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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dbb3d50 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #69765 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69765) diff --git a/old/69765-0.txt b/old/69765-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index cdf7ff8..0000000 --- a/old/69765-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,2408 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Minoans, by George Glasgow - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: The Minoans - -Author: George Glasgow - -Release Date: January 11, 2023 [eBook #69765] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Tim Lindell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at - https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images - generously made available by The Internet Archive/American - Libraries.) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MINOANS *** - - - - - - The Minoans - - [Illustration: A LADY OF THE MINOAN COURT - - From _The Annual of the British School at Athens_ - - [_Frontispiece_] - - - - - The Minoans - - _by_ George Glasgow - - [Illustration] - - Jonathan Cape - Eleven Gower Street, London - - - - - _First published March_, 1923 - - _Second impression April_, 1923 - - _All rights reserved_ - - - _Printed in Great Britain by_ Butler & Tanner, _Frome and London_ - - - - - THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED - TO - RONALD MONTAGU BURROWS - MY GREAT FRIEND AND TEACHER - - - - - PREFACE - - -Sir Arthur Evans’ renewed campaign of excavation in Crete has again -attracted considerable public attention to the remarkable disclosures -of the last twenty years. Sir Arthur Evans himself is at present -engaged in compiling in three big volumes the consecutive story of -Minoan civilization as revealed by his own excavations. The present -writer is convinced that the story of Cretan discovery is such as to -appeal to the imagination of a wide public who have no specialist -interest in archæology. The story has all the interest of adventure and -exploration. This book is an attempt to meet what such a public wants. -I have tried to give a general picture of the world which existed in -the Mediterranean four thousand years ago, and of the amazing process -by which it has been revealed, so that it can be understood by those -totally unacquainted with classical study, and I have tried to give -it in one hour’s reading. For those who want to go further I give -references to other books. It must be understood that this book does -not aim at an exact account of the archæological position as it exists -to-day. With new excavations being carried out this very year, and with -new material in the hands of the excavators, as yet unpublished and -undigested, any attempt to be strictly up to date would merely mean the -progressive and indefinite postponement of the book. The broad lines -of the discovery of Minoan civilization are clear, and in the writer’s -opinion, even because a new campaign of excavation is now started, -ought to be presented now in a form to be easily understood. The -results of the discoveries of this spring, for instance, add important -details to our knowledge--some of which I have incorporated--but do not -affect fundamentals. - -Some of the substance of the following chapters was published in -1920 and 1921 in _Discovery_, to the Editor of which I am grateful -for permission to re-publish them. In a somewhat different form the -substance was also published by me in 1914-1915 in the _National Home -Reading Magazine_. - -It is to my friend Dr. Ronald Montagu Burrows that I, in common with -thousands, owe my interest in Crete. He died on May 14, 1920, before -his time. He was incredibly, challengingly young and vigorous both in -appearance and in activity, and at fifty-two was producing work at the -top of his brilliant form. His work was a mixture of youth and maturity -such as one does not often find. In 1907, when he first published -his _Discoveries in Crete_, men were confused by the avalanche of -discovery in Crete which had been going on since the opening of the -century. Burrows’s achievement--for which scholars and the intellectual -public have ever since been grateful--was to give a comprehensive and -interpretive account of the whole revelation and to place it in its -perspective. Before that even scholars as a whole had not seen wood for -trees. - -Dr. Burrows’s own excavations at Pylos and Sphacteria and at Rhitsona -were typical of him. He cleared up the narrative and established the -good faith of the historian Thucydides. Scholars had in vain tried to -find any trace of the fortifications said by Thucydides to have been -erected there by the Spartans in the Peloponnesian war. Only a few -months before Burrows first went out--he was then a young man who did -not know the difficulty of what he attempted--a celebrated geographer, -Dr. Grundy, had explored the site and reported that there was no trace -of the fortifications. Burrows discovered substantial remains hidden -away under the brushwood, and succeeded in proving that they fully -corresponded with Thucydides’s account. - -I am grateful to Professor R. S. Conway and to Sir Arthur Evans for -reading my manuscript and helping me with suggestions; but neither must -be held responsible for anything that appears in the book. - - 1922. - - - - - CONTENTS - - - CHAP. PAGE - - PREFACE 7 - - 1 CRETE THE FORERUNNER OF GREECE 13 - - 2 THE SEA-FARING PEOPLE OF CRETE 20 - - 3 MINOS AND THE MINOTAUR 24 - - 4 KNOSSOS 30 - - 5 PREHISTORIC ENGINEERING AND ARCHITECTURE 37 - - 6 INTERNAL POLITICS: THE RELATIONS OF KNOSSOS - AND PHÆSTOS 44 - - 7 MINOAN ARCHITECTURE AND FRESCO PAINTING 48 - - 8 THE POTTERY 55 - - 9 THE ORIGIN OF WRITING 65 - - 10 CRETAN RELIGION 75 - - 11 MEN AND WOMEN, CLOTHES AND CUSTOMS 83 - - 12 FROM PREHISTORIC CRETE TO CLASSICAL GREECE 90 - - INDEX 93 - - - - - LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS - - - A Lady of the Minoan Court _Frontispiece_ - - Bull Leaping _facing page_ 35 - - The Cupbearer ” 39 - - Polychrome Cups ” 62 - - - - - Chapter 1: _Crete the Forerunner of Greece_ - - -Mr. Veniselos was brought up in Crete. It is not the first time in -history that Crete has passed on her products to Greece and to Europe. -Four thousand years ago the very foundations of Greek and of European -civilization were laid in Crete, which was then mistress of the sea -and the dominant factor in the Ægean. Yet we none of us were aware of -this until Sir Arthur Evans, a few years ago, began digging in Crete. -When Mr. Veniselos was a boy the very existence of a prehistoric Cretan -civilization was unknown. Our knowledge of it has been almost entirely -revealed since 1900. In this short time the spades of Sir Arthur Evans -have revolutionized our whole conception of the early history of -Europe. Excavation at Knossos, Phæstos and other sites in Crete has -disclosed the existence of a people whose form of civilization, the -earliest in Europe, flourished long before recorded history begins. It -has told us about their daily life, games, amusements, art, religion, -writing (though the language is not yet understood); their physical -type, dress, the homes they lived in. The fashion of the women’s -dresses, as revealed on ornaments and other art relics, with an open -neck and flounced skirts, made a French scholar exclaim: “Mais ce sont -des Parisiennes!” - -A big palace, as big as Buckingham Palace, has been unearthed -at Knossos. It has a drainage system which an eminent Italian -archæologist, Dr. Halbherr, has described as “absolutely English,” and -which certainly forestalls the hydraulic engineering of the nineteenth -century. This four thousand years ago. - -The digging in Crete has created all the excitement of exploration. -When the painted panel was discovered giving a sensational bull-baiting -scene from a Minoan circus-show, or the Phæstos disc covered with -picture writing, or the fresco painting of the Cupbearer at Knossos, -the excitement reached its height. It was not confined to the -excavators. An old workman who was on night duty watching the Cupbearer -fresco during the delicate operation of its removal, was woke up by -disturbing dreams and declared after that “The whole place was full of -ghosts.” - -Charles Kingsley has no doubt turned in his grave. When he wrote _The -Heroes_ he was writing, as he himself explained, a fairy story for -his children. He little knew that his fairy story was in many ways -historical truth. He wrote, for instance, that the palace of King Minos -at Knossos was like a marble hill. He did not know that there actually -lived a King Minos in Crete, and that his palace, standing on a hill at -Knossos, was built, if not of marble, at any rate of stone. - -Up to the last half-century the whole story of classical Greece, -as taught in the schools and in the Universities, was regarded as -something original, as the beginning of things springing suddenly, -like the mythical Athene, into life. The sculpture, architecture, -philosophy, oratory, and drama of the fifth century B.C., were accepted -unquestioningly and with awe as the spontaneous first-fruits of Greek -genius. The history of Greece, as then understood, went back only to -the eighth century B.C., beyond which were the Dark Ages and nothing. -Before the time of Æschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides it is true there -had been a problematic poet, half mythical, half real, elusive and -shadowy, known as Homer. The fact that he was represented as having -been born in nine separate places was an illustration of the vagueness -in which the poet’s identity was enveloped. He (or they, if his poems -were a composite work) had sung of deeds and of men who seemed to -echo from those Dark Ages. Whatever speculation there was as to Homer -himself and his identity, no one ever doubted that if he was a real -person he certainly was the first real person that European history -could establish. During the last twenty years he has been shown to have -been not the beginning but the end of an enormous phase of Greek and -European history. - -Now that the real beginnings of Greek civilization are beginning to be -known, it strikes one as remarkable that up to now they should have -been so completely buried in two senses. It is the more remarkable -because a good deal was known about other corresponding origins in the -Near East. In Egypt and Babylonia the old traditions had been passed on -by later generations to Greek writers, who preserved, imperfectly it is -true, the necessary connecting links. In the case of Greek civilization -not only were there no stepping-stones back to the corresponding phase; -it did not even seem to occur to anybody that there had been such a -phase. The unquestioning and complacent acceptance as myths (which -is the same thing as the tacit and complete disbelief) of the epic -stories which centred round Agamemnon and the Homeric heroes was never -challenged up to the middle of the last century. The historian Grote, -for instance, declared that “to analyse the fables and to elicit from -them any trustworthy particular facts” would be “a fruitless attempt” -(_History of Greece_, 2nd edition, 1849, p. 223). - -Such was the outlook of Grote’s contemporaries. Then an important -thing happened. A poor boy named Schliemann had been told these Greek -fables by his father, and to his child’s mind the stories appeared as -literally true. One day a drunken miller came into the grocer’s shop -where he worked, and began to recite some lines of Homer. Schliemann -was fascinated, and, so the story goes, spent all his spare cash in -whisky wherewith to encourage the miller to repeat the lines again and -again; and then prayed God that he might some day have the happiness of -learning Greek himself. His literal faith in the “myths” remained with -him, and he made up his mind to find the walls of Troy. Being poor he -had to spend a lifetime of hard saving before he was in a position to -put his faith to the test. Late in life, however, he had saved enough -money for the purpose and went to Hissarlik, the spot in Asia Minor -where the town of Troy was said to have stood. He began digging into -the earth, and to his joy discovered the buried walls of a town. It was -proved later that the walls he discovered belonged not to the Homeric -city, as Schliemann naturally assumed, but to another city which had -existed on the same site a thousand years earlier. He had dug within -and through the circle of the Homeric walls without discovering them. -From Troy he went to Mycenæ and Tiryns on the Greek mainland, and -there discovered the visible relics of the Homeric stories centering -on the Greek mainland. Schliemann’s achievement was to establish the -historical existence of the “Mycenæan civilization.” We now know that -this civilization flourished from about 1400 B.C. to 1100 B.C. It is -a romantic story of the way in which Schliemann justified his simple -faith in the historic background of the Homeric poems. Schliemann -deserved the explorer’s satisfaction which he enjoyed, and which -manifested itself on one occasion when he sent a telegram to the King -of the Hellenes announcing that he had found the tomb of Agamemnon -at Mycenæ. One wishes that it had been literally true, as Schliemann -thought it was. In any case it was he who laid the foundations for -the whole structure of modern prehistoric research in the Eastern -Mediterranean. - -The most exciting and the most important part of that research has been -the opening up of Crete. The Cretan discoveries of Sir Arthur Evans -and other excavators, British, American and Italian, have proved that -the Mycenæan culture revealed by Schliemann was itself a late and even -decadent phase of a great Mediterranean civilization which had its -centre in Crete. - - - - - Chapter 2: _The Sea-Faring People of Crete_ - - -The primitive Ægean people played a great part in the activities of -the Near East. They existed for several thousand years, and there are -traces of their activity on every shore of the Eastern Mediterranean. -Crete, as Homer says, was the land “in the midst of the wine-dark -ocean, fair and rich, with the waters all around” (“Odyssey,” xix. -172). It was the natural centre towards which the mainlands of Greece, -Asia Minor, and Egypt converged, especially as its irregular coast -afforded good harbours for the small ships of that time. - -The first settlement of man in Crete took place at Knossos, in the -later or “Neolithic” Stone Age. This fact is established by the nature -of the relics found at the lowest level in the excavations, the level -which represents the earliest period in time. Phæstos, on the south -side of the island, received its first inhabitants at a later date, as -is made clear by the pottery that has been discovered there. This is a -typical instance of the value of pottery as archæological evidence. The -earliest ware found at Knossos is unornamented; the next is improved -by “incised lines”--that is, lines cut in the clay with a pointed -instrument and often filled in, for greater effect, with a white -substance. At Phæstos, on the other hand, the pottery found lowest -down is already in this second stage in its artistic evolution, the -inference being that the men who settled there took the art with them -at the point to which it had been developed by the Knossians. - -After the “Stone” Age came the “Bronze” Age. Men realized that not -stone, but a mixture of copper and tin, provided the best material -for instruments. A picturesque touch is added to this discovery by an -Italian archæologist, Angelo Mosso, who in _The Dawn of Civilization_ -gives reason for believing that, even at so remote a period, the tin -was brought to Crete from Cornwall. He goes so far as to point out -the actual caravan route by which the tin was transported. It was -during this Bronze Age, which lasted about 2,000 years, that Cretan -civilization reached its highest level. Sir Arthur Evans has given -to it the picturesque name “Minoan,” and has divided it into three -stages--Early, Middle, Late--each with three subdivisions. Early -Minoan I (E.M.I) begins about 2800 B.C., Late Minoan III (L.M. III) -ends about 1100 B.C. (See _The Discoveries in Crete_, by Dr. Ronald -M. Burrows, p. 98.) These nine periods are a happy play upon “the -nine seasons” during which Homer speaks of King Minos as reigning -in Knossos: “And in Crete is Knossos, a great city, and in it Minos -ruled for nine seasons, the bosom friend of mighty Zeus.” (“Odyssey,” -xix. 179). The term “Minoan” should be carefully distinguished from -“Mycenæan.” After Schliemann’s discoveries at Mycenæ and Tiryns, -the term “Mycenæan” was used in a general sense, to cover the whole -prehistoric Ægean civilization; but now that Crete has put Mycenæ -into its right perspective, the term “Minoan” is used to indicate the -earlier and greater phase, while “Mycenæan” merely covers the latest -phase; the whole being designated “Ægean.” There is, to complete -the nomenclature, a further epithet, “Cycladic,” which is sometimes -substituted for “Minoan” when one speaks exclusively of the island -sites outside of Crete. - -With the fall of Knossos, which took place shortly before 1400 -B.C.--I adopt Dr. Burrows’s dating--the centre of influence in the -Ægean passed over from Crete to the mainland of Greece, and the true -“Mycenæan” period started. Thereafter followed the Dark Ages, which -themselves immediately preceded “historical” Greece. Recorded Greek -history begins about 800 B.C. - - - - - Chapter 3: _Minos and the Minotaur_ - - -If the nine Minoan periods into which Sir Arthur Evans has divided -the Bronze Age in Crete are primarily a fanciful play upon the “nine -seasons” of King Minos’s reign in Knossos, the system of dating itself -is by no means fanciful. It rests on a solid basis. It has been made -possible mainly by the fact that the ancient Cretans were sea-farers. -Cretan products were exported to Egypt, and have been found there -alongside Egyptian deposits of more or less known date. Hence a system -of sequence-dating can be established. It is obvious that a Cretan -vase found side by side with an Egyptian vase of 2500 B.C. belongs -to an earlier period than one found with deposits of 1500 B.C. This -fixing of landmarks is the first step. The second is to assign to them -absolute dates in the terms of our own chronology. Owing to the fact -that Egyptian dates (within at least certain limits) are known in terms -of our own, and that Egyptian ware has been found in Crete as well as -Cretan in Egypt, equation is possible. The chief difficulty is that -Egyptian chronology is itself variously interpreted, and one particular -version has had to be fixed on for comparison. Three convenient and -easily-remembered landmarks have been established: - -(_a_) Early Minoan II corresponds to Dynasty VI in the early Dynastic -Period of Egypt, circa 2500 B.C. As the evidence for this equation is -slight compared with that for the other two, it must be accepted with -reserve at present as a good working hypothesis. - -(_b_) Middle Minoan II corresponds to Dynasties XII and XIII in the -Middle Kingdom of Egypt, circa 1900-1700 B.C. - -(_c_) Late Minoan II corresponds to Dynasty XVIII in the New Empire of -Egypt, circa 1500 B.C. - -It is pottery again that has been the basis of this chronological -reconstruction. The beautiful Cretan many-coloured ware of the Middle -Minoan period, exported to Egypt during the Middle Kingdom and found -with objects of the Twelfth Dynasty, forms the chief equating factor -between those two periods, and the other equations are based on similar -facts. Pottery can be made in some cases to fix approximate dates -without the help of equations. Buildings, for instance, cannot have -stood later than the date of the particular kind of pottery found in -their ruins. It may be remarked in passing that the Egyptian trade thus -indicated by the remains of Cretan pottery was responsible for a great -improvement in that pottery. Towards the end of the early Minoan period -the two great inventions of the firing furnace and the potter’s wheel -were brought to Crete from Egypt. Before that time the vases had been -roughly shaped by hand and hardened in the sun. They now were “thrown” -with such a mastery of technique as to attain egg-shell thinness. - -Traces of commercial intercourse overseas can be found as far back as -the Neolithic Age. Among the deposits of stone implements in Crete are -great quantities of obsidian knives, and the only source of obsidian in -the Ægean was the island of Melos. Obsidian is a kind of volcanic glass -which flakes off into layers, giving a natural edge. Excavators, who -are as childish as most people, have shaved, and have had near shaves, -with obsidian knives. - -It is probable that the Minoan Empire had a navy as well as a merchant -marine. Minos was commonly represented as “Ruler of the Waves,” and the -Greek historians, Herodotus and Thucydides, refer to him as a mythical -character celebrated as the first possessor of a fleet. The extent -of the Minoan Empire can be gauged by the survival of many trading -stations and naval outposts on all the shores of the Ægean, from Sicily -in the East to Gaza in the West, which bore the name “Minoa.” There -was a bad chapter, according to tradition, in the Empire’s history. -When the King’s son Androgeos went to Athens to compete in the games, -he won everything, and was killed in jealousy; and the powerful Minos -therefore decreed that seven Athenian boys and seven girls should be -sent every nine years (or as other versions of the story say, every -year) to be eaten by the Minotaur, a monster half man, half bull, -which lived in the maze called the Labyrinth. That happened twice; -but on the third occasion the hero Theseus volunteered to go as one -of the victims; and with the aid of Ariadne, the King’s daughter, who -fell in love with him, he killed the monster. She gave him a sword -and some string, which he fastened to the entrance of the maze as he -went inside. He was thus able to find his way out again. Theseus had -promised his father, the old King Ægeus, that if he returned alive, -his ship would show white sails in place of the usual black, so that -the news of his safety could be read in the distance. Whether in his -elation or in his hurry to leave Naxos, where (according to the -story) he had deserted Ariadne, Theseus forgot his promise, and Ægeus, -watching from the cliffs, and seeing that the sails were black, threw -himself in despair into the sea. Hence the “Ægean” Sea. The discovery -of Ariadne by the god Bacchus is the subject of a famous picture, now -in the National Gallery, by Rubens. - -Minos meanwhile reaped what he sowed. Dædalus, the architect of the -Labyrinth, also fell a victim to the King’s displeasure, and, making -himself wings, fled to Sicily. His son Icarus, who went with him, flew -too near to the sun; the wax which fastened his wings melted, and he -fell into the sea. Minos pursued Dædalus to Sicily, and was killed by -treachery. His subjects went on a punitive expedition to the island, -but never returned, and Crete was overrun by strangers. - -That is legend. It is a fact, however, that the Minoan Empire did -come to a sudden and violent end. Remnants of it--“the men from -Keftiu” (“the Back of Beyond”), as the Egyptians called them--landed -on the shores of Asia Minor, and finally settled in Palestine as -the Philistines of the Bible. The mists of legend are clearing. The -huge palace at Knossos is one of the solidest sights revealed. In -its bewildering corridors, staircases, and rooms one recognizes -the Labyrinth itself--a recognition which is confirmed by evidence -disclosed within the palace. - -In further excavation carried out in the early part of this year (1922) -Sir Arthur Evans discovered what he describes as “the opening of an -artificial cave, with three roughly-cut steps leading down to what can -only be described as a lair adapted for some great beast.” Lest fact -should overleap itself into fable again, Sir Arthur adds:--“But here it -is better for imagination to draw rein.” - -The stories of Minos and the Minotaur came to be regarded by classical -Greece with something like awe. A ship, supposed to have been the one -that took Theseus to Knossos, was preserved and was sent every year -with special sacrifices to Delos. During its absence Athens was in a -state of solemnity, and no acts were performed which were thought to -involve a public stain. The execution of Socrates, for instance, was -postponed thirty days till its return. - - - - - Chapter 4: _Knossos_ - - -“And in Crete is Knossos, a great city, and in it Minos ruled for nine -seasons, the bosom friend of mighty Zeus” (Homer, “Odyssey,” xix. -178-179). Those “nine seasons” were long periods of varied activity. -Ancient Crete was the home of an artistic, commercial and imperial -people--there was a Minoan Empire--and Knossos, the capital of Crete, -held the palace of Minos. - -The Palace at Knossos was built on the slope of a low hill--the hill -now known as “tou tselebe he kephala” or the Gentleman’s Head--which -overlooks a secluded valley, three and a half miles from the north -coast of the island. It thus escaped the roving eye of passing pirates, -and at the same time commanded a view, from a neighbouring hill, of -the Minoan ships which lay beached in the harbour. That fleet was -practically its only defence. Knossos had no wall of fortification. -Like pre-war London she depended on her island security and on her -command of the seas. She was not exposed, as were the mainland cities -of Mycenæ and Tiryns, and as modern Paris, to the danger of invasion -by land. The lack of fortification was one of the first points that -struck the excavator. In his report of the first season’s work (1900), -Sir Arthur Evans says: “The extent and character of the outer walls are -not yet apparent, but it is clear that while the compact castles of the -Argolid were built for defence, this Cretan palace with its spacious -courts and broad corridors was designed mainly with an eye to comfort -and luxury” (_Journal of Hellenic Studies_, vol. xx, p. 168). - -There were minor fortifications, chiefly near the north gate, -consisting of a guard-house and bastions, but strategic considerations -did not contribute to the main architecture at all. - -It is an amazing structure. Built as long before Christ as the world -has existed since Christ, it seems incredible that, for instance, it -should have an underground drainage system. There is no doubt that -Cretan architects were men of accomplishment. Mr. H. R. Hall says, in -_The Ancient History of the Near East_ (p. 47), that, “in comparison -with this wonderful building (the later palace at Knossos), the palaces -of Egyptian Pharaohs were but elaborate hovels of painted mud. Knossos -seems to be eloquent of the teeming life and energy of a young and -beauty-loving people for the first time feeling its creative power.” - -The present ruins belong to three structures built at different times. -The first was built in M.M.I, or before 2000 B.C., and was burnt down -towards the end of M.M.II (about 1700 B.C.). It was later (about 1600 -B.C.) rebuilt on a bigger scale, and this building in its turn, after -some three hundred years of use, was remodelled and enlarged. Sir -Arthur Evans made an important discovery in his 1922 excavation, which -proves that the Middle Minoan III period was brought to a violent end -by a big earthquake (about 1600 B.C.). He found some small houses -overwhelmed by huge blocks--“some about a ton in weight, hurled some -twenty feet from the Palace wall by what could only have been a great -earthquake shock.” - -It is the last magnificent palace, built on the ruins of 1600 B.C., -that predominates in to-day’s ruins; in it the Cretans reached the -height of their culture. This period, to which belongs what is known -as the “Palace Style” in art, was as short-lived as it was brilliant. -Within fifty years (so the evidence seems to show) the palace was -raided and burnt, and that was the end of Ancient Crete; for the same -invaders who sacked Knossos also destroyed the palace at Phæstos. - -It is lucky, however, that Minoan libraries were made not of paper, but -of clay tablets. They were preserved, not destroyed, by the fire. The -baking they then underwent enabled them to survive the dampness of the -soil, and they remain to this day, a potential interpreter of much that -is still obscure. They cannot yet be read. Scholarship has the hard but -grateful task before it of discovering from these documents the Minoan -language. It is lucky, again, that the sackers of Knossos had no use -for clay tablets, which accordingly escaped the doom of more “valuable” -loot. Dr. Burrows, in _The Discoveries of Crete_ (p. 19), quotes in -comment a Reuter telegram which, in reference to the fire at Seville in -1906, announced that “the archives were totally destroyed, but the cash -and valuables were saved!” - -The outer walls of the palace were mainly built of gypsum, a stone -composed of crystals of calcium sulphate, which is found plentifully -around Knossos. It was so soft that it needed a covering of lime -plaster to protect it against the weather. The exterior of the -building, therefore, presented an expanse of white plaster, relieved -perhaps in places by decoration or colour. (See Noel Heaton on -“Minoan Lime Plaster and Fresco Painting” in the _Journal of the Royal -Institute of British Architects_, xviii, p. 697 (1911).) The palace -was a square building covering about five acres, or as big an area -as Buckingham Palace, and had a flat roof. In shape it was a hollow -rectangle with a central court, measuring nearly two hundred feet from -north to south, and not quite half as much in breadth, so that the -encircling wings on the east and west were proportionately broader than -the strip of buildings on the north and south. The bulk of the building -was, in fact, divided up between these two wings, the one on the west -standing higher up the hillside and having fewer storeys than the one -on the east, whose foundations sloped down to the valley. Beyond the -west wing there was another court--the meeting-place for the people -of the town and the people of the palace; and out to the north-west a -smaller building--the Little Palace--connected with the palace proper -by what Sir Arthur Evans has called “the oldest paved road in Europe,” -while a little to the north-east was the Royal Villa. - - [Illustration: BULL LEAPING - - From _The Annual of the British School at Athens_] - -If you follow the course of this paved road as it approaches the -Palace, you will see a small open space, forty feet by thirty, -enclosed on two sides by rising tiers of steps with a raised platform -in the corner between them. This was the theatre. Some scholars -identify it with the dancing-place (choros) which, so tradition tells -us, “Dædalus wrought in broad Knossos for fair-haired Ariadne” (Homer, -“Iliad,” xviii. 590); although Sir Arthur Evans thinks the choros was -in a Palace Court. It would hold about 500 spectators, who made part or -all of the “great throng that surrounded the lovely dancing-place, full -of glee” (to quote the same tradition). No doubt the boxing contests -and other forms of sport were held there. The Cretans, to judge by -the pictures which have been discovered, were given to strenuous and -exciting, possibly cruel, forms of sport. A painted panel depicts -a bull-fighting scene. In it are two girls and a boy, the girls -distinguished from the boy by their white skin, although all three wear -the same sort of “cowboy” dress. A bull, head down, is charging one -of the girls, who grips its horns in the attempt, apparently, to turn -a somersault over its back, a feat which the boy is represented as in -the process of accomplishing. He is half-way over, and the second girl -stands ready to catch him. (See _Journal of Hellenic Studies_, xxiii, -p. 381. There is a copy of the fresco in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.) - -Fifty yards to the east of the theatre is the northern entrance of the -palace, which leads directly into the central court. Round this court -are grouped the various rooms of the palace. - - - - - Chapter 5: _Prehistoric Engineering and Architecture_ - - -The plan of the palace of Knossos is at first sight rather confusing, -especially when one reflects that it represents only the ground floor -of the original building and that one has to imagine, in some places -two, and in others perhaps three storeys of rooms above it. If this is -the old labyrinth of legend, no wonder, you think, that Theseus needed -his Ariadne to show him a way out of it; and that Dædalus, who built -it, could himself find no other means of escape but by flying straight -up into the air! - -But it is the nature of legend to exaggerate; and one can easily -understand how, years after the destruction of the palace, the -deserted ruins with their ghostly corridors and chambers would create -the impression of an “inextricable maze” which was crystallized by -tradition and became the setting for so many of the Cretan stories. -As it stood in the days of Minos, the palace would not, of course, be -anything so fantastic. The arrangement of the rooms and corridors, -though on a great and elaborate scale, was based on a simple plan. The -mass of buildings in the west wing of the palace is divided into two -halves by a long corridor running north and south, those in the east -wing by one running east and west, and the four divisions thus made -fall into a regular scheme. - -In the west corridor, which is four yards wide and sixty-six yards -long, there are still standing some of the huge stone vases, “big -enough,” as Sir Arthur Evans has said, “to hide the Forty Thieves.” -They were used for the storage of grain, oil, wine, dried fruits, and -the like. Opening on this corridor from the west there is a series of -magazines and small chambers which were also used for storage purposes; -while under the floors, both of the magazines and of the corridor, -were strong cists, some of them lined with lead, which would perhaps -contain the State treasures. The entrance which leads from the west -court or market-place, and which is conveniently near the commissariat -quarters, would be used by tradesmen. Speaking of the outer wall of -the palace which borders on the west court, the Haweses (_Crete the -Forerunner of Greece_, p. 66) remark: “This has a projecting base, -whereon the peasants and humbler merchants could sit dozing, with -one eye upon their merchandise and pack animals. During the long -morning hours when traffic was busiest, this seat was always in the -shade--a pleasant refuge from the sun’s rays that beat so fiercely -on the open court.” The low narrow ledge would not, however, have -been particularly comfortable to sit on. In a narrow corridor to the -west of the south main entrance was found the fresco painting of the -Cupbearer, an astonishing work of art. It portrays a Minoan youth, -stiff with dignity, carrying a gold and silver vase before him. It did -not originally stand in the corridor in which it was found and to which -it has given its name, but on the west wall of the south entrance. It -fell into the corridor when the connecting wall broke down. There is -a reproduction of the Cupbearer on the cover of Dr. Burrows’s _The -Discoveries in Crete_, which lacks, of course, the brilliant colours of - the original. - - [Illustration: CUPBEARER - - From _The Discoveries in Crete_. By R. M. Burrows (John Murray) - - [_To face page 39_] - -On the other side of the central corridor of the west wing are the -rooms in which State and religious functions were held. In the Throne -Room, which is almost intact, the magnificent throne of Minos is still -standing, carved out of solid stone, and along the wall on each side of -it are the stone benches on which his counsellors sat. This would be -the chief room of the Minoan Government, in which foreign ambassadors -were received and the affairs of State generally administered; -important cases of justice would also be settled there, and Minos -would be Supreme Judge. It will be remembered that Minos was not only -the legislative head of a great sea empire. Being of divine origin -himself, he is represented as a great Law-giver and Priest of Zeus, -holding converse with the god every nine years in the Dictæan cave and -receiving from him, like the Moses of the Old Testament, a famous code -of laws which held good throughout the period of the Minoan Empire. - -At his death, in accordance with the belief that men in the Lower World -carried on the duties of their lifetime, he became a Judge of the -Dead. Recounting his visit to the nether regions, Odysseus says: “Then -I saw Minos, the famed son of Zeus, with his golden sceptre, dealing -out justice to the dead, as he sat there; and around him, their King, -the dead asked concerning their rights, sitting and standing, in the -wide-gated house of Hades” (Homer, “Odyssey,” xi. 568-571). - -Leaving the west wing of the palace and crossing the central court, -you descend into the east wing by the Great Staircase which, even when -found, was in a surprising state of preservation, and which by the -end of 1910 had had the remains of no fewer than five flights restored -to their original position. This staircase was traversed, as its -discoverer said, “some three and a half millenniums back by kings and -queens of Minos’ stock, on their way from the scenes of their public -and sacerdotal functions in the west wing of the palace to the more -private quarters of the royal household.” These quarters occupy the -south-east corner of the palace, built on the slope of the hill and -overlooking the valley. Approaching them from the central corridor -which runs due east from the central court, you pass first through the -men’s halls--the Hall of the Colonnades and the Hall of the Double -Axes--and thence by a dark crooked corridor, called from its shape the -Dog’s Leg Corridor, the effect of which was “to enhance the privacy of -the rooms beyond,” you come to the Queen’s Megaron, and the ladies’ -apartments. A megaron was a sort of hall with columns across it, open -at one end to let in the light. In other parts of the building, light -was admitted by means of shafts sunk from the roof to the ground floor. - -The queen’s megaron is especially luxurious; it is decorated on a -principle which, as Sir Arthur Evans says, was used later by the -Romans of the Empire. The wall paintings, done in perspective, included -a scene of the sea with fishes playing, another of forest life, and a -dado of dancing girls. - -It was in this part of the building, too, that the drainage and water -supply put the engineers on their mettle. This was the lowest part of -the sloping hillside on which the palace stood, and the water supply, -which came from the neighbourhood of the North Gate, had to be so -organized as to prevent flooding--a stiff enough problem for engineers -of 4,000 years ago. They solved it by a system of parabolic curves -which subjected the flow to friction. Sinks, lavatories, underground -pipes suggest modern drainage. They, nevertheless, were in use at -Knossos. - -The rooms of the building in this south-east part were arranged in -terraces at different levels on the hillside. The fact of the grand -staircase having five flights does not mean that there were five -storeys one on top of the other. As a result of the final restoration -of this staircase by Sir Arthur Evans and Dr. Mackenzie in 1910, it -appears that “the upper landing of the fifth flight does not lead on to -the ground floor of the central court, but answers in height to what -must have been the first floor of the rooms on the other or western -side. It must itself, therefore, have led on to some raised building, -probably a terrace, that ran along the eastern side of the court” -(_Britannia Yearbook_, 1913, “Crete,” p. 269. Dr. R. M. Burrows). - -There remains the north-east section. This was occupied by the artists -and workmen of the palace. In one room olives were pressed, the oil -being carried away by a conduit which turns twice at right angles till -it reaches a spout set in the wall lower down the hill, more than fifty -feet away. There the oil-jars were filled, and oil-jars are still -standing in an adjoining room. Another room has been identified by the -imagination of Sir Arthur Evans as the schoolroom. In other rooms pots -were “thrown” and painted; stone vases carved; gold, silver, and bronze -work moulded; sculptures were chiselled; seal stones and gems cut; and -the favourite miniatures in ivory were carved which, in a compass of -ten or eleven inches, reproduced a human form to the minutest detail of -veins and finger-nails. - -It will be seen, then, that the palace of Knossos was something more -than the seat of King Minos. It contained a community completely -organized within its walls, and independent of any outside connexion, -after the manner of a mediæval castle. - - - - - Chapter 6: _Internal Politics: the Relations of Knossos and Phæstos_ - - -On the other side of the island, at Phæstos, there was another great -palace, which has been excavated by the Italian Archæological Mission. -In many ways this palace was as magnificent as that of Knossos. Like -Knossos, it was built on a hill on a foundation formed by levelling -the buildings that had existed on the site from the Neolithic Age; -and, like Knossos, though on a smaller scale, it consisted roughly -of a system of buildings grouped round a central court. Some of the -remains are in a better state of preservation than those of Knossos and -are, therefore, useful in supplementing our knowledge of the Golden -Age of ancient Crete, which we chiefly derive from Knossos. It must -be remembered, however, that owing to the architectural device of -levelling the old buildings as foundations for the great palaces, both -Knossos and Phæstos are of less value than the other sites in Crete, -as illustrating the Early Minoan Age--the period, that is, which -preceded these great palaces. - -There were, then, two great palaces flourishing in Crete during the -same period. One naturally wonders what were the relations between them. - -The established facts are few. It has been already shown, on the -evidence of their respective pottery, that the original settlers at -Phæstos came later than those of Knossos and took over the latter’s -ceramic innovations. The great palaces of the two cities were built -about the same time, possibly (in view of the likeness in style) by -the same architects. Both palaces were destroyed more than once, -and at approximately known dates. These are the bare facts revealed -by archæology, and the ice is thin for speculation on the internal -politics of the island. - -Some think, with the Haweses (_loc. cit._, p. 70), that the first -palace of Knossos was “attacked and burned at the close of the Second -Middle Minoan period, _possibly by the rival ruler of Phæstos_.” Yet -the only certainty is that Knossos was burned down at that time and -Phæstos was not. - -Mr. H. R. Hall has a different impression. He says (_The Ancient -History of the Near East_, p. 45): “At the same time that the king of -Knossos built his new palace in his capital ... he also built himself -a southern palace in the Messarà.... As from the near neighbourhood -of Knossos a fine view of the sea, the haven, and the ships of the -thalassocrats could be obtained, with Dia beyond and perhaps Melos -far away on the horizon, so from Phaistos itself an equally fine, but -different, prospect greeted the royal eyes; from this hilltop he could -contemplate on one side the snowy tops of Ida and on the other the rich -lands of the Messarà.” He thinks that before the palace of Phæstos was -built, the island, or at least the central portion of it, had been -unified under the rule of Knossos. Legend makes Phæstos a colony of -Knossos. - -An obviously important fact to be remembered in any discussion on -this point is that, in sharp contrast to the Mycenæan cities of the -mainland, Knossos and Phæstos were in the main unfortified. It is true -that M. Dussaud has suggested that Knossos was fortified, but the -vast majority of scholars agree that his supposed “fortifications” -were nothing of the kind. Dr. Burrows has devoted a special chapter -to this point in the as yet unpublished revised edition of his -book, the manuscript of which he left in my care when he died. His -general conclusion is that, while there may have been some sort -of fortification in the early days of Crete, Knossos established a -peaceful regime when she won her supremacy in L.M.I. In any case, -Knossos was not fortified in the days of her empire. She had no fear -from within the island, and she had command of the seas. - - - - - Chapter 7: _Minoan Architecture and Fresco Painting_ - - -Perhaps the most vivid traces of the ancient civilization of Crete -are the remains of the buildings which have been found in the soil. -Here you have the rooms that were lived in, and the appeal to the -imagination is direct. The relics of buildings are more extensive -than those of any other kind, and they were the first discovered by -the excavator, just as they are the first points of interest to the -visitors who nowadays go to the island. - -The buildings of the Stone Age have left hardly a trace of themselves, -because they were made of such perishable materials as mud, reed, and -wickerwork. Dr. L. Pernier has discovered, under the Minoan palace -at Phæstos, a bit of the floor of one of these mud huts. It consists -of red clay about four inches thick. Some houses, it is true, have -been found near the modern Palaikastro, built of unhewn stone, and -dating from the Neolithic Age, but they are exceptional. It was only -when metal tools were invented that stone could be used generally for -building. At the beginning of the Bronze Age the lower walls used to -be made of stone, and the upper of sunburnt brick, the latter being -further strengthened by wooden stays. Lime plaster was used even then -to protect the walls against the weather. Later in the Bronze Age, -when the great palaces were built, it became the practice to build -foundations and lower walls to a height of about two yards of strong -limestone blocks, some of them three yards long and one yard wide, and -of gypsum. A protective covering of plaster was then applied. The upper -storeys were generally of wood. Wood was extensively used. Professor -Mosso, in reference to a wall of the vestibule at the top of the great -staircase at Phæstos, says that “a base of alabaster having been made, -holes were made in it to fix slabs of wood all round. These were bound -together, and the hollow was filled with a mixture of lime and rubble” -(_The Palaces of Crete_, p. 47). Whole tree-trunks were sometimes used -as beams, and one can still see the holes in the stone into which they -were fixed. - -There are many features of these palaces which are worth minute study. -In the building of the great palaces it was the practice to prepare the -ground with a thick mixture of lime and clay and pebbles. This mixture -set so hard that it has now to be broken up with explosives before -objects below can be removed. The staircase at Knossos measures nearly -fifteen yards from side to side, and the steps are two and a half feet -wide and hardly five inches deep. The most famous steps in Rome were -not more than five and a half yards from side to side. The doors of the -palace, of which there were many, were made to fit into the walls when -open, so as not to interfere with corridor space. At Hagia Triada the -drains of 4,000 years ago may still be seen working in wet weather. At -Knossos the main drain, which had its sides coated with cement, was -more than three feet high and nearly two feet broad, large enough for a -man to move along it; and the smaller stone shafts that discharged into -it are still in position. - -The water supply entered the palace from the north. In 1904 Sir Arthur -Evans discovered some pipes in position to the north-west of the -palace, running alongside the paved road which leads to the Theatral -Area and the Little Palace. The necks of these pipes point eastward -towards the palace and they lead from the very hills on the west from -which the Venetian and Turkish aqueduct still supplies Candia. They -must, therefore, have been aqueducts and not drains, and probably -form part of the same system as the terra-cotta pipes discovered in -the earlier excavations further east, and at the time considered to -be connexions in the drainage system. They are thus described by Dr. -Burrows: “Each of them was about two and a half feet long, with a -diameter that was about six inches at the broad end, and narrowed to -less than four inches at the mouth, where it fitted into the broad end -of the next pipe. 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 bear the pressure of the next pipe’s -stop-ridge, and gave an extra hold for the cement that bound the two -pipes together” (_Ibid._, p. 9). - -There were also baths at Knossos. At any rate, a good many people think -they were baths. Professor Mosso thinks they were chapels--a good -instance of the excitement which attaches to archæological research. -There is no arrangement, says Professor Mosso, for the supply or -discharge of water, a provision which, he argues, is necessary for -a bath; moreover, the basin is lined with gypsum, which is soluble -in water; one of them was placed in the Throne Room; and, finally, -they were not private. Professor Mosso’s subtle eye even detects an -enclosure, which he maintains was not put there for spectators of the -bath, but for a chapel choir. These are attractive arguments, but Dr. -Burrows answers quite simply that (1) the gypsum argument is ruled -out because it would be covered with plaster; (2) terra-cotta tubs -have been found close at hand, and the Knossians might quite well have -been content with tubbing instead of plunging into a large tank that -needed elaborate pipes; (3) the bath in the Throne Room was used for -ceremonial ablutions, for which little water would be needed; and (4) -no objects suggesting any cult (such as images or altars) have been -found to show that these places were chapels. - -Or take the lighting arrangements. There was a system of shafts used -at Knossos, at Tylissos (a little palace a few miles west of Knossos), -at Phæstos, and at Hagia Triada. The light came down vertically at -the back of the room, where the roof had been left uncovered for the -purpose, and the floor specially cemented to stand exposure to the -weather. While Sir Arthur Evans speaks of the light “pouring in between -the columns” in one place, and in another of its “stealing in in cooler -tones,” Dr. Burrows was of opinion that in the latter case the cooler -tones were so cool that lamps had to be used. Many lamps have, in -fact, been found there. Big marble-standard lamps have also been found, -which probably held two or even four wicks; one of them was found in a -niche on a staircase at Tylissos. - -The use of lime plaster on the outer walls gave an opportunity to -the Minoan artists, who not only painted frescoes on them, but -fashioned the plaster into relief. (See “Minoan Lime Plaster and -Fresco Painting,” by Mr. Noel Heaton, _Journal of the Royal Institute -of British Architects_, vol. xviii, pp. 697-710.) “Fresco” paintings -are made as soon as the initial setting of the plaster takes place, -and while it is still wet. Brilliant colours were used--red ochre in -the Early Minoan period (made by burning yellow clay), then yellow -(from the natural clay) and black; then blue, progressing from a -pale greenish tint in Middle Minoan to a dark blue in Late Minoan. -The cupbearer is an example of fresco painting, and the bull’s head -of high relief; the fresco painters merely attempted an outline and -wash of colour in two dimensions, not indicating shades or folds of -drapery. The main difference between Cretan painting on wet plaster -and Egyptian painting on fine white limestone is that the Cretan gives -a more vivid impression of movement, and the Egyptian more detail. -(See “The Relations of Ægean with Egyptian Art,” _Journal of Egyptian -Archæology_, vol. i, pt. 3, July, 1914, pp. 197-205.) This is partly -accounted for by the fact that Minoan painting was often done when the -plaster was still wet. - -There are many other sites in Crete which cannot be dealt with -here--Gournia on the north coast, Palaikastro and others in the east, -and Vrokastro. Their main importance lies in their bearing upon Minoan -town-planning. Vrokastro has been explored by Miss E. H. Hall, who -published her results in 1914 (_Anthropological Publications of the -University of Pennsylvania_. Philadelphia). It has a special interest -because it belongs to the Iron Age, and shows the inferiority of this -age to its predecessor, the Bronze Age. In general, the houses in -these towns were huddled together with the object of leaving as much -ground as possible free for agriculture. They are poor specimens of -houses,--small two-storeyed cottages with windows on each side of the -door. Several rooms have been discovered in which upright faces of -rock served as walls--a device still used in Crete. An interesting -point about them is that they were built on rocky eminences or spurs -of mountains--a significant sidelight on the fall of Knossos and the -disappearance of her fleet. - - - - - Chapter 8: _The Pottery_ - - “Exceeding lightly, as when some potter sits and tries the wheel, well - fitting in his hands, to see if it will run.”--HOMER. - - -Crete is the only land of the “prehistoric” Near East which has left -no record of itself besides that revealed by excavation. And even the -writing on the clay tablets cannot yet be read. We none the less get -a vivid impression of Cretan life on its artistic side, and for this -the main credit is due to the unique value of pottery in archæology. -Pottery is almost indestructible. While it may decompose in soil that -is damp enough, and the design may be obliterated when fire plays on it -directly and when there is enough air for oxidization, yet the actual -fabric, being made originally of clay baked hard by extreme heat, can -never be destroyed by fire. It cannot rust. It cannot be pounded into -dust, because a small sherd has a tremendous power of resistance. -While the stone ruins at Knossos will one day vanish from exposure to -the weather, the pottery will remain. The defects of pottery are as -valuable to the archæologist as its qualities. Its brittleness led to -a constant deposit of breakages. The replacing of breakages in what -was a household necessity led to continuous production. Its cheapness -made it valueless to looters. When palaces were raided and burnt, metal -objects were “lifted” either for their actual value or their potential -value in the melting-pot. The pots remained. Thousands of sherds have -been found on every site in Crete. Even when fragments cannot be pieced -together, they reveal the kind of clay, decoration and thickness of the -original vase, and complete examples are often found in tombs, where -they were placed as tributes to the dead, in accordance with an almost -universal custom in early Greek civilization. - -The evidence thus obtained has many uses. It shows the consecutive -development of pottery as a form of art, in itself interesting, and -the corresponding changes in the taste of the people. As the art -progresses, we find vases, for instance, with scenes painted on them -illustrating contemporary customs, methods of burial, religious rites, -styles of dress and buildings. The prehistoric pottery of Crete never -reached this stage, but even so, it supplies the bulk of the evidence -on which the Minoan civilization is being reconstructed. - -Pottery has been the chief instrument, too, in the formulation of a -system of dating. By assuming a lapse of a thousand years for every -yard of deposit--except in the Stone Age, when the accumulation of -debris was quicker, because huts were built of ephemeral material -such as mud and wickerwork--each successive layer is relatively dated -according to its depth from the surface. Pots provide the nucleus for -this scheme, being found in large numbers in every layer. Other objects -take their place according to the type of pots they are found with. -Not that the process is simple. There are complicating factors, and -even pottery creates difficulties and irregularities. At Knossos, for -instance, when the first palace was built, the top of the hill was -levelled and a portion of the former deposit thus cut away. Obviously, -too, heirlooms would belong to an earlier time than that of the layer -in which they are found. Or a pot may be displaced in the earth. A -safeguard, however, against mistakes is afforded by the abundance of -pots, which makes the differentiation of general classes easy. - -Pots, then, are found at the lowest levels, just above virgin soil, -for the earliest people used them and broke them. The slowness of -development in that long-drawn-out period (the Neolithic or Later -Stone Age) is clearly indicated. There are some seven yards of deposit -belonging to it at Knossos, and the latest ware shows little or no -improvement on the first. The pottery is hand-made, the clay coarse, -generally of a sooty-greyish colour and more or less burnished. The -relics consist of the rims and handles of pots, rims of basins, bowls, -and plates and similar fragments, too incomplete to suggest original -shapes. Two interesting points, however, can be seen. The pots were -hand-polished both inside and out, and incised lines, or lines simply -scratched on the surface, were used as ornamentation. This primitive -manifestation of an artistic impulse was later extended by the filling -of the incised lines with a white substance for greater effect. Similar -ware has been found at Troy and in Egypt, and Dr. Mackenzie has thought -that these were an importation from the Ægean (_Journal of Hellenic -Studies_, vol. xxiii, p. 159). - -The irresistible impulse manifested even in primitive people to -decorate their ordinary vessels is further illustrated by the fact that -the polishing was gradually heightened, and the glitter thrown into -relief by ripples, made with a blunt instrument, probably bone, and -suggestive of the ripples on the surface of water. Among the latest -Neolithic ware found at Knossos are two remarkable specimens of incised -ware, the design being that of a twig with leaves. On each side of the -stem is a row of small oblong punctuated points, filled in with white -chalk. This, it must be remembered, in a period which ended about 3000 -B.C. - -The Bronze Age, which followed, and which brought with it the Minoan -period at Knossos, is remarkable for the first use of paint. The -transition was gradual and slow, and indeed, at the beginning of the -Bronze Age, there is a falling off in the quality of the pottery. This -was due to an interesting result of the discovery of metal, which -turned the attention of skilled artists to the new medium, and left the -fashioning of stone and clay to inferior hands. On the manufacturing -side, however, it is probable that a great step forward was taken at -that time. The fact that the clay is now of a terra-cotta or brick -colour, as opposed to the former peaty grey of Neolithic times, has led -to the surmise that the potter’s kiln was now used for baking. - -The first paint invented was an almost lustreless black, which was -developed gradually into a lustrous black. Even this development was -at first used as a mere imitation of the Neolithic black hand-polished -vases. The paint was applied all over the vase, inside as well as -outside, whenever the neck was wide enough. Neolithic incisions again -were imitated by white geometric patterns painted over the black -background. This style was not usual till the end of the Early Minoan -period (E.M.III). - -It was not till the beginning of the Middle Minoan period that any -serious development took place. Then, however, it came in leaps. The -potter’s wheel had been introduced, probably from Egypt, at the end of -Early Minoan I, and henceforth pots were “thrown” precisely as they -are to-day. One can imagine the keenness with which this great if -simple invention was exploited. The fashioning of clay with thumb and -fingers on a rotating wheel led so easily and inevitably to fineness -of technique that the potter was soon imitating the thinness of metal, -and by the end of Middle Minoan II was producing “egg-shell” vases. In -design the angular geometric patterns had been displaced by the end -of the Early Minoan period by curves and spirals, the logical outcome -of the use of a brush. Colour meanwhile became lavish and brilliant. -There were two styles: either the whole pot was first painted black to -provide a background for a light design, or a dark design was painted -on the original light-coloured clay. It was the first of these styles -that naturally lent itself to colour display, and the name “polychrome” -(“many-coloured”) has been given to it. The other style (monochrome, -or one-coloured) relied for its effect on a simple black-and-white -contrast. In the latter case the light natural background was improved -by a fine buff clay “slip” or wash. Quite naturally it was the -polychrome style that mostly exercised the artists at first. Bright -orange, lustreless white, yellow, red, crimson on a black background -were exploited to a sometimes fantastic extent as long as the novelty -of colour lasted. - -The next development took place in the second Middle Minoan period -(M.M.II). Relief was then introduced, which created an effect of light -and shade on the black varnish. Mere blobs of colour, which constituted -the original form of relief, soon developed into raised lumps and horns -(the so-called “Barbotine” ware). Middle Minoan “Kamares” (so called -because the first specimens were found by Professor Myres in a cave on -the slope of Mount Ida above the village of Kamares), or polychrome -pottery, chiefly consisted of cups, “tea-cups,” jugs, amphoræ (or -two-handled jars), and fruit-stand vases. The three best specimens are -here reproduced. In the Middle Minoan II period large storage jars, or -“pithoi,” made their first appearance. They were as big as a man, and -almost exactly like the Cretan storage jars of to-day. Two interesting -features in the decoration of these jars are cunningly practical in -origin. One was an imitation in relief of the coils of rope which -were used in moving the jars, the other a “trickle” ornament produced -by allowing splashes of paint to trickle down the side of the jar--a -device which made a virtue, in anticipation, of the inevitable trickles -which would result from the storage of oil in it. - -Towards the end of the Middle Minoan period the exaggerated use of -colour which had marked the first introduction of polychrome ware -gave way to a concentration upon design. Perhaps the most remarkable -specimen of this later phase is the “lily vase” found at Knossos. -It stands about two feet high, and for design has a simple row of -lilies painted in white on a purple ground. The shape of the vase is -artistically made to serve the design by enabling the lilies to bend -slightly outward and then curve in a little at the top. - - [Illustration: POLYCHROME CUPS - - From _Journal of Hellenic Studies_ - - [_To face page 62_] - -Then came a curious clash in the separate evolution of polychrome -and monochrome ware. The latter had been used as an easy decoration -for ordinary vessels, but towards the end of the Middle Minoan period -the two styles began to coalesce in the form of a simple light design -on a dark ground. Then a final resolution took place by a “volte face” -into a monochrome dark on light brought about by the experience that -the black varnish was a more durable colour than the lustreless colour -pigments. The varnish, indeed, possessed a remarkable tenacity. It -probably was the forerunner of that used in the later Attic Black -Figure vases, whose secret still exercises the ingenuity of modern -potters. As yet nothing further has been established than that the -varnish was not a “glaze” in the modern sense. A contributing factor to -the final triumph of the monochrome over polychrome rested upon simple -necessity. When naturalist motives became dominant in the painter’s -art, the lack of a green pigment left no satisfactory alternative to -the general abandonment of variation in colour. In Late Minoan I, -when the complete absorption of the polychrome into the monochrome -style took place, we find a general use of a brilliantly lustrous -brown-to-black “glaze” paint on a buff clay slip, carefully polished -by hand on terra-cotta clay. The naturalism of plants and flowers now -extends to sea-objects--fish, shells, weeds, rocks--and is marked by -careful truth to life. A striking example of this style is a famous -“octopus” vase found at Gournia. - -As the rise of Cretan civilization had been faithfully reflected in -pottery, so was its fall. One can trace in it the general decadence -of Crete. In the eventful Late Minoan II period, which saw the final -destruction of Knossos and the sudden end of Cretan greatness, the -pottery becomes stiff and grandiose. Plants and animals are rendered in -a spiritless, conventionalized manner. Degeneration was rapid, and in -Late Minoan III, which represented the last stage of Minoan culture, -the potter held his brush quite still and let the spinning pot do the -rest. There was no decoration beyond an occasional group of horizontal -bands, the mere framework of earlier designs. - -There were, of course, other forms of pottery besides vases. Cretan -potters, even more than those of to-day, used clay as the material for -hardware. Not only bricks, drain-pipes, ornaments, but lamps, kettles, -even cupboards and tables, were made of clay. - - - - - Chapter 9: _The Origin of Writing_ - - -The Cretans had a system of writing as long ago as 2500 B.C. The -language therein embodied is still a mystery to us, in spite of Sir -Arthur Evans’s monumental work _Scripta Minoa_ (1909). The hope -is that Sir Arthur will find a clue to the mystery, but up to the -present the fact is that there is no starting-point for any attempt at -interpretation. If a bilingual inscription could be found--a Cretan -document, that is, side by side with a translation in some known -language such as Egyptian--a start could be made. - -It was inevitable that the art of writing should be evolved early in -the history of man. Even in the most primitive stages of life there -would be the elementary necessity, for instance, of identifying one’s -own property, and for this the most likely means would be some system -of marking. Then, again, the development of communal life would -entail the duty of keeping appointments, or of doing a particular -thing at a particular time. It would, one thinks, have been too much -of a strain, even for the mind of a Stone Age man, to keep all the -details of his daily, still more of his annual, routine in his head, -and the handkerchiefs of those remote days may not have been of such a -material as to lend themselves readily to mnemonic knots. It is quite -conceivable, as an instance of the sort of necessity that would arise, -that at a given time it could be calculated how many days ahead the -provisions would last, and when, therefore, the hunter must be ready -for the hills. He might prepare a handy reminder with a pictographic -representation of some commonplace event that was to take place at the -same time, and by hanging the picture up in an obvious spot. - -One’s range of activity would increase as time went on, and it might -conceivably be necessary to deliver a message to a man over on the -other side of the valley in circumstances where one could not take it -oneself. Such a contingency would produce some form of written message, -for the message might be private or unsuitable for oral transmission -by a third party. To give a concrete example from later times: Proitus -wanted to kill Bellerophon, but did not want to do it himself; he -therefore sent the doomed man to the King of Lycia “with letters of -introduction written on a folded tablet, containing much ill against -the bearer ... that he might be slain” (Homer, “Iliad,” vi. 169). Not -all people are original enough to transmit such a communication orally -by the bearer. - -Fifty, even forty, years ago it was the general doctrine of Greek -scholars that the Homeric poems were never written down till long after -they were composed, perhaps even, so some thought, not until 560 B.C. -Till then, we used to be taught, they were preserved wholly by memory -and by oral transmission. But on the strength of the above passage from -Homer--the only passage in either “Iliad” or “Odyssey” where writing is -mentioned--Andrew Lang in 1883 argued that the art of writing must have -been known to the early Greeks. “It is almost incredible,” he said, -“that the quick-witted Greeks should have neglected an art which met -them everywhere in Egypt and Asia.” He argued better than he knew. Not -only was the art of writing known to the early Greeks, but it was known -to their forerunners a few thousand years earlier, forerunners whose -very existence was not suspected when Andrew Lang wrote. Curiously -there had been found no trace of writing in the Mycenæan remains, -although this fact has since been shown to be due to mere chance. - -In 1893 Sir (then Mr.) Arthur Evans caused general astonishment by -communicating to the Hellenic Society his discovery of the fact that -certain seal stones which he had found in Greece, and which had been -assumed to be Peloponnesian, were, in fact, Cretan. This startling -revelation was clinched during the years that followed by the discovery -of further specimens of Cretan writing. Excavation in Crete was started -in 1900, and the first year’s work yielded up hundreds of clay tablets -inscribed with Cretan writing. Was Homer writing fairy stories when -he made Proitus send his doomed Bellerophon to Lycia with his “folded -tablet”? Or did he know that the Lycians were colonists from Crete? - -A tentative sketch of the successive phases through which the art of -writing passed may be made, even if it largely depends upon unconfirmed -surmise. The temptation to fill in the gaps by what seems reasonable -conjecture is hard to resist. - -Minoan writing must have started, quite naturally, with simple -pictographs, such as have, in fact, been found--simple pictures of a -man, a leg, a ship, representing a definite thing that it was desired -to indicate. They are called “ideographs” because they signify a -single idea. They next developed into “hieroglyphs,” that is, pictures -which had acquired by association a certain use among the people who -employed them, but whose original meaning has been lost, and can now -only be inferred. In the parallel case of Egyptian hieroglyphics, -guessing at such meanings has been shown to be dangerous work, for in -many cases the established interpretation is far other than what one -might have supposed. - -The first pictographs were evolved in the Early Minoan period (c. -2800-2600 B.C.), and are found on seal stones. It may be fairly -assumed, therefore, that in Crete the first method of writing down -ideas was by seal impressions. By the Middle Minoan period the seal -stones are elongated, and contain a succession of designs, by which a -connected chain of ideas could be reproduced. The lines of pictures -are sometimes read from left to right, sometimes from right to left, -a feature in which, as in others, they resemble the Hittite system of -writing. In all cases the document is read in the direction in which -the figures it contains are facing. _Scripta Minoa_ (p. 203) gives -a typical example of this species: namely, a picture of a ship with -two crescent moons, of which the probable meaning was a voyage of two -months’ duration. - -The next step in the evolution of writing came, no doubt, when -phonetic values were assigned to the pictures; that is, when the sound -made in pronouncing the name of a given thing or person or action -became associated with the conventional ideograph which represented -that thing or person or action. When that happened, the same ideograph -began to be used in writing out other, more complex, words in which the -same _sound_ occurred, although in _meaning_ there was no connection -with the original pictograph. To take a hypothetical example. Suppose -we were in that stage of evolution to-day. We may have formed the habit -of denoting an axe by a simple picture of that instrument; thereafter -the sign of an axe would have become a symbol for spelling the same -sound whenever it appeared in any other word. In spelling the word -“accident,” for instance, we should start with the picture of an axe. -This sort of thing seems to us mere “punning,” but it would cause no -more difficulty or hesitation to the primitive writer than it would -have, say, to Mr. Weller, senior, to whom the relation of the written -to the spoken word and of words to things was still mysterious. Once -begun, the method would be eagerly applied to fresh words. - -The first attempt at “syllabics,” or the writing out of a word by -separate symbols for its separate syllables, was made more intelligible -by the use of “determinatives.” By “determinative” is meant a -pictographic representation of the idea denoted by the whole word. -These we find appended to the spelling of a word in order to give the -reader at least some inkling as to whether the word denoted mineral, -animal or vegetable. A man’s name, for instance, would be followed by a -picture of a man. - -The physical strain involved in drawing pictures every time one wanted -to write down a word or two would obviously soon become intolerable. -It is not therefore to be wondered at that, by the time of the Middle -Minoan III period, the hieroglyphics have been simplified into -conventional signs which are easier to make. Herein is the germ of -what we call “linear” script, that is, of a system of writing based on -a set of regular forms, such as our own alphabet. By the Late Minoan -I period there was a full linear script in use throughout Crete, and -it was extended to Melos and Thera. Sir Arthur Evans has called this -script “Class A” to distinguish it from a parallel form of it which -was introduced in the next period (Late Minoan II), and which he -calls “Class B.” The latter is not a different script, but merely a -variation introduced, it is supposed, by a new dynasty at Knossos. Most -of the Knossian tablets that have come down to us belong to the “Palace -period,” and are written in the Class B style. - -It was the usual practice to write the inscriptions with a stilus, that -is a pointed rod of metal, on a clay tablet, and this is the form of -most of the inscriptions that have been preserved. It is possible that -wooden tablets covered with a layer of wax were also used; but even if -they were, none of them, of course, could have survived the burning of -the palaces. More interesting still is the fact that pen and ink must -have been used even in those remote times. This fact is established -by the discovery of two cups (Middle Minoan III) which are inscribed -in ink. There can be little doubt, therefore, that long documents and -any literature there happened to be were written in ink on papyrus. It -is probable that we shall have to make up our minds to the complete -loss of all such literature, for Cretan soil lacks the dryness of the -Egyptian. If our worst fears prove true, we may experience the final -anti-climax of the discovery that the clay tablets, when read, will -contain nothing after all but lists and bills. - -It is obvious that many of the tablets do consist of bills or -inventories. Although we cannot yet understand the language of the -script, it has been found possible, by studying the clay tablets, to -reconstruct the system of numbers that was used. We have, for instance, -what is evidently an inventory of arrows, a record surmounted by a -picture of an arrow. From this and other records it is apparent that -thousands were expressed by “diamonds,” hundreds by slanting lines, -tens by circles, units by straight lines, quarters by a small “v.” The -highest number recorded is 19,000. - -Although it is true that scholars still wait a clear starting-point for -transcribing the Cretan script, there is one interesting and important -point already established by Sir Arthur Evans. He has proved to the -general satisfaction of classical scholars that the Phœnician alphabet, -which had always been supposed to be the original source of the Greek -alphabet, and therefore of the Latin alphabet from which comes our own, -was itself derived from Crete. This theory, however, is disputed by -Egyptologists. - -There are in existence three fragmentary inscriptions, two of which -were found not long ago by Professor R. C. Bosanquet at Præsos, in -Crete--near to Mount Dicte, and not far to the north-east of the -boundaries of Knossos--which are written in Greek characters, and are -therefore quite legible to us, but which contain a language which is -not Greek. Is it the language of the Minoans? It is not yet possible to -say, although Professor Conway, who has examined the inscriptions at -length in the _Annual of the British School at Athens_ (vol. viii, p. -125, and vol. x, p. 115), may some day be able to give an answer. - - - - - Chapter 10: _Cretan Religion_ - - -Cretan religion differed from that of classical Greece in that the -chief deity worshipped was a goddess, Mother Nature or Earth-Mother, -some at least of whose characteristics we find embodied in the Rhea -of Greek mythology. Matriarchal religion seems to have been specially -characteristic of very early times; through it primitive man expressed -his veneration of womanhood. The Cretan Mother Goddess held an exalted -position. She had supreme power over all Nature; was associated with -doves, which symbolized her power in the air; was accompanied by lions, -the strongest animals of the earth; brandished snakes, that live under -the earth. Among the various “cult objects,” or ritualistic forms -used in worship, that have been found in her shrines are included -representations of cows with calves, goats with suckling kids, and the -like. - -There was a god as well as a goddess in Minoan religion, but he was -of relatively little importance. Velchanos, the Cretan Zeus--if we -may assume that the Minoan god was the original of this figure of -the Greek legends--was represented as both the son and the husband of -Mother Nature. He was suckled, so the tradition ran, by Amalthea the -goat in the cave of Dikte, and brought up by his mother Rhea on the -slopes of Mount Ida. His insignificance in comparison with the goddess -appears from the fact that he was drawn on a smaller scale whenever -represented in her company. The two deities probably constituted, as -Mr. Hogarth has suggested, a “Double Monotheism”--a double godhead, -that is, worshipped to the exclusion of all minor deities. If this was -the case, the various Cretan prototypes of later Greek divinities must -be regarded as variant forms of the Mother Goddess herself. Aphrodite, -for instance, the goddess of Love, was worshipped generally in the -Levant, being known in Canaan as Ashtaroth-Astarte, and in Egypt as -Hathor; her Cretan name is unknown. The Greek Artemis, goddess of the -Wild Beasts, was foreshadowed in the Cretan Dictynna. - -One great difference between the Cretan and the Hellenic Zeus was that -the Cretan Zeus was mortal, and was said to have died on Mount Juktas. -The mortality of their gods was one of the striking conceptions which -differentiated the Southern peoples of the Near East from the later -Greeks, who came from the North. The Egyptian Osiris, for instance, -could die, but not any of the Greek gods. The Cretan Mother Goddess is -depicted on seal stones and rings dressed like an earthly queen, while -Velchanos is seen descending from the heavens to the earth, a young -warrior with a spear and an enormous shield. - -Another difference between Cretan and classical Greek religion was -that, as far as one can see, Cretan religion did not give rise to any -great temples, nor left behind any more substantial traces of its -activity than the small figures of the Earth Goddess to whom I have -referred. It may be sound to regard the palace of Knossos as itself -a temple, and it is true that legend makes of Minos a High Priest as -well as a King. There seems, however, to be little room for doubt that -the only places set aside specifically for worship were small private -shrines used for family worship. All the evidence tends to indicate -that it was the family idea that predominated in Cretan worship. -Private houses had their shrines, and the Knossian palace-temple -itself had its lesser family shrines. These sanctuaries were always -distinguished by a sort of sacred pillar, a sign which in Minoan art -is often used as the only indication of a sacred place. There is an -example of it on a fresco painting found at Knossos. Another emblem -associated with the cult is that of sacred trees, which on rings and -seal stones usually form the background for the “choros,” or dance. The -actual dance, no doubt, would be performed in sacred groves. - -Many cult-objects have been found in the shrines, the commonest being -the mysterious Double Axe. The fact that this emblem was also specially -associated with the Carian Zeus at Labraunda has led to a generally -accepted theory that the Cretan “Labyrinth” corresponds to the Carian -“Labraunda,” or place of the “Labrus” or Double Axe; for the Knossian -palace must have been, in fact, the chief seat of the cult. - -Side by side with the Double Axe one finds the constantly-recurring -sign of the Bull, an animal which was sacred not only because of its -physical strength, but of its use in sacrifice. A sarcophagus or -coffin of terra-cotta, found at Hagia Triada, contains a picture of a -sacrificial bull following a procession of women priests. In view of -the prominence given to the Bull in Minoan worship, one need not seek -far for an explanation of the Cretan legend of the Minotaur, a monster -half man, half bull, which lived in the labyrinth and exacted its human -victims. Nor is it impossible that the dangerous and cruel sport of -bull-fighting formed part of the same cult. Bulls’ heads were made in -pottery, and sometimes of gold, and used as votive offerings. The horns -of the bull--Horns of Consecration--are found in shrines among ritual -objects. - -Cult-objects were usually of a rude and inartistic kind. A striking -exception is found in some brilliantly-coloured figures of ware which -if it were modern would be called “faïence,” belonging to the Middle -Minoan III period. Perhaps the best example of this ware is a group -consisting of the Snake Goddess and her votaries, which was found by -Sir Arthur Evans in 1903, and which was used in a shrine of the royal -household. - -There was a specially important element in Cretan religion reserved for -the cult of the dead. - -It is obvious from the many tombs that have been excavated, that in -very early times it was the practice to bury the body of the dead in a -doubled-up position, the knees being drawn up to the breast. In later -times the body was laid out at full length. It is not clear whether or -not there was any particular significance in this choice of position. -There were various kinds of tombs and graves, all of which were used -contemporaneously, and of which, perhaps, the most interesting were -the “Tholoi.” The word “tholos” properly means a domed building or -rotunda, and the particular kind of tomb to which it is applied is a -vaulted chamber to which entrance is effected through an underground -tunnel, or “dromos.” It is likely that in form these “tholoi” were -based upon the huts used--at some period--by the living. There are -both round and square “tholoi” found in Crete. The “tholos” of Hagia -Triada has a circular ground plan, while the Royal Tomb at Isopata and -other elaborate tombs of the great palace-periods are rectangular. The -principle of the tholos-tomb was most in use in Mycenæan times, on -the mainland of Greece, where the “beehive tombs” almost all retained -in the original round formation. The hilly character of Crete led the -people to cut out their “tholoi” in the side of the rocky hills, the -“dromos,” or tunnel, in this case being driven into the hillside almost -horizontally. - -Another style of grave was the shaft or pit-grave, which consisted of a -pit sunk into the ground, at the bottom of which was the grave itself, -closed over with slabs of stone. Still another kind was a combination -of the first two, and is known as the “pit-cave.” This was made by -first sinking a pit and then cutting out the tomb in the form of a -side-recess from the bottom of the pit. A simpler form of burial, known -as the “pot-burial,” was effected by trussing up the body, placing it -under an inverted jar, and then burying it in the earth. A sixth form -was that of the simple grave, like our own. Cremation was not practised -in Minoan times, although it was introduced into Crete from Greece in -the Iron Age. Clay coffins were first used in the Middle Minoan period, -being made in the form of deep boxes with sloping tops resembling the -roofs of houses. - -Such were the physical conditions of burial. We knew practically -nothing of the cult of the dead until 1913-1914, when Sir Arthur Evans -published some important disclosures (_Archæologia_, 2nd series, vol. -xv, 1913-14). It was known before that the dead in their spacious tombs -were honoured with gift-offerings, which included weapons, jewellery, -and objects closely associated with them in their life; that food and -drink offerings were made and coal fires lighted, possibly with the -naïve or symbolic object of cheering the traveller on his mysterious -way. Now, however, a new series of tombs has been found at Isopata, one -of which, called by Sir Arthur Evans “the Tomb of the Double Axes,” -is proved to be not only a tomb, but a shrine of the Minoan Great -Mother. In this tomb were found libation vessels, including a “rhyton” -(or drinking-cup) in the shape of a bull’s head made of steatite, and -a pair of double axes; the grave which received the body is cut out -in the form of a double axe. “The cult of the dead,” says Sir Arthur -Evans, “is thus brought into direct relation with the divinity or -divinities of the Double Axes, and we may infer that in the present -tomb the mortal remains had been placed in some ceremonial manner under -divine guardianship.” - - - - - Chapter 11: _Men and Women, Clothes and Customs_ - - -When Knossos fell, Crete ceased to be the pre-eminent power in the Near -East. The island itself was overrun by military or naval adventurers, -and the centre of Mediterranean life shifted over to the mainland of -Greece, whence, indeed, those adventurers came. The interesting thing, -however, was that Cretan culture went with it, and neither for the -last, nor probably for the first, time “the captive led captive her -savage conqueror,” as Horace wrote centuries afterwards. Crete stooped -to conquer Greece, just as Greece in her turn stooped to conquer Rome. - -The Cretans as a race were quite distinct from the contemporary -inhabitants of Greece, physical types being sharply divided by the -shores of the mainland. It may be asked: Is it worth while speculating -about the physical characteristics of a people which flourished 4,000 -years ago, whose very existence was obscured by the Dark Age that -comes before Greek history, and whose existence was not rediscovered -until the other day? Yet archæology works wonders. It is true that -in this particular field, in which archæology is chiefly dependent -upon portrait-paintings and bones, there is more controversy and less -certitude than in the others; and that craniology, or the study of -skulls, with their much-disputed classification into “brachycephalic” -or broad-headed, “dolichocephalic” or long-headed, and “mesocephalic,” -midway between the two, is a fruitful source of confusion; that -the “cephalic” index--that is, the breadth of the skull above the -ears expressed in a percentage which gives the proportion of this -breadth-measurement to the measurement of the length of the same skull -from the forehead to the occiput--is a poor index of anything at all. -Still, there is ground for assuming that from the later Stone Age -onwards the islands of the Ægean were mainly peopled by members of the -“Mediterranean” race, small of stature, with oval faces, with what -craniologists might call rather “long” heads, with small hands and -feet, a dark complexion, dark eyes and black curly hair. - -According to Professor H. L. Myres in his _Dawn of History_, the -north-west quadrant of the Old World resolved itself racially into -three belts, which were determined by geographical conditions. (Pp. -30 _et seq._ Williams & Norgate, 1912.) In the north were the pure -white-skinned “Boreal” men of the Baltic basin; next came the sallow -“Alpine” type, then the red-skinned “Mediterranean” man. The third was -an intruder from the South, not from far enough south for him to be a -negro, but probably from the northern shores of Africa. His intrusion -“formed part of a much larger convergence of animals and plants from -the south and south-east into the colder, moister regions which have -been released since the Ice Age closed.” The limit of the movement -seems to have been fixed by the shores of the mainland, further north -than which the lungs and constitution of the people concerned forbade -them to go. - -The establishment of the existence of the Mediterranean race has had, -among other results, that of making it no longer possible, as was -invariably the practice before Crete was excavated, of ascribing all -obscure factors in the beginnings of Greece to a Phœnician origin. -We now know, for instance, that the art of writing came from Crete, -Phœnicia being the medium; and that Phœnicia itself was merely a late -centre of the general Ægean civilization, and got its name merely -because it was the best-known branch of the “red-skinned” race; for -“Phœnikes” literally means “Red-skins,” and in Homer Phœnix himself is -a King of Crete and grandfather of Minos. - -The Minoan people, then, formed part of the Mediterranean race. Their -dress was much simpler than that of the classical Greeks. The men wore -a short pair of drawers or a loin-cloth, the upper part of the body -being bare, as in the cupbearer picture, a style emanating, as did -the men themselves, from the warm lands south of the Mediterranean. -Egyptian fresco-paintings reveal an almost exact analogy of type in the -clothing and appearance of the Egyptians. Those who have a keen eye for -the persistence of type may compare some of the forms of loin-cloth, as -depicted on seal stones, with the “brakais,” or baggy breeches, still -worn in Crete. Elders and officials apparently wore flowing cloaks for -their greater dignity. High-topped boots--again suggestive of those -worn to-day--were in general use. Men wore their hair long as did the -women, plaited and coiled up on the top of the head, thereby forming -the only headdress that was used. - -Minoan war-equipment was limited. Their only weapons were a long -sword and a dagger, the latter of which is shown by pictures of clay -figurines to have been carried inside the belt at the front. Their only -defensive armour was a big shield of leather and a leather conical -helmet. The shield was framed in a metal band, but had no handle or -central boss; it was big enough to cover the body from head to foot, -and it could be bent so as to protect both sides. It is represented -in certain pictures in a curious 8-shape, pinched-in in the middle. -The origin of this may have been that it was the practice to sling it -over the left shoulder suspended by a strap, and for this purpose the -figure-of-eight shape may have been convenient. - -Horses were apparently used both for war and for hunting, although we -have no pictures of them being ridden. The available evidence shows -them only in the shafts of two-wheeled chariots. This accords well with -Professor Sir William Ridgeway’s observation (made far back in the -’eighties of last century) that in Homer the horse was driven only, and -was no bigger than our donkey. There is reason for thinking that the -horses were imported, and imaginative people have recognized evidence -of this in the fact that a seal stone has been found which shows a -horse on board ship. Whether intentionally or merely from crudity -of draughtsmanship, one is left in little doubt as to what mostly -occupied the artist’s mind when he fashioned this stone, for the horse -covers three-quarters of the ship’s length, and towers high above it, -while the crew stand as high as the horse’s knees. On the fascinating -subject of the history of the horse, the reader should consult Sir W. -Ridgeway’s _Origin of the Thoroughbred Horse_ (Cambridge University -Press, 1905). - -The women are readily distinguishable from the men in Cretan pictures -by reason of their white skin, suggestive of a more secluded indoor -life. They wore large shady hats, close-fitting, puffed-sleeved -blouses, cut very low in front, and projecting upwards into a -sort of peak at the back of the neck. They wore wide-flounced, -richly-embroidered skirts like crinolines, and had belts like the -men’s. It was on first seeing some of the pictures of them that a -French scholar compared the women of Knossos with those of Paris. - -Minoan women enjoyed a far more “advanced” status than did other -primitive women. In the art of their day they are represented as -appearing in public and unveiled; they took part in the bull-fighting -at Knossos, and their apartments in the palace were marked out by their -special luxury. The greatest glory for an Athenian woman of a later -age was to be “as little mentioned as possible among men.” Not so for -the women of Crete. There may be some special significance in the fact -that the Lycians of Asia Minor, who were colonists from Crete, made a -practice of calling children by the mother’s, not the father’s, name -(Herodotus, i. 73). If this was the case also in Minoan Crete itself, -it may afford a possible explanation of the freedom enjoyed by Cretan -women, for the practice of naming children after their mother instead -of after their father is connected with states of society which have -not yet evolved any definite ideas of marriage, and in which, as -Herbert Spencer says, “The connection between mother and child is -always certain, whereas the connection between father and child would -sometimes be only inferable.” - - - - - Chapter 12: _From Prehistoric Crete to Classical Greece_ - - -Towards the end of the Minoan Age Cretan culture began to spread -generally over the Ægean, and extended to the mainland. Cretan vases -are found as far north as Bœotia, and the many Cretan relics discovered -in Mycenæan tombs were not all war-souvenirs; some of them, belonging -to times before the fall of Knossos, were the peaceful product of -Cretan workmen who had been induced by the Lords of Mycenæ to emigrate. - -The men from the North who finally overthrew what we call the -Minoan civilization, became to some extent the repositories of -Cretan tradition. They carried on a less splendid phase of Cretan -civilization, a phase which was distinguished by the name “Mycenæan.” -They had come to Greece from lands still further north, whence they had -themselves been driven to seek new homes. They came down in successive -waves of invasion, the men who formed the first wave being known as the -“Achæans,” the “yellow-haired Achæans” of Homer. It was they--so at -least some authorities hold--who sacked Knossos, and who afterwards, -during the thirteenth and twelfth centuries B.C., wandering about in -search of adventure, became the terror of the whole Ægean. An Egyptian -inscription of those times says: “The Isles were restless: disturbed -among themselves.” - -Egypt herself felt the effect of the disturbances. From the “isles in -the midst of the Great Green Sea” there no longer came the peaceful -Minoans to pay friendly tribute to the King of Egypt; instead -there came the Achæans, on an unpeaceful mission. Two raids were -made--according to the students of Egyptian records--one about 1230 -B.C., another about 1200 B.C. (See H. R. Hall, _The Ancient History of -the Near East_, p. 70. Methuen, 1913.) Mr. Hall gives the more definite -date of c. 1196 for the second invasion. Not long after we find the -Achæans, in Agamemnon’s famous expedition, fighting against the Trojans -in Asia Minor. They took the city at last in 1184 B.C., if we accept -the date which Greek tradition pointed to. It is their deeds in the -latter war that were sung by Homer. Two generations after the Trojan -war, shortly before 1100 B.C., Greece was overrun by the Dorians, who -formed the second great wave of Northern invaders. After that came the -Dark Age, out of which about 800 B.C. emerged classical Greece. - -Classical Greece was the fusion of the two main elements of prehistoric -times, the artistic Mediterranean people on the one hand, and the -robust Northern invaders on the other. Just as the fusion was probably -consummated in the Dark Age, so the first poet of classical Greece, -Homer, whether one person or the embodiment of many, heralded their new -life in poems which seemed to take their subject from that Dark Age. -What Homer wrote was probably less legendary than historical. Whether -the traditions of the Minoan Age in Crete were kept alive through the -Dark Age in Ionia, whither it is thought that they were carried by -Achæan refugees at the time of the Dorian invasion, which extended -to Crete, or whether they remained dormant in Crete itself, and in -the Mycenæan centres of the mainland of Greece, it is in either case -certain that they were well preserved, for their traces are plainly -to be seen throughout Greek civilization. From the Greek writers they -descended to the poets of Rome, and so to the art and literature of -Europe. - - - - - INDEX - - - Achæans, 90, 91, 92 - - Ægean People, 20 - - Ægean Sea, 27 - - Ægeus, King, 27 - - Androgeos, 27 - - Architecture, 48-54 - - Ariadne, 27, 37 - - - Babylonia, 16 - - Baths, 51; - or chapels, 51, 52 - - Bosanquet, Professor R. C., 73 - - Bronze Age, 21, 49, 54 - - Bull in Minoan worship, 78 - - Bull leaping, 35 - - Burial rights, 79-82 - - Burrows, Dr. Ronald Montagu, 8, 9, 22, 33, 39, 43, 46, 51, 52 - - - Chapels (or baths?), 51, 52 - - Clay tablets, 33 - - Command of the Seas, 47 - - Commerce, 24, 26 - - Conway, Professor R. S., 10, 74 - - Cornwall, 21 - - Craniology, 84 - - Cretan race, physical characteristics, 83 - - Cupbearer, 14, 39 - - - Dædalus, 28, 37 - - Dancing place, 35 - - Dark Ages, 15, 16, 23, 92 - - Dating, 24; - Egyptian equations, 25 - - Delos, 29 - - “Discovery,” 8 - - Dog’s Leg Corridor, 41 - - Dorians, 91, 92 - - Double Axe, 78 - - Drainage, 42 - - Dress, 86 - - Dromos, 80 - - Dussaud, M., 46 - - - Egypt, 16 - - Evans, Sir Arthur, 7, 10, 13, 19, 29, 31, 32, 38, 42, 50, 52, 65, 67, - 71, 73, 81 - - - Fortifications, 30, 31 - - Fresco-painting, 53 - - - Gournia, 54 - - Great staircase, 40, 41, 42, 50 - - Grote, 17 - - Grundy, Dr., 9 - - Gypsum, 49, 51, 52 - - - Hagia Triada, 50, 52 - - Halbherr (Dr.), 14 - - Hall, E. H., 54 - - Hall, H. R., 31, 45, 91 - - Hall of Colonnades, 41 - - Hall of Double Axes, 41 - - Hawes, C. H. & H. B., 38, 45 - - Heaton, Noel, 34, 53 - - Herodotus, 26, 89 - - Hissarlik, 17 - - Hogarth (Mr.), 76 - - Homer, 15, 20, 22, 30, 40, 55, 67, 91, 92 - - Horses, 87 - - - Iron Age, 54, 81 - - - Kamares Pottery, 61 - - Kingsley, Charles, 14 - - Knossos, 13, 14, 15, 20, 22, 28; - palace, 30-43; - relations with Phæstos, 44-47; - main drain, 50 - - - Labyrinth, 27, 29, 37 - - Lang, Andrew, 67 - - Lighting arrangements, 41, 52, 53 - - Lime plaster, 53 - - Lycia, 68, 89 - - - Mackenzie, Dr., 42, 58 - - Mediterranean race, 86 - - Minoan earthquake, 32 - - Minoan Empire, 27, 28, 30 - - Minoan Libraries, 33 - - Minoan Periods, 21, 22 - - Minos, 26, 37; - Supreme Judge, 40, 43 - - Minotaur, 27 - - Mosso, Angelo, 21, 49, 51 - - Mycenæ, 18, 30 - - Mycenæan civilization, 18, 90 - - Myres, Professor, 61, 84 - - - National Home Reading Magazine, 8 - - Nomenclature, 22 - - - Obsidian, 26 - - - Palace style, 32 - - Palaikastro, 48, 54 - - Pernier, Dr. L., 48 - - Phæstos, 13, 20, 21; - relations with Knossos, 44-47, 52 - - Phæstos Disc, 14 - - Philistines, 28 - - Phœnicia, 85 - - Pottery, 21, 25; - firing furnace and potter’s wheel, 26, 55-64; - value of in archæology, 55; - for purposes of dating, 57; - Stone Age, 58; - Bronze Age, 59; - polishing, 58; - paint, 59; - kiln, 59; - wheel, 60; - Kamares, 61; - “trickle” ornament, 62; - lily vase, 62; - naturalism, 64; - octopus vase, 64; - hardware, 64 - - Pylos, 9 - - - Queen’s Megaron, 41 - - - Religion, 75, 82; - Mother Goddess, 75; - Velchanos, 75, 76; - mortality of gods, 76, 77; - temples, 77; - family shrines, 77; - cult objects, 78, 79; - double axe, 78; - horns of consecration, 79; - tombs and form of burial, 79-82; - tholos, 80; - pit-cave, 80; - pot burial, 81; - graves, 81; - cremation, 81 - - Rhitsona, 9 - - Ridgeway, Sir William, 87, 88 - - - Schliemann, 17, 18, 19, 22 - - Socrates, 29 - - Spencer, Herbert, 89 - - Sphacteria, 9 - - Stone Age, 20, 44, 48, 57 - - - Theatre, 35 - - Tholos tomb, 80 - - Throne room, 39, 52 - - Thucydides, 9, 26 - - Tiryns, 18, 30 - - Tomb of the double axes, 81 - - Trojan war, 91 - - Tylissos, 52, 53 - - - Veniselos, 13 - - Vrokastro, 54 - - - War equipment, 86 - - Water supply, 42, 50, 51 - - Women, 88, 89 - - Wood, Use of in building, 49 - - Workrooms of palace, 43 - - Writing, origin of, 65-74; - clay tablets, 68; - pictographs, 69; - hieroglyphs, 70; - determinatives, 71; - linear script, 71; - pen and ink, 72; - inventories, 72, 73; - numerals, 73; - Præsos inscription, 73 - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MINOANS *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law 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. 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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 <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The Minoans</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: George Glasgow</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: January 11, 2023 [eBook #69765]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Tim Lindell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MINOANS ***</div> - - -<h1>The Minoans</h1> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p class="center p2"><span class="figcenter" id="img001"> -<img src="images/001.jpg" class="w25" alt="A LADY OF THE MINOAN COURT"> -</span></p> -<p class="center caption">A LADY OF THE MINOAN COURT<br>From <i>The Annual of the British School at Athens</i><br><i>Frontispiece</i></p> -</div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p class="center xbig"> -The Minoans<br> -</p> -<p class="center p2 big"> -<i>by</i> George Glasgow<br> -</p> - -<p class="center p2"><span class="figcenter" id="img005"> -<img src="images/005.jpg" class="w10" alt="Decorative image"> -</span></p> -<p class="center p4"><span class="big"> -Jonathan Cape</span><br> -Eleven Gower Street, London<br> -</p> -</div> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p class="center"> -<i>First published March</i>, 1923<br> -<br> -<i>Second impression April</i>, 1923<br> -<br> -<i>All rights reserved</i><br> -</p> -<p class="center p4"> -<i>Printed in Great Britain by</i> Butler & Tanner, <i>Frome and London</i><br> -</p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> - - -<p class="center p2"> -THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED<br> -TO<br> -RONALD MONTAGU BURROWS<br> -MY GREAT FRIEND AND TEACHER<br> -</p></div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="PREFACE">PREFACE</h2> -</div> - - -<p>Sir Arthur Evans’ renewed campaign of excavation in Crete has again -attracted considerable public attention to the remarkable disclosures -of the last twenty years. Sir Arthur Evans himself is at present -engaged in compiling in three big volumes the consecutive story of -Minoan civilization as revealed by his own excavations. The present -writer is convinced that the story of Cretan discovery is such as to -appeal to the imagination of a wide public who have no specialist -interest in archæology. The story has all the interest of adventure and -exploration. This book is an attempt to meet what such a public wants. -I have tried to give a general picture of the world which existed in -the Mediterranean four thousand years ago, and of the amazing process -by which it has been revealed, so that it can be understood by those -totally unacquainted with classical study, and I have tried to give -it in one hour’s reading. For those who want to go further I give -references to other books. It must be understood that this<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</span> book does -not aim at an exact account of the archæological position as it exists -to-day. With new excavations being carried out this very year, and with -new material in the hands of the excavators, as yet unpublished and -undigested, any attempt to be strictly up to date would merely mean the -progressive and indefinite postponement of the book. The broad lines -of the discovery of Minoan civilization are clear, and in the writer’s -opinion, even because a new campaign of excavation is now started, -ought to be presented now in a form to be easily understood. The -results of the discoveries of this spring, for instance, add important -details to our knowledge—some of which I have incorporated—but do not -affect fundamentals.</p> - -<p>Some of the substance of the following chapters was published in 1920 -and 1921 in <i>Discovery</i>, to the Editor of which I am grateful -for permission to re-publish them. In a somewhat different form the -substance was also published by me in 1914-1915 in the <i>National Home -Reading Magazine</i>.</p> - -<p>It is to my friend <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Ronald Montagu Burrows that I, in common with -thousands, owe my interest in Crete. He died on May 14, 1920, before -his time. He was incredibly,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</span> challengingly young and vigorous both in -appearance and in activity, and at fifty-two was producing work at the -top of his brilliant form. His work was a mixture of youth and maturity -such as one does not often find. In 1907, when he first published his -<i>Discoveries in Crete</i>, men were confused by the avalanche of -discovery in Crete which had been going on since the opening of the -century. Burrows’s achievement—for which scholars and the intellectual -public have ever since been grateful—was to give a comprehensive and -interpretive account of the whole revelation and to place it in its -perspective. Before that even scholars as a whole had not seen wood for -trees.</p> - -<p><abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Burrows’s own excavations at Pylos and Sphacteria and at Rhitsona -were typical of him. He cleared up the narrative and established the -good faith of the historian Thucydides. Scholars had in vain tried to -find any trace of the fortifications said by Thucydides to have been -erected there by the Spartans in the Peloponnesian war. Only a few -months before Burrows first went out—he was then a young man who did -not know the difficulty of what he attempted—a celebrated geographer, -<abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Grundy, had explored the site and reported that there was no trace -of the fortifications.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</span> Burrows discovered substantial remains hidden -away under the brushwood, and succeeded in proving that they fully -corresponded with Thucydides’s account.</p> - -<p>I am grateful to Professor R. S. Conway and to Sir Arthur Evans for -reading my manuscript and helping me with suggestions; but neither must -be held responsible for anything that appears in the book.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>1922.</p> -</div> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CONTENTS">CONTENTS</h2> -</div> - -<table class="autotable"> -<tr><th class="tdr">CHAP.</th><th></th><th class="tdr">PAGE</th></tr> -<tr><td></td><td> -<a href="#PREFACE"><span class="smcap">Preface</span></a></td> -<td class="tdr page"><a href="#Page_7">7</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdr"> -<a href="#Chapter_1_Crete_the_Forerunner_of_Greece">1</a></td> -<td><a href="#Chapter_1_Crete_the_Forerunner_of_Greece"><span class="smcap">Crete the Forerunner of Greece</span></a></td> -<td class="tdr page"><a href="#Page_13">13</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdr"> -<a href="#Chapter_2_The_Sea-Faring_People_of_Crete">2</a></td> -<td><a href="#Chapter_2_The_Sea-Faring_People_of_Crete"><span class="smcap">The Sea-Faring People of Crete</span></a></td> -<td class="tdr page"><a href="#Page_20">20</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdr"> -<a href="#Chapter_3_Minos_and_the_Minotaur">3</a></td> -<td><a href="#Chapter_3_Minos_and_the_Minotaur"><span class="smcap">Minos and the Minotaur</span></a></td> -<td class="tdr page"><a href="#Page_24">24</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdr"> -<a href="#Chapter_4_Knossos">4</a></td> -<td><a href="#Chapter_4_Knossos"><span class="smcap">Knossos</span></a></td> -<td class="tdr page"><a href="#Page_30">30</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdr"> -<a href="#Chapter_5_Prehistoric_Engineering_and_Architecture">5</a></td> -<td><a href="#Chapter_5_Prehistoric_Engineering_and_Architecture"><span class="smcap">Prehistoric Engineering and Architecture</span></a></td> -<td class="tdr page"><a href="#Page_37">37</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdr"> -<a href="#Chapter_6_Internal_Politics_the_Relations_of_Knossos_and">6</a></td> -<td><a href="#Chapter_6_Internal_Politics_the_Relations_of_Knossos_and"><span class="smcap">Internal Politics: the Relations of Knossos and Phæstos</span></a></td> -<td class="tdr page"><a href="#Page_44">44</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdr"> -<a href="#Chapter_7_Minoan_Architecture_and_Fresco_Painting">7</a></td> -<td><a href="#Chapter_7_Minoan_Architecture_and_Fresco_Painting"><span class="smcap">Minoan Architecture and Fresco Painting</span></a></td> -<td class="tdr page"><a href="#Page_48">48</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdr"> -<a href="#Chapter_8_The_Pottery">8</a></td> -<td><a href="#Chapter_8_The_Pottery"><span class="smcap">The Pottery</span></a></td> -<td class="tdr page"><a href="#Page_55">55</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdr"> -<a href="#Chapter_9_The_Origin_of_Writing">9</a></td> -<td><a href="#Chapter_9_The_Origin_of_Writing"><span class="smcap">The Origin of Writing</span></a></td> -<td class="tdr page"><a href="#Page_65">65</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdr"> -<a href="#Chapter_10_Cretan_Religion">10</a></td> -<td><a href="#Chapter_10_Cretan_Religion"><span class="smcap">Cretan Religion</span></a></td> -<td class="tdr page"><a href="#Page_75">75</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdr"> -<a href="#Chapter_11_Men_and_Women_Clothes_and_Customs">11</a></td> -<td><a href="#Chapter_11_Men_and_Women_Clothes_and_Customs"><span class="smcap">Men and Women, Clothes and Customs</span></a></td> -<td class="tdr page"><a href="#Page_83">83</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdr"> -<a href="#Chapter_12_From_Prehistoric_Crete_to_Classical_Greece">12</a></td> -<td><a href="#Chapter_12_From_Prehistoric_Crete_to_Classical_Greece"><span class="smcap">From Prehistoric Crete to Classical Greece</span></a></td> -<td class="tdr page"><a href="#Page_90">90</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdr"></td><td> -<a href="#INDEX"><span class="smcap">Index</span></a></td> -<td class="tdr page"><a href="#Page_93">93</a></td></tr> -</table> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS">LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> -</div> - - -<table class="autotable"> -<tr><td><a href="#img001">A Lady of the Minoan Court</a></td> -<td class="tdr page"><a href="#img001"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td></tr> -<tr><td><a href="#img002">Bull Leaping</a></td> -<td class="tdr page"><a href="#Page_35"><i>facing page</i> 35</a></td></tr> -<tr><td><a href="#img003">The Cupbearer</a></td> -<td class="tdr page">”      <a href="#Page_39">39</a></td></tr> -<tr><td><a href="#img004">Polychrome Cups</a></td> -<td class="tdr page">”      <a href="#Page_62">62</a></td></tr> -</table> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</span></p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Chapter_1_Crete_the_Forerunner_of_Greece">Chapter 1: <i>Crete the Forerunner of Greece</i></h2> -</div> - - -<p><abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Veniselos was brought up in Crete. It is not the first time in -history that Crete has passed on her products to Greece and to Europe. -Four thousand years ago the very foundations of Greek and of European -civilization were laid in Crete, which was then mistress of the sea -and the dominant factor in the Ægean. Yet we none of us were aware of -this until Sir Arthur Evans, a few years ago, began digging in Crete. -When <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Veniselos was a boy the very existence of a prehistoric Cretan -civilization was unknown. Our knowledge of it has been almost entirely -revealed since 1900. In this short time the spades of Sir Arthur Evans -have revolutionized our whole conception of the early history of -Europe. Excavation at Knossos, Phæstos and other sites in Crete has -disclosed the existence of a people whose form of civilization, the -earliest in Europe, flourished long before recorded history begins. It -has told us about their daily life, games, amusements, art, religion,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</span> -writing (though the language is not yet understood); their physical -type, dress, the homes they lived in. The fashion of the women’s -dresses, as revealed on ornaments and other art relics, with an open -neck and flounced skirts, made a French scholar exclaim: “Mais ce sont -des Parisiennes!”</p> - -<p>A big palace, as big as Buckingham Palace, has been unearthed -at Knossos. It has a drainage system which an eminent Italian -archæologist, <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Halbherr, has described as “absolutely English,” and -which certainly forestalls the hydraulic engineering of the nineteenth -century. This four thousand years ago.</p> - -<p>The digging in Crete has created all the excitement of exploration. -When the painted panel was discovered giving a sensational bull-baiting -scene from a Minoan circus-show, or the Phæstos disc covered with -picture writing, or the fresco painting of the Cupbearer at Knossos, -the excitement reached its height. It was not confined to the -excavators. An old workman who was on night duty watching the Cupbearer -fresco during the delicate operation of its removal, was woke up by -disturbing dreams and declared after that “The whole place was full of -ghosts.”</p> - -<p>Charles Kingsley has no doubt turned in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</span> his grave. When he wrote -<i>The Heroes</i> he was writing, as he himself explained, a fairy -story for his children. He little knew that his fairy story was in many -ways historical truth. He wrote, for instance, that the palace of King -Minos at Knossos was like a marble hill. He did not know that there -actually lived a King Minos in Crete, and that his palace, standing on -a hill at Knossos, was built, if not of marble, at any rate of stone.</p> - -<p>Up to the last half-century the whole story of classical Greece, -as taught in the schools and in the Universities, was regarded as -something original, as the beginning of things springing suddenly, -like the mythical Athene, into life. The sculpture, architecture, -philosophy, oratory, and drama of the fifth century <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span>, were -accepted unquestioningly and with awe as the spontaneous first-fruits -of Greek genius. The history of Greece, as then understood, went back -only to the eighth century <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span>, beyond which were the Dark -Ages and nothing. Before the time of Æschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides -it is true there had been a problematic poet, half mythical, half real, -elusive and shadowy, known as Homer. The fact that he was represented -as having been born in nine separate places was an illustration of the -vagueness in which the poet’s<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</span> identity was enveloped. He (or they, -if his poems were a composite work) had sung of deeds and of men who -seemed to echo from those Dark Ages. Whatever speculation there was -as to Homer himself and his identity, no one ever doubted that if he -was a real person he certainly was the first real person that European -history could establish. During the last twenty years he has been shown -to have been not the beginning but the end of an enormous phase of -Greek and European history.</p> - -<p>Now that the real beginnings of Greek civilization are beginning to be -known, it strikes one as remarkable that up to now they should have -been so completely buried in two senses. It is the more remarkable -because a good deal was known about other corresponding origins in the -Near East. In Egypt and Babylonia the old traditions had been passed on -by later generations to Greek writers, who preserved, imperfectly it is -true, the necessary connecting links. In the case of Greek civilization -not only were there no stepping-stones back to the corresponding phase; -it did not even seem to occur to anybody that there had been such a -phase. The unquestioning and complacent acceptance as myths (which -is the same thing as the tacit and complete disbelief) of the epic -stories which centred round Agamemnon and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</span> the Homeric heroes was never -challenged up to the middle of the last century. The historian Grote, -for instance, declared that “to analyse the fables and to elicit from -them any trustworthy particular facts” would be “a fruitless attempt” -(<i>History of Greece</i>, 2nd edition, 1849, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 223).</p> - -<p>Such was the outlook of Grote’s contemporaries. Then an important -thing happened. A poor boy named Schliemann had been told these Greek -fables by his father, and to his child’s mind the stories appeared as -literally true. One day a drunken miller came into the grocer’s shop -where he worked, and began to recite some lines of Homer. Schliemann -was fascinated, and, so the story goes, spent all his spare cash in -whisky wherewith to encourage the miller to repeat the lines again and -again; and then prayed God that he might some day have the happiness of -learning Greek himself. His literal faith in the “myths” remained with -him, and he made up his mind to find the walls of Troy. Being poor he -had to spend a lifetime of hard saving before he was in a position to -put his faith to the test. Late in life, however, he had saved enough -money for the purpose and went to Hissarlik, the spot in Asia Minor -where the town of Troy was said to have stood. He began digging<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</span> into -the earth, and to his joy discovered the buried walls of a town. It was -proved later that the walls he discovered belonged not to the Homeric -city, as Schliemann naturally assumed, but to another city which had -existed on the same site a thousand years earlier. He had dug within -and through the circle of the Homeric walls without discovering them. -From Troy he went to Mycenæ and Tiryns on the Greek mainland, and -there discovered the visible relics of the Homeric stories centering -on the Greek mainland. Schliemann’s achievement was to establish the -historical existence of the “Mycenæan civilization.” We now know that -this civilization flourished from about 1400 <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span> to 1100 -<span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span> It is a romantic story of the way in which Schliemann -justified his simple faith in the historic background of the Homeric -poems. Schliemann deserved the explorer’s satisfaction which he -enjoyed, and which manifested itself on one occasion when he sent a -telegram to the King of the Hellenes announcing that he had found the -tomb of Agamemnon at Mycenæ. One wishes that it had been literally -true, as Schliemann thought it was. In any case it was he who laid the -foundations for the whole structure of modern prehistoric research in -the Eastern Mediterranean.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</span></p> - -<p>The most exciting and the most important part of that research has been -the opening up of Crete. The Cretan discoveries of Sir Arthur Evans -and other excavators, British, American and Italian, have proved that -the Mycenæan culture revealed by Schliemann was itself a late and even -decadent phase of a great Mediterranean civilization which had its -centre in Crete.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Chapter_2_The_Sea-Faring_People_of_Crete">Chapter 2: <i>The Sea-Faring People of Crete</i></h2> -</div> - - -<p>The primitive Ægean people played a great part in the activities of -the Near East. They existed for several thousand years, and there are -traces of their activity on every shore of the Eastern Mediterranean. -Crete, as Homer says, was the land “in the midst of the wine-dark -ocean, fair and rich, with the waters all around” (“Odyssey,” xix. -172). It was the natural centre towards which the mainlands of Greece, -Asia Minor, and Egypt converged, especially as its irregular coast -afforded good harbours for the small ships of that time.</p> - -<p>The first settlement of man in Crete took place at Knossos, in the -later or “Neolithic” Stone Age. This fact is established by the nature -of the relics found at the lowest level in the excavations, the level -which represents the earliest period in time. Phæstos, on the south -side of the island, received its first inhabitants at a later date, as -is made clear by the pottery that has been discovered there.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</span> This is a -typical instance of the value of pottery as archæological evidence. The -earliest ware found at Knossos is unornamented; the next is improved -by “incised lines”—that is, lines cut in the clay with a pointed -instrument and often filled in, for greater effect, with a white -substance. At Phæstos, on the other hand, the pottery found lowest -down is already in this second stage in its artistic evolution, the -inference being that the men who settled there took the art with them -at the point to which it had been developed by the Knossians.</p> - -<p>After the “Stone” Age came the “Bronze” Age. Men realized that not -stone, but a mixture of copper and tin, provided the best material -for instruments. A picturesque touch is added to this discovery -by an Italian archæologist, Angelo Mosso, who in <i>The Dawn of -Civilization</i> gives reason for believing that, even at so remote a -period, the tin was brought to Crete from Cornwall. He goes so far as -to point out the actual caravan route by which the tin was transported. -It was during this Bronze Age, which lasted about 2,000 years, that -Cretan civilization reached its highest level. Sir Arthur Evans has -given to it the picturesque name “Minoan,” and has divided it into -three stages—Early, Middle,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</span> Late—each with three subdivisions. -Early Minoan I (E.M.I) begins about 2800 <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span>, Late Minoan -III (L.M. III) ends about 1100 <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span> (See <i>The Discoveries -in Crete</i>, by <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Ronald M. Burrows, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 98.) These nine periods are -a happy play upon “the nine seasons” during which Homer speaks of King -Minos as reigning in Knossos: “And in Crete is Knossos, a great city, -and in it Minos ruled for nine seasons, the bosom friend of mighty -Zeus.” (“Odyssey,” xix. 179). The term “Minoan” should be carefully -distinguished from “Mycenæan.” After Schliemann’s discoveries at -Mycenæ and Tiryns, the term “Mycenæan” was used in a general sense, -to cover the whole prehistoric Ægean civilization; but now that Crete -has put Mycenæ into its right perspective, the term “Minoan” is used -to indicate the earlier and greater phase, while “Mycenæan” merely -covers the latest phase; the whole being designated “Ægean.” There is, -to complete the nomenclature, a further epithet, “Cycladic,” which is -sometimes substituted for “Minoan” when one speaks exclusively of the -island sites outside of Crete.</p> - -<p>With the fall of Knossos, which took place shortly before 1400 -<span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span>—I adopt <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Burrows’s dating—the centre of influence -in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</span> the Ægean passed over from Crete to the mainland of Greece, and -the true “Mycenæan” period started. Thereafter followed the Dark Ages, -which themselves immediately preceded “historical” Greece. Recorded -Greek history begins about 800 <span class="allsmcap">B.C.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</span></span></p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Chapter_3_Minos_and_the_Minotaur">Chapter 3: <i>Minos and the Minotaur</i></h2> -</div> - - -<p>If the nine Minoan periods into which Sir Arthur Evans has divided -the Bronze Age in Crete are primarily a fanciful play upon the “nine -seasons” of King Minos’s reign in Knossos, the system of dating itself -is by no means fanciful. It rests on a solid basis. It has been made -possible mainly by the fact that the ancient Cretans were sea-farers. -Cretan products were exported to Egypt, and have been found there -alongside Egyptian deposits of more or less known date. Hence a system -of sequence-dating can be established. It is obvious that a Cretan -vase found side by side with an Egyptian vase of 2500 <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span> -belongs to an earlier period than one found with deposits of 1500 -<span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span> This fixing of landmarks is the first step. The second is -to assign to them absolute dates in the terms of our own chronology. -Owing to the fact that Egyptian dates (within at least certain limits) -are known in terms of our own, and that Egyptian ware has been found -in Crete as well<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</span> as Cretan in Egypt, equation is possible. The chief -difficulty is that Egyptian chronology is itself variously interpreted, -and one particular version has had to be fixed on for comparison. Three -convenient and easily-remembered landmarks have been established:</p> - -<p>(<i>a</i>) Early Minoan II corresponds to Dynasty VI in the early -Dynastic Period of Egypt, circa 2500 <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span> As the evidence for -this equation is slight compared with that for the other two, it must -be accepted with reserve at present as a good working hypothesis.</p> - -<p>(<i>b</i>) Middle Minoan II corresponds to Dynasties XII and XIII in -the Middle Kingdom of Egypt, circa 1900-1700 <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span></p> - -<p>(<i>c</i>) Late Minoan II corresponds to Dynasty XVIII in the New -Empire of Egypt, circa 1500 <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span></p> - -<p>It is pottery again that has been the basis of this chronological -reconstruction. The beautiful Cretan many-coloured ware of the Middle -Minoan period, exported to Egypt during the Middle Kingdom and found -with objects of the Twelfth Dynasty, forms the chief equating factor -between those two periods, and the other equations are based on similar -facts. Pottery can be made in some cases to fix approximate dates -without the help of equations. Buildings, for instance, cannot<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</span> have -stood later than the date of the particular kind of pottery found in -their ruins. It may be remarked in passing that the Egyptian trade thus -indicated by the remains of Cretan pottery was responsible for a great -improvement in that pottery. Towards the end of the early Minoan period -the two great inventions of the firing furnace and the potter’s wheel -were brought to Crete from Egypt. Before that time the vases had been -roughly shaped by hand and hardened in the sun. They now were “thrown” -with such a mastery of technique as to attain egg-shell thinness.</p> - -<p>Traces of commercial intercourse overseas can be found as far back as -the Neolithic Age. Among the deposits of stone implements in Crete are -great quantities of obsidian knives, and the only source of obsidian in -the Ægean was the island of Melos. Obsidian is a kind of volcanic glass -which flakes off into layers, giving a natural edge. Excavators, who -are as childish as most people, have shaved, and have had near shaves, -with obsidian knives.</p> - -<p>It is probable that the Minoan Empire had a navy as well as a merchant -marine. Minos was commonly represented as “Ruler of the Waves,” and the -Greek historians, Herodotus and Thucydides, refer to him as a mythical -character celebrated as the first possessor of a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</span> fleet. The extent -of the Minoan Empire can be gauged by the survival of many trading -stations and naval outposts on all the shores of the Ægean, from Sicily -in the East to Gaza in the West, which bore the name “Minoa.” There -was a bad chapter, according to tradition, in the Empire’s history. -When the King’s son Androgeos went to Athens to compete in the games, -he won everything, and was killed in jealousy; and the powerful Minos -therefore decreed that seven Athenian boys and seven girls should be -sent every nine years (or as other versions of the story say, every -year) to be eaten by the Minotaur, a monster half man, half bull, -which lived in the maze called the Labyrinth. That happened twice; -but on the third occasion the hero Theseus volunteered to go as one -of the victims; and with the aid of Ariadne, the King’s daughter, who -fell in love with him, he killed the monster. She gave him a sword -and some string, which he fastened to the entrance of the maze as he -went inside. He was thus able to find his way out again. Theseus had -promised his father, the old King Ægeus, that if he returned alive, -his ship would show white sails in place of the usual black, so that -the news of his safety could be read in the distance. Whether in his -elation or in his hurry to leave Naxos,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</span> where (according to the -story) he had deserted Ariadne, Theseus forgot his promise, and Ægeus, -watching from the cliffs, and seeing that the sails were black, threw -himself in despair into the sea. Hence the “Ægean” Sea. The discovery -of Ariadne by the god Bacchus is the subject of a famous picture, now -in the National Gallery, by Rubens.</p> - -<p>Minos meanwhile reaped what he sowed. Dædalus, the architect of the -Labyrinth, also fell a victim to the King’s displeasure, and, making -himself wings, fled to Sicily. His son Icarus, who went with him, flew -too near to the sun; the wax which fastened his wings melted, and he -fell into the sea. Minos pursued Dædalus to Sicily, and was killed by -treachery. His subjects went on a punitive expedition to the island, -but never returned, and Crete was overrun by strangers.</p> - -<p>That is legend. It is a fact, however, that the Minoan Empire did -come to a sudden and violent end. Remnants of it—“the men from -Keftiu” (“the Back of Beyond”), as the Egyptians called them—landed -on the shores of Asia Minor, and finally settled in Palestine as -the Philistines of the Bible. The mists of legend are clearing. The -huge palace at Knossos is one of the solidest sights revealed. In -its bewildering corridors, staircases, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</span> rooms one recognizes -the Labyrinth itself—a recognition which is confirmed by evidence -disclosed within the palace.</p> - -<p>In further excavation carried out in the early part of this year (1922) -Sir Arthur Evans discovered what he describes as “the opening of an -artificial cave, with three roughly-cut steps leading down to what can -only be described as a lair adapted for some great beast.” Lest fact -should overleap itself into fable again, Sir Arthur adds:—“But here it -is better for imagination to draw rein.”</p> - -<p>The stories of Minos and the Minotaur came to be regarded by classical -Greece with something like awe. A ship, supposed to have been the one -that took Theseus to Knossos, was preserved and was sent every year -with special sacrifices to Delos. During its absence Athens was in a -state of solemnity, and no acts were performed which were thought to -involve a public stain. The execution of Socrates, for instance, was -postponed thirty days till its return.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Chapter_4_Knossos">Chapter 4: <i>Knossos</i></h2> -</div> - - -<p>“And in Crete is Knossos, a great city, and in it Minos ruled for nine -seasons, the bosom friend of mighty Zeus” (Homer, “Odyssey,” xix. -178-179). Those “nine seasons” were long periods of varied activity. -Ancient Crete was the home of an artistic, commercial and imperial -people—there was a Minoan Empire—and Knossos, the capital of Crete, -held the palace of Minos.</p> - -<p>The Palace at Knossos was built on the slope of a low hill—the hill -now known as “tou tselebe he kephala” or the Gentleman’s Head—which -overlooks a secluded valley, three and a half miles from the north -coast of the island. It thus escaped the roving eye of passing pirates, -and at the same time commanded a view, from a neighbouring hill, of -the Minoan ships which lay beached in the harbour. That fleet was -practically its only defence. Knossos had no wall of fortification. -Like pre-war London she depended on her island security and on her -command of the seas. She was not exposed, as were the mainland cities -of Mycenæ and Tiryns, and as<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</span> modern Paris, to the danger of invasion -by land. The lack of fortification was one of the first points that -struck the excavator. In his report of the first season’s work (1900), -Sir Arthur Evans says: “The extent and character of the outer walls are -not yet apparent, but it is clear that while the compact castles of the -Argolid were built for defence, this Cretan palace with its spacious -courts and broad corridors was designed mainly with an eye to comfort -and luxury” (<i>Journal of Hellenic Studies</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> xx, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 168).</p> - -<p>There were minor fortifications, chiefly near the north gate, -consisting of a guard-house and bastions, but strategic considerations -did not contribute to the main architecture at all.</p> - -<p>It is an amazing structure. Built as long before Christ as the world -has existed since Christ, it seems incredible that, for instance, it -should have an underground drainage system. There is no doubt that -Cretan architects were men of accomplishment. <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> H. R. Hall says, -in <i>The Ancient History of the Near East</i> (<abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 47), that, “in -comparison with this wonderful building (the later palace at Knossos), -the palaces of Egyptian Pharaohs were but elaborate hovels of painted -mud. Knossos seems to be eloquent of the teeming<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</span> life and energy of a -young and beauty-loving people for the first time feeling its creative -power.”</p> - -<p>The present ruins belong to three structures built at different times. -The first was built in M.M.I, or before 2000 <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span>, and was -burnt down towards the end of M.M.II (about 1700 <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span>). It -was later (about 1600 <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span>) rebuilt on a bigger scale, and -this building in its turn, after some three hundred years of use, -was remodelled and enlarged. Sir Arthur Evans made an important -discovery in his 1922 excavation, which proves that the Middle Minoan -III period was brought to a violent end by a big earthquake (about -1600 <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span>). He found some small houses overwhelmed by huge -blocks—“some about a ton in weight, hurled some twenty feet from the -Palace wall by what could only have been a great earthquake shock.”</p> - -<p>It is the last magnificent palace, built on the ruins of 1600 -<span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span>, that predominates in to-day’s ruins; in it the Cretans -reached the height of their culture. This period, to which belongs -what is known as the “Palace Style” in art, was as short-lived as it -was brilliant. Within fifty years (so the evidence seems to show) the -palace was raided and burnt, and that was the end of Ancient Crete; -for the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</span> same invaders who sacked Knossos also destroyed the palace at -Phæstos.</p> - -<p>It is lucky, however, that Minoan libraries were made not of paper, but -of clay tablets. They were preserved, not destroyed, by the fire. The -baking they then underwent enabled them to survive the dampness of the -soil, and they remain to this day, a potential interpreter of much that -is still obscure. They cannot yet be read. Scholarship has the hard but -grateful task before it of discovering from these documents the Minoan -language. It is lucky, again, that the sackers of Knossos had no use -for clay tablets, which accordingly escaped the doom of more “valuable” -loot. <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Burrows, in <i>The Discoveries of Crete</i> (<abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 19), quotes -in comment a Reuter telegram which, in reference to the fire at Seville -in 1906, announced that “the archives were totally destroyed, but the -cash and valuables were saved!”</p> - -<p>The outer walls of the palace were mainly built of gypsum, a stone -composed of crystals of calcium sulphate, which is found plentifully -around Knossos. It was so soft that it needed a covering of lime -plaster to protect it against the weather. The exterior of the -building, therefore, presented an expanse of white plaster, relieved -perhaps in places by<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</span> decoration or colour. (See Noel Heaton on “Minoan -Lime Plaster and Fresco Painting” in the <i>Journal of the Royal -Institute of British Architects</i>, xviii, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 697 (1911).) The palace -was a square building covering about five acres, or as big an area -as Buckingham Palace, and had a flat roof. In shape it was a hollow -rectangle with a central court, measuring nearly two hundred feet from -north to south, and not quite half as much in breadth, so that the -encircling wings on the east and west were proportionately broader than -the strip of buildings on the north and south. The bulk of the building -was, in fact, divided up between these two wings, the one on the west -standing higher up the hillside and having fewer storeys than the one -on the east, whose foundations sloped down to the valley. Beyond the -west wing there was another court—the meeting-place for the people -of the town and the people of the palace; and out to the north-west a -smaller building—the Little Palace—connected with the palace proper -by what Sir Arthur Evans has called “the oldest paved road in Europe,” -while a little to the north-east was the Royal Villa.</p> -<p class="center p2"><span class="figcenter" id="img002"> -<img src="images/002.jpg" class="w50" alt="BULL LEAPING"> -</span></p> -<p class="center caption">BULL LEAPING<br>From <i>The Annual of the British School at Athens</i></p> - - -<p>If you follow the course of this paved road as it approaches the -Palace, you will see a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</span> small open space, forty feet by thirty, -enclosed on two sides by rising tiers of steps with a raised platform -in the corner between them. This was the theatre. Some scholars -identify it with the dancing-place (choros) which, so tradition tells -us, “Dædalus wrought in broad Knossos for fair-haired Ariadne” (Homer, -“Iliad,” xviii. 590); although Sir Arthur Evans thinks the choros was -in a Palace Court. It would hold about 500 spectators, who made part or -all of the “great throng that surrounded the lovely dancing-place, full -of glee” (to quote the same tradition). No doubt the boxing contests -and other forms of sport were held there. The Cretans, to judge by -the pictures which have been discovered, were given to strenuous and -exciting, possibly cruel, forms of sport. A painted panel depicts -a bull-fighting scene. In it are two girls and a boy, the girls -distinguished from the boy by their white skin, although all three wear -the same sort of “cowboy” dress. A bull, head down, is charging one -of the girls, who grips its horns in the attempt, apparently, to turn -a somersault over its back, a feat which the boy is represented as in -the process of accomplishing. He is half-way over, and the second girl -stands ready to catch him. (See <i>Journal of Hellenic Studies</i>, -xxiii, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 381.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</span> There is a copy of the fresco in the Ashmolean Museum, -Oxford.)</p> - -<p>Fifty yards to the east of the theatre is the northern entrance of the -palace, which leads directly into the central court. Round this court -are grouped the various rooms of the palace.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Chapter_5_Prehistoric_Engineering_and_Architecture">Chapter 5: <i>Prehistoric Engineering and Architecture</i></h2> -</div> - - -<p>The plan of the palace of Knossos is at first sight rather confusing, -especially when one reflects that it represents only the ground floor -of the original building and that one has to imagine, in some places -two, and in others perhaps three storeys of rooms above it. If this is -the old labyrinth of legend, no wonder, you think, that Theseus needed -his Ariadne to show him a way out of it; and that Dædalus, who built -it, could himself find no other means of escape but by flying straight -up into the air!</p> - -<p>But it is the nature of legend to exaggerate; and one can easily -understand how, years after the destruction of the palace, the -deserted ruins with their ghostly corridors and chambers would create -the impression of an “inextricable maze” which was crystallized by -tradition and became the setting for so many of the Cretan stories. -As it stood in the days of Minos, the palace would not, of course, be -anything so fantastic. The arrangement<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</span> of the rooms and corridors, -though on a great and elaborate scale, was based on a simple plan. The -mass of buildings in the west wing of the palace is divided into two -halves by a long corridor running north and south, those in the east -wing by one running east and west, and the four divisions thus made -fall into a regular scheme.</p> - -<p>In the west corridor, which is four yards wide and sixty-six yards -long, there are still standing some of the huge stone vases, “big -enough,” as Sir Arthur Evans has said, “to hide the Forty Thieves.” -They were used for the storage of grain, oil, wine, dried fruits, and -the like. Opening on this corridor from the west there is a series of -magazines and small chambers which were also used for storage purposes; -while under the floors, both of the magazines and of the corridor, -were strong cists, some of them lined with lead, which would perhaps -contain the State treasures. The entrance which leads from the west -court or market-place, and which is conveniently near the commissariat -quarters, would be used by tradesmen. Speaking of the outer wall of -the palace which borders on the west court, the Haweses (<i>Crete -the Forerunner of Greece</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 66) remark: “This has a projecting -base, whereon the peasants<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</span> and humbler merchants could sit dozing, -with one eye upon their merchandise and pack animals. During the long -morning hours when traffic was busiest, this seat was always in the -shade—a pleasant refuge from the sun’s rays that beat so fiercely -on the open court.” The low narrow ledge would not, however, have -been particularly comfortable to sit on. In a narrow corridor to the -west of the south main entrance was found the fresco painting of the -Cupbearer, an astonishing work of art. It portrays a Minoan youth, -stiff with dignity, carrying a gold and silver vase before him. It did -not originally stand in the corridor in which it was found and to which -it has given its name, but on the west wall of the south entrance. It -fell into the corridor when the connecting wall broke down. There is -a reproduction of the Cupbearer on the cover of <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Burrows’s <i>The -Discoveries in Crete</i>, which lacks, of course, the brilliant colours -of the original.</p> - -<p class="center p2"><span class="figcenter" id="img003"> -<img src="images/003.jpg" class="w50" alt="CUPBEARER"> -</span></p> -<p class="center caption">CUPBEARER<br>From <i>The Discoveries in Crete</i>. By R. M. Burrows (John Murray)<br>[<i>To face <a href="#Page_39">page 39</a></i></p> - -<p>On the other side of the central corridor of the west wing are the -rooms in which State and religious functions were held. In the Throne -Room, which is almost intact, the magnificent throne of Minos is still -standing, carved out of solid stone, and along the wall on each side of -it are the stone benches on which his counsellors sat. This would be -the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</span> chief room of the Minoan Government, in which foreign ambassadors -were received and the affairs of State generally administered; -important cases of justice would also be settled there, and Minos -would be Supreme Judge. It will be remembered that Minos was not only -the legislative head of a great sea empire. Being of divine origin -himself, he is represented as a great Law-giver and Priest of Zeus, -holding converse with the god every nine years in the Dictæan cave and -receiving from him, like the Moses of the Old Testament, a famous code -of laws which held good throughout the period of the Minoan Empire.</p> - -<p>At his death, in accordance with the belief that men in the Lower World -carried on the duties of their lifetime, he became a Judge of the -Dead. Recounting his visit to the nether regions, Odysseus says: “Then -I saw Minos, the famed son of Zeus, with his golden sceptre, dealing -out justice to the dead, as he sat there; and around him, their King, -the dead asked concerning their rights, sitting and standing, in the -wide-gated house of Hades” (Homer, “Odyssey,” xi. 568-571).</p> - -<p>Leaving the west wing of the palace and crossing the central court, -you descend into the east wing by the Great Staircase which, even when -found, was in a surprising state of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</span> preservation, and which by the -end of 1910 had had the remains of no fewer than five flights restored -to their original position. This staircase was traversed, as its -discoverer said, “some three and a half millenniums back by kings and -queens of Minos’ stock, on their way from the scenes of their public -and sacerdotal functions in the west wing of the palace to the more -private quarters of the royal household.” These quarters occupy the -south-east corner of the palace, built on the slope of the hill and -overlooking the valley. Approaching them from the central corridor -which runs due east from the central court, you pass first through the -men’s halls—the Hall of the Colonnades and the Hall of the Double -Axes—and thence by a dark crooked corridor, called from its shape the -Dog’s Leg Corridor, the effect of which was “to enhance the privacy of -the rooms beyond,” you come to the Queen’s Megaron, and the ladies’ -apartments. A megaron was a sort of hall with columns across it, open -at one end to let in the light. In other parts of the building, light -was admitted by means of shafts sunk from the roof to the ground floor.</p> - -<p>The queen’s megaron is especially luxurious; it is decorated on a -principle which, as Sir Arthur Evans says, was used<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</span> later by the -Romans of the Empire. The wall paintings, done in perspective, included -a scene of the sea with fishes playing, another of forest life, and a -dado of dancing girls.</p> - -<p>It was in this part of the building, too, that the drainage and water -supply put the engineers on their mettle. This was the lowest part of -the sloping hillside on which the palace stood, and the water supply, -which came from the neighbourhood of the North Gate, had to be so -organized as to prevent flooding—a stiff enough problem for engineers -of 4,000 years ago. They solved it by a system of parabolic curves -which subjected the flow to friction. Sinks, lavatories, underground -pipes suggest modern drainage. They, nevertheless, were in use at -Knossos.</p> - -<p>The rooms of the building in this south-east part were arranged in -terraces at different levels on the hillside. The fact of the grand -staircase having five flights does not mean that there were five -storeys one on top of the other. As a result of the final restoration -of this staircase by Sir Arthur Evans and <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Mackenzie in 1910, it -appears that “the upper landing of the fifth flight does not lead on to -the ground floor of the central court, but answers in height to what -must have been the first floor of the rooms on the other or western<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</span> -side. It must itself, therefore, have led on to some raised building, -probably a terrace, that ran along the eastern side of the court” -(<i>Britannia Yearbook</i>, 1913, “Crete,” <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 269. <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> R. M. Burrows).</p> - -<p>There remains the north-east section. This was occupied by the artists -and workmen of the palace. In one room olives were pressed, the oil -being carried away by a conduit which turns twice at right angles till -it reaches a spout set in the wall lower down the hill, more than fifty -feet away. There the oil-jars were filled, and oil-jars are still -standing in an adjoining room. Another room has been identified by the -imagination of Sir Arthur Evans as the schoolroom. In other rooms pots -were “thrown” and painted; stone vases carved; gold, silver, and bronze -work moulded; sculptures were chiselled; seal stones and gems cut; and -the favourite miniatures in ivory were carved which, in a compass of -ten or eleven inches, reproduced a human form to the minutest detail of -veins and finger-nails.</p> - -<p>It will be seen, then, that the palace of Knossos was something more -than the seat of King Minos. It contained a community completely -organized within its walls, and independent of any outside connexion, -after the manner of a mediæval castle.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Chapter_6_Internal_Politics_the_Relations_of_Knossos_and">Chapter 6: <i>Internal Politics: the Relations of Knossos and -Phæstos</i></h2> -</div> - - -<p>On the other side of the island, at Phæstos, there was another great -palace, which has been excavated by the Italian Archæological Mission. -In many ways this palace was as magnificent as that of Knossos. Like -Knossos, it was built on a hill on a foundation formed by levelling -the buildings that had existed on the site from the Neolithic Age; -and, like Knossos, though on a smaller scale, it consisted roughly -of a system of buildings grouped round a central court. Some of the -remains are in a better state of preservation than those of Knossos and -are, therefore, useful in supplementing our knowledge of the Golden -Age of ancient Crete, which we chiefly derive from Knossos. It must -be remembered, however, that owing to the architectural device of -levelling the old buildings as foundations for the great palaces, both -Knossos and Phæstos are of less value than the other sites in Crete, -as<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</span> illustrating the Early Minoan Age—the period, that is, which -preceded these great palaces.</p> - -<p>There were, then, two great palaces flourishing in Crete during the -same period. One naturally wonders what were the relations between them.</p> - -<p>The established facts are few. It has been already shown, on the -evidence of their respective pottery, that the original settlers at -Phæstos came later than those of Knossos and took over the latter’s -ceramic innovations. The great palaces of the two cities were built -about the same time, possibly (in view of the likeness in style) by -the same architects. Both palaces were destroyed more than once, -and at approximately known dates. These are the bare facts revealed -by archæology, and the ice is thin for speculation on the internal -politics of the island.</p> - -<p>Some think, with the Haweses (<i>loc. cit.</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 70), that the first -palace of Knossos was “attacked and burned at the close of the Second -Middle Minoan period, <i>possibly by the rival ruler of Phæstos</i>.” -Yet the only certainty is that Knossos was burned down at that time and -Phæstos was not.</p> - -<p><abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> H. R. Hall has a different impression. He says (<i>The Ancient -History of the Near East</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 45): “At the same time that the -king<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</span> of Knossos built his new palace in his capital ... he also -built himself a southern palace in the Messarà.... As from the near -neighbourhood of Knossos a fine view of the sea, the haven, and the -ships of the thalassocrats could be obtained, with Dia beyond and -perhaps Melos far away on the horizon, so from Phaistos itself an -equally fine, but different, prospect greeted the royal eyes; from -this hilltop he could contemplate on one side the snowy tops of Ida -and on the other the rich lands of the Messarà.” He thinks that before -the palace of Phæstos was built, the island, or at least the central -portion of it, had been unified under the rule of Knossos. Legend makes -Phæstos a colony of Knossos.</p> - -<p>An obviously important fact to be remembered in any discussion on -this point is that, in sharp contrast to the Mycenæan cities of the -mainland, Knossos and Phæstos were in the main unfortified. It is true -that M. Dussaud has suggested that Knossos was fortified, but the -vast majority of scholars agree that his supposed “fortifications” -were nothing of the kind. <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Burrows has devoted a special chapter -to this point in the as yet unpublished revised edition of his -book, the manuscript of which he left in my care when he died. His -general conclusion is that, while<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</span> there may have been some sort -of fortification in the early days of Crete, Knossos established a -peaceful regime when she won her supremacy in L.M.I. In any case, -Knossos was not fortified in the days of her empire. She had no fear -from within the island, and she had command of the seas.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Chapter_7_Minoan_Architecture_and_Fresco_Painting">Chapter 7: <i>Minoan Architecture and Fresco Painting</i></h2> -</div> - - -<p>Perhaps the most vivid traces of the ancient civilization of Crete -are the remains of the buildings which have been found in the soil. -Here you have the rooms that were lived in, and the appeal to the -imagination is direct. The relics of buildings are more extensive -than those of any other kind, and they were the first discovered by -the excavator, just as they are the first points of interest to the -visitors who nowadays go to the island.</p> - -<p>The buildings of the Stone Age have left hardly a trace of themselves, -because they were made of such perishable materials as mud, reed, and -wickerwork. <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> L. Pernier has discovered, under the Minoan palace -at Phæstos, a bit of the floor of one of these mud huts. It consists -of red clay about four inches thick. Some houses, it is true, have -been found near the modern Palaikastro, built of unhewn stone, and -dating from the Neolithic Age, but they are exceptional. It was only -when metal tools were invented that stone could be used generally for -building. At the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</span> beginning of the Bronze Age the lower walls used to -be made of stone, and the upper of sunburnt brick, the latter being -further strengthened by wooden stays. Lime plaster was used even then -to protect the walls against the weather. Later in the Bronze Age, -when the great palaces were built, it became the practice to build -foundations and lower walls to a height of about two yards of strong -limestone blocks, some of them three yards long and one yard wide, and -of gypsum. A protective covering of plaster was then applied. The upper -storeys were generally of wood. Wood was extensively used. Professor -Mosso, in reference to a wall of the vestibule at the top of the great -staircase at Phæstos, says that “a base of alabaster having been made, -holes were made in it to fix slabs of wood all round. These were bound -together, and the hollow was filled with a mixture of lime and rubble” -(<i>The Palaces of Crete</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 47). Whole tree-trunks were sometimes -used as beams, and one can still see the holes in the stone into which -they were fixed.</p> - -<p>There are many features of these palaces which are worth minute study. -In the building of the great palaces it was the practice to prepare the -ground with a thick mixture of lime and clay and pebbles. This mixture -set<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</span> so hard that it has now to be broken up with explosives before -objects below can be removed. The staircase at Knossos measures nearly -fifteen yards from side to side, and the steps are two and a half feet -wide and hardly five inches deep. The most famous steps in Rome were -not more than five and a half yards from side to side. The doors of the -palace, of which there were many, were made to fit into the walls when -open, so as not to interfere with corridor space. At Hagia Triada the -drains of 4,000 years ago may still be seen working in wet weather. At -Knossos the main drain, which had its sides coated with cement, was -more than three feet high and nearly two feet broad, large enough for a -man to move along it; and the smaller stone shafts that discharged into -it are still in position.</p> - -<p>The water supply entered the palace from the north. In 1904 Sir Arthur -Evans discovered some pipes in position to the north-west of the -palace, running alongside the paved road which leads to the Theatral -Area and the Little Palace. The necks of these pipes point eastward -towards the palace and they lead from the very hills on the west from -which the Venetian and Turkish aqueduct still supplies Candia. They -must, therefore, have been aqueducts and not drains, and probably -form part of the same system as the terra-cotta<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</span> pipes discovered in -the earlier excavations further east, and at the time considered to -be connexions in the drainage system. They are thus described by <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> -Burrows: “Each of them was about two and a half feet long, with a -diameter that was about six inches at the broad end, and narrowed to -less than four inches at the mouth, where it fitted into the broad end -of the next pipe. 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 bear the pressure of the next pipe’s -stop-ridge, and gave an extra hold for the cement that bound the two -pipes together” (<i>Ibid.</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 9).</p> - -<p>There were also baths at Knossos. At any rate, a good many people think -they were baths. Professor Mosso thinks they were chapels—a good -instance of the excitement which attaches to archæological research. -There is no arrangement, says Professor Mosso, for the supply or -discharge of water, a provision which, he argues, is necessary for -a bath; moreover, the basin is lined with gypsum, which is soluble -in water; one of them was placed in the Throne Room; and, finally, -they were not private. Professor Mosso’s subtle eye even detects an -enclosure, which<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</span> he maintains was not put there for spectators of the -bath, but for a chapel choir. These are attractive arguments, but <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> -Burrows answers quite simply that (1) the gypsum argument is ruled -out because it would be covered with plaster; (2) terra-cotta tubs -have been found close at hand, and the Knossians might quite well have -been content with tubbing instead of plunging into a large tank that -needed elaborate pipes; (3) the bath in the Throne Room was used for -ceremonial ablutions, for which little water would be needed; and (4) -no objects suggesting any cult (such as images or altars) have been -found to show that these places were chapels.</p> - -<p>Or take the lighting arrangements. There was a system of shafts used -at Knossos, at Tylissos (a little palace a few miles west of Knossos), -at Phæstos, and at Hagia Triada. The light came down vertically at -the back of the room, where the roof had been left uncovered for the -purpose, and the floor specially cemented to stand exposure to the -weather. While Sir Arthur Evans speaks of the light “pouring in between -the columns” in one place, and in another of its “stealing in in cooler -tones,” <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Burrows was of opinion that in the latter case the cooler -tones were so cool that lamps had to be used. Many lamps have,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</span> in -fact, been found there. Big marble-standard lamps have also been found, -which probably held two or even four wicks; one of them was found in a -niche on a staircase at Tylissos.</p> - -<p>The use of lime plaster on the outer walls gave an opportunity to the -Minoan artists, who not only painted frescoes on them, but fashioned -the plaster into relief. (See “Minoan Lime Plaster and Fresco -Painting,” by <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Noel Heaton, <i>Journal of the Royal Institute of -British Architects</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> xviii, pp. 697-710.) “Fresco” paintings -are made as soon as the initial setting of the plaster takes place, -and while it is still wet. Brilliant colours were used—red ochre in -the Early Minoan period (made by burning yellow clay), then yellow -(from the natural clay) and black; then blue, progressing from a -pale greenish tint in Middle Minoan to a dark blue in Late Minoan. -The cupbearer is an example of fresco painting, and the bull’s head -of high relief; the fresco painters merely attempted an outline and -wash of colour in two dimensions, not indicating shades or folds of -drapery. The main difference between Cretan painting on wet plaster and -Egyptian painting on fine white limestone is that the Cretan gives a -more vivid impression of movement, and the Egyptian more detail. (See -“The Relations<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</span> of Ægean with Egyptian Art,” <i>Journal of Egyptian -Archæology</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> i, pt. 3, July, 1914, pp. 197-205.) This is partly -accounted for by the fact that Minoan painting was often done when the -plaster was still wet.</p> - -<p>There are many other sites in Crete which cannot be dealt with -here—Gournia on the north coast, Palaikastro and others in the east, -and Vrokastro. Their main importance lies in their bearing upon Minoan -town-planning. Vrokastro has been explored by Miss E. H. Hall, who -published her results in 1914 (<i>Anthropological Publications of -the University of Pennsylvania</i>. Philadelphia). It has a special -interest because it belongs to the Iron Age, and shows the inferiority -of this age to its predecessor, the Bronze Age. In general, the houses -in these towns were huddled together with the object of leaving as -much ground as possible free for agriculture. They are poor specimens -of houses,—small two-storeyed cottages with windows on each side of -the door. Several rooms have been discovered in which upright faces -of rock served as walls—a device still used in Crete. An interesting -point about them is that they were built on rocky eminences or spurs -of mountains—a significant sidelight on the fall of Knossos and the -disappearance of her fleet.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Chapter_8_The_Pottery">Chapter 8: <i>The Pottery</i></h2> -</div> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“Exceeding lightly, as when some potter sits and tries the wheel, well -fitting in his hands, to see if it will run.”—<span class="smcap">Homer.</span></p> -</div> - - -<p>Crete is the only land of the “prehistoric” Near East which has left -no record of itself besides that revealed by excavation. And even the -writing on the clay tablets cannot yet be read. We none the less get -a vivid impression of Cretan life on its artistic side, and for this -the main credit is due to the unique value of pottery in archæology. -Pottery is almost indestructible. While it may decompose in soil that -is damp enough, and the design may be obliterated when fire plays on it -directly and when there is enough air for oxidization, yet the actual -fabric, being made originally of clay baked hard by extreme heat, can -never be destroyed by fire. It cannot rust. It cannot be pounded into -dust, because a small sherd has a tremendous power of resistance. -While the stone ruins at Knossos will one day vanish from exposure to -the weather, the pottery will remain. The defects of pottery are as -valuable<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</span> to the archæologist as its qualities. Its brittleness led to -a constant deposit of breakages. The replacing of breakages in what -was a household necessity led to continuous production. Its cheapness -made it valueless to looters. When palaces were raided and burnt, metal -objects were “lifted” either for their actual value or their potential -value in the melting-pot. The pots remained. Thousands of sherds have -been found on every site in Crete. Even when fragments cannot be pieced -together, they reveal the kind of clay, decoration and thickness of the -original vase, and complete examples are often found in tombs, where -they were placed as tributes to the dead, in accordance with an almost -universal custom in early Greek civilization.</p> - -<p>The evidence thus obtained has many uses. It shows the consecutive -development of pottery as a form of art, in itself interesting, and -the corresponding changes in the taste of the people. As the art -progresses, we find vases, for instance, with scenes painted on them -illustrating contemporary customs, methods of burial, religious rites, -styles of dress and buildings. The prehistoric pottery of Crete never -reached this stage, but even so, it supplies the bulk of the evidence -on which the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</span> Minoan civilization is being reconstructed.</p> - -<p>Pottery has been the chief instrument, too, in the formulation of a -system of dating. By assuming a lapse of a thousand years for every -yard of deposit—except in the Stone Age, when the accumulation of -debris was quicker, because huts were built of ephemeral material -such as mud and wickerwork—each successive layer is relatively dated -according to its depth from the surface. Pots provide the nucleus for -this scheme, being found in large numbers in every layer. Other objects -take their place according to the type of pots they are found with. -Not that the process is simple. There are complicating factors, and -even pottery creates difficulties and irregularities. At Knossos, for -instance, when the first palace was built, the top of the hill was -levelled and a portion of the former deposit thus cut away. Obviously, -too, heirlooms would belong to an earlier time than that of the layer -in which they are found. Or a pot may be displaced in the earth. A -safeguard, however, against mistakes is afforded by the abundance of -pots, which makes the differentiation of general classes easy.</p> - -<p>Pots, then, are found at the lowest levels, just above virgin soil, -for the earliest people used them and broke them. The slowness<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</span> of -development in that long-drawn-out period (the Neolithic or Later -Stone Age) is clearly indicated. There are some seven yards of deposit -belonging to it at Knossos, and the latest ware shows little or no -improvement on the first. The pottery is hand-made, the clay coarse, -generally of a sooty-greyish colour and more or less burnished. The -relics consist of the rims and handles of pots, rims of basins, bowls, -and plates and similar fragments, too incomplete to suggest original -shapes. Two interesting points, however, can be seen. The pots were -hand-polished both inside and out, and incised lines, or lines simply -scratched on the surface, were used as ornamentation. This primitive -manifestation of an artistic impulse was later extended by the filling -of the incised lines with a white substance for greater effect. Similar -ware has been found at Troy and in Egypt, and <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Mackenzie has thought -that these were an importation from the Ægean (<i>Journal of Hellenic -Studies</i>, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> xxiii, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 159).</p> - -<p>The irresistible impulse manifested even in primitive people to -decorate their ordinary vessels is further illustrated by the fact that -the polishing was gradually heightened, and the glitter thrown into -relief by ripples, made with a blunt instrument, probably bone, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</span> -suggestive of the ripples on the surface of water. Among the latest -Neolithic ware found at Knossos are two remarkable specimens of incised -ware, the design being that of a twig with leaves. On each side of the -stem is a row of small oblong punctuated points, filled in with white -chalk. This, it must be remembered, in a period which ended about 3000 -B.C.</p> - -<p>The Bronze Age, which followed, and which brought with it the Minoan -period at Knossos, is remarkable for the first use of paint. The -transition was gradual and slow, and indeed, at the beginning of the -Bronze Age, there is a falling off in the quality of the pottery. This -was due to an interesting result of the discovery of metal, which -turned the attention of skilled artists to the new medium, and left the -fashioning of stone and clay to inferior hands. On the manufacturing -side, however, it is probable that a great step forward was taken at -that time. The fact that the clay is now of a terra-cotta or brick -colour, as opposed to the former peaty grey of Neolithic times, has led -to the surmise that the potter’s kiln was now used for baking.</p> - -<p>The first paint invented was an almost lustreless black, which was -developed gradually into a lustrous black. Even this development<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</span> was -at first used as a mere imitation of the Neolithic black hand-polished -vases. The paint was applied all over the vase, inside as well as -outside, whenever the neck was wide enough. Neolithic incisions again -were imitated by white geometric patterns painted over the black -background. This style was not usual till the end of the Early Minoan -period (E.M.III).</p> - -<p>It was not till the beginning of the Middle Minoan period that any -serious development took place. Then, however, it came in leaps. The -potter’s wheel had been introduced, probably from Egypt, at the end of -Early Minoan I, and henceforth pots were “thrown” precisely as they -are to-day. One can imagine the keenness with which this great if -simple invention was exploited. The fashioning of clay with thumb and -fingers on a rotating wheel led so easily and inevitably to fineness -of technique that the potter was soon imitating the thinness of metal, -and by the end of Middle Minoan II was producing “egg-shell” vases. In -design the angular geometric patterns had been displaced by the end -of the Early Minoan period by curves and spirals, the logical outcome -of the use of a brush. Colour meanwhile became lavish and brilliant. -There were two styles: either the whole pot was first painted<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</span> black to -provide a background for a light design, or a dark design was painted -on the original light-coloured clay. It was the first of these styles -that naturally lent itself to colour display, and the name “polychrome” -(“many-coloured”) has been given to it. The other style (monochrome, -or one-coloured) relied for its effect on a simple black-and-white -contrast. In the latter case the light natural background was improved -by a fine buff clay “slip” or wash. Quite naturally it was the -polychrome style that mostly exercised the artists at first. Bright -orange, lustreless white, yellow, red, crimson on a black background -were exploited to a sometimes fantastic extent as long as the novelty -of colour lasted.</p> - -<p>The next development took place in the second Middle Minoan period -(M.M.II). Relief was then introduced, which created an effect of light -and shade on the black varnish. Mere blobs of colour, which constituted -the original form of relief, soon developed into raised lumps and horns -(the so-called “Barbotine” ware). Middle Minoan “Kamares” (so called -because the first specimens were found by Professor Myres in a cave on -the slope of Mount Ida above the village of Kamares), or polychrome -pottery, chiefly consisted of cups, “tea-cups,” jugs, amphoræ<span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</span> (or -two-handled jars), and fruit-stand vases. The three best specimens are -here reproduced. In the Middle Minoan II period large storage jars, or -“pithoi,” made their first appearance. They were as big as a man, and -almost exactly like the Cretan storage jars of to-day. Two interesting -features in the decoration of these jars are cunningly practical in -origin. One was an imitation in relief of the coils of rope which -were used in moving the jars, the other a “trickle” ornament produced -by allowing splashes of paint to trickle down the side of the jar—a -device which made a virtue, in anticipation, of the inevitable trickles -which would result from the storage of oil in it.</p> - -<p>Towards the end of the Middle Minoan period the exaggerated use of -colour which had marked the first introduction of polychrome ware -gave way to a concentration upon design. Perhaps the most remarkable -specimen of this later phase is the “lily vase” found at Knossos. -It stands about two feet high, and for design has a simple row of -lilies painted in white on a purple ground. The shape of the vase is -artistically made to serve the design by enabling the lilies to bend -slightly outward and then curve in a little at the top.</p> - -<p class="center p2"><span class="figcenter" id="img004"> -<img src="images/004.jpg" class="w50" alt="POLYCHROME CUPS"> -</span></p> -<p class="center caption">POLYCHROME CUPS<br>From <i>Journal of Hellenic Studies</i><br>[<i>To face <a href="#Page_62">page 62</a></i></p> - - - -<p>Then came a curious clash in the separate evolution of polychrome -and monochrome ware. The latter had been used as an easy decoration -for ordinary vessels, but towards the end of the Middle Minoan period -the two styles began to coalesce in the form of a simple light design -on a dark ground. Then a final resolution took place by a “volte face” -into a monochrome dark on light brought about by the experience that -the black varnish was a more durable colour than the lustreless colour -pigments. The varnish, indeed, possessed a remarkable tenacity. It -probably was the forerunner of that used in the later Attic Black -Figure vases, whose secret still exercises the ingenuity of modern -potters. As yet nothing further has been established than that the -varnish was not a “glaze” in the modern sense. A contributing factor to -the final triumph of the monochrome over polychrome rested upon simple -necessity. When naturalist motives became dominant in the painter’s -art, the lack of a green pigment left no satisfactory alternative to -the general abandonment of variation in colour. In Late Minoan I, -when the complete absorption of the polychrome into the monochrome -style took place, we find a general use of a brilliantly lustrous -brown-to-black “glaze” paint on a buff clay slip, carefully polished -by hand on<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</span> terra-cotta clay. The naturalism of plants and flowers now -extends to sea-objects—fish, shells, weeds, rocks—and is marked by -careful truth to life. A striking example of this style is a famous -“octopus” vase found at Gournia.</p> - -<p>As the rise of Cretan civilization had been faithfully reflected in -pottery, so was its fall. One can trace in it the general decadence -of Crete. In the eventful Late Minoan II period, which saw the final -destruction of Knossos and the sudden end of Cretan greatness, the -pottery becomes stiff and grandiose. Plants and animals are rendered in -a spiritless, conventionalized manner. Degeneration was rapid, and in -Late Minoan III, which represented the last stage of Minoan culture, -the potter held his brush quite still and let the spinning pot do the -rest. There was no decoration beyond an occasional group of horizontal -bands, the mere framework of earlier designs.</p> - -<p>There were, of course, other forms of pottery besides vases. Cretan -potters, even more than those of to-day, used clay as the material for -hardware. Not only bricks, drain-pipes, ornaments, but lamps, kettles, -even cupboards and tables, were made of clay.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Chapter_9_The_Origin_of_Writing">Chapter 9: <i>The Origin of Writing</i></h2> -</div> - - -<p>The Cretans had a system of writing as long ago as 2500 <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span> -The language therein embodied is still a mystery to us, in spite of -Sir Arthur Evans’s monumental work <i>Scripta Minoa</i> (1909). The -hope is that Sir Arthur will find a clue to the mystery, but up to the -present the fact is that there is no starting-point for any attempt at -interpretation. If a bilingual inscription could be found—a Cretan -document, that is, side by side with a translation in some known -language such as Egyptian—a start could be made.</p> - -<p>It was inevitable that the art of writing should be evolved early in -the history of man. Even in the most primitive stages of life there -would be the elementary necessity, for instance, of identifying one’s -own property, and for this the most likely means would be some system -of marking. Then, again, the development of communal life would -entail the duty of keeping appointments, or of doing a particular -thing at a particular time. It would, one thinks, have been too much -of a strain, even for the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</span> mind of a Stone Age man, to keep all the -details of his daily, still more of his annual, routine in his head, -and the handkerchiefs of those remote days may not have been of such a -material as to lend themselves readily to mnemonic knots. It is quite -conceivable, as an instance of the sort of necessity that would arise, -that at a given time it could be calculated how many days ahead the -provisions would last, and when, therefore, the hunter must be ready -for the hills. He might prepare a handy reminder with a pictographic -representation of some commonplace event that was to take place at the -same time, and by hanging the picture up in an obvious spot.</p> - -<p>One’s range of activity would increase as time went on, and it might -conceivably be necessary to deliver a message to a man over on the -other side of the valley in circumstances where one could not take it -oneself. Such a contingency would produce some form of written message, -for the message might be private or unsuitable for oral transmission -by a third party. To give a concrete example from later times: Proitus -wanted to kill Bellerophon, but did not want to do it himself; he -therefore sent the doomed man to the King of Lycia “with letters of -introduction written on a folded tablet, containing much ill against<span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</span> -the bearer ... that he might be slain” (Homer, “Iliad,” vi. 169). Not -all people are original enough to transmit such a communication orally -by the bearer.</p> - -<p>Fifty, even forty, years ago it was the general doctrine of Greek -scholars that the Homeric poems were never written down till long -after they were composed, perhaps even, so some thought, not until 560 -<span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span> Till then, we used to be taught, they were preserved -wholly by memory and by oral transmission. But on the strength of -the above passage from Homer—the only passage in either “Iliad” or -“Odyssey” where writing is mentioned—Andrew Lang in 1883 argued that -the art of writing must have been known to the early Greeks. “It is -almost incredible,” he said, “that the quick-witted Greeks should have -neglected an art which met them everywhere in Egypt and Asia.” He -argued better than he knew. Not only was the art of writing known to -the early Greeks, but it was known to their forerunners a few thousand -years earlier, forerunners whose very existence was not suspected when -Andrew Lang wrote. Curiously there had been found no trace of writing -in the Mycenæan remains, although this fact has since been shown to be -due to mere chance.</p> - -<p>In 1893 Sir (then <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr>) Arthur Evans caused<span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</span> general astonishment by -communicating to the Hellenic Society his discovery of the fact that -certain seal stones which he had found in Greece, and which had been -assumed to be Peloponnesian, were, in fact, Cretan. This startling -revelation was clinched during the years that followed by the discovery -of further specimens of Cretan writing. Excavation in Crete was started -in 1900, and the first year’s work yielded up hundreds of clay tablets -inscribed with Cretan writing. Was Homer writing fairy stories when -he made Proitus send his doomed Bellerophon to Lycia with his “folded -tablet”? Or did he know that the Lycians were colonists from Crete?</p> - -<p>A tentative sketch of the successive phases through which the art of -writing passed may be made, even if it largely depends upon unconfirmed -surmise. The temptation to fill in the gaps by what seems reasonable -conjecture is hard to resist.</p> - -<p>Minoan writing must have started, quite naturally, with simple -pictographs, such as have, in fact, been found—simple pictures of a -man, a leg, a ship, representing a definite thing that it was desired -to indicate. They are called “ideographs” because they signify a -single idea. They next developed into “hieroglyphs,” that is, pictures -which had<span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</span> acquired by association a certain use among the people who -employed them, but whose original meaning has been lost, and can now -only be inferred. In the parallel case of Egyptian hieroglyphics, -guessing at such meanings has been shown to be dangerous work, for in -many cases the established interpretation is far other than what one -might have supposed.</p> - -<p>The first pictographs were evolved in the Early Minoan period (c. -2800-2600 <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span>), and are found on seal stones. It may be -fairly assumed, therefore, that in Crete the first method of writing -down ideas was by seal impressions. By the Middle Minoan period the -seal stones are elongated, and contain a succession of designs, by -which a connected chain of ideas could be reproduced. The lines of -pictures are sometimes read from left to right, sometimes from right -to left, a feature in which, as in others, they resemble the Hittite -system of writing. In all cases the document is read in the direction -in which the figures it contains are facing. <i>Scripta Minoa</i> (<abbr title="page">p.</abbr> -203) gives a typical example of this species: namely, a picture of -a ship with two crescent moons, of which the probable meaning was a -voyage of two months’ duration.</p> - -<p>The next step in the evolution of writing<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</span> came, no doubt, when -phonetic values were assigned to the pictures; that is, when the sound -made in pronouncing the name of a given thing or person or action -became associated with the conventional ideograph which represented -that thing or person or action. When that happened, the same ideograph -began to be used in writing out other, more complex, words in which -the same <em>sound</em> occurred, although in <em>meaning</em> there was -no connection with the original pictograph. To take a hypothetical -example. Suppose we were in that stage of evolution to-day. We may -have formed the habit of denoting an axe by a simple picture of that -instrument; thereafter the sign of an axe would have become a symbol -for spelling the same sound whenever it appeared in any other word. In -spelling the word “accident,” for instance, we should start with the -picture of an axe. This sort of thing seems to us mere “punning,” but -it would cause no more difficulty or hesitation to the primitive writer -than it would have, say, to <abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Weller, senior, to whom the relation -of the written to the spoken word and of words to things was still -mysterious. Once begun, the method would be eagerly applied to fresh -words.</p> - -<p>The first attempt at “syllabics,” or the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</span> writing out of a word by -separate symbols for its separate syllables, was made more intelligible -by the use of “determinatives.” By “determinative” is meant a -pictographic representation of the idea denoted by the whole word. -These we find appended to the spelling of a word in order to give the -reader at least some inkling as to whether the word denoted mineral, -animal or vegetable. A man’s name, for instance, would be followed by a -picture of a man.</p> - -<p>The physical strain involved in drawing pictures every time one wanted -to write down a word or two would obviously soon become intolerable. -It is not therefore to be wondered at that, by the time of the Middle -Minoan III period, the hieroglyphics have been simplified into -conventional signs which are easier to make. Herein is the germ of -what we call “linear” script, that is, of a system of writing based on -a set of regular forms, such as our own alphabet. By the Late Minoan -I period there was a full linear script in use throughout Crete, and -it was extended to Melos and Thera. Sir Arthur Evans has called this -script “Class A” to distinguish it from a parallel form of it which -was introduced in the next period (Late Minoan II), and which he -calls “Class B.” The latter is not a different script, but<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</span> merely a -variation introduced, it is supposed, by a new dynasty at Knossos. Most -of the Knossian tablets that have come down to us belong to the “Palace -period,” and are written in the Class B style.</p> - -<p>It was the usual practice to write the inscriptions with a stilus, that -is a pointed rod of metal, on a clay tablet, and this is the form of -most of the inscriptions that have been preserved. It is possible that -wooden tablets covered with a layer of wax were also used; but even if -they were, none of them, of course, could have survived the burning of -the palaces. More interesting still is the fact that pen and ink must -have been used even in those remote times. This fact is established -by the discovery of two cups (Middle Minoan III) which are inscribed -in ink. There can be little doubt, therefore, that long documents and -any literature there happened to be were written in ink on papyrus. It -is probable that we shall have to make up our minds to the complete -loss of all such literature, for Cretan soil lacks the dryness of the -Egyptian. If our worst fears prove true, we may experience the final -anti-climax of the discovery that the clay tablets, when read, will -contain nothing after all but lists and bills.</p> - -<p>It is obvious that many of the tablets do<span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</span> consist of bills or -inventories. Although we cannot yet understand the language of the -script, it has been found possible, by studying the clay tablets, to -reconstruct the system of numbers that was used. We have, for instance, -what is evidently an inventory of arrows, a record surmounted by a -picture of an arrow. From this and other records it is apparent that -thousands were expressed by “diamonds,” hundreds by slanting lines, -tens by circles, units by straight lines, quarters by a small “v.” The -highest number recorded is 19,000.</p> - -<p>Although it is true that scholars still wait a clear starting-point for -transcribing the Cretan script, there is one interesting and important -point already established by Sir Arthur Evans. He has proved to the -general satisfaction of classical scholars that the Phœnician alphabet, -which had always been supposed to be the original source of the Greek -alphabet, and therefore of the Latin alphabet from which comes our own, -was itself derived from Crete. This theory, however, is disputed by -Egyptologists.</p> - -<p>There are in existence three fragmentary inscriptions, two of which -were found not long ago by Professor R. C. Bosanquet at Præsos, in -Crete—near to Mount Dicte, and not far to the north-east of the -boundaries of Knossos—which are written in Greek characters, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</span> are -therefore quite legible to us, but which contain a language which is -not Greek. Is it the language of the Minoans? It is not yet possible to -say, although Professor Conway, who has examined the inscriptions at -length in the <i>Annual of the British School at Athens</i> (<abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> viii, -<abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 125, and <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> x, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 115), may some day be able to give an answer.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Chapter_10_Cretan_Religion">Chapter 10: <i>Cretan Religion</i></h2> -</div> - - -<p>Cretan religion differed from that of classical Greece in that the -chief deity worshipped was a goddess, Mother Nature or Earth-Mother, -some at least of whose characteristics we find embodied in the Rhea -of Greek mythology. Matriarchal religion seems to have been specially -characteristic of very early times; through it primitive man expressed -his veneration of womanhood. The Cretan Mother Goddess held an exalted -position. She had supreme power over all Nature; was associated with -doves, which symbolized her power in the air; was accompanied by lions, -the strongest animals of the earth; brandished snakes, that live under -the earth. Among the various “cult objects,” or ritualistic forms -used in worship, that have been found in her shrines are included -representations of cows with calves, goats with suckling kids, and the -like.</p> - -<p>There was a god as well as a goddess in Minoan religion, but he was -of relatively little importance. Velchanos, the Cretan Zeus—if we -may assume that the Minoan god was the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</span> original of this figure of -the Greek legends—was represented as both the son and the husband of -Mother Nature. He was suckled, so the tradition ran, by Amalthea the -goat in the cave of Dikte, and brought up by his mother Rhea on the -slopes of Mount Ida. His insignificance in comparison with the goddess -appears from the fact that he was drawn on a smaller scale whenever -represented in her company. The two deities probably constituted, as -<abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Hogarth has suggested, a “Double Monotheism”—a double godhead, -that is, worshipped to the exclusion of all minor deities. If this was -the case, the various Cretan prototypes of later Greek divinities must -be regarded as variant forms of the Mother Goddess herself. Aphrodite, -for instance, the goddess of Love, was worshipped generally in the -Levant, being known in Canaan as Ashtaroth-Astarte, and in Egypt as -Hathor; her Cretan name is unknown. The Greek Artemis, goddess of the -Wild Beasts, was foreshadowed in the Cretan Dictynna.</p> - -<p>One great difference between the Cretan and the Hellenic Zeus was that -the Cretan Zeus was mortal, and was said to have died on Mount Juktas. -The mortality of their gods was one of the striking conceptions which -differentiated the Southern peoples of the Near<span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</span> East from the later -Greeks, who came from the North. The Egyptian Osiris, for instance, -could die, but not any of the Greek gods. The Cretan Mother Goddess is -depicted on seal stones and rings dressed like an earthly queen, while -Velchanos is seen descending from the heavens to the earth, a young -warrior with a spear and an enormous shield.</p> - -<p>Another difference between Cretan and classical Greek religion was -that, as far as one can see, Cretan religion did not give rise to any -great temples, nor left behind any more substantial traces of its -activity than the small figures of the Earth Goddess to whom I have -referred. It may be sound to regard the palace of Knossos as itself -a temple, and it is true that legend makes of Minos a High Priest as -well as a King. There seems, however, to be little room for doubt that -the only places set aside specifically for worship were small private -shrines used for family worship. All the evidence tends to indicate -that it was the family idea that predominated in Cretan worship. -Private houses had their shrines, and the Knossian palace-temple -itself had its lesser family shrines. These sanctuaries were always -distinguished by a sort of sacred pillar, a sign which in Minoan art -is often used as the only indication of a sacred place. There is an<span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</span> -example of it on a fresco painting found at Knossos. Another emblem -associated with the cult is that of sacred trees, which on rings and -seal stones usually form the background for the “choros,” or dance. The -actual dance, no doubt, would be performed in sacred groves.</p> - -<p>Many cult-objects have been found in the shrines, the commonest being -the mysterious Double Axe. The fact that this emblem was also specially -associated with the Carian Zeus at Labraunda has led to a generally -accepted theory that the Cretan “Labyrinth” corresponds to the Carian -“Labraunda,” or place of the “Labrus” or Double Axe; for the Knossian -palace must have been, in fact, the chief seat of the cult.</p> - -<p>Side by side with the Double Axe one finds the constantly-recurring -sign of the Bull, an animal which was sacred not only because of its -physical strength, but of its use in sacrifice. A sarcophagus or -coffin of terra-cotta, found at Hagia Triada, contains a picture of a -sacrificial bull following a procession of women priests. In view of -the prominence given to the Bull in Minoan worship, one need not seek -far for an explanation of the Cretan legend of the Minotaur, a monster -half man, half bull, which lived in the labyrinth and exacted its human -victims. Nor is it impossible that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</span> the dangerous and cruel sport of -bull-fighting formed part of the same cult. Bulls’ heads were made in -pottery, and sometimes of gold, and used as votive offerings. The horns -of the bull—Horns of Consecration—are found in shrines among ritual -objects.</p> - -<p>Cult-objects were usually of a rude and inartistic kind. A striking -exception is found in some brilliantly-coloured figures of ware which -if it were modern would be called “faïence,” belonging to the Middle -Minoan III period. Perhaps the best example of this ware is a group -consisting of the Snake Goddess and her votaries, which was found by -Sir Arthur Evans in 1903, and which was used in a shrine of the royal -household.</p> - -<p>There was a specially important element in Cretan religion reserved for -the cult of the dead.</p> - -<p>It is obvious from the many tombs that have been excavated, that in -very early times it was the practice to bury the body of the dead in a -doubled-up position, the knees being drawn up to the breast. In later -times the body was laid out at full length. It is not clear whether or -not there was any particular significance in this choice of position. -There were various kinds of tombs and graves, all of which were used -contemporaneously, and of which, perhaps,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</span> the most interesting were -the “Tholoi.” The word “tholos” properly means a domed building or -rotunda, and the particular kind of tomb to which it is applied is a -vaulted chamber to which entrance is effected through an underground -tunnel, or “dromos.” It is likely that in form these “tholoi” were -based upon the huts used—at some period—by the living. There are -both round and square “tholoi” found in Crete. The “tholos” of Hagia -Triada has a circular ground plan, while the Royal Tomb at Isopata and -other elaborate tombs of the great palace-periods are rectangular. The -principle of the tholos-tomb was most in use in Mycenæan times, on -the mainland of Greece, where the “beehive tombs” almost all retained -in the original round formation. The hilly character of Crete led the -people to cut out their “tholoi” in the side of the rocky hills, the -“dromos,” or tunnel, in this case being driven into the hillside almost -horizontally.</p> - -<p>Another style of grave was the shaft or pit-grave, which consisted of a -pit sunk into the ground, at the bottom of which was the grave itself, -closed over with slabs of stone. Still another kind was a combination -of the first two, and is known as the “pit-cave.” This was made by -first sinking a pit and then cutting<span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</span> out the tomb in the form of a -side-recess from the bottom of the pit. A simpler form of burial, known -as the “pot-burial,” was effected by trussing up the body, placing it -under an inverted jar, and then burying it in the earth. A sixth form -was that of the simple grave, like our own. Cremation was not practised -in Minoan times, although it was introduced into Crete from Greece in -the Iron Age. Clay coffins were first used in the Middle Minoan period, -being made in the form of deep boxes with sloping tops resembling the -roofs of houses.</p> - -<p>Such were the physical conditions of burial. We knew practically -nothing of the cult of the dead until 1913-1914, when Sir Arthur -Evans published some important disclosures (<i>Archæologia</i>, 2nd -series, <abbr title="volume">vol.</abbr> xv, 1913-14). It was known before that the dead in their -spacious tombs were honoured with gift-offerings, which included -weapons, jewellery, and objects closely associated with them in their -life; that food and drink offerings were made and coal fires lighted, -possibly with the naïve or symbolic object of cheering the traveller -on his mysterious way. Now, however, a new series of tombs has been -found at Isopata, one of which, called by Sir Arthur Evans “the Tomb -of the Double Axes,” is proved to be<span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</span> not only a tomb, but a shrine -of the Minoan Great Mother. In this tomb were found libation vessels, -including a “rhyton” (or drinking-cup) in the shape of a bull’s head -made of steatite, and a pair of double axes; the grave which received -the body is cut out in the form of a double axe. “The cult of the -dead,” says Sir Arthur Evans, “is thus brought into direct relation -with the divinity or divinities of the Double Axes, and we may infer -that in the present tomb the mortal remains had been placed in some -ceremonial manner under divine guardianship.”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Chapter_11_Men_and_Women_Clothes_and_Customs">Chapter 11: <i>Men and Women, Clothes and Customs</i></h2> -</div> - - -<p>When Knossos fell, Crete ceased to be the pre-eminent power in the Near -East. The island itself was overrun by military or naval adventurers, -and the centre of Mediterranean life shifted over to the mainland of -Greece, whence, indeed, those adventurers came. The interesting thing, -however, was that Cretan culture went with it, and neither for the -last, nor probably for the first, time “the captive led captive her -savage conqueror,” as Horace wrote centuries afterwards. Crete stooped -to conquer Greece, just as Greece in her turn stooped to conquer Rome.</p> - -<p>The Cretans as a race were quite distinct from the contemporary -inhabitants of Greece, physical types being sharply divided by the -shores of the mainland. It may be asked: Is it worth while speculating -about the physical characteristics of a people which flourished 4,000 -years ago, whose very existence was obscured by the Dark Age that -comes before Greek history, and whose existence was not<span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</span> rediscovered -until the other day? Yet archæology works wonders. It is true that -in this particular field, in which archæology is chiefly dependent -upon portrait-paintings and bones, there is more controversy and less -certitude than in the others; and that craniology, or the study of -skulls, with their much-disputed classification into “brachycephalic” -or broad-headed, “dolichocephalic” or long-headed, and “mesocephalic,” -midway between the two, is a fruitful source of confusion; that -the “cephalic” index—that is, the breadth of the skull above the -ears expressed in a percentage which gives the proportion of this -breadth-measurement to the measurement of the length of the same skull -from the forehead to the occiput—is a poor index of anything at all. -Still, there is ground for assuming that from the later Stone Age -onwards the islands of the Ægean were mainly peopled by members of the -“Mediterranean” race, small of stature, with oval faces, with what -craniologists might call rather “long” heads, with small hands and -feet, a dark complexion, dark eyes and black curly hair.</p> - -<p>According to Professor H. L. Myres in his <i>Dawn of History</i>, the -north-west quadrant of the Old World resolved itself racially into -three belts, which were determined by geographical<span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</span> conditions. (Pp. 30 -<i>et seq.</i> Williams & Norgate, 1912.) In the north were the pure -white-skinned “Boreal” men of the Baltic basin; next came the sallow -“Alpine” type, then the red-skinned “Mediterranean” man. The third was -an intruder from the South, not from far enough south for him to be a -negro, but probably from the northern shores of Africa. His intrusion -“formed part of a much larger convergence of animals and plants from -the south and south-east into the colder, moister regions which have -been released since the Ice Age closed.” The limit of the movement -seems to have been fixed by the shores of the mainland, further north -than which the lungs and constitution of the people concerned forbade -them to go.</p> - -<p>The establishment of the existence of the Mediterranean race has had, -among other results, that of making it no longer possible, as was -invariably the practice before Crete was excavated, of ascribing all -obscure factors in the beginnings of Greece to a Phœnician origin. -We now know, for instance, that the art of writing came from Crete, -Phœnicia being the medium; and that Phœnicia itself was merely a late -centre of the general Ægean civilization, and got its name merely -because it was the best-known branch of the “red-skinned”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</span> race; for -“Phœnikes” literally means “Red-skins,” and in Homer Phœnix himself is -a King of Crete and grandfather of Minos.</p> - -<p>The Minoan people, then, formed part of the Mediterranean race. Their -dress was much simpler than that of the classical Greeks. The men wore -a short pair of drawers or a loin-cloth, the upper part of the body -being bare, as in the cupbearer picture, a style emanating, as did -the men themselves, from the warm lands south of the Mediterranean. -Egyptian fresco-paintings reveal an almost exact analogy of type in the -clothing and appearance of the Egyptians. Those who have a keen eye for -the persistence of type may compare some of the forms of loin-cloth, as -depicted on seal stones, with the “brakais,” or baggy breeches, still -worn in Crete. Elders and officials apparently wore flowing cloaks for -their greater dignity. High-topped boots—again suggestive of those -worn to-day—were in general use. Men wore their hair long as did the -women, plaited and coiled up on the top of the head, thereby forming -the only headdress that was used.</p> - -<p>Minoan war-equipment was limited. Their only weapons were a long -sword and a dagger, the latter of which is shown by pictures of clay<span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</span> -figurines to have been carried inside the belt at the front. Their only -defensive armour was a big shield of leather and a leather conical -helmet. The shield was framed in a metal band, but had no handle or -central boss; it was big enough to cover the body from head to foot, -and it could be bent so as to protect both sides. It is represented -in certain pictures in a curious 8-shape, pinched-in in the middle. -The origin of this may have been that it was the practice to sling it -over the left shoulder suspended by a strap, and for this purpose the -figure-of-eight shape may have been convenient.</p> - -<p>Horses were apparently used both for war and for hunting, although we -have no pictures of them being ridden. The available evidence shows -them only in the shafts of two-wheeled chariots. This accords well with -Professor Sir William Ridgeway’s observation (made far back in the -’eighties of last century) that in Homer the horse was driven only, and -was no bigger than our donkey. There is reason for thinking that the -horses were imported, and imaginative people have recognized evidence -of this in the fact that a seal stone has been found which shows a -horse on board ship. Whether intentionally or merely from crudity -of draughtsmanship, one is left in little doubt<span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</span> as to what mostly -occupied the artist’s mind when he fashioned this stone, for the horse -covers three-quarters of the ship’s length, and towers high above it, -while the crew stand as high as the horse’s knees. On the fascinating -subject of the history of the horse, the reader should consult Sir -W. Ridgeway’s <i>Origin of the Thoroughbred Horse</i> (Cambridge -University Press, 1905).</p> - -<p>The women are readily distinguishable from the men in Cretan pictures -by reason of their white skin, suggestive of a more secluded indoor -life. They wore large shady hats, close-fitting, puffed-sleeved -blouses, cut very low in front, and projecting upwards into a -sort of peak at the back of the neck. They wore wide-flounced, -richly-embroidered skirts like crinolines, and had belts like the -men’s. It was on first seeing some of the pictures of them that a -French scholar compared the women of Knossos with those of Paris.</p> - -<p>Minoan women enjoyed a far more “advanced” status than did other -primitive women. In the art of their day they are represented as -appearing in public and unveiled; they took part in the bull-fighting -at Knossos, and their apartments in the palace were marked out by their -special luxury. The greatest glory for an Athenian woman of a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</span> later -age was to be “as little mentioned as possible among men.” Not so for -the women of Crete. There may be some special significance in the fact -that the Lycians of Asia Minor, who were colonists from Crete, made a -practice of calling children by the mother’s, not the father’s, name -(Herodotus, i. 73). If this was the case also in Minoan Crete itself, -it may afford a possible explanation of the freedom enjoyed by Cretan -women, for the practice of naming children after their mother instead -of after their father is connected with states of society which have -not yet evolved any definite ideas of marriage, and in which, as -Herbert Spencer says, “The connection between mother and child is -always certain, whereas the connection between father and child would -sometimes be only inferable.”</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Chapter_12_From_Prehistoric_Crete_to_Classical_Greece">Chapter 12: <i>From Prehistoric Crete to Classical Greece</i></h2> -</div> - - -<p>Towards the end of the Minoan Age Cretan culture began to spread -generally over the Ægean, and extended to the mainland. Cretan vases -are found as far north as Bœotia, and the many Cretan relics discovered -in Mycenæan tombs were not all war-souvenirs; some of them, belonging -to times before the fall of Knossos, were the peaceful product of -Cretan workmen who had been induced by the Lords of Mycenæ to emigrate.</p> - -<p>The men from the North who finally overthrew what we call the -Minoan civilization, became to some extent the repositories of -Cretan tradition. They carried on a less splendid phase of Cretan -civilization, a phase which was distinguished by the name “Mycenæan.” -They had come to Greece from lands still further north, whence they had -themselves been driven to seek new homes. They came down in successive -waves of invasion, the men who formed the first wave being known as the -“Achæans,” the “yellow-haired Achæans”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</span> of Homer. It was they—so at -least some authorities hold—who sacked Knossos, and who afterwards, -during the thirteenth and twelfth centuries <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span>, wandering -about in search of adventure, became the terror of the whole Ægean. An -Egyptian inscription of those times says: “The Isles were restless: -disturbed among themselves.”</p> - -<p>Egypt herself felt the effect of the disturbances. From the “isles in -the midst of the Great Green Sea” there no longer came the peaceful -Minoans to pay friendly tribute to the King of Egypt; instead -there came the Achæans, on an unpeaceful mission. Two raids were -made—according to the students of Egyptian records—one about 1230 -<span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span>, another about 1200 <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span> (See H. R. Hall, -<i>The Ancient History of the Near East</i>, <abbr title="page">p.</abbr> 70. Methuen, 1913.) -<abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr> Hall gives the more definite date of c. 1196 for the second -invasion. Not long after we find the Achæans, in Agamemnon’s famous -expedition, fighting against the Trojans in Asia Minor. They took the -city at last in 1184 <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span>, if we accept the date which Greek -tradition pointed to. It is their deeds in the latter war that were -sung by Homer. Two generations after the Trojan war, shortly before -1100 <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span>, Greece was overrun by the Dorians, who formed the -second<span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</span> great wave of Northern invaders. After that came the Dark Age, -out of which about 800 <span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span> emerged classical Greece.</p> - -<p>Classical Greece was the fusion of the two main elements of prehistoric -times, the artistic Mediterranean people on the one hand, and the -robust Northern invaders on the other. Just as the fusion was probably -consummated in the Dark Age, so the first poet of classical Greece, -Homer, whether one person or the embodiment of many, heralded their new -life in poems which seemed to take their subject from that Dark Age. -What Homer wrote was probably less legendary than historical. Whether -the traditions of the Minoan Age in Crete were kept alive through the -Dark Age in Ionia, whither it is thought that they were carried by -Achæan refugees at the time of the Dorian invasion, which extended -to Crete, or whether they remained dormant in Crete itself, and in -the Mycenæan centres of the mainland of Greece, it is in either case -certain that they were well preserved, for their traces are plainly -to be seen throughout Greek civilization. From the Greek writers they -descended to the poets of Rome, and so to the art and literature of -Europe.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="INDEX">INDEX</h2> -</div> - - -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst">Achæans, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Ægean People, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Ægean Sea, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Ægeus, King, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Androgeos, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Architecture, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>-<a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Ariadne, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst">Babylonia, <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Baths, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;</li> -<li class="isuba">or chapels, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Bosanquet, Professor R. C., <a href="#Page_73">73</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Bronze Age, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Bull in Minoan worship, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Bull leaping, <a href="#Page_35">35</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Burial rights, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>-<a href="#Page_82">82</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Burrows, <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> Ronald Montagu, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst">Chapels (or baths?), <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Clay tablets, <a href="#Page_33">33</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Command of the Seas, <a href="#Page_47">47</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Commerce, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Conway, Professor R. S., <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Cornwall, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Craniology, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Cretan race, physical characteristics, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Cupbearer, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst">Dædalus, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Dancing place, <a href="#Page_35">35</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Dark Ages, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Dating, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>;</li> -<li class="isuba">Egyptian equations, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Delos, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">“Discovery,” <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Dog’s Leg Corridor, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Dorians, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Double Axe, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Drainage, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Dress, <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Dromos, <a href="#Page_80">80</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Dussaud, M., <a href="#Page_46">46</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst">Egypt, <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Evans, Sir Arthur, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst">Fortifications, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Fresco-painting, <a href="#Page_53">53</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</span></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst">Gournia, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Great staircase, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Grote, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Grundy, <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Gypsum, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst">Hagia Triada, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Halbherr (<abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr>), <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Hall, E. H., <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Hall, H. R., <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Hall of Colonnades, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Hall of Double Axes, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Hawes, C. H. & H. B., <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Heaton, Noel, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Herodotus, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Hissarlik, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Hogarth (<abbr title="mister">Mr.</abbr>), <a href="#Page_76">76</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Homer, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Horses, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst">Iron Age, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst">Kamares Pottery, <a href="#Page_61">61</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Kingsley, Charles, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Knossos, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>;</li> -<li class="isuba">palace, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>-<a href="#Page_43">43</a>;</li> -<li class="isuba">relations with Phæstos, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>-<a href="#Page_47">47</a>;</li> -<li class="isuba">main drain, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst">Labyrinth, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Lang, Andrew, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Lighting arrangements, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Lime plaster, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Lycia, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst">Mackenzie, <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Mediterranean race, <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Minoan earthquake, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Minoan Empire, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Minoan Libraries, <a href="#Page_33">33</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Minoan Periods, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Minos, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>;</li> -<li class="isuba">Supreme Judge, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Minotaur, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Mosso, Angelo, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Mycenæ, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Mycenæan civilization, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Myres, Professor, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst">National Home Reading Magazine, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Nomenclature, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst">Obsidian, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst">Palace style, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Palaikastro, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Pernier, <abbr title="doctor">Dr.</abbr> L., <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Phæstos, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;</li> -<li class="isuba">relations with Knossos, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>-<a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Phæstos Disc, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Philistines, <a href="#Page_28">28</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</span></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Phœnicia, <a href="#Page_85">85</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Pottery, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>;</li> -<li class="isuba">firing furnace and potter’s wheel, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>-<a href="#Page_64">64</a>;</li> -<li class="isuba">value of in archæology, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>;</li> -<li class="isuba">for purposes of dating, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>;</li> -<li class="isuba">Stone Age, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>;</li> -<li class="isuba">Bronze Age, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>;</li> -<li class="isuba">polishing, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>;</li> -<li class="isuba">paint, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>;</li> -<li class="isuba">kiln, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>;</li> -<li class="isuba">wheel, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>;</li> -<li class="isuba">Kamares, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;</li> -<li class="isuba">“trickle” ornament, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>;</li> -<li class="isuba">lily vase, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>;</li> -<li class="isuba">naturalism, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>;</li> -<li class="isuba">octopus vase, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>;</li> -<li class="isuba">hardware, <a href="#Page_64">64</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Pylos, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst">Queen’s Megaron, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst">Religion, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>;</li> -<li class="isuba">Mother Goddess, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>;</li> -<li class="isuba">Velchanos, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>;</li> -<li class="isuba">mortality of gods, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>;</li> -<li class="isuba">temples, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>;</li> -<li class="isuba">family shrines, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>;</li> -<li class="isuba">cult objects, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>;</li> -<li class="isuba">double axe, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>;</li> -<li class="isuba">horns of consecration, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>;</li> -<li class="isuba">tombs and form of burial, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>-<a href="#Page_82">82</a>;</li> -<li class="isuba">tholos, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>;</li> -<li class="isuba">pit-cave, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>;</li> -<li class="isuba">pot burial, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;</li> -<li class="isuba">graves, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;</li> -<li class="isuba">cremation, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Rhitsona, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Ridgeway, Sir William, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst">Schliemann, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Socrates, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Spencer, Herbert, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Sphacteria, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Stone Age, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst">Theatre, <a href="#Page_35">35</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Tholos tomb, <a href="#Page_80">80</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Throne room, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Thucydides, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Tiryns, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Tomb of the double axes, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Trojan war, <a href="#Page_91">91</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Tylissos, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst">Veniselos, <a href="#Page_13">13</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Vrokastro, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> -</ul> -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst">War equipment, <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Water supply, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Women, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Wood, Use of in building, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Workrooms of palace, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> - -<li class="ifrst">Writing, origin of, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>-<a href="#Page_74">74</a>;</li> -<li class="isuba">clay tablets, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>;</li> -<li class="isuba">pictographs, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>;</li> -<li class="isuba">hieroglyphs, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>;</li> -<li class="isuba">determinatives, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>;</li> -<li class="isuba">linear script, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>;</li> -<li class="isuba">pen and ink, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>;</li> -<li class="isuba">inventories, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>;</li> -<li class="isuba">numerals, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>;</li> -<li class="isuba">Præsos inscription, <a href="#Page_73">73</a></li> -</ul> - 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