in Palestine, +<a href="#page_167">167</a>; Middle Minoan II., catastrophe at close of, +<a href="#page_170">170</a>; Early Minoan I., <a href="#page_190">190</a>, +<a href="#page_191">191</a>; Early Minoan II., <a href="#page_191">191</a>, +<a href="#page_192">192</a>; Early Minoan III., +<a href="#page_192">192-194</a>; Middle Minoan I., +<a href="#page_194">194-197</a>; Middle Minoan II., +<a href="#page_197">197-200</a>; Middle Minoan III., +<a href="#page_200">200-203</a>; Late Minoan I., +<a href="#page_203">203-205</a>; Late Minoan II., +<a href="#page_205">205-208</a>; Late Minoan III., +<a href="#page_208">208-210</a>; wide diffusion of products of, +<a href="#page_209">209</a> + +<p class="index">Minoans: physical characteristics, +<a href="#page_211">211-213</a>; dress, +<a href="#page_213">213-216</a>; houses of, +<a href="#page_216">216-218</a> + +<p class="index">Minos: legends of, <a href="#page_3">3-18</a>; birth of, +<a href="#page_7">7</a>; association with Zeus, <a href="#page_8">8</a>, +<a href="#page_253">253</a>; Sea-King, <a href="#page_9">9</a>; conquers +Megara and Athens, <a href="#page_10">10</a>; pursues Dædalus, +<a href="#page_14">14</a>; death of, <a href="#page_15">15</a>; and Zeus, +<a href="#page_105">105</a>, <a href="#page_136">136</a>; laws of, +<a href="#page_136">136</a></p> + +<p class="index">Minotaur, <a href="#page_3">3</a>, +<a href="#page_10">10</a>, <a href="#page_49">49</a>, +<a href="#page_258">258</a>; relation of legend to Minoan religion, +<a href="#page_256">256</a></p> + +<p class="index">Minyas, Treasury of, <a href="#page_48">48</a></p> + +<p class="index">Mitanni, <a href="#page_185">185</a></p> + +<p class="index">Mokhlos: excavations at, <a href="#page_40">40</a>; +necropolis at, <a href="#page_133">133</a>, <a href="#page_134">134</a>, +<a href="#page_143">143</a>; gold ring from, <a href="#page_223">223</a></p> + +<p class="index">Mortars, <a href="#page_227">227</a></p> + +<p class="index">Mosso, <a href="#page_112">112</a>, +<a href="#page_120">120</a>; drainage at Hagia Triada, +<a href="#page_129">129</a>; Minoan democracy, +<a href="#page_230">230</a>;</p> + +<p class="index">Minoan bath rooms, <a href="#page_252">252</a></p> + +<p class="index">Mother: the Great, at Rome, +<a href="#page_111">111</a>; Anatolian, <a href="#page_122">122</a>; +Minoan, <a href="#page_244">244-247</a></p> + +<p class="index">Mouliana, tombs at, <a href="#page_59">59</a></p> + +<p class="index"> +<a name="page_271"><span class="page">Page 271</span></a> +Murex, <a href="#page_133">133</a>, <a href="#page_222">222</a></p> + +<p class="index">Murray, Professor: name of Minos, +<a href="#page_8">8</a>; worship of bull-god in Crete, +<a href="#page_253">253</a></p> + +<p class="index">Mycenæ, <a href="#page_1">1</a>, +<a href="#page_5">5</a>; in Homeric poems, <a href="#page_22">22</a>; +Lion Gate of, <a href="#page_42">42</a>, <a href="#page_43">43</a>; +Treasuries of, <a href="#page_42">42</a>, <a href="#page_43">43</a>, +<a href="#page_46">46-48</a>; Shaft-Graves, <a href="#page_43">43-46</a></p> + +<p class="index">Mycenæan civilization, <a href="#page_5">5</a>, +<a href="#page_6">6</a>; extent of, <a href="#page_50">50</a>, +<a href="#page_51">51</a>; duration of, <a href="#page_51">51</a>, +<a href="#page_52">52</a>; inspiration of, <a href="#page_52">52-54</a>; +relation to Homeric civilization, <a href="#page_54">54-62</a>; crafts +of, <a href="#page_56">56-58</a>; disposal of dead, +<a href="#page_58">58-60</a></p> + +<p class="index">Myres, Mr. J. L.: discovery of Kamares ware, +<a href="#page_92">92</a>, <a href="#page_197">197</a>; figurines at +Petsofa, <a href="#page_132">132</a></p> + +<p class="center">N</p> + +<p class="index">Naturalism, development of, <a href="#page_196">196</a>, +<a href="#page_201">201</a></p> + +<p class="index">Nausicaa, <a href="#page_24">24</a>, +<a href="#page_26">26</a></p> + +<p class="index">Naville, excavations at Deir-el-Bahri, +<a href="#page_78">78</a></p> + +<p class="index">Necho, fleet of, circumnavigates Africa, +<a href="#page_259">259</a></p> + +<p class="index">Neolithic Period at Knossos, +<a href="#page_188">188-190</a></p> + +<p class="index">Nestor, <a href="#page_22">22</a>; cup of, +<a href="#page_56">56</a></p> + +<p class="index">Niffur, <a href="#page_1">1</a>; drainage at, +<a href="#page_141">141</a></p> + +<p class="index">Nimrûd, carved ivories at, +<a href="#page_140">140</a></p> + +<p class="center">O</p> + +<p class="index">Odysseus, <a href="#page_22">22</a>; palace of, +<a href="#page_25">25</a>; versatility of, <a href="#page_26">26</a>; +brooch of, <a href="#page_56">56</a>; defeats Irus, +<a href="#page_103">103</a></p> + +<p class="index">Olive-oil, export of, <a href="#page_222">222</a></p> + +<p class="index">Olive Press, Room of the, <a href="#page_222">222</a></p> + +<p class="index">Olive Spout, Court of the, <a href="#page_88">88</a></p> + +<p class="index">Olive-tree, <a href="#page_227">227</a></p> + +<p class="index">Olympiad, First, <a href="#page_2">2</a>, +<a href="#page_52">52</a></p> + +<p class="index">Opening the mouth, Egyptian funerary ceremony, +<a href="#page_128">128</a>, <a href="#page_251">251</a></p> + +<p class="index">Orchomenos, <a href="#page_5">5</a>; in Homeric poems +<a href="#page_22">22</a>, Treasury of Minyas, <a href="#page_48">48</a></p> + +<p class="center">P</p> + +<p class="index">Palace, Homeric, <a href="#page_25">25</a>, +<a href="#page_55">55</a></p> + +<p class="index">Palace, the Little, <a href="#page_111">111</a></p> + +<p class="index">Palaikastro, <a href="#page_124">124</a>; Minoan town +at, <a href="#page_132">132</a>; deposit of purple shell at, +<a href="#page_133">133</a>; houses at, <a href="#page_216">216</a>, +<a href="#page_217">217</a>; Linear Script at, +<a href="#page_236">236</a></p> + +<p class="index">Papyrus: Turin, <a href="#page_148">148</a>; Kahun, +<a href="#page_148">148</a>; Golenischeff, <a href="#page_186">186</a></p> + +<p class="index">Pashley describes ruins at Knossos, +<a href="#page_63">63</a></p> + +<p class="index">Pasiphae, wife of Minos, <a href="#page_10">10</a>, +<a href="#page_18">18</a>, <a href="#page_252">252</a></p> + +<p class="index">Paul, St., Epistle to Titus, <a href="#page_8">8</a></p> + +<p class="index">Pausanias, on Tomb of Agamemnon, +<a href="#page_37">37</a>, <a href="#page_42">42</a>, +<a href="#page_43">43</a></p> + +<p class="index">Pelasgi, <a href="#page_161">161</a>, +<a href="#page_167">167</a></p> + +<p class="index">Pelethites=Philistines, <a href="#page_168">168</a></p> + +<p class="index">Peloponnese, <a href="#page_6">6</a></p> + +<p class="index">Pen, the, used in Minoan writing, +<a href="#page_241">241</a></p> + +<p class="index">Penelope, <a href="#page_24">24</a></p> + +<p class="index">Pepy, statue of, <a href="#page_113">113</a></p> + +<p class="index">Percentages on Minoan tablets, +<a href="#page_238">238</a></p> + +<p class="index">Perdix slain by Dædalus, +<a href="#page_14">14</a></p> + +<p class="index">Periphetes slain by Hector, <a href="#page_61">61</a></p> + +<p class="index">Pernier, Dr., stele at Gortyna, +<a href="#page_182">182</a>; work at Phrestos, +<a href="#page_118">118</a></p> + +<p class="index">Perrot, M., Minoan writing, <a href="#page_233">233</a></p> + +<p class="index">Petrie, Professor: discovers Ægean remains in +Egypt, <a href="#page_51">51</a>; plan of Egyptian town, +<a href="#page_97">97</a>; Egyptian Sed Festival, +<a href="#page_255">255</a>; identification of Zakkaru, +<a href="#page_166">166</a>; Egyptian chronology, +<a href="#page_194">194</a>, <a href="#page_199">199</a>; +Minoan pottery at Abydos, <a href="#page_142">142</a>, +<a href="#page_191">191</a>; sea-route between Crete and Egypt, +<a href="#page_144">144</a>, <a href="#page_145">145</a>; +Egyptian chronology, <a href="#page_148">148</a>; Kamares ware at +Kahun, <a href="#page_150">150</a></p> + +<p class="index">Petsofa: figurines, <a href="#page_126">126</a>, +<a href="#page_132">132</a>, <a href="#page_195">195</a>, +<a href="#page_213">213</a>, <a href="#page_215">215</a>; votive +offerings at, <a href="#page_168">168</a></p> + +<p class="index">Phæstos, <a href="#page_5">5</a>; in Homeric +poems, <a href="#page_117">117</a>; discovery of Palace, +<a href="#page_118">118</a>; Theatral Area, <a href="#page_118">118</a>, +<a href="#page_119">119</a>; destruction of palace, +<a href="#page_119">119</a>; staircase, <a href="#page_120">120</a>; +Megaron, <a href="#page_120">120</a>; Central Court, +<a href="#page_120">120</a>; hieroglyphic disc, +<a href="#page_121">121</a>, <a href="#page_122">122</a>; lords of, +destroy Knossos, <a href="#page_171">171</a>; sack of, +<a href="#page_175">175</a>, <a href="#page_176">176</a>; earliest +buildings at, <a href="#page_197">197</a>; first sack of Knossos, +<a href="#page_200">200</a>; beehive tombs at, +<a href="#page_229">229</a>; Linear Script at, +<a href="#page_236">236</a></p> + +<p class="index"> +<a name="page_272"><span class="page">Page 272</span></a> +Philistines: on reliefs at Medinet Habu, <a href="#page_121">121</a>;9 +invade Egypt, <a href="#page_165">165</a>, <a href="#page_166">166</a>, +<a href="#page_186">186</a>; settle in Palestine, +<a href="#page_166">166-169</a></p> + +<p class="index">Phœnicians: relation to Minoan culture, +<a href="#page_53">53</a>; invention of alphabet, +<a href="#page_64">64</a>; writing, <a href="#page_81">81</a>, +<a href="#page_243">243</a>; purple dye of, <a href="#page_132">132</a>, +<a href="#page_133">133</a>; not the Keftiu, <a href="#page_159">159</a></p> + +<p class="index">Phylakopi, <a href="#page_51">51</a>; Linear Script +at, <a href="#page_236">236</a></p> + +<p class="index">Pictographs: beginnings of, <a href="#page_194">194</a>; +decline of, <a href="#page_202">202</a>, <a href="#page_204">204</a>; +development of, <a href="#page_234">234</a></p> + +<p class="index">Pillars, sacred, <a href="#page_70">70</a>, +<a href="#page_246">246</a></p> + +<p class="index">Piracy in Homeric poems, <a href="#page_22">22</a></p> + +<p class="index">Pithoi, <a href="#page_64">64</a>, +<a href="#page_69">69</a>, <a href="#page_202">202</a>, +<a href="#page_206">206</a></p> + +<p class="index">Pits. See Dungeons</p> + +<p class="index">Plato, legend of Atlantis, +<a href="#page_257">257-259</a></p> + +<p class="index">Pliny, Labyrinth of Hawara, +<a href="#page_152">152</a></p> + +<p class="index">Plutarch, story of Theseus, <a href="#page_103">103</a></p> + +<p class="index">Polychrome ware, <a href="#page_104">104</a>, +<a href="#page_132">132</a>, <a href="#page_172">172</a>; beginnings +of, <a href="#page_194">194</a>, <a href="#page_195">195</a>; +development of, <a href="#page_197">197-199</a></p> + +<p class="index">Polycrates, sea-power of, <a href="#page_9">9</a></p> + +<p class="index">Polyphemus, <a href="#page_22">22</a></p> + +<p class="index">Porcelain plaques on chest, <a href="#page_97">97</a></p> + +<p class="index">Portico: southern, Knossos, <a href="#page_68">68</a>; +western, <a href="#page_66">66</a>, <a href="#page_83">83</a>, +<a href="#page_84">84</a></p> + +<p class="index">Potter's wheel, introduction of, +<a href="#page_193">193</a></p> + +<p class="index">Præsians, account of Greek settlement in +Crete, <a href="#page_180">180</a></p> + +<p class="index">Præsos, <a href="#page_15">15</a></p> + +<p class="index">Priam, Palace of, <a href="#page_25">25</a>, +<a href="#page_39">39</a>; Treasure of, <a href="#page_38">38</a>, +<a href="#page_39">39</a>, <a href="#page_40">40</a>, +<a href="#page_41">41</a></p> + +<p class="index">Priestesses (Priests) in Minoan religion, +<a href="#page_251">251</a></p> + +<p class="index">Procession, Corridor of the, Knossos, +<a href="#page_67">67</a></p> + +<p class="index">Proclus, portraits of men of Atlantis in Egypt, +<a href="#page_259">259</a></p> + +<p class="index">Procrustes slain by Theseus, <a href="#page_11">11</a></p> + +<p class="index">Psamtek I., <a href="#page_152">152</a>, +<a href="#page_169">169</a></p> + +<p class="index">Psychro, <a href="#page_136">136</a></p> + +<p class="index">Pulosathu = Philistines, <i>q.v.</i></p> + +<p class="index">Punt, Egyptian voyages to, <a href="#page_146">146</a></p> + +<p class="index">Purple, <a href="#page_133">133</a>, +<a href="#page_222">222</a></p> + +<p class="center">Q</p> + +<p class="index">Querns, Minoan, <a href="#page_227">227</a></p> + +<p class="center">R</p> + +<p class="index">Rahotep, statue of, <a href="#page_113">113</a></p> + +<p class="index">Ramesseum, <a href="#page_151">151</a></p> + +<p class="index">Ramses II., Treaty with Hittites, +<a href="#page_162">162</a></p> + +<p class="index">Ramses III.: reliefs of, <a href="#page_121">121</a>, +<a href="#page_181">181</a>; victory over sea-peoples, +<a href="#page_164">164-166</a></p> + +<p class="index">Rekh-ma-ra, tomb of, <a href="#page_160">160-162</a>, +<a href="#page_207">207</a>, <a href="#page_208">208</a>, +<a href="#page_214">214</a>, <a href="#page_223">223</a>, +<a href="#page_259">259</a></p> + +<p class="index">Religion, Minoan: supreme goddess in, +<a href="#page_244">244</a>, <a href="#page_245">245</a>; +representations of goddess, <a href="#page_245">245-246</a>; +identification of, with Greek goddesses, <a href="#page_246">246</a>, +<a href="#page_247">247</a>; Minoan god identified with Zeus, +<a href="#page_247">247</a>; absence of temples, +<a href="#page_248">248</a>; family worship, <a href="#page_248">248</a>; +shrines <a href="#page_249">249</a>, <a href="#page_250">250</a>; +sacrifice and ritual, <a href="#page_250">250</a>, +<a href="#page_251">251</a>; place of King in, +<a href="#page_251">251-255</a></p> + +<p class="index">Rhea, <a href="#page_6">6</a>, <a href="#page_7">7</a>, +<a href="#page_111">111</a>, <a href="#page_122">122</a>, +<a href="#page_136">136</a>; identified with Minoan goddess, +<a href="#page_247">247</a></p> + +<p class="index">Rhiphæan Mountains, <a href="#page_3">3</a></p> + +<p class="index">Rhodes, Late Minoan III. work in, +<a href="#page_209">209</a></p> + +<p class="index"><i>Rhyton</i>: from Hagia Triada, +<a href="#page_103">103</a>; bull's head, from Knossos, +<a href="#page_113">113</a></p> + +<p class="index">Ripple ornament, <a href="#page_190">190</a></p> + +<p class="index">Road, Minoan at Knossos, <a href="#page_110">110</a></p> + +<p class="index">Rosetta Stone, <a href="#page_80">80</a>, +<a href="#page_162">162</a></p> + +<p class="center">S</p> + +<p class="index">Sack of Knossos, <a href="#page_86">86</a></p> + +<p class="index">Sacrifice in Minoan worship, +<a href="#page_250">250</a>, <a href="#page_252">252</a></p> + +<p class="index">Sagalassians=Shakalsha (?), <a href="#page_166">166</a></p> + +<p class="index">Sahura, King of Fifth Dynasty, +<a href="#page_146">146</a></p> + +<p class="index">Sais, legend of Atlantis at, +<a href="#page_257">257-259</a></p> + +<p class="index">Salamis, late Mycenæan graves at, +<a href="#page_59">59</a></p> + +<p class="index">Samson, <a href="#page_167">167</a></p> + +<p class="index">Sarcophagus, the, Hagia Triada, +<a href="#page_127">127-129</a>, <a href="#page_213">213</a>, +<a href="#page_250">250</a>, <a href="#page_251">251</a></p> + +<p class="index">Sardinia relics of Minoan civilization, +<a href="#page_51">51</a></p> + +<p class="index">Sardinians, <a href="#page_212">212</a></p> + +<p class="index">Sat-Hathor, <a href="#page_155">155</a></p> + +<p class="index">Scæan Gate, <a href="#page_39">39</a></p> + +<p class="index"> +<a name="page_273"><span class="page">Page 273</span></a> +Schliemann, <a href="#page_1">1</a>, <a href="#page_2">2</a>, +<a href="#page_5">5</a>; youth of, <a href="#page_34">34-36</a>; +excavates ancient Troy, <a href="#page_38">38-41</a>, +<a href="#page_227">227</a>; Mycenæ, <a href="#page_42">42-48</a>; +discovers Shaft-Graves, <a href="#page_43">43-46</a>; excavates +Treasury of Atreus, <a href="#page_46">46-48</a>; excavates +at Orchomenos, <a href="#page_48">48</a>; at Tiryns, +<a href="#page_48">48</a>, <a href="#page_49">49</a>; +considers excavations at Knossos, <a href="#page_64">64</a></p> + +<p class="index">Schnabelkanne, <a href="#page_39">39</a>, +<a href="#page_192">192</a></p> + +<p class="index">Script, Minoan, <a href="#page_64">64</a>, +<a href="#page_78">78-81</a>; Linear, at Gournia, +<a href="#page_131">131</a></p> + +<p class="index">Sculptor's workshop, <a href="#page_86">86</a>, +<a href="#page_87">87</a></p> + +<p class="index">Scylla betrays Megara, <a href="#page_10">10</a></p> + +<p class="index">Seager, excavations at Mokhlos, +<a href="#page_40">40</a>, <a href="#page_133">133</a>, +<a href="#page_134">134</a>, <a href="#page_143">143</a></p> + +<p class="index">Seal-impressions at Zakro, <a href="#page_133">133</a></p> + +<p class="index">Seals: Minoan, <a href="#page_143">143</a>; button, +<a href="#page_143">143</a></p> + +<p class="index">Sea-power: of Minos, <a href="#page_9">9</a>, +<a href="#page_76">76</a>; of Knossos, <a href="#page_76">76</a>, +<a href="#page_77">77</a></p> + +<p class="index">Seats, Minoan, <a href="#page_102">102</a></p> + +<p class="index">Sebek-user, statuette of, <a href="#page_82">82</a>, +<a href="#page_93">93</a>, <a href="#page_155">155</a>, +<a href="#page_156">156</a>, <a href="#page_203">203</a></p> + +<p class="index">'Sed' Festival in Egypt, <a href="#page_255">255</a></p> + +<p class="index">Sen-mut, tomb of, <a href="#page_160">160-162</a>, +<a href="#page_207">207</a>, <a href="#page_208">208</a>, +<a href="#page_259">259</a></p> + +<p class="index">Senusert (Usertsen), II., III., +<a href="#page_150">150</a>; III., <a href="#page_199">199</a></p> + +<p class="index">Shakalsha invade Egypt, <a href="#page_165">165</a>, +<a href="#page_166">166</a></p> + +<p class="index">Shield. See Armour</p> + +<p class="index">Ships: Minoan, <a href="#page_112">112</a>, +<a href="#page_223">223</a>; Egyptian, <a href="#page_144">144</a></p> + +<p class="index">Shoes, Minoan, <a href="#page_213">213</a>, +<a href="#page_214">214</a></p> + +<p class="index">Shrines: at Gournia, <a href="#page_130">130</a>, +<a href="#page_131">131</a>, <a href="#page_250">250</a>; at Knossos, +<a href="#page_249">249</a>, <a href="#page_250">250</a>, +<a href="#page_252">252</a></p> + +<p class="index">Sicilians, <a href="#page_212">212</a></p> + +<p class="index">Sicily, <a href="#page_10">10</a>; relics of Minoan +civilization in, <a href="#page_51">51</a>, <a href="#page_184">184</a></p> + +<p class="index">Sickles, <a href="#page_226">226</a></p> + +<p class="index">Sikels=Shakalsha (?), <a href="#page_166">166</a></p> + +<p class="index">Sinnis slain by Theseus, <a href="#page_11">11</a></p> + +<p class="index">Sistrum on Harvester Vase, <a href="#page_125">125</a></p> + +<p class="index">Sitia, <a href="#page_214">214</a></p> + +<p class="index">Snake Goddess, <a href="#page_105">105-107</a>, +<a href="#page_245">245</a>, <a href="#page_250">250</a>; dress of +votaress of, <a href="#page_215">215</a></p> + +<p class="index">Sneferu, King of Third Dynasty, +<a href="#page_146">146</a></p> + +<p class="index">Socrates, <a href="#page_17">17</a></p> + +<p class="index">Solon, legend of Atlantis, +<a href="#page_257">257-259</a></p> + +<p class="index">Spain, relics of Minoan civilization in, +<a href="#page_51">51</a>, <a href="#page_184">184</a>, +<a href="#page_210">210</a></p> + +<p class="index">Sparta in Homeric poems, <a href="#page_21">21</a></p> + +<p class="index">Spratt describes ruins at Knossos +<a href="#page_63">63</a></p> + +<p class="index">Spiral, origin of, <a href="#page_48">48</a>, +<a href="#page_143">143</a>, <a href="#page_144">144</a>, +<a href="#page_193">193</a>, <a href="#page_194">194</a></p> + +<p class="index">Staircase: at Knossos, <a href="#page_85">85</a>, +<a href="#page_86">86</a>; at Phæstos, <a href="#page_120">120</a></p> + +<p class="index">Steles of Shaft-Graves, <a href="#page_43">43</a></p> + +<p class="index">Stillman, <a href="#page_64">64</a></p> + +<p class="index">Stirrup vases: at Knossos, <a href="#page_81">81</a>, +<a href="#page_108">108</a>; at Zafer Papoura, <a href="#page_134">134</a>; +tomb of Ramses III., <a href="#page_163">163</a>; at Gournia and Hagia +Triada, <a href="#page_205">205</a>, <a href="#page_210">210</a>; +prevalence of, in Late Minoan III., <a href="#page_210">210</a></p> + +<p class="index">'Stoa Basilike,' <a href="#page_108">108</a></p> + +<p class="index">Suffixes in Minoan Script, <a href="#page_235">235</a></p> + +<p class="index">Swords: in Shaft-Graves, <a href="#page_44">44</a>; +iron, <a href="#page_60">60</a>; bronze, at Zafer Papoura, +<a href="#page_134">134</a>, <a href="#page_135">135</a>; iron, in Late +Minoan III., <a href="#page_178">178</a>; bronze, in Late Minoan I., +<a href="#page_204">204</a>; from Zafer Papoura, +<a href="#page_206">206</a></p> + +<p class="center">T</p> + +<p class="index">Tablets, clay, of Knossos, <a href="#page_78">78-81</a>, +<a href="#page_110">110</a>, <a href="#page_238">238</a> <i>et seq.</i></p> + +<p class="index">Tahuti, <a href="#page_69">69</a></p> + +<p class="index">Tahutmes III., <a href="#page_158">158</a>, +<a href="#page_161">161</a>, <a href="#page_208">208</a></p> + +<p class="index">Tahutmes IV., <a href="#page_174">174</a></p> + +<p class="index">Talent, Babylonian, at Knossos and Hagia Triada, +<a href="#page_141">141</a></p> + +<p class="index">Tarentum, Late Minoan work at +<a href="#page_209">209</a></p> + +<p class="index">Telemachus, <a href="#page_22">22</a>, +<a href="#page_23">23</a></p> + +<p class="index">Tell-el-Amarna: tablets of, <a href="#page_79">79</a>; +capital of Akhenaten, <a href="#page_163">163</a>; Minoan pottery at, +<a href="#page_185">185</a></p> + +<p class="index">Tell-es-Safi, Minoan pottery at, +<a href="#page_140">140</a>, <a href="#page_167">167</a></p> + +<p class="index">Temple repositories, <a href="#page_104">104-107</a>, +<a href="#page_172">172</a>, <a href="#page_200">200</a></p> + +<p class="index">Temples: Egyptian, <a href="#page_25">25</a>; absence +of, in Minoan religion, <a href="#page_248">248</a></p> + +<p class="index">Terpander, invention of lyre, +<a href="#page_128">128</a></p> + +<p class="index">Teumman, <a href="#page_225">225</a></p> + +<p class="index">Theatral Area: Knossos, <a href="#page_100">100-104</a>; +Phæstos, <a href="#page_101">101</a>, <a href="#page_197">197</a></p> + +<p class="index">Thera, Linear Script at, <a href="#page_236">236</a></p> + +<p class="index"> +<a name="page_274"><span class="page">Page 274</span></a> +Theseus, <a href="#page_3">3</a>, <a href="#page_9">9</a>; adventures +of, <a href="#page_11">11</a>; vanquishes Minotaur, +<a href="#page_12">12</a>, <a href="#page_13">13</a>; marries and +deserts Ariadne, <a href="#page_13">13</a>; brings up ring of Minos, +<a href="#page_13">13</a>, <a href="#page_256">256</a></p> + +<p class="index">Throne, palace of Knossos, <a href="#page_72">72</a></p> + +<p class="index">Throne Room: decorations of, +<a href="#page_72">72</a>; <i>impluvium</i> in, +<a href="#page_72">72</a>; date of, <a href="#page_206">206</a></p> + +<p class="index">Thucydides on sea-power of Minos, +<a href="#page_9">9</a>, <a href="#page_76">76</a>, +<a href="#page_256">256</a></p> + +<p class="index">Timæus, the, legend of Atlantis, +<a href="#page_257">257-259</a></p> + +<p class="index">Tiryns, <a href="#page_1">1</a>, +<a href="#page_5">5</a>; in Homeric poems, <a href="#page_22">22</a>; +wall of, <a href="#page_49">49</a>; frieze, <a href="#page_49">49</a>; +fresco of bull, <a href="#page_49">49</a></p> + +<p class="index">Tomb paintings, Egyptian, <a href="#page_74">74</a></p> + +<p class="index">Tools, carpenters' and smiths', at Gournia, +<a href="#page_131">131</a>, <a href="#page_221">221</a>, +<a href="#page_222">222</a></p> + +<p class="index">Torcello, Late Minoan work at, +<a href="#page_209">209</a></p> + +<p class="index">Toreadors, <a href="#page_88">88-91</a>; figurines of, +<a href="#page_96">96</a></p> + +<p class="index">Trees, sacred, <a href="#page_245">245</a></p> + +<p class="index">Trickle ornament, <a href="#page_202">202</a>, +<a href="#page_203">203</a></p> + +<p class="index">Troy, I; siege of, <a href="#page_22">22</a>; site of, +<a href="#page_37">37</a>; First City, <a href="#page_38">38</a>; Second +City, <a href="#page_39">39</a>, <a href="#page_40">40</a>, +<a href="#page_140">140</a>; Sixth City, <a href="#page_40">40</a>, +<a href="#page_41">41</a>, <a href="#page_51">51</a></p> + +<p class="index">Tsountas, <a href="#page_50">50</a></p> + +<p class="index">Tyi, Queen, <a href="#page_185">185</a></p> + +<p class="center">U</p> + +<p class="index">Uashasha invade Egypt, <a href="#page_165">165</a>, +<a href="#page_166">166</a></p> + +<p class="center">V</p> + +<p class="index">Vaphio cups, <a href="#page_51">51</a>, +<a href="#page_109">109</a>, <a href="#page_123">123</a>, +<a href="#page_161">161</a>, <a href="#page_229">229</a></p> + +<p class="index">Vases: stone, at Knossos, <a href="#page_81">81</a>, +<a href="#page_86">86</a>, <a href="#page_143">143</a>; stirrup, +<a href="#page_81">81</a>, <a href="#page_108">108</a>, +<a href="#page_134">134</a>; Kamares, <a href="#page_92">92</a>; +stone, at Mokhlos, <a href="#page_134">134</a>, +<a href="#page_143">143</a>; at Isopata, <a href="#page_136">136</a></p> + +<p class="index">Vases à Étrier=stirrup vases, <i>q.v.</i></p> + +<p class="index">Vasiliki, mottled ware of, <a href="#page_192">192</a></p> + +<p class="index">Venetian occupation, <a href="#page_63">63</a></p> + +<p class="index">Villa, Royal, at Knossos, +<a href="#page_107">107-109</a>, <a href="#page_246">246</a></p> + +<p class="index">Vine, <a href="#page_227">227</a></p> + +<p class="index">Virgil, <a href="#page_136">136</a></p> + +<p class="center">W</p> + +<p class="index">Water-lily cup, <a href="#page_198">198</a></p> + +<p class="index">Weaving, <a href="#page_227">227</a>, +<a href="#page_228">228</a></p> + +<p class="index">Wen-Amon, adventures of, <a href="#page_186">186</a>, +<a href="#page_187">187</a></p> + +<p class="index">Windows, <a href="#page_217">217</a></p> + +<p class="index">Women, position of, in Homeric poems, +<a href="#page_24">24</a></p> + +<p class="index">Writing: beginnings of, in Ægean area, +<a href="#page_80">80</a>, <a href="#page_81">81</a>; Phœnician, +<a href="#page_81">81</a>; Minoan, <a href="#page_234">234-243</a></p> + +<p class="center">Z</p> + +<p class="index">Zafer Papoura, swords from, <a href="#page_206">206</a></p> + +<p class="index">Zakkaru invade Egypt, <a href="#page_165">165</a>, +<a href="#page_166">166</a>, <a href="#page_186">186</a>, +<a href="#page_187">187</a></p> + +<p class="index">Zakro: lotus vase from, <a href="#page_204">204</a>; +seals at, <a href="#page_133">133</a>, <a href="#page_205">205</a>, +<a href="#page_224">224</a>; houses at, <a href="#page_216">216</a>; +Minoan town at, <a href="#page_133">133</a>; pottery at, +<a href="#page_133">133</a>; Zakkaru from, <a href="#page_166">166</a>, +<a href="#page_187">187</a>; Linear Script at, +<a href="#page_236">236</a></p> + +<p class="index">Zakru pirates, <a href="#page_187">187</a></p> + +<p class="index">Zeus: birth of, marriage of, to Europa, death and +burial of, <a href="#page_7">7</a>, <a href="#page_8">8</a>; +association with Minos, <a href="#page_8">8</a>, +<a href="#page_105">105</a>, <a href="#page_136">136</a>; Double Axe +emblem, <a href="#page_70">70</a>; of Labraunda, +<a href="#page_70">70</a>; fetish idol of, <a href="#page_111">111</a>; +associations with Dictæan Cave, +<a href="#page_136">136</a>, <a href="#page_247">247</a>; identified +with Minoan god, <a href="#page_247">247</a></p> + + +<p class="center">THE END</p> + +<div class="image" style="width: 516px;"> +<a name="plan_knossos"></a> +<a href="images/knossos_palace_plan.jpg"> +<img src="images/knossos_palace_plan_sm.jpg" width="555" height="473" + alt="Plan of the Palace of Knossos"></a> + +<p>KEY TO NUMBERS</p> + +<table border="0" cellspacing="0"> +<tr><td class="right">1.</td> + <td>Northern Entrance and Portico.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">2.</td> + <td>Bastion and Guard-House.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">3.</td> + <td>Northern Piazza.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">4.</td> + <td>Room of the Flower Gatherer.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">5.</td> + <td>Room with Stirrup Vases, Walled Pit beneath.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">6.</td> + <td>Ante room to Throne Room.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">7, 7.</td> + <td>Throne Room with Tank.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">8.</td> + <td>Temple Repositories.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">9, 9.</td> + <td>East and West Pillar-Rooms.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">10.</td> + <td>Court of the Altar.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">11.</td> + <td>South Propylæum.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">12.</td> + <td>Corridor of the Cup Bearer.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">13.</td> + <td>Corridor of the Procession.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">14.</td> + <td>West Portico.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">15.</td> + <td>Long Gallery with Magazines on West Side.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">16.</td> + <td>North-West House with Bronze Vessels.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">17.</td> + <td>Northern Bath.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">18.</td> + <td>Deposit of Pictographic Tablets.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">19.</td> + <td>North-Eastern Magazines.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">20.</td> + <td>Corridor of the Draught-Board.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">21.</td> + <td>Room of the Olive Press.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">23, 23.</td> + <td>Hall of the Colonnades, with Light-Well.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">24, 24, 24.</td> + <td>Hall of the Double Axes, with Light-Well.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">25, 25, 25, 25.</td> + <td>Queen's Megaron, with Light-Wells.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">26.</td> + <td>Deposit of Ivory Figurines.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">27, 27.</td> + <td>Built Drains.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">28.</td> + <td>Court of the Sanctuary.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">29.</td> + <td>South-East House with Pillar-Room.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">30.</td> + <td>Court of the Oil-Spout.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">31.</td> + <td>Magazines with large Pithoi.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">32. + <td>East Bastion.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">33. + <td>Early Buildings, partly in continuous use.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">34. + <td>Sculptor's Workshop (on upper floor).</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">A. + <td>Altar-Base in Central Court.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">B. + <td>Shrine of the Snake Goddess.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">C, D. + <td>Altar-Bases in West Court.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">E. + <td>Shrine of Dove Goddess and Double Axes.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">F. + <td>Altar-Base in Court of the Sanctuary.</td></tr> +<tr><td class="right">G. + <td>Altar Base in Court of the Altar.</td></tr> +</table> +</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Sea-Kings of Crete, by James Baikie + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SEA-KINGS OF CRETE *** + +***** This file should be named 19328-h.htm or 19328-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/3/2/19328/ + +Produced by Robert J. Hall + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> + diff --git a/19328-h/images/knossos_palace_plan.jpg b/19328-h/images/knossos_palace_plan.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1593e60 --- /dev/null +++ b/19328-h/images/knossos_palace_plan.jpg diff --git a/19328-h/images/knossos_palace_plan_sm.jpg b/19328-h/images/knossos_palace_plan_sm.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9d75b81 --- /dev/null +++ b/19328-h/images/knossos_palace_plan_sm.jpg diff --git a/19328-h/images/plate_I.jpg b/19328-h/images/plate_I.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..cc3b1e4 --- /dev/null +++ b/19328-h/images/plate_I.jpg diff --git a/19328-h/images/plate_III.jpg b/19328-h/images/plate_III.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..39c12ba --- /dev/null +++ b/19328-h/images/plate_III.jpg diff --git a/19328-h/images/plate_II_1.jpg b/19328-h/images/plate_II_1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ce8f07d --- /dev/null +++ b/19328-h/images/plate_II_1.jpg diff --git a/19328-h/images/plate_II_2.jpg b/19328-h/images/plate_II_2.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c30b60a --- /dev/null +++ b/19328-h/images/plate_II_2.jpg diff --git a/19328-h/images/plate_IV.jpg b/19328-h/images/plate_IV.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8c48412 --- /dev/null +++ b/19328-h/images/plate_IV.jpg diff --git a/19328-h/images/plate_IX_1.jpg b/19328-h/images/plate_IX_1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f02d36a --- /dev/null +++ b/19328-h/images/plate_IX_1.jpg diff --git a/19328-h/images/plate_IX_2.jpg b/19328-h/images/plate_IX_2.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..49c5452 --- /dev/null +++ b/19328-h/images/plate_IX_2.jpg diff --git a/19328-h/images/plate_VI.jpg b/19328-h/images/plate_VI.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..714fef9 --- /dev/null +++ b/19328-h/images/plate_VI.jpg diff --git a/19328-h/images/plate_VII.jpg b/19328-h/images/plate_VII.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6d3b705 --- /dev/null +++ b/19328-h/images/plate_VII.jpg diff --git a/19328-h/images/plate_VIII.jpg b/19328-h/images/plate_VIII.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..802c043 --- /dev/null +++ b/19328-h/images/plate_VIII.jpg diff --git a/19328-h/images/plate_V_1.jpg b/19328-h/images/plate_V_1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d21e5b4 --- /dev/null +++ b/19328-h/images/plate_V_1.jpg diff --git a/19328-h/images/plate_V_2.jpg b/19328-h/images/plate_V_2.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2b2a243 --- /dev/null +++ b/19328-h/images/plate_V_2.jpg diff --git a/19328-h/images/plate_XI.jpg b/19328-h/images/plate_XI.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5748556 --- /dev/null +++ b/19328-h/images/plate_XI.jpg diff --git a/19328-h/images/plate_XIII.jpg b/19328-h/images/plate_XIII.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..88e7e47 --- /dev/null +++ b/19328-h/images/plate_XIII.jpg diff --git a/19328-h/images/plate_XII_1.jpg b/19328-h/images/plate_XII_1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8a6d670 --- /dev/null +++ b/19328-h/images/plate_XII_1.jpg diff --git a/19328-h/images/plate_XII_2.jpg b/19328-h/images/plate_XII_2.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6c4d8ac --- /dev/null +++ b/19328-h/images/plate_XII_2.jpg diff --git a/19328-h/images/plate_XIV.jpg b/19328-h/images/plate_XIV.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d8c9a14 --- /dev/null +++ b/19328-h/images/plate_XIV.jpg diff --git a/19328-h/images/plate_XIX_1.jpg b/19328-h/images/plate_XIX_1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5305b3d --- /dev/null +++ b/19328-h/images/plate_XIX_1.jpg diff --git a/19328-h/images/plate_XIX_2.jpg b/19328-h/images/plate_XIX_2.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..214dd31 --- /dev/null +++ b/19328-h/images/plate_XIX_2.jpg diff --git a/19328-h/images/plate_XVIII.jpg b/19328-h/images/plate_XVIII.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c3937be --- /dev/null +++ b/19328-h/images/plate_XVIII.jpg diff --git a/19328-h/images/plate_XVII_1.jpg b/19328-h/images/plate_XVII_1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4a6b6d2 --- /dev/null +++ b/19328-h/images/plate_XVII_1.jpg diff --git a/19328-h/images/plate_XVII_2.jpg b/19328-h/images/plate_XVII_2.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5dce756 --- /dev/null +++ b/19328-h/images/plate_XVII_2.jpg diff --git a/19328-h/images/plate_XVI_1.jpg b/19328-h/images/plate_XVI_1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1130b4b --- /dev/null +++ b/19328-h/images/plate_XVI_1.jpg diff --git a/19328-h/images/plate_XVI_2.jpg b/19328-h/images/plate_XVI_2.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..71ce079 --- /dev/null +++ b/19328-h/images/plate_XVI_2.jpg diff --git a/19328-h/images/plate_XV_1.jpg b/19328-h/images/plate_XV_1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..44914bf --- /dev/null +++ b/19328-h/images/plate_XV_1.jpg diff --git a/19328-h/images/plate_XV_2.jpg b/19328-h/images/plate_XV_2.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e8dd878 --- /dev/null +++ b/19328-h/images/plate_XV_2.jpg diff --git a/19328-h/images/plate_XXI.jpg b/19328-h/images/plate_XXI.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..13f8dd1 --- /dev/null +++ b/19328-h/images/plate_XXI.jpg diff --git a/19328-h/images/plate_XXII.jpg b/19328-h/images/plate_XXII.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..20eccb1 --- /dev/null +++ b/19328-h/images/plate_XXII.jpg diff --git a/19328-h/images/plate_XXIII.jpg b/19328-h/images/plate_XXIII.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0297cb1 --- /dev/null +++ b/19328-h/images/plate_XXIII.jpg diff --git a/19328-h/images/plate_XXIV_1.jpg b/19328-h/images/plate_XXIV_1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c6f610b --- /dev/null +++ b/19328-h/images/plate_XXIV_1.jpg diff --git a/19328-h/images/plate_XXIV_2.jpg b/19328-h/images/plate_XXIV_2.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..69191b1 --- /dev/null +++ b/19328-h/images/plate_XXIV_2.jpg diff --git a/19328-h/images/plate_XXIX.jpg b/19328-h/images/plate_XXIX.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3157a0f --- /dev/null +++ b/19328-h/images/plate_XXIX.jpg diff --git a/19328-h/images/plate_XXVI.jpg b/19328-h/images/plate_XXVI.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c1c5896 --- /dev/null +++ b/19328-h/images/plate_XXVI.jpg diff --git a/19328-h/images/plate_XXVII.jpg b/19328-h/images/plate_XXVII.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a608fcc --- /dev/null +++ b/19328-h/images/plate_XXVII.jpg diff --git a/19328-h/images/plate_XXVIII.jpg b/19328-h/images/plate_XXVIII.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f2f43ab --- /dev/null +++ b/19328-h/images/plate_XXVIII.jpg diff --git a/19328-h/images/plate_XXV_1.jpg b/19328-h/images/plate_XXV_1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3ad765f --- /dev/null +++ b/19328-h/images/plate_XXV_1.jpg diff --git a/19328-h/images/plate_XXV_2.jpg b/19328-h/images/plate_XXV_2.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..581958d --- /dev/null +++ b/19328-h/images/plate_XXV_2.jpg diff --git a/19328-h/images/plate_XXX.jpg b/19328-h/images/plate_XXX.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f958eb9 --- /dev/null +++ b/19328-h/images/plate_XXX.jpg diff --git a/19328-h/images/plate_XXXI.jpg b/19328-h/images/plate_XXXI.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2ea64cd --- /dev/null +++ b/19328-h/images/plate_XXXI.jpg diff --git a/19328-h/images/plate_XXXII.jpg b/19328-h/images/plate_XXXII.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c9b2430 --- /dev/null +++ b/19328-h/images/plate_XXXII.jpg diff --git a/19328-h/images/plate_XX_1.jpg b/19328-h/images/plate_XX_1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d2a0b48 --- /dev/null +++ b/19328-h/images/plate_XX_1.jpg diff --git a/19328-h/images/plate_XX_2.jpg b/19328-h/images/plate_XX_2.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0998c29 --- /dev/null +++ b/19328-h/images/plate_XX_2.jpg diff --git a/19328-h/images/plate_X_1.jpg b/19328-h/images/plate_X_1.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..29c7a34 --- /dev/null +++ b/19328-h/images/plate_X_1.jpg diff --git a/19328-h/images/plate_X_2.jpg b/19328-h/images/plate_X_2.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..181abd0 --- /dev/null +++ b/19328-h/images/plate_X_2.jpg diff --git a/19328-h/images/sketch_map.jpg b/19328-h/images/sketch_map.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..730b3dc --- /dev/null +++ b/19328-h/images/sketch_map.jpg |
