{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_19328/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_19328","id":"gutenberg_19328","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/19328","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Archaeology & Anthropology","Category: History - Ancient","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Crete (Greece) -- Antiquities"],"text":"Produced by Robert J. Hall\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration I: THE THRONE OF MINOS (_p_. 72)]\n\n\n\n\nTHE SEA-KINGS\n\nOF CRETE\n\n\nBY REV. JAMES BAIKIE, F.R.A.S.\n\n\nWITH 32 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS\n\n\nSECOND EDITION\n\n\nLONDON\n\nADAM AND CHARLES BLACK\n\n1913\n\n\n\n\nTO MY SISTERS AND MY BROTHERS\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\nThe object aimed at in the following pages has been to offer to\nthe general reader a plain account of the wonderful investigations\nwhich have revolutionized all ideas as to the antiquity and the\nlevel of the earliest European culture, and to endeavour to make\nintelligible the bearing and significance of the results of these\ninvestigations. In the hope that the extraordinary resurrection\nof the first European civilization may appeal to a more extended\nconstituency than that of professed students of ancient origins,\nthe book has been kept as free as possible from technicalities\nand the discussion of controverted points; and throughout I have\nendeavoured to write for those who, while from their school days\nthey have loved the noble and romantic story of Ancient Greece,\nhave been denied the opportunity of a more thorough study of it\nthan comes within the limits of an ordinary education.\n\nIn the first chapter this standpoint may seem to have been unduly\nemphasized, and the retelling of the ancient legends may be accounted\nmere surplusage. Such, no doubt, it will be to some readers, but\nperhaps they may be balanced by others whose recollection of the\ngreat stories of Classic Greece has grown a little faint with the\nlapse of years, and who are not unwilling to have it prompted again.\nReference to the legends was in any case unavoidable, since one\nof the most remarkable results of the explorations has been the\ndisclosure of the solid basis of historic fact on which they rested;\nand, if the book was to accomplish its purpose for the readers\nfor whom it was designed, reference seemed almost necessarily to\ninvolve retelling.\n\nI have to acknowledge extensive obligations to the writings and\nreports of the various investigators who have accomplished so wonderful\na resurrection of this ancient world. My debt to the works of Dr.\nA. J. Evans will be manifest to all who have any acquaintance with\nthe subject; but to such authors as Mrs. H. B. Hawes, Dr. Mackenzie,\nProfessors Burrows, Murray, and Browne, and Messrs. D. G. Hogarth\nand H. R. Hall, to name only a few among many, my obligations are\nonly less than to the acknowledged chief of Cretan explorers.\n\nTo the Rev. James Kennedy, D.D., librarian of the New College,\nEdinburgh, and to the Rev. C. J. M. Middleton, M.A., Crailing,\nmy thanks are due for invaluable help afforded in the collection\nof material, and I have been not less indebted to Mr. A. Brown,\nGalashiels, and to Messrs. C. H. Brown and C. R. A. Howden, Edinburgh,\nand others, for their assistance in the preparation of the\nillustrations. To Mr. A. Brown in particular are due plates II.,\nIII., IV., V., IX., X., XV., XVI., XX., XXIII., XXIV., and XXV.;\nand to Messrs. C. H. Brown and C. R. A. Howden Plates I., VII.,\nVIII., XI., XII., XVII. (I), and XXI. I have to record my hearty\nthanks to the Council of the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic\nStudies for the use of Plates XXIX. and XXX., reproduced by their\npermission from the _Journal of Hellenic Studies_; to the Committee\nof the British School at Athens for the use of Plate XIX. and the\nplan of Knossos from their _Annual_; and to Dr. A. J. Evans and\nMr. John Murray for Plates VI., XIII., and XIV., from the _Monthly\nReview_, March, 1901. For the redrawing and adaptation of the plan\nof Knossos I am indebted to Mr. H. Baikie, B.Sc., Edinburgh, and\nfor the sketch-map of Crete to my wife.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\nCHAPTER I\n\nTHE LEGENDS\n\nCHAPTER II\n\nTHE HOMERIC CIVILIZATION\n\nCHAPTER III\n\nSCHLIEMANN AND HIS WORK\n\nCHAPTER IV\n\nTHE PALACE OF 'BROAD KNOSSOS'\n\nCHAPTER V\n\nTHE PALACE OF 'BROAD KNOSSOS'--_continued_\n\nCHAPTER VI\n\nPHAESTOS, HAGIA TRIADA, AND EASTERN CRETE\n\nCHAPTER VII\n\nCRETE AND EGYPT\n\nCHAPTER VIII\n\nTHE DESTROYERS\n\nCHAPTER IX\n\nTHE PERIODS OF MINOAN CULTURE\n\nCHAPTER X\n\nLIFE UNDER THE SEA-KINGS\n\nCHAPTER XI\n\nLETTERS AND RELIGION\n\nCHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY\n\nBIBLIOGRAPHY\n\nINDEX\n\n\n\n\nLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS\n\n PLATE\n     I. The Throne of Minos\n    II. (1) The Ramp, Troy, Second City; (2) the Circle-Graves, Mycenae\n   III. Wall of Sixth City, Troy\n    IV. The Lion Gate, Mycenae\n     V. (1) Vaulted Passage in Wall, Tiryns; (2) Beehive Tomb\n        (Treasury of Atreus), Mycenae\n    VI. The Cup-Bearer, Knossos\n   VII. The Long Gallery, Knossos\n  VIII. A Magazine with Jars and Kaselles, Knossos\n    IX. (1) Magazine with Jars and Kaselles; (2) Great Jar with\n        Trickle Ornament\n     X. (1) Part of Dolphin Fresco; (2) A Great Jar, Knossos\n    XI. Pillar of the Double Axes\n   XII. (1) Minoan Paved Road; (2) North Entrance, Knossos\n  XIII. Relief of Bull's Head\n   XIV. Clay Tablet with Linear Script, Knossos\n    XV. (1) Palace Wall, West Side, Mount Juktas in Background;\n        (2) Bathroom, Knossos\n   XVI. A Flight of the Quadruple Staircase; (2) Wall with Drain\n  XVII. (1) Hall of the Double Axes; (2) Great Staircase, Knossos\n XVIII. The King's Gaming-Board\n   XIX. Ivory Figurines\n    XX. (1) Main Drain, Knossos; (2) Terra-cotta Drain-Pipes\n   XXI. Theatral Area, Knossos: Before Restoration\n  XXII. Theatral Area, Knossos: Restored\n XXIII. Great Jar with Papyrus Reliefs\n  XXIV. The Royal Villa: (1) The Basilica; (2) Stone Lamp\n   XXV. (1) Knossos Valley; (2) Excavating at Knossos\n  XXVI. Great Staircase, Phaestos\n XXVII. The Harvester Vase, Hagia Triada\nXXVIII. Sarcophagus from Hagia Triada\n  XXIX. Minoan Pottery\n   XXX. Late Minoan Vase from Mycenae\n  XXXI. Kamares Vases from Phaestos and Hagia Triada\n XXXII. Goldsmiths' Work from Beehive Tombs, Phaestos\n\nSKETCH MAP OF CRETE\n\nPLAN OF KNOSSOS\n\n\n[Illustration: SKETCH MAP OF CRETE To Illustrate THE SEA KINGS OF\nCRETE BY The Rev. James Baikie, F.R.A.S.]\n\n\n\n\nTHE SEA-KINGS OF CRETE\n\nAND THE\n\nPREHISTORIC CIVILIZATION OF GREECE\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I\n\nTHE LEGENDS\n\nThe resurrection of the prehistoric age of Greece, and the disclosure\nof the astonishing standard of civilization which had been attained\non the mainland and in the isles of the AEgean at a period at least\n2,000 years earlier than that at which Greek history, as hitherto\nunderstood, begins, may be reckoned as among the most interesting\nresults of modern research into the relics of the life of past\nages. The present generation has witnessed remarkable discoveries in\nMesopotamia and in Egypt, but neither Niffur nor Abydos disclosed a\nworld so entirely new and unexpected as that which has been revealed\nby the work of Schliemann and his successors at Troy, Mycenae, and\nTiryns, and by that of Evans and the other explorers--Italian,\nBritish, and American--in Crete. The Mesopotamian and Egyptian\ndiscoveries traced back a little farther streams which had already\nbeen followed far up their course; those of Schliemann and Evans\nrevealed the reality of one which, so to speak, had hitherto been\nbelieved to flow only through the dreamland of legend. It was obvious\nthat mighty men must have existed before Agamemnon, but what manner\nof men they were, and in what manner of world they lived, were\nmatters absolutely unknown, and, to all appearance, likely to remain\nso. An abundant wealth of legend told of great Kings and heroes,\nof stately palaces, and mighty armies, and powerful fleets, and\nthe whole material of an advanced civilization. But the legends\nwere manifestly largely imaginative--deities and demi-gods, men\nand fabulous monsters, were mingled in them on the same plane--and\nit seemed impossible that we should ever get back to the solid\nground, if solid ground had ever existed, on which these ancient\nstories first rested.\n\nFor the historian of the middle of the nineteenth century Greek\nhistory began with the First Olympiad in 776 B.C. Before that the\nstory of the return of the Herakleids and the Dorian conquest of\nthe men of the Bronze Age might very probably embody, in a fanciful\nform, a genuine historical fact; the Homeric poems were to be treated\nwith respect, not only on account of their supreme poetical merit,\nbut as possibly representing a credible tradition, though, of course,\ntheir pictures of advanced civilization were more or less imaginative\nprojections upon the past of the culture of the writer's own period\nor periods. Beyond that lay the great waste land of legend, in\nwhich gods and godlike heroes moved and enacted their romances\namong 'Gorgons and Hydras and Chimeras dire.' What proportion of\nfact, if any, lay in the stories of Minos, the great lawgiver,\nand his war fleet, and his Labyrinth, with its monstrous occupant;\nof Theseus and Ariadne and the Minotaur; of Daedalus, the first\naeronaut, and his wonderful works of art and science; or of any\nother of the thousand and one beautiful or tragic romances of ancient\nHellas, to attempt to determine this lay utterly beyond the sphere\nof the serious historian. 'To analyze the fables,' says Grote, 'and\nto elicit from them any trustworthy particular facts, appears to\nme a fruitless attempt. The religious recollections, the romantic\ninventions, and the items of matter of fact, _if any such there\nbe_, must for ever remain indissolubly amalgamated, as the poet\noriginally blended them, for the amusement or edification of his\nauditors.... It was one of the agreeable dreams of the Grecian epic\nthat the man who travelled far enough northward beyond the Rhiphaean\nMountains would in time reach the delicious country and genial\nclimate of the virtuous Hyperboreans, the votaries and favourites of\nApollo, who dwelt in the extreme north, beyond the chilling blasts\nof Boreas. Now, the hope that we may, by carrying our researches\nup the stream of time, exhaust the limits of fiction, and land\nultimately upon some points of solid truth, appears to me no less\nillusory than this northward journey in quest of the Hyperborean\nelysium.' Grote's frankly sceptical attitude represents fairly\nwell the general opinion of the middle of last century. The myths\nwere beautiful, but their value was not in any sense historical;\nit arose from the light which they cast upon the workings of the\nactive Greek mind, and the revelation which they gave of the innate\npoetic faculty which created myths so far excelling those of any\nother nation.\n\nWithin the last forty years all this has been changed. Opinions\nlike that so dogmatically expressed by our great historian are\nno longer held by anyone who has followed the current of modern\ninvestigations, and remain only as monuments of the danger of\ndogmatizing on matters concerning which all preconceived ideas\nmay be upset by the results of a single season's spade-work on\nsome ancient site; and he would be a bold man who would venture\nto-day to call 'illusory' the search for 'points of solid truth'\nin the old legends, or to assert that 'the items of matter of fact,\nif any such there be,' are inextricable from the mass of romantic\ninventions in which they are embedded. The work, of course, is by\nno means complete; very probably it is scarcely more than well\nbegun; but already the dark gulf of time that lay behind the Dorian\nconquest is beginning to yield up the unquestionable evidences of\na great, and splendid, and almost incredibly ancient civilization,\nwhich neither for its antiquity nor for its actual attainment has\nany cause to shrink from comparison with the great historic\ncivilizations of Mesopotamia or the Nile Valley; and while the\nprocess of disentangling the historic nucleus of the legends from\ntheir merely mythical and romantic elements cannot yet be undertaken\nwith any approach to certainty, it is becoming continually more\napparent, not only that in many cases there was such a nucleus,\nbut also what were some of the historic elements around which the\npoetic fancy of later times drew the fanciful wrappings of the\nheroic tales as we know them. It is not yet possible to trace and\nidentify the actual figures of the heroes of prehistoric Greece:\nprobably it never will be possible, unless the as yet untranslated\nCretan script should furnish the records of a more ancient Herodotus,\nand a new Champollion should arise to decipher them; but there\ncan scarcely be any reasonable doubt that genuine men and women\nof AEgean stock filled the roles of these ancient romances, and\nthat the wondrous story of their deeds is, in part at least, the\nrecord of actual achievements.\n\nIn this remarkable resurrection of the past the most important\nand convincing part has been played by the evidence from Crete.\nThe discoveries which were made during the last quarter of the\nnineteenth century by Schliemann and his successors at Mycencae,\nTiryns, Orchomenos, and elsewhere, were quite conclusive as to\nthe former existence of a civilization quite equal to, and in all\nprobability the original of, that which is described for us in the\nHomeric poems; but it was not until the treasures of Knossos and\nPhaestos began to be revealed in 1900 and the subsequent years that\nit became manifest that what was known as the Mycenaean civilization\nwas itself only the decadence of a far richer and fuller culture,\nwhose fountain-head and whose chief sphere of development had been\nin Crete. And it has been in Crete that exploration and discovery\nhave led to the most striking illustration of many of the statements\nin the legends and traditions, and have made it practically certain\nthat much of what used to be considered mere romantic fable represents,\nwith, of course, many embellishments of fancy, a good deal of historic\nfact.\n\nOur first task, therefore, is to gather together the main features\nof what the ancient legends of Greece narrated about Crete and its\ninhabitants, and their relations to the rest of the AEgean world.\nThe position of Crete--'a halfway house between three continents,\nflanked by the great Libyan promontory, and linked by smaller island\nstepping-stones to the Peloponnese and the mainland of Anatolia'--marks\nit out as designed by Nature to be a centre of development in the\nculture of the early AEgean race, and, in point of fact, ancient\ntraditions unanimously pointed to the great island as being the\nbirthplace of Greek civilization. The most ambitious tradition\nboldly transcended the limits of human occupation, and gave to\nDivinity itself a place of nurture in the fastnesses of the Cretan\nmountains. That many-sided deity, the supreme god of the Greek\ntheology, had in one of his aspects a special connection with the\nisland. The great son of Kronos and Rhea, threatened by his unnatural\nfather with the same doom which had overtaken his brethren, was said\nto have been saved by his mother, who substituted for him a stone,\nwhich her unsuspecting spouse devoured, thinking it to be his son.\nRhea fled to Crete to bear her son, either in the Idaean or the Dictaean\ncave, where he was nourished with honey and goat's milk by the nymph\nAmaltheia until the time was ripe for his vengeance upon his father.\n(It has been suggested that in this somewhat grotesque legend we\nhave a parabolic representation of one of the great religious facts\nof that ancient world--the supersession by the new anthropomorphic\nfaith of the older cult, whose objects of adoration, made without\nhands, and devoid of human likeness, were sacred stones or trees.\nKronos, the representative of the old faith, clung to his sacred\nstone, while the new human God was being born, before whose worship\nthe ancient cult of the pillar and the tree should pass away.)\n\nIn the Dictaean cave, also, Zeus grown to maturity, was united to\nEuropa, the daughter of man, in the sacred marriage from which\nsprang Minos, the great legendary figure of Crete. And to Crete\nthe island god returned to close his divine life. Primitive legend\nasserted that his tomb was on Mount Juktas, the conical hill which\noverlooks the ruins of the city of Minos, his son, his friend,\nand his priest. It was this surprising claim of the Cretans to\npossess the burial-place of the supreme God of Hellas which first\nattached to them the unenviable reputation for falsehood which\nclung to them throughout the classical period, and was crystallized\nby Callimachus in the form adopted by St. Paul in the Epistle to\nTitus--'The Cretans are alway liars.'\n\nIt is round Minos, the son of Zeus and Europa, that the bulk of\nthe Cretan legends gathers. The suggestion has been made, with\ngreat probability, that the name Minos is not so much the name\nof a single person as the title of a race of kings. 'I suspect,'\nsays Professor Murray, 'that Minos was a name, like \"Pharaoh\" or\n\"Caesar,\" given to all Cretan Kings of a certain type.' With that,\nhowever, we need not concern ourselves at present, further than\nto notice that the bearer of the name appears in the legends in\nmany different characters, scarcely consistent with one another,\nor with his being a single person. According to the story, Minos\nis not only the son but also the 'gossip' of Zeus; he is, like\nAbraham, 'the friend of God.' He receives from the hand of God,\nlike another Moses, the code of laws which becomes the basis of all\nsubsequent legislation; he holds frequent and familiar intercourse\nwith God, and, once in every nine years, he goes up to the Dictaean\ncave of the Bull-God 'to converse with Zeus,' to receive new\ncommandments, and to give account of his stewardship during the\nintervening period. Finally, at the close of his life, he is transferred\nto the underworld, and the great human lawgiver becomes the judge\nof the dead in Hades.\n\nThat is one side of the Minos legend, perhaps the most ancient;\nbut along with it there exists another group of stories of a very\ndifferent character, so different as to lend colour to the suggestion\nthat we are now dealing, not with the individual Minos who first\ngave the name its vogue, but with a successor or successors in the\nsame title. The Minos who is most familiar to us in Greek story\nis not so much the lawgiver and priest of God as the great sea-King\nand tyrant, the overlord of the AEgean, whose vengeance was defeated\nby the bravery of the Athenian hero, Theseus. From this point of\nview, Minos was the first of men who recognized the importance of\nsea-power, and used it to establish the supremacy of his island\nkingdom. 'The first person known to us as having established a\nnavy,' says Thucydides, 'is Minos. He made himself master of what\nis now called the Hellenic sea, and ruled over the Cyclades, into\nmost of which he sent the first colonies, expelling the Carians,\nand appointing his own sons governors; and thus did his best to\nput down piracy in those waters, a necessary step to secure the\nrevenues for his own use.' To Herodotus also, Minos, though obviously\na shadowy figure, is the first great Thalassokrat. 'Polykrates\nis the first of the Grecians of whom we know who formed a design\nto make himself master of the sea, except Minos the Knossian.'\nBut the evidence for the existence of this early Sea-King and his\npower rests on surer grounds than the vague tradition recorded by\nthe two great historians. The power of Minos has left its imprint\nin unmistakable fashion in the places which were called by his\nname. Each of the Minoas which appear so numerously on the coasts\nof the Mediterranean, from Sicily on the west to Gaza on the east,\nmarks a spot where the King or Kings who bore the name of Minos\nonce held a garrison or a trading-station, and their number shows\nhow wide-reaching was the power of the Cretan sea-Kings.\n\nBut the great King was by no means so fortunate in his domestic\nrelationships as in his foreign adventures. The domestic skeleton\nin his case was the composite monster the Minotaur, half man, half\nbull, fabled to have been the fruit of a monstrous passion on the\npart of the King's wife, Pasiphae. This monster was kept shut up\nwithin a vast and intricate building called the Labyrinth, contrived\nfor Minos by his renowned artificer, Daedalus. Further, when his own\nson, Androgeos, had gone to Athens to contend in the Panathenaic\ngames, having overcome all the other Greeks in the sports, he fell\na victim to the suspicion of AEgeus, the King of Athens, who caused\nhim to be slain, either by waylaying him on the road to Thebes,\nor by sending him against the Marathonian bull. In his sorrow and\nrighteous anger, Minos, who had already conquered Megara by the\ntreachery of Scylla, raised a great fleet, and levied war upon\nAthens; and, having wasted Attica with fire and sword, he at length\nreduced the land to such straits that King AEgeus and his Athenians\nwere glad to submit to the hard terms which were asked of them.\nThe demand of Minos was that every ninth year Athens should send\nhim as tribute seven youths and seven maidens. These were selected\nby lot, or, according to another version of the legend, chosen by\nMinos himself, and on their arrival in Crete were cast into the\nLabyrinth, to become the prey of the monstrous Minotaur.\n\nThe first and second instalments of this ghastly tribute had already\nbeen paid; but when the time of the third tribute was drawing nigh,\nthe predestined deliverer of Athens appeared in the person of the\nhero Theseus. Theseus was the unacknowledged son of King AEgeus\nand the Princess Aithra of Troezen. He had been brought up by his\nmother at Troezen, and on arriving at early manhood had set out\nto make his way to the Court of AEgeus and secure acknowledgment\nas the rightful son of the Athenian King. The legend tells how on\nhis way to Athens he cleared the lands through which he journeyed\nof the pests which had infested them. Sinnis, the pine-bender,\nwho tied his miserable victims to the tops of two pine-trees bent\ntowards one another and then allowed the trees to spring back,\nthe young hero dealt with as he had dealt with others; Kerkuon,\nthe wrestler, was slain by him in a wrestling bout; Procrustes,\nwho enticed travellers to his house and made them fit his bed,\nstretching the short upon the rack and lopping the limbs of the\nover-tall, had his own measure meted to him; and various other\nplagues of society were abated by the young hero. Not long after\nhis arrival at Athens and acknowledgment by his father, the time\ncame round when the Minoan heralds should come to Athens to claim\nthe victims for the Minotaur. Seeing the grief that prevailed in\nthe city, and the anger of the people against his father, AEgeus,\nwhom they accounted the cause of their misfortune, Theseus determined\nthat, if possible, he would make an end of this humiliation and\nmisery, and accordingly offered himself as one of the seven youths\nwho were to be devoted to the Minotaur. AEgeus was loth to part with\nhis newly-found son, but at length he consented to the venture;\nand it was agreed that if Theseus succeeded in vanquishing the\nMinotaur and bringing back his comrades in safety, he should hoist\nwhite sails on his returning galley instead of the black ones which\nshe had always borne in token of her melancholy mission.\n\nSo at length the sorrowful ship came to the harbour in the bay below\nbroad Knossos where Minos reigned, and when the King had viewed\nhis captives they were cast into prison to await their dreadful\ndoom. But fair-haired Ariadne, the daughter of Minos, had marked\nTheseus as he stood before the King, and love to him had risen\nup in her heart, and pity at the thought of his fate; and so by\nnight she came to his dungeon, and when she could not persuade\nhim to save himself by flight, because that he had sworn to kill\nthe Minotaur and save his companions, she gave him a clue of thread\nby which he might be able to retrace his way through all the dark\nand winding passages of the Labyrinth, and a sword wherewith to\ndeal with the Minotaur when he encountered him. So Theseus was\nled away by the guards, and put into the Labyrinth to meet his\nfate; and he went on, with the clue which he had fastened to his\narm unwinding itself as he passed through passage after passage,\nuntil at last he met the dreadful monster; and there, in the depths\nof the Labyrinth, the Minotaur, who had slain so many, was himself\nslain. Then Theseus and his companions escaped, taking Ariadne\nwith them, and fled to their black ship, and set sail for Attica\nagain; and landing for awhile in the island of Naxos, Ariadne there\nbecame the hero's wife. But she never came to Athens with Theseus,\nbut was either deserted by him in Naxos, or, as some say, was taken\nfrom him there by force. So, without her, Theseus sailed again\nfor Athens. But in their excitement at the hope of seeing once\nmore the home they had thought to have looked their last upon, he\nand his companions forgot to hoist the white sail; and old AEgeus,\nstraining his eyes on Sunium day after day for the returning ship,\nsaw her at last come back black-winged as he had feared; and in\nhis grief he fell, or cast himself, into the sea, and so died, and\nthus the sea is called the AEgean to this day. Another tradition,\nrecorded by the poet Bacchylides, tells how Theseus, at the challenge\nof Minos, descended to the palace of Amphitrite below the sea, and\nbrought back with him the ring, 'the splendour of gold,' which\nthe King had thrown into the deep.\n\nSo runs the great story which links Minos and Crete with the favourite\nhero of Athens. But other legends, not so famous nor so romantic, carry\non the story of the great Cretan King to a miserable close. Daedalus,\nhis famous artificer, was also an Athenian, and the most cunning of\nall men. To him was ascribed the invention of the plumb-line and\nthe auger, the wedge and the level; and it was he who first set\nmasts in ships and bent sails upon them. But having slain, through\njealousy, his nephew Perdix, who promised to excel him in skill, he\nwas forced to flee from Athens, and so came to the Court of Minos.\nFor the Cretan King he wrought many wonderful works, rearing for him\nthe Labyrinth, and the Choros, or dancing-ground, which, as Homer\ntells us, he 'wrought in broad Knossos for fair-haired Ariadne.'\nBut for his share in the great crime of Pasiphae Minos hated him,\nand shut him up in the Labyrinth which he himself had made. Then\nDaedalus made wings for himself and his son Icarus, and fastened\nthem with wax, and together the two flew from their prison-house\nhigh above the pursuit of the King's warfleet. But Icarus flew too\nnear the sun, and the wax that fastened his wings melted, and he\nfell into the sea. So Daedalus alone came safely to Sicily, and was\nthere hospitably received by King Kokalos of Kamikos, for whom, as\nfor Minos, he executed many marvellous works. Then Minos, still\nthirsting for revenge, sailed with his fleet for Kamikos, to demand\nthe surrender of Daedalus; and Kokalos, affecting willingness to\ngive up the fugitive, received Minos with seeming friendship, and\nordered the bath to be prepared for his royal guest. But the three\ndaughters of the Sicilian King, eager to protect Daedalus, drowned\nthe Cretan in the bath, and so he perished miserably. And many of\nthe men who had sailed with him remained in Sicily, and founded\nthere a town which they named Minoa, in memory of their murdered\nKing.\n\n[Illustration II: (1) THE RAMP, TROY, SECOND CITY (_p_. 38)\n\n(2) THE CIRCLE GRAVES, MYCENAE (_p_. 43)]\n\nHerodotus has preserved for us another echo of the story of Minos\nin the shape of the reasons which led the Cretans to refuse aid to\nthe rest of the Greeks during the Persian invasion. The Delphian\noracle, which they consulted at this crisis, suggested to them that\nthey had known enough of the misery caused by foreign expeditions.\n'Fools, you complain of all the woes that Minos in his anger sent you,\nfor aiding Menelaus, because they would not assist you in avenging\nhis death at Kamikos, and yet you assisted them in avenging a woman\nwho was carried off from Sparta by a barbarian.' In commentary\non this saying Herodotus gives the explanation which was given\nto him by the inhabitants of Praesos, in Crete. After the death\nof Minos, the Cretans, with a great armada, invaded Sicily, and\nbesieged Kamikos ineffectually for five years; but finding themselves\nunable to continue the siege, and being driven ashore on the Italian\ncoast during their retreat, they founded there the city of Hyria.\nCrete, being thus left desolate, was repeopled by other tribes,\n'especially the Grecians'; and in the third generation after the\ndeath of Minos the new Cretan people sent a contingent to help\nAgamemnon in the Trojan War, as a punishment for which famine and\npestilence fell on them, and the island was depopulated a second\ntime, so that the Cretans of the time of the Persian invasion are\nthe third race to inhabit the island. In this tradition we may\nsee a distorted reflection of the various vicissitudes which, as\nwe shall see later, appear to have befallen the Minoan kingdom,\nand of the incursions which, after the fall of Knossos, gradually\nchanged the character of the island population.\n\nSuch, then, are the most familiar of the legends and traditions\nassociated with prehistoric Crete. Some of these, touching on the\npersonality of Minos and his relationship with Zeus, have their\nown significance in connection with the little that is known of\nthe Minoan religion, and will fall to be discussed later from that\npoint of view. The famous story of Theseus and the Minotaur, though\nit, too, may have its connection with the religious conceptions\nwhich gather round the name of Minos, seems at first sight to move\nentirely in the realm of pure romance. Yet the conviction of its\nreality was very strong with the Athenians, and was indeed expressed\nin a ceremony which held its own to a late stage in Athenian history.\nThe ship in which Theseus was said to pave made his voyage was\npreserved with the utmost care till at least the beginning of the\nthird century B.C., her timbers being constantly 'so pieced and\nnew-framed with strong plank that it afforded an example to the\nphilosophers in their disputations concerning the identity of things\nthat are changed by growth, some contending that it was the same,\nand others that it was not.' It was this galley, or the vessel\nwhich tradition affirmed to be the galley of Theseus, which was\nsent every year from Athens to Delos with solemn sacrifices and\nspecially nominated envoys. One of her voyages has become for ever\nmemorable owing to the fact that the death of Socrates was postponed\nfor thirty days because of the galley's absence; for so great was\nthe reverence in which this annual ceremony was held that during\nthe time of her voyage the city was obliged to abstain from all\nacts carrying with them public impurity, so that it was not lawful\nto put a condemned man to death until the galley returned. The\nmere fact of such a tradition as that of the galley is at least\npresumptive evidence that some historic ground lay behind a belief\nso persistent, however the story may have been added to and adorned\nwith supernatural details by later imagination; and it is difficult\nto see how Grote, on the very threshold of recounting the Athenians'\nconviction about the ship, and their solemn sacrificial use of\nher, should pause to reaffirm his unbelief in the existence of any\nhistoric ground for the main feature of the legend--the tribute\nof human victims paid by Athens to Crete.\n\n[Illustration III: WALL OF SIXTH CITY, TROY (_p_. 41)]\n\nLater Athenian writers of a rationalizing turn endeavoured to bring\ndown the noble old legend to the level of the commonplace by\ntransforming the Minotaur into a mere general or famous athlete\nnamed Taurus, whom Theseus vanquished in Crete. But the rationalistic\nversion never found much favour, and the Athenian potter was always\nsure of a market for his vases with pictures of the bull-headed\nMinotaur falling to the sword of the national hero. No more fortunate\nhas been the German attempt to resolve the story of Minos and the\nMinotaur, the Labyrinth and Pasiphae, into a clumsy solar myth.\nThe whole legend of the Minotaur, on this theory, was connected\nwith the worship of the heavenly host. The Minotaur was the Sun;\nPasiphae, 'the very bright one,' wife of Minos, was the Moon; and\nthe Labyrinth was the tower on whose walls the astronomers of the\nday traced the wanderings of the heavenly bodies, 'an image of\nthe starry heaven, with its infinitely winding paths, in which,\nnevertheless, the sun and moon so surely move about.' Among\nrationalizing explanations this must surely hold the palm for\ncumbrousness and complexity, and we may be thankful that the explorer's\nspade has demolished it along with other theories, and given back\nto us, as we shall see, at least the elements of a romance such\nas that which was so dear to the Athenian public.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II\n\nTHE HOMERIC CIVILIZATION\n\nBetween the Greece of such legends as those which we have been\nconsidering and the Greece of the earliest historic period there\nhas always been a great gulf of darkness. On the one side a land\nof seemingly fabulous Kings and heroes and monsters, of fabulous\npalaces and cities; on the other side. Greece as we know it in\nthe infant stages of its development, with a totally different\nstate of society, a totally different organization and culture; and\nin the interval no one could say how many generations, concerning\nwhich, and their conditions and developments, there was nothing\nbut blank ignorance. So that it seemed as though the marvellous\nfabric of Greek civilization as we know it were indeed something\nunexampled, rising almost at once out of nothing to its height of\nsplendour, as the walls of Ilium were fabled to have risen beneath\nthe hands of their divine builders. Indeed, a certain section of\nstudents seemed rather to glory in the fact of this seeming isolation\nof Greek culture, and to deem it little short of profanity to seek\nany pre-existing sources for it. 'The fathering of the Greek on\nthe pre-existing profane cultures has been scouted by perfervid\nHellenists in terms which implied that they hold it little else\nthan impiety. Allowing no causation more earthly than vague local\ninfluences of air and light, mountain and sea, they would have\nHellenism born into the world by a miracle of generation, like\nits own Athena from the head of Zeus.'[*] But a great civilization\ncan never be accounted for in this miraculous fashion. The origins\nof even Egyptian culture have begun to yield themselves to patient\nresearch, and it is not permissible to believe that the Greek nation\nwas born in a day into its great inheritance, or that it derived\nnothing from earlier ages and races.\n\n[Footnote *: D. G. Hogarth, 'Ionia and the East,' p. 21.]\n\nIndeed, the supreme monument of the matchless literature of Hellas\nbore witness to the fact that, prior to the beginnings of Greek\nhistory, there had existed on Greek soil a civilization of a very\nhigh type, differing from, in some respects even superior to, that\nwhich succeeded it, but manifestly refusing to be left out of\nconsideration in any attempt to describe the beginnings of Greek\nculture. The Homeric poems shone like a beacon light across the\ndark gulf which separated the Hellas of myth from the Hellas of\nhistory, testifying to a splendour that had been before the darkness,\nand prophesying of a splendour that should be when the darkness\nhad passed. But the very brilliance of their pictures and the\nmagnificence of the society with which they dealt only added to\nthe complication of the question, and emphasized the difficulty\nof deriving the culture of historic Greece by legitimate filiation\nfrom a past which seemed to have no connection and no community of\ncharacter with it. For the Homeric civilization was not a different\nstage of development of that same civilization which appears when\nthe first beginnings of what we are accustomed to call Hellenism\nare presented to us; it was totally diverse, and in many respects\nmore complex and more splendid.\n\nFrom the eighth century onwards we are on moderately safe ground\nwhen dealing with the history of Hellas and its culture. We know\nsomething of the actual facts of its history, literary and political.\nThe chronicles of the more important cities are known with a\ndefiniteness fairly comparable to what we might expect at such\na stage of development. But the Homeric poems take us away from\nall that into a world in which a totally different state of things\nprevails. The very geography is not that of the historical Hellenic\nperiod. The names that are familiar to us as those of the chief\nGreek cities and states are of comparatively minor importance in\nthe Homeric world; Athens is mentioned, but not with any prominence;\nCorinth is merely a dependency of its neighbour Mycenae; Sparta\nonly ranks along with other towns of Laconia; Delphi and Olympia\nhave not yet assumed anything like the place which they afterwards\noccupy as religious centres during the historic period. The chief\ncities of Hellas are Mycenae, Tiryns, and Orchomenos. Crete, although\nits chiefs, Idomeneus and Meriones, are only of secondary rank among\nthe heroes of the Iliad, is obviously one of the most important\nof Grecian lands. It sends eighty ships to the Achaean fleet at\nTroy, it is described both in the Iliad and the Odyssey as being\nvery populous (a hundred cities, Iliad II.; ninety cities, Odyssey\nXIX.), and to its capital, Knossos, alone among Greek cities does\nHomer apply the epithet 'great.' All which offers a striking contrast\nto the comparative insignificance of the towns of the Argolid in\nlater Greek history, and to the uninfluential part played by Crete.\n\nThe centres of power, then, in the Homeric story are widely different\nfrom those of the historic period. The same divergence from later\nrealities is manifest when we come to look at the social organization\ncontemplated in the Iliad and the Odyssey. The Homeric state of\nsociety is, in some respects, rude enough. Piracy, for instance,\nis recognized as, if not a laudable, at all events a quite ordinary\nmethod of gaining a livelihood. 'Who are you?' says Nestor to\nTelemachus. 'Whence do you come? Are you engaged in trade, or do\nyou rove at adventure as sea-robbers who wander at hazard of their\nlives, bringing bane to strangers?' The same question is addressed\nto Odysseus by Polyphemus, and was plainly the first thing thought of\nwhen a seafaring stranger was encountered. As among the Highlanders\nand Borderers of Scotland, cattle-lifting was looked upon as a\nperfectly respectable form of employment, and stolen cattle were\nconsidered a quite proper gift for a prospective bridegroom to\noffer to his father-in-law. The power of the strong hand was, in\nmost respects, supreme, and the rights of a tribe or a city were\nrespected more on account of the ability of its men to defend them\nthan because of any moral obligation. 'We will sack a town for you,'\nsays Menelaus to Telemachus, as an inducement to him to settle in\nLaconia.\n\nAlong with this primitive rudeness goes, on the other hand, a strongly\naristocratic constitution of society. The great leaders and chiefs,\nthe long-haired Achaeans, are absolutely separated from the common\npeople, not in rank only, but to all appearance in race. They are\na superior caste, and of a different breed. Even to their King\ntheir subjection is not much more than nominal, and he has to be\nvery careful of offending their susceptibilities or wounding their\nsense of their own importance, while their treatment of the commons\nbeneath them is sufficiently disdainful. Though the commons are\nsummoned sometimes to the Council, their function there is merely a\npassive one; they are called to hear what has been determined, and\nto approve of it, if they so desire, but in no case have they any\nalternative to accepting it, even should they disapprove. Altogether\nthe superiority of the Achaean nobles, and the haughtiness with\nwhich they bear themselves, is such as to suggest that they hold\nthe position, not of tribal chieftains ruling over clansmen of the\nsame stock as themselves, but of a separate and conquering race\nholding dominion over, and using the services of, the vanquished,\nmuch after the manner of the Norman lordship in Sicily.\n\nAll this is sufficiently different from the state of things during\nthe historic period. It is not an undeveloped condition of the\nsame society that is in contemplation; it is a totally distinct\nsocial organization. With regard to the position of woman, the\nfacts are even more remarkable, for if the Homeric picture be a\ntrue one, historic Hellas, instead of representing an advance upon\nthe prehistoric age, presents a distinct retrogression. In the\nHomeric poems woman occupies a position, not only important, but\neven comparable in many respects to that held by her in modern\nlife. She is not secluded from sight and kept in the background, as\nin later Hellenic society; on the contrary, she mixes freely with\nthe other sex in private and in public, and is uniformly depicted\nas exercising a very strong, and generally beneficent, influence.\nThe very names of Andromache, Penelope, Nausicaa, stand as types\nof all that is purest and sweetest in womanhood. The fact that a\nwife is purchased by bride-gifts does not militate against the\nrespect in which she is held or the regard which is paid to her\nrights. The contrast between this state of affairs and that prevailing\nin later Greek society is sufficiently marked to render comment\nunnecessary.\n\nBut perhaps the most striking feature of the setting of the Homeric\nstory is the type of material civilization which is described in\nthe poems. We are confronted with a society not by any means in a\nprimitive stage of development, but, on the contrary, far advanced\nin the arts of peace, and capable of the highest achievements in\nart and architecture. Some of the proofs of its advancement may\nbe briefly noticed. Into the vexed question of the Homeric palace,\nits form, and the conditions of life thereby indicated, there is\nno need to enter; for about the point which chiefly concerns our\nimmediate purpose there is no question at all. The Homeric palace,\ndescribed at some length in at least three instances, is a building\nnot merely large and commodious, but of somewhat imposing magnificence.\nThe palace of Alcinous, for example, is pictured for us as gleaming\nwith the splendour of the sun and moon, with walls of bronze, a\nfrieze of _kuanos_ (blue glass paste), and golden doors, with lintels\nand door-posts of silver, while the approaches to it are guarded\nby dogs wrought in silver. The whole reminds one rather of the\ndescription of one of the vast Egyptian temples of the Eighteenth\nor Nineteenth Dynasty than of what one would have imagined the\npalace of an island chieftain. The Palaces of Priam at Troy, and\nof Odysseus at Ithaca, less gorgeously adorned in detail, are not\nless stately, and even the abode of Menelaus in comparatively\ninsignificant Sparta is described as 'gleaming with gold, amber,\nsilver, and ivory.' The minor appointments of these splendid homes\nare in keeping with their structural magnificence. Great vessels\nof gold, silver, and bronze are in common use, the richly dyed\nand wrought robes of the chiefs and their wives and daughters are\nstored in chests splendidly decorated and inlaid, and the adornments\nof the women are of costly and beautiful fabric in gold and silver.\nIn the manners and customs of the inhabitants of these stately\nhouses there is a certain patriarchal simplicity. The Princess\nNausicaa, daughter of King Alcinous, conducts the family washing as\na regular and expected part of her work, while the great chieftains\nthemselves are men of their hands not only on the battle-field,\nbut in the common labours of peace. Odysseus is a capable plough\nman, carpenter, and shipwright, as well as a good soldier. But\nthe simplicity is by no means rudeness; it consists with a highly\ndeveloped code of manners, and even a considerable refinement.\nBrutes like Penelope's suitors may, in half-drunken anger, fling\nthe furniture or an ox-hoof at the object of their scorn; but there\nare brutes in every society, and the manners of the Achaeans in\ngeneral are stately and dignified.\n\nOn the field of war there is still evidence of an advanced stage\nof civilization. The whole question of the equipment of the Homeric\nheroes has been the subject of perhaps even more dispute than that\nof the Homeric house. Infinite pains have been spent in the effort\nto show, on the one hand, that the equipment worn by the heroes\nof the Iliad was of the more ancient type, consisting mainly of\na great shield of ox-hide large enough to cover the whole body,\nbehind which the warrior crouched, wearing for defensive armour\nno more than a linen corselet and leathern cap and gaiters, and\non the other that the hero wore practically the complete panoply\nof the later Hellenic hoplite, the small round shield, the bronze\nhelmet, with metal cuirass, belt, and greaves; while the question\nof whether the offensive weapons were of iron or of bronze has been\ndebated with equal pertinacity. The discussion of such details\nis beyond our purpose, and it is sufficient to say that the poems\nseem to contemplate both forms of defensive equipment, the old\nform of large shield and light body armour, and the later form of\nsmall shield and metal panoply, as being in common use, while on\nthe question of iron versus bronze, the evidence seems to indicate\nthat the age contemplated by the bulk of the references is, in the\nmain, a bronze-using one, though the knowledge of the superiority\nof iron is beginning to make itself evident.\n\nBut the point which is of importance for our present purpose is the\nmagnificence with which the arms of the Hellenic heroes, when of\nmetal, are wrought and decorated. The polished helmets, with their\nhorse-hair plumes of various colours, the in-wrought breastplates,\nand the greaves with their silver fastenings, are not only weapons,\nbut works of art as well. The supreme instance is, of course, the\narmour of Achilles, fabricated, according to the poet, by the hands\nof Hephaestos, but none the less to be regarded as the ideal of\nwhat the highly wrought armour of the time should be. The shield\nof Achilles, with its gorgeous representations of various scenes\nof peace and war, seems almost to transcend the possibilities of\nactual metal work at such a period; yet we may believe that the\npoet was not merely drawing upon his imagination, but giving a\nheightened picture of what he had himself witnessed in the way\nof the armourer's art. Chiefly to be noticed with regard to it\nis the way in which he describes the method used by Hephaestos in\nproducing his effects--the inlaying of various metals to get the\ncolours desired, for instance, in the vineyard scene with its dangling\nclusters of purple grapes, its poles, and ditch, and fence. Would\nany poet have imagined this had he been entirely unacquainted with\nsimilar products of the armourer's art? As we shall see, it is\nprecisely this use of the inlaying of metal with metal, to represent\nthe different colours of the various figures involved, which is\ncharacteristic of the skilled armourer's work in the Mycenaean period.\n\nSuch, then, are a few of the outstanding features of the state\nof society described for us in the Homeric poems. We are brought\nby them face to face with a civilization which has very distinct\nand pronounced characteristics of its own. It is certainly not the\ncivilization of the earliest historic period of Greece; political\norganization, the relative importance of states and cities, social\nlife, art and warfare--all are different from anything we find in\nthe Hellas of history; in many respects this world of the poems\nis at a higher stage of development than that which succeeded it;\nbut certainly it is different. Now, the question of importance for\nus is--Had this poetic world of the Iliad and Odyssey any basis\nin fact, or was it merely the creation of the poet or poets who\nwere responsible for the tales of Ilium and of Odysseus? Were they\ndescribing things which they had seen, or of which the tradition\nat least had been handed down to them by those who had seen them,\nor were they telling of things which never had any existence save\nin their own minds?\n\nThis question, of course, is plainly quite distinct from that of\nwhether the tales they tell are history or romance. The stories of\nthe flight of Helen, of the siege of Troy, the anger of Achilles,\nthe valour of Hector, and the love of Andromache, of the wanderings\nof much-enduring Odysseus, and the trials of his faithful wife,\nPenelope, may be fact, or they may be fiction, or, more probably\nperhaps than either, they may be fact largely mingled with fiction;\nbut that is not the point. It is the medium in which these stories\nare set, the background of human life and society upon which they\nare projected. Here is a world, astonishingly real in appearance,\nand, if real, supremely interesting to us, as representing what\nthe subsequent ages knew or had heard by tradition of the earliest\nphases of the greatest European civilization. Can we trust the\npicture, or must we believe it to be but a dream of a state of\nthings which never really existed? It is, to say the least of it,\nextremely hard to believe that the Homeric world is entirely the\nproduct of the poetic imagination. Imagination can work wonders,\nbut it requires to have a certain amount of material in fact to\nstart upon in its workings. If it creates a world entirely out\nof its own consciousness, that world may be one of extreme beauty\nand splendour, but it is most unlikely that it will present any\nverisimilitude to actual life. It will be either vague and shadowy,\nor else so grandiose and unearthly in its magnificence as to have\nno point of connection with ordinary terrestrial life. But it is\nexactly here that the realism of the Homeric world strikes the\nstudent. It is not vague--on the contrary, the preciseness of its\ndetail is almost as striking, sometimes almost as prosaic, as the\ndetail which makes Robinson Crusoe the most realistic of all works\nof fiction; and while its splendours are such as we look for in\nvain in early historic Greece, and are certainly not borrowed from\nthe great civilizations of Mesopotamia or the Nile Valley, they are\nsuch as we can perfectly well believe to have existed, and such\nas can be perfectly well paralleled, though in widely different\nstyles, by Babylonia or by Thebes.\n\nWas it not more likely that a picture so precise in its outlines,\nand so coherent, so thinkable and possible even in its most gorgeous\ndetails, should have had behind it something, probably a great\ndeal, of fact actually seen and known, than that it should have\nbeen the mere mirage of a poet's dream? 'The picture presented\nto us of the Homeric heroes and their surroundings,' says Father\nBrowne, 'is not merely vivid and complete; it is grand, though\nwith a grandeur which is homely and simple. Hence the fascination\nwhich we find in the subject of the poems as distinct from the\npoems themselves. It may be that this effect is due to the art\nof the bards, which well knew how to efface itself in order to\nravish the listener the more. But allowing much to the power of\nart, the mind was not yet satisfied. We have said the poems seemed\nto carry with them their own evidence that they were not undiluted\nfiction, but contained at least an element of objective, perhaps\ntraditional, truth. It was a beautiful world they told of, and yet\nit was a world apart. Agamemnon in the field and Achilles in his\ntent; Priam in his palace; Odysseus in his travels; Alcinous with\nhis retainers, and Arete with her daughter; Penelope and Telemachus\nin the midst of the wicked suitors, and the old swineherd and the\nfaithful nurse; the very shades of the Dead beyond the streams of\nOceanus--how could the bards describe all these wonders if they\nhad not lived in a world of their own, or at least acquired the\nknowledge of it from their immediate predecessors? The gorgeous\npalaces of the Kings, with their walls of bronze, their gold and\nsilver ewers and basins, and their carven bedsteads and chairs\nof state and footstools; and all the glittering raiment and the\ngolden-studded sceptres, and golden-hilted swords, and silvern\nankle-bands, and the ivory and amber and inlaid metal-work, and\nthe iron-axled chariots with eight spokes to the wheel, and the\ncrimson-cheeked ships and the fair-cheeked maidens, and the stateliness\nand grace amid the splendour of it all--why should we obstinately\nrefuse to believe that these bards knew more than we--that they\nhad seen the vision with their mortal eye before they took the\nbrush in hand to paint the picture?[*]\n\n[Footnote *: H. Browne, 'Homeric Study,' pp. 242, 243.]\n\nTwo lines of evidence, then, if given their fair weight, seemed\nto point in the same direction. On the one hand, there were the\nlegends of a prehistoric age of heroes, with their travels and\nexpeditions and wars, legends with which Greek literature teemed,\nand which, however inextricably blended with fancy, and with details\nobviously monstrous and impossible, can scarcely be supposed to\nhave sprung into being without something behind them to account\nfor their existence. On the other hand, there was this strange,\nwonderful, realistic world of the Homeric poems, no longer existing,\nit is true, even at the earliest stage of Greek history, but almost\nabsolutely refusing to be dismissed as a mere figment of the\nimagination. Was it, then, impossible to believe that in the bosom\nof the great gulf which separated the Hellas of legend from the\nHellas of history there lay a civilization, real, and once living,\nof which the legends and the Homeric pictures preserved but the\nscanty surviving ruins and relics?\n\n[Illustration IV: THE IRON GATE, MYCENAE (_p_. 42)]\n\nHere we have to recall two facts of importance. First, that universal\nGreek tradition affirmed that before the birth of historic Greece\nthere lay a Dark Age, its darkness caused by the descent from the\nNorth of the rude, iron-using Dorian tribes, who found in the lands\nwhich they invaded a civilization of the Bronze Age, far more advanced\nthan their own, and, by the help of their superior weapons, conquered\nand indeed destroyed it. And second, that even in the gorgeous\npicture given by the Homeric poems of the period with which they\ndeal, there is a constant tendency to regard that period as being\nonly the decadent and inferior heir of a civilization which had\npreceded it. Nothing is plainer in Homer than the suggestion that\nthe men of the age before the Trojan Wars were greater, stronger,\nwiser, better in every respect than even the heroes who fought on\n'the ringing plains of windy Troy,' even as these were greater\nthan the men of the poet's own degenerate days. Does it not seem\nas though we were being led towards the conclusion that the Homeric\ncivilization is itself the representation of a very real fact of\nhistory, the picture of a state of things which was submerged and\nswept away by the coming of the Dorians, or by whatever inrush of\nwild northern tribes the Greeks may have called by that general\ntitle, but which was itself only the last decadent stage of an\nantecedent culture, still greater and more highly developed--that\nof the legendary period? The answer to this question has come in\nthe most surprising and romantic fashion from the archaeological\ndiscoveries of the last forty years.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III\n\nSCHLIEMANN AND HIS WORK\n\nThe man whose labours were to give a new impetus to the study of\nGreek origins, and to be the beginning of the revelation of an\nunknown world of ancient days, was born on January 6, 1822, at\nNeu Buckow in Mecklenburg-Schwerin. He was the son of a clergyman\nwho himself had a deep love for the great tales of antiquity, for\nhis son has told how his father used often vividly to narrate the\nstories of the destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum, and of the\nTrojan War. When Schliemann was barely seven years old he received\na present of a child's history of the world, in which the picture\nof the destruction of Troy and the flight of AEneas made a profound\nimpression upon his young mind, and roused in him a passionate desire\nto go and see for himself what remained of the ancient splendours\nof Ilium. He found it impossible to believe that the massive\nfortifications of Troy had vanished without leaving a trace of\ntheir existence. When his father admitted that the walls were once\nas huge as those depicted in his history book, but asserted that\nthey were now totally destroyed, he retorted: 'Father, if such walls\nonce existed, they cannot possibly have been completely destroyed;\nvast ruins of them must still remain, but they are hidden beneath\nthe dust of ages.' Already he had made the resolution that some\nday he would excavate Troy.\n\nThe romance of bygone days and of hidden treasure surrounded the\nboy's early years, and no doubt had its own influence in determining\nhis bent. A pond just behind his father's garden had its legend of\na maiden who rose from its waters each midnight, bearing a silver\nbowl. In the village an ancient barrow had its story of a robber\nknight who had buried his favourite child there in a golden cradle;\nand near by was the old castle of Henning von Holstein, who, when\nbesieged by the Duke of Mecklenburg, had buried his treasures close\nto the keep of his stronghold. On such romantic legends Schliemann's\nyoung imagination was nourished. By the time he was ten years old\nhe had produced a Latin essay on the Trojan War. Such things, which\nin another might have been mere childish precocities, were in him\nthe indications of an enthusiasm for antiquity, which was destined\nto be the ruling passion of his whole life.\n\nYet the beginnings of his career in the world were unromantic to\nthe last degree. His father's poverty forced him to give up the hope\nof a learned life, and at the age of fourteen he was apprenticed\nto a small grocer in a country village, in whose employment, surely\nuncongenial enough for such a spirit, he spent five and a half\nyears, selling butter, herrings, potato-brandy and the like, and\noccupying his spare moments in tidying out the little shop. Even in\nsuch circumstances his passion for the Homeric story found means,\nsufficiently quaint, for its gratification. There came one evening\nto the shop a miller's man, who had been well educated, but had\nfallen into poor circumstances, and had taken to drink, yet even\nin his degradation had not forgotten his Homer. 'That evening,'\nsays Schliemann, 'he recited to us about a hundred lines of the\npoet, observing the rhythmic cadence of the verses. Although I\ndid not understand a syllable, the melodious sound of the words\nmade a deep impression upon me, and I wept bitter tears over my\nunhappy fate. Three times over did I get him to repeat to me those\ndivine verses, rewarding his trouble with three glasses of whisky,\nwhich I bought with the few pence that made up my whole wealth.\nFrom that moment I never ceased to pray God that by His grace I\nmight yet have the happiness of learning Greek.'\n\nTo one whose heart was filled with such a passion for learning, no\nobstacle could prove insuperable. Yet for many a day the Fates seemed\nmost unpropitious. Ill-health drove him to emigrate to Venezuela,\nbut his ship was wrecked on the Dutch coast, and he became the\nerrand-boy of a business house in Amsterdam. Here in his first\nyear of service he managed, while going on his master's errands,\nto learn English in the first six months and French in the next,\nand incidentally to save for intellectual purposes one half of\nhis salary of 800 francs. The mental training of the first year\nenabled him to learn Dutch, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese with\nmuch greater rapidity, each language being acquired in six weeks. In\n1846 he was sent by another firm as their agent to St. Petersburg,\nwhere in the next year he founded a business house of his own, and\nfrom that time all went well with him. The Crimean War brought him\nopportunities which he utilized with such ingenuity as to derive\nconsiderable profit from them. By 1858 he considered that the fortune\nhe had made was sufficient to warrant him in devoting himself entirely\nto archaeology, and though exceptional circumstances obliged him to\nreturn to business for a little, he finally cut himself loose from\nit in 1863, and took up the task which was to occupy the remainder\nof his busy life.\n\n[Illustration V: WALLED PASSAGE IN WALL, TIRYNS (_p_. 49)\n\nBEEHIVE TOMB (TREASURY OF ATREUS), MYCENAE (_p_. 46)]\n\nHis Greek studies had led him to two convictions on which his whole\nexploring work was based. First, that the site of ancient Troy was on\nthe spot called in classical days New Ilium, the Hill of Hissarlik,\nnear the coast of the AEgean; and second, that the Greek traveller,\nPausanias, was right in stating that the murdered Agamemnon and\nhis kin were buried within the walls of the Acropolis at Mycenae,\nand not without it. In both these opinions he ran counter to the\nprevailing views of his time. It was generally believed that, if\nTroy had ever any real existence at all, its site was to be looked\nfor not at Hissarlik, but far inland near Bunarbashi; while the\nauthority of Pausanias as to the graves of the Atreidae was held\nto be quite unreliable.\n\nSchliemann resolved to put his convictions to the test of actual\nexcavation. In April, 1870, he cut the first sod of his excavation\nat Hissarlik. The work went on with varying, but never brilliant,\nfortune, until the year 1873, when his faith and constancy began\nat last to meet with their reward. On the south-west of the site\na great city gate was uncovered, lines of wall, already partly\ndisclosed, began to show themselves more plainly, and quite close\nto the gate there was discovered the famous 'Treasure of Priam,'\nso called, a considerable mass of vessels and ornaments in gold\nand silver, with a number of spearheads, axes, daggers, and cups,\nwrought in copper. As the excavations progressed, it became evident\nthat not one city, but many cities, had stood upon this ancient\nsite. The First City, reached, of course, at the lowest level of the\nexcavation, immediately above the virgin soil, belonged to a very\nearly stage of human development. Its remains yielded such objects\nas stone axes and flint knives, together with the black, hand-made,\npolished pottery, known as 'bucchero,' which is characteristic of\nNeolithic sites in the AEgean, ornamented frequently with incised\npatterns which are filled in with a white chalky substance. The\nstratum of debris belonging to the First City averages about 8\nfeet in depth.\n\nAbove this lay a layer of soil about 1 foot 9 inches in depth,\nand then, on the top of a great layer of debris, by which the site\nhad been levelled and extended, came the walls of the Second City.\nHere were the remains of a fortified gate with a ramp, paved with\nstone, leading up to it (Plate II. 1), and a strong wall of sun-dried\nbrick resting upon a scarped stone substructure. This, with its\nprojecting towers, had evidently once formed the enclosure of an\nAcropolis; and within the wall lay the remains of a large building\nwhich appeared to have been a house or palace. The separate finds\nincluded the great treasure already mentioned, and numerous other\narticles of use and adornment, golden hair-pins, bracelets,\near-pendants, a very primitive leaden idol of female form, and\nabundance of pottery, of which some specimens belong to the class\nof vases with long spouts, known to archaeologists as 'Schnabelkanne,'\nor 'beak-jugs.' Above the stratum of the Second City lay the remains\nof no fewer than seven other settlements, more or less clearly\nmarked, ending at the uppermost layer with the ruins of Roman Ilium,\nand its marble temple of Athena.\n\nThe gate and walls of the Second City--the fact that it had been\nundoubtedly destroyed by fire, and the evidence of wealth and artistic\nfaculty offered by the golden treasure--seemed to Dr. Schliemann\ndecisive evidence of the fact that this had been the Ilion of the\nHomeric poems. The treasure was named 'Priam's Treasure,' the largest\nbuilding, 'Priam's Palace,' and the gate, 'The Scaean Gate.' It\nquickly became apparent, however, that the Second City could not\nclaim Homeric honours, but must be of yet more venerable antiquity.\nThe style, alike of the city buildings and of the articles found,\nwas much too primitive for the Homeric period, and pointed to a\ndate much earlier--probably, indeed, about a thousand years earlier\nthan that of the Trojan War. The great treasure, whose workmanship\nseemed to militate against this conclusion, was suspected to have\nsomehow slipped down during the excavations from the level of the\nSixth City to that of the Second, as it seemed impossible that such\nfine work could belong to the very early period of the Burnt City;\nbut subsequent discoveries, particularly those of Mr. Seager on the\nlittle island of Mokhlos, off the coast of Crete, have paralleled\nthe splendour of the Trojan treasure with work which is undoubtedly\nof the same early date as the Second City, so that Schliemann's\naccuracy has been confirmed in this instance. The citadel itself\nseemed far too small to fill the place which Troy occupies in Homer's\ndescription, even allowing for poetic exaggeration. In 1890, the\nyear of his death, Schliemann was on the way to the solution of the\nproblem, and in 1892, his coadjutor, Professor Doerpfeld, finally\nproved that the Sixth City, lying four strata above Schliemann's\nTroy, was the true Ilion of the great epic. Its wider circuit had\nbeen missed by Schliemann in his earlier excavations owing to the\nfact that, at the centre of the site where he was working, the\ndebris had been planed and levelled away by the Romans to make\nroom for the buildings of their New Ilium. The pottery of the Sixth\nCity was of the type which in the meantime had come to be called\nMycenaean, from the discoveries in the plain of Argos, and its massive\ncircuit wall, enclosing an area two and a half times greater than\nthat of the Second City, is quite worthy of the fame of Homeric\nTroy. Without much risk of mistake, we may conclude that we have\nbefore us in Plate III. the actual wall from whose summit Andromache\nbeheld the corpse of the gallant Hector dragged behind the chariot\nof his relentless foe. The mere fact of his having to some extent\nmisinterpreted the evidence of his discoveries can scarcely be\nsaid, however, to take anything from the credit justly due to\nSchliemann. Had he been spared for but a year or two longer he\ncould not have failed to complete his work, and to prove, as his\nfellow-worker did, that on the site which he had from the first\ncontended to be that of Troy, there had stood a large and splendidly\nbuilt city, which assuredly belongs to the period of the Trojan War.\n\nThe work at Troy, however, had not gone on uninterruptedly between\n1870 and Schliemann's death in 1890, and the discoveries which\noccupied some of the intervening years were of even greater scientific\nimportance, though the glamour of romance attaching to the name of\nTroy drew perhaps more attention to the work there. A dispute with\nthe Turkish Government over the disposal of 'Priam's Treasure' led\nto obstacles being placed by the Porte in the way of the resumption\nof work on the plain of Troy, and in July, 1876, he settled down\nto excavate at Mycenae, the historic capital of the King of men,\nAgamemnon, with a view to the proving of his second theory--the\nburial of the Atreidae within the Acropolis of Mycenae. The ancient\ncitadel of Agamemnon stands in the plain of Argos, on an isolated\nhill 912 feet in height. Before Schliemann turned his attention to\nit, it was already well known to students of archaeology from the\nremains of its walls, and particularly from the splendid Lion Gate\n(Plate IV.) with its famous relief of the sacred pillar supported by\ntwo colossal lions, and from the great beehive tombs of the lower\ncity--the so-called 'Treasuries.' But the chief thing which drew\nthe explorer to Mycenae was not these remains; it was the statement\nof Pausanias already referred to. 'Some remains of the circuit\nwall,' says Pausanias, 'are still to be seen, and the gate which\nhas lions over it. These were built, they say, by the Cyclopes,\nwho made the wall at Tiryns for Proitos. Among the ruins at Mycenae\nis the fountain called Perseia, and some subterranean buildings\nbelonging to Atreus and his children, where their treasures were\nkept. There is the tomb of Atreus, and of those whom Aigisthos\nslew at the banquet, on their return from Ilion with Agamemnon....\nThere is also the tomb of Agamemnon, and that of Eurymedon the\ncharioteer, and the joint tomb of Teledamos and Pelops, the twin\nchildren of Kassandra, whom Aigisthos slew with their parents while\nstill mere babes.... Klytemnestra and Aigisthos were buried a little\nway outside the walls, for they were not thought worthy to be within,\nwhere Agamemnon lay and those who fell with him.'\n\nPersuaded in his own mind of the truth of this statement, Schliemann,\nwhile clearing the Lion Gate, and investigating the already rifted\ntomb known as the Treasury of Atreus, caused a great pit, 113 feet\nsquare, to be dug within the walls at a distance of about 40 feet\nfrom the Lion Gate. With the most extraordinary good fortune he\nhad hit upon the exact spot which he sought, and had even almost\nexactly proportioned his pit to the area within which the treasures\nlay. After only a few days' digging, slabs of stone, vertically\nplaced, began to come to light, and before long a complete double\nring of stone slabs, 87 feet in diameter, was disclosed (Plate\nII. 2). Schliemann's first idea was that he had discovered the\nAgora of Mycenae, the 'well-polished circle of stones' on which\nthe elders of the city sat for councilor judgment, as Hephaestos\ndepicted them on the shield of Achilles; but even this discovery\ndid not satisfy him; he was resolved to go down to virgin soil\nor rock, and his perseverance was rewarded.\n\nFirst there came into view a circular altar, and several steles\nof soft stone with rude carvings in relief, which seemed to point\nto interments beneath, and a system of offerings to, or on behalf\nof, the dead. Three feet below the altar, and 23 feet below the\nsurface level, there came to light the top of the first of a group\nof five rock-hewn graves. The graves were rectangular, varied in\ndepth from 10 to 16 feet, and ranged in size from 9 by 10 feet\nto 16 by 22 feet. They had been carefully lined with a wall of\nsmall quarry-stones and clay, and roofed over with slate slabs; but\nthe roofing had broken down, owing to the decay of the beams which\nsupported it, and the graves were filled with earth and pebbles.\nMingled with the debris brought down by the collapse of the roofs\nlay human bodies, one in the smallest grave, five in the largest,\nand three in each of the others; and along with them had been buried\none of the most remarkable hoards of treasure that ever greeted\nthe eye of a discoverer.\n\n[Illustration VI: THE CUP-BEARER, KNOSSOS (_p_. 67)\n\nFrom 'The Palace of Minos,' by Arthur J. Evans, in _The Monthly\nReview_]\n\nGold was there in profusion, beaten into masks for the faces of the\ndead (perhaps to protect them from the evil eye), into head-bands,\nbreast-pieces, plaques of all shapes and sizes, and wrought into\nbracelets, rings, pins, baldrics, and dagger and sword hilts. Along\nwith the gold was store of wrought ivory, amber, silver, bronze,\nand alabaster. One grave alone contained no fewer than sixty swords\nand daggers; another, in which women only were buried, held six\ndiadems, fifteen pendants, eleven neck-coils, eight hair ornaments,\nten gold grasshoppers with gold chains, one butterfly, four griffins,\nfour lions, ten ornaments, each consisting of two stags, ten with\nrepresentations of two lions attacking an ox, three fine intaglios,\ntwo pairs of gold scales, fifty-one embossed ornaments, and more\nthan seven hundred ornaments for sewing on garments! A few scattered\nobjects and a sixth grave were found later, the latter, however,\nnot by Dr. Schliemann. The mere money-value of the finds amounted\nto something like four thousand pounds sterling!\n\nMoney-value, however, was nothing in Schliemann's eyes compared\nwith the thought that he had discovered the actual graves which\nPausanias saw, and in which Agamemnon and his companions were buried\nafter their tragic end at the hands of Aigisthos and Klytemnestra.\nTo his eager enthusiasm many of the circumstances of the discovery\nseemed to lend probability to such a supposition. The disorder in\nwhich the bodies were found, one with its head crushed down upon\nthe bosom, the half-shut eye of one of the mute company, and other\nindications, seemed to point to such haste in the interment as might\nhave been expected in the case of a King and his companions who had\nmet with so tragic a fate. Accordingly, the discoverer announced\nin his famous telegram to the King of the Hellenes, and maintained\nin his works, that he had found Agamemnon and his household. For a\ntime this view and his enthusiastic advocacy of it gained the ear\nof the public; but gradually it became apparent that the disorder\nof the graves and the condition of the corpses was due, not to hasty\ninterment, but to the collapse of the roofs of the graves; the grave\nfurniture was shown not to belong by any means entirely to one period;\nand the number and sex of the persons interred did not agree with\nthe legend, or with the account of Pausanias. Admiration turned\nto incredulity, and even to undeserved ridicule of the enthusiastic\nexplorer; but the lapse of time has made critics less inclined\nto mock at Schliemann's eager belief, and it is largely conceded\nnow that while perhaps the tombs may not be actually those of the\ngreat King of the Achaeans and his friends, they are at least those\nwhich were long held to be such by tradition, and which Pausanias\nintended to denote by his descriptions. In any case, the question\nof whether the explorer discovered the body of one dead King or of\nanother is of entirely minor importance. To find Agamemnon would\nhave been a romantic exploit thoroughly in accordance with the\nbent of Schliemann's mind, and a fitting crown to a life which\nin itself was the very romance of exploration. But Schliemann had\ndone something infinitely more important than to make the find\nof a dead King, even though that King had reigned for more than\ntwo and a half millenniums in the greatest poem of the world; he\nhad begun the resurrection of a dead civilization.\n\nBesides the great discovery of the Shaft-Graves, Schliemann carried\non the exploration of the famous beehive tombs in the lower city\nof Mycenae. One of these, the largest, was already well known by\nthe name of the 'Treasury of Atreus' (Plate V. 2). It consists\nof a long entrance passage running back into the hillside, and\nleading to a great vaulted chamber excavated out of the hill, and\nshaped like a beehive. The entrance passage is 20 feet broad and\n115 feet long, and is lined on either side with walls of massive\nmasonry which increase in height as the hill rises. This passage\nleads to a vertical facade 46 feet high, pierced by a door between\n17 and 18 feet in height, which was bordered by columns carrying a\ncornice, above which was a triangular relieving space, masked by\nslabs of red porphyry adorned with spiral decorations, while the\nwhole facade appears to have been enriched with bronze ornaments\nand coloured marbles. The massive lintel of the door is 29 feet 6\ninches long, 16 feet 6 inches deep, and 3 feet 4 inches high, with\na weight of about 120 tons--a mass of stone fairly comparable with\nsome of the gigantic blocks in which Egyptian architects delighted.\nIt is, for instance, about ten tons heavier than the quartzite block\nwhich forms the sepulchral chamber in the pyramid of Amenemhat III.\nat Hawara. The great chamber of the tomb consists of an impressive\ncircular vault 48 feet in diameter and in height. Its construction\nis not that of true vaulting; but each of the thirty-three courses\nprojects a little beyond the one below it, until at last they approach\nclosely at the apex, which is closed by a single slab. The courses,\nafter being laid, were hewn to a perfectly smooth curve, and carefully\npolished, and it appears that the whole of the dome was decorated\nwith rosettes of bronze, a scheme of adornment which recalls the\nbronze walls of the Palace of Alcinous. From the great chamber a\nside door, bearing traces of rich decoration, leads to a square\nroom, 27 feet square by 19 feet high, which may possibly have been\nthe actual place of interment. Curtius found 'this lofty and solemn\nvault' the most imposing of all the monuments of ancient Greece.\n\nIn the same hillside as the Treasury of Atreus, but some 400 yards\nnorth of it, stands the tomb known as the 'Tomb of Klytemnestra,' or\n'Mrs. Schliemann's Treasury'--the latter title being due to the fact\nthat it was partially excavated in 1876 by Dr. Schliemann's wife. In\nsize it very closely corresponds to the better known tomb, while\nits columns of dark green alabaster, its door-lintel of leek-green\nmarble, and the slabs of red marble which closed the relieving\ntriangle above the door show that it had been not less magnificent\nthan its neighbour.\n\n[Illustration VII: THE LONG GALLERY, KNOSSOS (_p_. 68)]\n\nFollowing up his excavations at Mycenae, Schliemann, in 1880-81,\nexcavated at Orchomenos in Boeotia the so-called 'Treasury of Minyas,'\ndiscovering in its square side-chamber a beautiful ceiling formed\nof slabs of slate sculptured with an exquisite pattern of rosettes\nand spirals, which shows very distinct traces of Egyptian artistic\ninfluence (unless, as Mr. H. R. Hall has now come to believe, we\nare to trace the origin of the spiral as a decorative motive, not\nto Egypt, but to the Minoans of Crete). At Tiryns, Schliemann began\nin 1884 another series of excavations which laid bare the whole\nground-plan of the citadel palace of that ancient fortress town\nwith its halls and separate apartments for men and women, and the\ncolossal enclosing wall, in some parts 57 feet thick, with its\ntowers and galleries and chambers constructed in the thickness of\nthe wall (Plate V. 1). The palace revealed evidences of considerable\nskill in the decorative arts. A beautiful frieze of alabaster carved\nin rosettes and palmettes, inlaid with blue paste, made plain what\nHomer meant when he wrote of the Palace of Alcinous: 'Brazen were\nthe walls which ran this way and that from the threshold to the\ninmost chamber, and round them was a frieze of blue' (_kuanos_);\nwhile fresco paintings in several of the rooms exhibited the spiral\nand rosette decoration of Orchomenos and Egypt. But perhaps the\nmost interesting find was the remains of a great wall-painting in\nwhich a mighty bull is represented charging at full speed, while\nan athlete, clinging to the monster's horn with one hand, vaults\nover his back--a picture which is the first important example of\nthe now well-known and numerous set of similar representations\nwhich have given us a clue to something of the meaning of the old\nlegend of the man-destroying Minotaur and his tribute of human\nvictims.\n\nSchliemann's discoveries, notwithstanding all the incredulity aroused\nby his sometimes rather headlong enthusiasm, created an extraordinary\namount of interest among scholars and students of early European\nculture. It was felt at once that he had brought the world face to\nface with facts which must profoundly modify all opinions hitherto\nheld as to the origins of Greek civilization; for the advanced and\nfully ripened art which was disclosed, especially in the wonderful\nfinds from the Shaft- or Circle-Graves, stood on an entirely different\nplane from any art which had hitherto been associated with the\nearly age of Greece; and it was evident, not only that the date\nat which civilization began to reveal itself in Hellas must be\npushed back several centuries, but also that the great differences\nbetween the mature Mycenaean art and the infant art of Greece required\nexplanation. To the discoverer himself, the supreme interest of his\nfinds always lay in the thought that they were the direct prototypes,\nif not the actual originals, of the civilization described in the\nHomeric poems; but to the question whether this was so or not, a\nquestion interesting in itself, but largely academic, there succeeded\na much more important one. Here was proof of the existence of a\ncivilization, obviously great and long-enduring, whose products\ncould not be identified with those of any other art known to exist.\nTo what race of men were the achievements of this early culture\nto be ascribed, and what relation did they hold to the Hellenes\nof history?\n\nThe work of Schliemann was continued and extended by successors\nsuch as Doerpfeld, Tsountas, Mackenzie, and others, and by the end\nof the nineteenth century it had become apparent that the culture\nof which the first important traces had been found at Mycenae had\nextended to some extent over all Hellas, but chiefly over the\nsouth-eastern portion of the mainland and over the Cyclades. The\nprincipal find-spots in Greece proper were in the Argolid and in\nAttica; but, besides these, abundant material was discovered at\nEnkomi (Cyprus) and at Phylakopi (Melos), while from Vaphio, near\nAmyklae in Laconia, there came, among other treasures, a pair of\nmost wonderful gold cups, whose workmanship surpassed anything\nthat could have been imagined of such an early period, and is only\nto be matched by the goldsmith work of the Renaissance. Hissarlik,\nunder Dr. Doerpfeld's hands, yielded from the Sixth City the evidence\nof an Asiatic civilization truly contemporaneous with that of Mycenae.\nEven before the end of the century it became apparent that Crete was\ndestined to prove a focus of this early culture, and the promise, as\nwe shall see later, has been more than fulfilled. In Egypt Professor\nPetrie found deposits of prehistoric AEgean pottery in the Delta, the\nFayum, and even in Middle Egypt, proving that this civilization,\nwhatever its origin, had been in contact with the ancient civilization\nof the Nile Valley, while even in the Western Mediterranean, in\nSicily particularly, in Italy, Sardinia, and Spain, finds, less\nplentiful, but quite unmistakable, bore witness to the wide diffusion\nof Mycenaean culture.\n\nRoughly, the result came to this: 'that before the epoch at which\nwe are used to place the beginnings of Greek civilization--that is,\nthe opening centuries of the last millennial period B.C.--we must\nallow for an immensely long record of human artistic productivity,\ngoing back into the Neolithic Age, and culminating towards the close\nof the age of Bronze in a culture more fecund and more refined\nthan any we are to find again in the same lands till the age of\nIron was far advanced. Man in Hellas was more highly civilized\nbefore history than when history begins to record his state; and\nthere existed human society in the Hellenic area, organized and\nproductive, to a period so remote that its origins were more distant\nfrom the age of Pericles than that age is from our own. We have\nprobably to deal with a total period of civilization in the AEgean\nnot much shorter than in the Nile Valley.[*]\n\n[Footnote *: Hogarth, 'Authority and Archaeology,' p. 230.]\n\nThe estimate in Hogarth's last sentence, which was published in\n1899, before Evans's great discoveries in Crete, was one that must\nhave seemed extravagant to those who, while familiar with the great\nantiquity of Mesopotamian and Egyptian culture, had been accustomed\nto think of Greek civilization as having its beginning not so very\nlong before the First Olympiad. It has been fully justified, however,\nby the event, and it may now be accepted as an established fact that\nthe earliest civilization of Greece meets the two great ancient\ncivilizations of Babylon and Egypt on substantially equal terms.\nIn antiquity it appears to be practically contemporary with them;\nin artistic merit it need not shrink from comparison with either\nof them.\n\nIn the earlier stages of the discussion which followed on the\ndiscoveries, it was assumed, perhaps somewhat hastily, that such\na culture could not have been indigenous, resemblances to Egyptian\nand Mesopotamian work were pointed out, and it was suggested that\nthe impulse and the skill which gave rise to the art of Mycenae were\nnot native but borrowed, the Phoenicians being generally held to\nbe the medium through which the influence of the East had filtered\ninto the AEgean area. As time has gone on, however, the Phoenicians\nhave gradually come to bulk less and less in the view of students\nof the AEgean problem. It is no longer held that they contributed\nanything original to the development of Mycenaean culture, and even\nas middlemen the tendency is to allow them an influence far smaller\nthan was once held to be theirs. It has become manifest that, in\nat least the case of Crete and Egypt, communication need not have\nbeen through Phoenician media at all, but was far more probably\ndirect. And with regard to the whole question of the debt owed\nto the East by this early European civilization, it is probable\nthat the AEgean gave quite as much as it borrowed, and that its\nartists were sufficiently great to have originated their own culture.\nMycenaean, and still more the great Minoan art of which Mycenaean has\nproved to be only a decadent phase, needed no Oriental crutches.\nWith regard to Egypt, the obligations of the two cultures were\ncertainly mutual; each influenced the other; it was not a case of\nmaster and scholar, but of two contemporary civilizations, each\nfully inspired with a native spirit, each ready to use whatever\nseemed good to it in the work of the other, but both perfectly\noriginal in their genius.\n\nThe question which was of such supreme interest to Schliemann still\nsurvives, however, though in a wider and more important form than\nthat in which he conceived of it. It is no longer a question of\nwhether the graves which he found were actually those of Agamemnon\nand his fellow-victims in the dark tragedy of Mycenae, but of whether\nthe people and the civilization whose remains have been brought\nto light are, or are not, the people and the civilization from\nwhich the Homeric bards drew the whole setting of their poems.\nWere the Mycenaeans the Greeks of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and\nwas it their culture that is depicted for us in these great poems?\n\nThe arguments in favour of such a supposition are of considerable\nstrength. For one thing, we have the remarkable coincidence between\nthe geography of the poems and the localities over which the Mycenaean\nculture is seen to have extended. The towns and lands which occupy\nthe foremost place in the Homeric story are also those in which the\nmost convincing evidences of Mycenaean culture have been discovered.\nForemost, of course, we have Mycenae itself. To Homer, 'golden,'\n'broad-wayed' Mycenae is the seat of the great leader of all the\nAchaeans, the King of men, Agamemnon; it is also the chief seat of\nthe culture which goes by its name. Orchomenos, Pylos, Lacedaemon,\nAttica, all prominent in the poems, are also well-known seats of\nMycenaean civilization. Crete, whose prominent position in the Homeric\nworld has been already referred to, we shall shortly see to have been\nin point of fact the supreme centre of that still greater and richer\ncivilization of which the Mycenaean is a later and comparatively\ndegenerate form. There is no need to enter into further detail; but\nbroadly it is the fact that the distribution of Mycenaean remains\npractically follows, at least to a great extent, the geography of\nthe poems. The world with which the Homeric bards were familiar was,\nin the main, the world in which the civilization of the Mycenaeans\nprevailed.\n\nThe Homeric house also finds a striking parallel in the details\nof the Mycenaean palaces whose remains have been preserved. Leaving\naside all disputed points, the broad fact remains that 'all the\nstructural features described, the courtyard, with its altar to\nZeus and trench for sacrifices; the vestibule; the ante-chamber;\nthe hall, with its fireplace and its pillars; the bathroom, with\npassage from the hall; the upper story, sometimes containing the\nwomen's quarters; the spaciousness; the decoration; even the furniture,\nhave been most wonderfully identified at Tiryns and Mycenae, and\nin Crete.' In Crete, along with the resemblances above referred\nto, are found important differences, such as the position of the\nhearth, and the details of the lighting. These, which are probably\ndue to differences of climate, do not, however, invalidate the\nfact of the general correspondence.\n\nIn details, we have the frieze of _kuanos_ of the Palace of Alcinous,\nparalleled by the fragments discovered, as already mentioned, at\nTiryns, and by similar friezes at Knossos, while the bronze walls\nof the same palace have been, if not paralleled, at all events\nillustrated, by the bronze decorations of the vaults of the great\nbee-hive tombs at Mycenae and Orchomenos. The parallel is, perhaps,\neven closer when we come to the details of metal-working, which\nare described for us in Homer, and of which illustrations have\nbeen found in such profusion among the Mycenaean relics. We are\ntold, for example, that on the brooch of Odysseus was represented\na hound holding a writhing fawn between its forepaws, and we have\nthe elaborate workmanship of the cup of Nestor--'a right goodly\ncup, that the old man brought from home, embossed with studs of\ngold, and four handles there were to it, and round each two golden\ndoves were feeding, and to the cup were two bottoms. Another man\ncould scarce have lifted the cup from the table, but Nestor the\nOld raised it easily.' The Mycenaean finds have yielded examples of\nmetal-working which seem to come as near to the Homeric pictures as\nit is possible for material things to come to verbal descriptions.\nOne of the golden cups from the Fourth Grave at Mycenae might almost\nhave been a copy on a small scale of Nestor's cup, save that it\nhad only two handles instead of four. On the handles, as in the\nHomeric picture, doves are feeding, and like Nestor's, the Mycenaean\ncup is riveted with gold.\n\nOr, take again such examples of another form of art-work in metal\nas are given by the scenes of the lion hunt and the hunting-cats\non the dagger-blades found in Graves IV. and V. at Mycenae. In the\nfirst of these scenes we have a representation of five men attacking\nthree lions. The foremost man has been thrown down by the assault\nof the first lion, and is entangled in his great shield. His four\ncompanions are coming to his help, one armed with a bow, the others\ncarrying spears and huge shields, two of them of the typical Mycenaean\nfigure-eight shape. Only the first lion awaits their onset, the\nother two are in full flight. The whole work is characterized by\nextraordinary vivacity; but it is the technique that is of interest.\nThe picture is made up out of various metals inlaid on a thin bronze\nplate, which is let into the dagger-blade. The lions and the bare\nskin of the men are inlaid in gold, the loin-cloths and the shields\nare of silver, all the accessories, such as shield-straps and the\npatterns on the loin-cloths, are given in a dark substance, while the\nground is coated with a dark enamel to give relief to the figures.\nThe hunting-cat scene, which presents remarkable resemblances to a\nwell-known scene from a wall-painting at Thebes, represents cats\nhunting wild-fowl in a marsh intersected by a winding river, in\nwhich fish are swimming and papyrus plants growing. 'The cats,\nthe plants, and the bodies of the ducks are inlaid with gold, the\nwings of the ducks and the river are silver, and the fish are given\nin some dark substance. On the neck of one of the ducks is a red\ndrop of blood, probably given by alloyed gold.' Here we have the\nvery type of art in which the decorations of the shield of Achilles\nwere carried out. 'Also he set therein a vineyard teeming plenteously\nwith clusters, wrought fair in gold; black were the grapes, but\nthe vines hung throughout on silver poles. And around it he ran\na ditch of _kuanos_, and round that a fence of tin.... Also he\nwrought therein a herd of kine with upright horns, and the kine\nwere fashioned of gold and tin.'\n\nSuch are some of the points which countenance the idea that in\nthe Mycenaean people we have the originals of the people of the\nHomeric poems. On the other hand there are difficulties, by no\nmeans inconsiderable, in the way of such a belief. Of these the\nchief is the question of the method in which the bodies of the dead\nare disposed of. The men of the Homeric poems burned their dead;\nthe men of the Mycenaean civilization buried theirs. Undoubtedly this\nis a serious difficulty in the way of identification, presupposing,\nas it does, a different view of the destiny of the soul after death.\nThe men who burned the bodies of their dead believed that the soul\nhad no further use for its body after death, but departed into\na distant, shadowy, immaterial region, so that the body, if it\nhad any connection with the soul, acted rather as a drag and a\ndefilement, from which it was well that the soul should be released.\nTherefore they dematerialized the body, and often the things used\nby the body during life, by the action of fire. On the other hand,\nthose who buried their dead believed that the spirit of the dead\nman dwelt in some fashion in the tomb, or at least hovered around\nthe body, waiting, perhaps, for a reincarnation, and capable of\nusing the weapons, the utensils, and the foods of its former life.\nTherefore the body was carefully interred, sometimes even embalmed,\nand its weapons and foods, or at all events simulacra of these,\nwere laid beside it.\n\nThe distinction between the two lines of thought is clear and strong;\nbut it does not necessarily presuppose an absolute distinction of\nrace. It is not improbable that towards the end of the Mycenaean\nperiod, to which in any case the connection with the Homeric poems\nwould belong, cremation was beginning to supersede the older practice\nof interment. In late Mycenaean graves at Salamis evidences of cremation\nare found, and at Mouliana, in Crete, there are instances of uncremated\nbones being found along with bronze swords on one side of a tomb,\nwhile on the other were found an iron sword and cremated bones\nin a cinerary urn. The distinction, then, is not necessarily one\nof race, but of custom, gradually changing, perhaps within a\ncomparatively short period. It has even been suggested that no\ninterval of time of any great extent is needed, as the practice\nof cremation may quickly develop among any race, being prompted\nby the comfortable idea that when the flesh is disposed of, the\npossibly inconvenient, possibly even vampire, ghost of a disagreeable\nancestor goes along with it.\n\nAnother difficulty arises from the fact that the Homeric poems\ncertainly contemplate a much wider use of iron than can be found\namong the remains of the Mycenaean people. But the weight of this\nobjection may easily be exaggerated. Certainly the equipment\ncontemplated for the Homeric heroes is in most cases of bronze,\nthough the well-known line from the Odyssey, 'iron does of itself\nattract a man,' bears witness to a time when iron had become the\nalmost universal fighting metal. But even in some of the Mycenaean\ntombs iron appears in the shape of finger-rings; and in East Cretan\ntombs of the latest Minoan period iron swords have been found. And\nif, as is generally agreed, the Homeric poems represent the work\nof several bards covering a considerable period of time, there is\nnothing out of the way in the supposition that, while the earlier\nwriters represented bronze as the material for weapons, because\nit was actually so in their time, the later ones, writing at a\nperiod when iron was largely superseding, but had not altogether\nsuperseded, the older metal, should, while clinging in general\nto the old poetic word used by their predecessors, occasionally\nintroduce the name of the metal which was becoming prevalent in their\nday. From this point of view the difficulty seems to disappear. The\nHomeric age proper is one of bronze-using people; but, in the later\nstages of the development of the poems, iron makes its appearance,\njust as it had been gradually doing in the generally bronze-using\nMycenaean civilization.\n\nThe same remark applies to the differences of equipment between\nthe warriors of the Mycenaean and those of the Homeric period. The\nMycenaeans used the great hide-shield, either oblong or 8-shaped,\ncovering its bearer from head to foot, with a leather cap for the\nhead, and no defensive armour of metal. In the Iliad, on the other\nhand, what is obviously contemplated in general is a metal helmet,\na metal cuirass, and a comparatively small round shield. But, again,\nin later Mycenaean work, such as the famous Warrior Vase, there is\nevidence of the use of the small round shield, while, moreover,\nin some parts of the poem there are evidences of the use of the\ntrue Mycenaean shield 'like a tower.' Periphetes of Mycenae is slain\nby Hector owing to his having tripped over the lower edge of his\ngreat shield, and his slayer himself bears a shield of no small\nproportions. 'So saying, Hector of the glancing helm departed,\nand the black hide beat on either side against his ankles and his\nneck, even the rim that ran uttermost about his bossed shield.' So\nthat the poems represent a gradual development in the use of armour\nwhich may not unfairly be compared with the similar development\ntraceable in the Mycenaean remains.\n\nOn the whole, then, our conclusion is something like this: The\ncivilization which Schliemann discovered is not precisely that\nof the Homeric poems, for the bloom of it belongs to a period\nconsiderably anterior to the period of Achaean supremacy in Greece,\nand was the work of a race differing from that of the chiefs who\nfought at Troy; but, broadly speaking, what Homer describes is the\nsame civilization in its latest stage, when the men of Mycenaean\nor Minoan stock who created it had passed under the dominion of the\ninvading Achaean overlords. The Achaean invasion was not, like that\nwhich succeeded it, subversive of the great culture that belonged to\nthe conquered Mycenaean race; on the contrary, the invaders entered\ninto and became partakers of it, carrying on its traditions until\nthe gradual decay, which had begun already before they made their\nappearance in Greece, was terminated by the Dorian invasion, or\nwhatever process of gradual incursion by ruder tribes may correspond\nto what the later Greeks called by that name. And it is this last\nstage of the Mycenaean culture, still existing, though under Achaean\nsupremacy, which is depicted in the Homeric poems. 'Take away from\nthe picture,' says Father Browne, 'all the features which have\nbeen borrowed from the Dorian invasion, give the post-Dorian poets\nthe credit of the references to iron and other post-Dorian things,\nand nothing remains to disprove the view of those who hold that\nSchliemann found--not, indeed, the tomb of Agamemnon--but the tomb\nof that Homeric life which Agamemnon represents to us. In the Mycenaean\nremains we have uncovered before our eyes the material form of that\nimpulse of which we had already met the spiritual in the Homeric\npage.'[*]\n\n[Footnote *: H. Browne, 'Homeric Study,' pp. 313, 314.]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV\n\nTHE PALACE OF 'BROAD KNOSSOS'\n\nIn the revival of interest in the origins of Greek civilization\nit was manifest that Crete could not long be left out of account,\nfor the traditions of Minos and his laws, and of the wonderful\nworks of Daedalus, pointed clearly to the fact that the great island\nmust have been an early seat of learning and art. Most of these\ntraditions clustered round Knossos, the famous capital of Minos,\nwhere once stood the Labyrinth, and near to which was Mount Juktas,\nthe traditional burying-place of Zeus. The remains apparent on the\nsite of the ancient capital were by no means imposing. In 1834\nPashley found that 'all the now existing vestiges of the ancient\nmetropolis of Crete are some rude masses of Roman brick-work';\nand Spratt in 1851 saw very little more, mentioning only 'some\nscattered foundations and a few detached masses of masonry of the\nRoman time,' though in the time of the Venetian occupation there\nwas evidently more to be seen, as Cornaro speaks of 'a very large\nquantity of ruins, and in particular a wall, many paces long and\nvery thick.' But expectation still fixed on Knossos as the most\nprobable site for any Cretan discoveries.\n\n[Illustration VIII: A MAGAZINE WITH JARS AND KASELLES, KNOSSOS (_p_. 69)]\n\nThe attention of Schliemann and Stillman had been drawn to a hill\ncalled 'Kephala,' overlooking the ancient site of Knossos, on which\nstood ruined walls consisting of great gypsum blocks engraved with\ncurious characters; but attempts at exploration were defeated by\nthe obstacles raised by the native proprietors. In 1878 Minos\nKalochaerinos made some slight excavations, and found a few great\njars or _pithai_, and some fragments of Mycenaean pottery; but up\nto the year 1895, when Dr. A. J. Evans secured a quarter of the\nKephala site from one of the joint proprietors, nothing of any\nreal moment had been accomplished. Dr. Evans had been attracted\nto Crete by the purchase at Athens of some seal-stones found in\nthe island, engraved with hieroglyphic and linear signs differing\nfrom Egyptian and Hittite characters. In the hope that he might be\nled to the discovery of a Cretan system of writing, and relying upon\nthe ancient Cretan tradition that the Phoenicians had not invented\nletters, but had merely changed the forms of an already existing\nsystem, he began in 1894 a series of explorations in Central and\nEastern Crete. On all hands more or less important evidence of\nthe existence of such a script came to light, especially from the\nDictaean Cave, where a stone libation-altar was found, inscribed with\na dedication in the unknown writing. But Dr. Evans was persuaded\nthat Knossos was the spot where exploration was most likely to\nbe rewarded, and his purchase of part of the site of Kephala in\n1895 was the beginning of a series of campaigns which have had\nresults not less romantic than those of Schliemann, and even more\nimportant in their additions to our knowledge of the prehistoric\nAEgean civilization.\n\nThe political troubles of the time were unfavourable to exploration.\nFighting was going on in the island, and religious prejudices ran\nvery high. When the new political order came into being with the\nappointment of Prince George of Greece as Commissioner, an obstacle\nwas still found in the way in the shape of a French claim to prior\nrights of excavation. This, however, was finally withdrawn on the\nadvice of Prince George, and in the beginning of 1900 Dr. Evans\nwas at last able to secure the remainder of the site, and on March\n23 in that year excavation began, and was carried on with a staff\nof from 80 to 150 men until the beginning of June.\n\nAlmost at once it became apparent that the faith which had fought\nso persistently for the attainment of its object was going to be\nrewarded. The remains of walls began to appear, sometimes only a\nfoot or two, sometimes only a few inches below the surface of the\nsoil, and by the end of the nine weeks' campaign of exploration\nabout two acres of a vast prehistoric building had been unearthed--a\npalace which, even at this early stage in its disclosure, was already\nfar larger than those of Tiryns and Mycenae. On the eastern slope\nof the hill, in a deposit of pale clay, were found fragments of\nthe black, hand-made, polished pottery, known as 'bucchero,'\ncharacteristic of neolithic sites, some of it, as usual, decorated\nwith incised patterns filled in with white. This pottery was coupled\nwith stone celts and maces, obsidian knives, and a primitive female\nimage of incised and inlaid clay. All over the palace area, as the\nexcavations went farther and farther down, the neolithic deposit\nwas found to overlie the virgin soil, sometimes to a depth of 24\nfeet, showing that the site had been thickly populated in remote\nprehistoric times.\n\nBut the neolithic deposit was not the most striking find. On the\nsouth-west side of the site there came to light a spacious paved\ncourt, opening before walls faced with huge blocks of gypsum. At\nthe southern corner of this court stood a portico, which afforded\naccess to this portion of the interior of the palace. The portico\nhad a double door, whose lintel had once been supported by a massive\ncentral column of wood. The wall flanking the entrance had been\ndecorated with a fresco, part of which represented that favourite\nsubject of Mycenaean and Minoan art--a great bull; while on the\nwalls of the corridor which led away from the portal were still\npreserved the lower portions of a procession of life-size painted\nfigures. Conspicuous among these was one figure, probably that of\na Queen, dressed in magnificent apparel, while there were also\nremains of the figures of two youths, wearing gold and silver belts\nand loin-cloths, one of them bearing a fluted marble vase with a\nsilver base. At the southern angle of the building, this corridor--the\n'Corridor of the Procession'--led round to a great southern portico\nwith double columns, and in a passage-way behind this portico there\ncame to light one of the first fairly complete evidences of the\noutward fashion and appearance of the great prehistoric race which\nhad founded the civilization of Knossos and Mycenae. This was the\nfresco-painting, preserved almost perfectly in its upper part, of a\nyouth bearing a gold-mounted silver cup (Plate VI.). His loin-cloth\nis decorated with a beautiful quatrefoil pattern; he wears a silver\near-ornament, silver rings on the neck and the upper arm, and on\nthe wrist a bracelet with an agate gem.\n\n'The colours,' says Dr. Evans in teat brilliant article in the\n_Monthly Review_ which first gave to the general public the story\nof his first season's discoveries, 'were almost as brilliant as\nwhen laid down over three thousand years before. For the first\ntime the true portraiture of a man of this mysterious Mycenaean race\nrises before us. The flesh-tint, following, perhaps, an Egyptian\nprecedent, is of a deep reddish-brown. The limbs are finely moulded,\nthough the waist, as usual in Mycenaean fashions, is tightly drawn\nin by a silver-mounted girdle, giving great relief to the hips.\nThe profile of the face is pure and almost classically Greek....\nThe lips are somewhat full, but the physiognomy has certainly no\nSemitic cast.... There was something very impressive in this vision\nof brilliant youth and of male beauty, recalled after so long an\ninterval to our upper air from what had been, till yesterday, a\nforgotten world. Even our untutored Cretan workmen felt the spell\nand fascination. They, indeed, regarded the discovery of such a\npainting in the bosom of the earth as nothing less than miraculous,\nand saw in it the icon of a Saint! The removal of the fresco required\na delicate and laborious piece of under-plastering, which necessitated\nits being watched at night, and old Manolis, one of the most trustworthy\nof our gang, was told off for the purpose. Somehow or other he\nfell asleep, but the wrathful saint appeared to him in a dream.\nWaking with a start, he was conscious of a mysterious presence;\nthe animals round began to low and neigh, and \"there were visions\nabout\"; \"[Greek: phautazei],\" he said, in summing up his experiences\nnext morning, \"the whole place spooks!\"'[*]\n\n[Footnote *: _Monthly Review_, March, 1901, pp. 124, 125.]\n\n[Illustration IX: MAGAZINE WITH JARS AND KASELLES\n\nGREAT JAR WITH TRICKLE ORNAMENT]\n\nThe Southern Portico gave access to a large court which turned out,\nfrom later investigation, to have been really the Central Court\nof the palace, the focus of the life of the whole huge building.\nThe block of building between the West and the Central Courts was\ndivided into two by a long gallery (Plate VII.), 3.40 metres in\nbreadth, running almost the whole length of the structure, and\npaved with gypsum blocks. Between this gallery and the western\nwall of the palace lay a long range of what had evidently been\nmagazines for the storage of oil, and perhaps of corn. They were\noccupied by rows of huge earthenware jars, or _pithoi_, sufficiently\nlarge to have held the Forty Thieves, or to have accommodated the\nsoldiers of Tahuti in their venture on Joppa (Plates VIII. and\nIX.). In one of the magazines no fewer than twenty of these jars\nwere found. They were all ornamented, some of them very elaborately,\nwith spiral and rope-work patterns; one of them, found, not in a\nmagazine, but in a small room near the Central Court, was particularly\nelaborate in its adornment, and stood almost five feet in height\n(Plate X. 2). Down the centre line of each magazine ran a row of\nsmall square openings in the floor--'kaselles,' as they came to be\ncalled--which at one time had evidently been receptacles, some of\nthem, perhaps, for oil, but some of them certainly for valuables.\nThey were carefully lined with lead, and in some cases the slabs\nof stone covering them could not be removed without lifting the\nwhole pavement. In spite of such precautions, however, they had\nbeen well rifled in ancient days, and little was left to tell of\nwhat their contents may once have been. The magazines were well\nfitted to convey a strong impression, not only of the size, but\nalso of the splendour of the palace which needed such storerooms.\nThere was no meanness or squalor about the domestic offices of the\nHouse of Minos. The doorways leading into the magazines from the\nLong Corridor were of fine stone-work, and the side-walls, both\nof the gallery and the magazines, had been covered with painted\nplaster, presenting a white ground on which ran a dado of horizontal\nbands of red and blue, further bands of the same colours forming a\nfrieze below the ceiling level. This, of course, had been merely\nthe basement of the palace, and had been surmounted by another\nstorey or storeys, of which nothing was left except fragments of\nthe painted plaster which had once decorated the walls.\n\nTo the rooms composing the block of building between the Long Gallery\nand the Central Court, access had been given from the latter area;\nand it was in these rooms that, as the excavations progressed, some\nof the most remarkable features of the palace began to disclose\nthemselves. About halfway along the court were found two small\nrooms, connected with one another, in the centre of each of which\nstood a single column composed of four gypsum blocks, each block\nmarked with the sign of the Double Axe; and these pillars suggested\na connection with ancient traditions about Minos and his works\n(Plate XI.). They were apparently sacred emblems connected with\nthe worship of a divinity, and the Double Axe markings pointed\nto the divinity in question. For the special emblem of the Cretan\nZeus (and also apparently of the female divinity of whom Zeus was\nthe successor) was the Double Axe, a weapon of which numerous votive\nspecimens in bronze have been found in the cave-sanctuary of Dicte,\nthe fabled birthplace of the god. And the name of the Double Axe\nis Labrys--a word found also in the title of the Carian Zeus, Zeus\nof Labraunda. But tradition linked the names of Minos and Knossos\nwith a great and wonderful structure of Daedalus which went by the\nname of the Labyrinth; and the coincidence between that name and\nthe Labrys marks on the sacred pillars and on many of the blocks\nin the palace at once suggested that here was the source of the\nold tradition, and here the actual building, the Labyrinth, which\nDaedalus reared for his great master. 'There can be little remaining\ndoubt,' says Dr. Evans, 'that this vast edifice, which in a broad\nhistoric sense we are justified in calling the \"Palace of Minos,\"\nis one and the same as the traditional \"Labyrinth.\" A great part\nof the ground-plan itself, with its long corridors and repeated\nsuccessions of blind galleries, its tortuous passages and spacious\nunderground conduit, its bewildering system of small chambers,\ndoes, in fact, present many of the characteristics of a maze.'[*]\nThe connection thus suggested even by the first year's excavations\nhas grown more and more probable with the work of each successive\nseason.\n\n[Footnote *: Monthly Review, March, 1901, p. 131.]\n\nPassing farther north along the line of the Central Court, access\nwas given by a row of four steps to an ante-chamber, which opened\nupon another room, of no great size in itself, but of surpassing\ninterest from the character of its appointments. 'Already, a few\ninches below the surface, freshly preserved fresco began to appear.\nWalls were shortly uncovered, decorated with flowering plants and\nrunning water, while on each side of the doorway of a small inner\nroom, stood guardian griffins with peacock's plumes in the same\nflowery landscape. Round the walls ran low stone benches, and between\nthese, on the north side, separated by a small interval, and raised on\na stone base, rose a gypsum throne with a high back, and originally\ncovered with decorative designs. Its lower part was adorned with\na curiously carved arch, with crocketed mouldings, showing an\nextraordinary anticipation of some most characteristic features\nof Gothic architecture. Opposite the throne was a finely wrought\ntank of gypsum slabs--a feature borrowed perhaps from an Egyptian\npalace--approached by a descending flight of steps, and originally\nsurmounted by cypress-wood columns, supporting a kind of _impluvium_.\nHere truly was the council chamber of a Mycenaean King or Sovereign\nLady.'[*] The discovery of the very throne of Minos, for such we may\nfairly term it, was surely the most dramatic and fitting recompense\nfor the explorer's patience and persistence. No more ancient throne\nexists in Europe, or probably in the world, and none whose associations\nare anything like so full of interest (Plate I.).\n\n[Footnote *: _Monthly Review_, March, 1901, pp. 123, 124.]\n\nThe Throne Room still preserved among its debris many relics of\nformer splendour. Fragments of blue and green porcelain, of gold-foil,\nand lapis lazuli and crystal, were scattered on the floor, and\nseveral crystal plaques with painting on the back, among them an\nexceedingly fine miniature of a galloping bull on an azure ground;\nwhile an agate plaque, bearing a relief of a dagger laid upon a\nfolded belt, almost equalled cameo-work in the style and delicacy\nof its execution. In a small room on the north side of the Central\nCourt was found a curiously quaint and delicate specimen of early\nfresco painting--the figure of a Little Boy Blue--more thoroughly\ndeserving of the title than Gainsborough's famous picture, for,\nstrangely enough, he is blue in his flesh-tints, picking and placing\nin a vase the white crocuses that still dapple the Cretan meadows.\n\nThe northern side of the palace was finished with another portico,\nand in this part of the building there came to light a series of\nminiature frescoes, valuable, not only as works of art, but as\ncontemporary documents for the appearance, dress, and surroundings\nof the mysterious people to whom this great building was once home.\nHere were groups of ladies with the conventional white complexion\ngiven by the Minoan artists to their womankind, wonderfully bedizened\nwith costumes resembling far more closely the evening dress of our own\nday than the stately robes of classic Greece with their severe lines.\nIn their very low-necked dresses, with puffed sleeves, excessively\nslender waists, and flounced skirts, and their hair elaborately\ndressed and curled, they were as far as possible removed from our\nideas of Ariadne and her maids of honour, and might almost have\nstepped out of a modern fashion-plate. 'Mais,' exclaimed a French\nsavant, on his first view of them, 'Mais ce sont des Parisiennes.'\nThese fine Court ladies were seated, or perhaps rather squatted,\naccording to the curious Minoan custom, in groups, conversing in\nthe courts and gardens, and on the balconies of a splendid building.\nIn the spaces beyond were groups of men, of the same reddish-brown\ncomplexion as the Cup-bearer, wearing loin-cloths and footgear with\nputtees halfway up the leg, their long black hair done up into a\ncrest on the crown of the head. In one group alone thirty men appear\nclose to a fortified post; in another, youths are hurling javelins\nagainst a besieged city. 'The alternating succession of subjects\nin these miniature frescoes suggests the contrasted episodes of\nAchilles' shield. It may be that we have here parts of a continuous\nhistoric piece; in any case these unique illustrations of great\ncrowds of men and women within the walls of towns and palaces supply\na new and striking commentary on the familiar passage of Homer\ndescribing the ancient populousness of the Cretan cities.'[*] Only\nthe wonderful tomb paintings of ancient Egypt can excel these vivid\nminiatures in bringing before us the life of a bygone civilization;\nnothing else to approach them has come down from antiquity.\n\n[Footnote *: _Monthly Review_, March, 1901, p. 126.]\n\nThe main entrance of the palace seemingly lay on the north side,\nwhere the road from the harbour, three and a half miles distant, ran\nup to the gates. Here was the one and only trace of fortification\ndiscovered in all the excavations. The entrance passage was a stone\ngangway, on the north-west side of which stood a great bastion,\nwith a guard room and sally-port--a slender apology for defence in\nthe case of a prize so vast and tempting as the Palace of Knossos.\nObviously the bastion, with its trifling accommodation for an\ninsignificant guard, was never meant to defend the palace against\nnumerous assailants, or a set siege; it could only have been sufficient\nto protect it against the sudden raid of a handful of pirates sweeping\nup from the port (Plate XII. 2). How was it that so great and rich a\nstructure came to be left thus practically defenceless? The mainland\npalaces of the Mycenaean Age at Tiryns and Mycenae are, so to speak,\nburied in fortifications. Their vast walls, 57 feet thick in some\nparts at Tiryns, 46 feet at Mycenae, towering still after so many\ncenturies of ruin to a height of 24-1/2 feet in the case of the\nsmaller citadel, and of 56 feet at the great stronghold of Agamemnon;\ntheir massive gateways, and the ingenious devices by which the\nassailant was obliged to subject himself in his approach to a\ndestructive fire on his unshielded side--everything about them points\nto a land and a time in which life and property were continually\nexposed to the dangers of war, and the only security was to be\nfound within the gates of an impregnable stronghold. But Knossos,\nfar richer, far more splendid, than either Tiryns or Mycenae, lies\nvirtually unguarded, its spacious courts and pillared porticoes\nopen on every side. Plainly, the Minoan Kings lived in a land where\npeace was the rule, and where no enemy was expected to break rudely\nin upon their luxurious calm. And the reason for their confidence\nand security is not far to seek, if we remember the statements\nof Thucydides and Herodotus.\n\n[Illustration X: PART OF DOLPHIN FRESCO\n\nA GREAT JAR, KNOSSOS]\n\n'The first King known to us by tradition as having established\na navy is Minos,' says the great Athenian historian. The Minoan\nEmpire, like our own, rested upon sea-power; its great Kings were\nthe Sea-Kings of the ancient world--the first Sea-Kings known to\nhistory, over-lords of the AEgean long before 'the grave Tyrian\ntrader' had learned 'the way of a ship in the sea,' or the land-loving\nEgyptian had ventured his timid squadrons at the command of a great\nQueen so far as Punt. And so the fortifications of their capital\nand palace were not of the huge gypsum blocks which they knew so\nwell how to handle and work. They were the wooden walls, the long\nlow black galleys with the vermilion bows, and the square sail,\nand the creeping rows of oars, that lay moored or beached at the\nmouth of the Kairatos River, or cruised around the island coast,\nkeeping the Minoan peace of the AEgean. So long as the war-fleet of\nMinos was in being, Knossos needed no fortifications. No expedition\nof any size could force a landing on the island. If the crew of a\nchance pirate-galley, desperate with hunger, or tempted by reports\nof the wealth of the great palace, succeeded in eluding the vigilance\nof the Minoan cruisers, and made a swift rush up from the coast,\nthere was the bastion with its armed guard, enough to deal with\nthe handful of men who could be detached for such a dare-devil\nenterprise. But in the fleet of Knossos was her fate; and if once\nthe fleet failed, she had no second line of defence on which to\nrely against any serious attack. There is every evidence that the\nfleet did fail at last. The manifest marks of a vast conflagration,\nperhaps repeated more than once during the long history of the\npalace, and the significant fact that vessels of metal are next\nto unknown upon the site, while of gold there is scarcely a trace,\nwith the exception of scattered pieces of gold-foil, appear to\nindicate either that the Minoan Sovereigns failed to maintain the\nweapon which had made and guarded their Empire, or that the Minoan\nsailors met at last with a stronger fleet, or more skilful mariners.\nSea-power was lost, and with it everything.\n\nNear the main north entrance of the palace was found one of the\ngreat artistic treasures of the season's work. This was a plaster\nrelief of a great bull's head, which had once formed part of a\ncomplete figure. These figures of bulls, as we have already seen in\nconnection with the Palace of Tiryns, were among the most favourite\nsubjects of Mycenaean and Minoan art; but nothing so fine as the\nKnossos relief had yet been discovered. 'It is life-sized, or somewhat\nover, and modelled in high relief. The eye has an extraordinary\nprominence, its pupil is yellow, and the iris a bright red, of\nwhich narrower bands again appear encircling the white towards the\nlower circumference of the ball. The horn is of greyish-blue, and\nboth this and the other parts of the relief are of exceptionally\nhard plaster, answering to the Italian _gesso duro_.... Such as\nit is, this painted relief is the most magnificent monument of\nMycenaean plastic art that has come down to our time. The rendering\nof the bull, for which the artists of the period showed so great\na predilection, is full of life and spirit. It combines in a high\ndegree naturalism with grandeur, and it is no exaggeration to say\nthat no figure of a bull, at once so powerful and so true, was\nproduced by later classical art.'[*] Plate XIII. shows that this\nhigh praise is not undeserved; to match the naturalism of this\nmagnificent Minoan monster one must turn to the Old Kingdom tomb\nreliefs of Egypt, or to the exquisite Eighteenth Dynasty statue of\na cow unearthed in 1906 by Naville from the Temple of Mentuhotep\nNeb-hapet-Ra, at Deir-el-Bahri.\n\n[Footnote *: _Annual of the British School at Athens_, vol. vi.,\np. 52.]\n\nBut the discovery which will doubtless prove in the end to be of\ngreater importance than any other, though as yet the main part of\nits value is latent, was that of large numbers of clay tablets\nincised with inscriptions in the unknown script of the Minoans. By\nthe end of March the finding of one tablet near the South Portico\ngave earnest of future discoveries, and before the season ended\nover a thousand had been collected from various deposits in the\npalace. Of these deposits, one contained tablets written in\nhieroglyphic; but the rest were in the linear script, 'a highly\ndeveloped form, with regular divisions between the words, and for\nelegance scarcely surpassed by any later form of writing.' The\ntablets vary in shape and size, some being flat, elongated bars\nfrom two to seven and a half inches in length, while others are\nsquarer, ranging up to small octavo. Some of them, along with the\nlinear writing, supply illustrations of the objects to which the\ninscriptions refer. There are human figures, chariots and horses,\ncuirasses and axes, houses and barns, and ingots followed by a\nbalance, and accompanied by numerals which probably indicate their\nvalue in Minoan talents. It looks as though these were documents\nreferring to the royal arsenals and treasuries. 'Other documents,\nin which neither ciphers nor pictorial illustrations are to be\nfound, may appeal even more deeply to the imagination. The analogy\nof the more or less contemporary tablets, written in cuneiform\nscript, found in the Palace of Tell-el-Amarna, might lead us to\nexpect among them the letters from distant governors or diplomatic\ncorrespondence. It is probable that some of them are contracts or\npublic acts, which may give some actual formulae of Minoan legislation.\nThere is, indeed, an atmosphere of legal nicety, worthy of the\nHouse of Minos, in the way in which these records were secured.\nThe knots of string which, according to the ancient fashion, stood\nin the place of locks for the coffers containing the tablets, were\nrendered inviolable by the attachment of clay seals, impressed\nwith the finely engraved signets, the types of which represented a\ngreat variety of subjects, such as ships, chariots, religious scenes,\nlions, bulls, and other animals. But--as if this precaution was not\nin itself considered sufficient--while the clay was still wet the\nface of the seal was countermarked by a controlling official, and\nthe back countersigned and endorsed by an inscription in the same\nMycenaean script as that inscribed on the tablets themselves.'[*]\n\n[Footnote *: _Monthly Review_, March, 1901, pp. 129, 130.]\n\nThe tablets had been stored in coffers of wood, clay, or gypsum.\nThe wooden coffers had perished in the great conflagration which\ndestroyed the palace, and only their charred fragments remained;\nbut the destroying fire had probably contributed to the preservation\nof the precious writings within, by baking more thoroughly the clay\nof which they were composed. As yet, in spite of all efforts, it\nhas not proved possible to decipher the inscriptions, for there has\nso far been no such good fortune as the discovery of a bilingual\ninscription to do for Minoan what the Rosetta Stone did for Egyptian\nhieroglyphics. But it is not beyond the bounds of probability that\nthere may yet come to light some treaty between Crete and Egypt\nwhich may put the key into the eager searcher's hands, and enable\nus to read the original records of this long-forgotten kingdom\n(Plate XIV.).\n\n[Illustration XI: PILLAR OF THE DOUBLE AXES (_p_. 70)]\n\nEven as it is, the discovery of these tablets has altered the whole\nconception of the relative ages of the various early beginnings\nof writing in the Eastern Mediterranean area. The Hellenic script\nis seen to have been in all likelihood no late-born child of the\nPhoenician, but to have had an ancestor of its own race; and the old\nCretan tradition on which Dr. Evans relied at the commencement of\nhis work, has proved to be amply justified. 'In any case,' said Dr.\nEvans, summing up his first year's results, 'the weighty question,\nwhich years before I had set myself to solve on Cretan soil, has\nfound, so far at least, an answer. That great early civilization\nwas not dumb, and the written records of the Hellenic world were\ncarried back some seven centuries beyond the date of the first-known\nhistoric writings. But what, perhaps, is even more remarkable than\nthis, is that, when we examine in detail the linear script of these\nMycenaean documents, it is impossible not to recognize that we have\nhere a system of writing, syllabic and perhaps partly alphabetic,\nwhich stands on a distinctly higher level of development than the\nhieroglyphs of Egypt, or the cuneiform script of contemporary Syria\nand Babylonia. It is not till some five centuries later that we\nfind the first dated examples of Phoenician writing.'[*]\n\n[Footnote *: _Monthly Review_, March, 1901, p. 130.]\n\nAmong the other finds of this wonderful season's work were several\nstone vases, of masterly workmanship, in marble, alabaster, and\nsteatite, a few vases in pottery of the stirrup type (a type common\non other Mycenaean sites, but noticeably rare at Knossos, probably\nbecause in the great palace the bulk of such vases were of metal,\nand were carried off by plunderers in the sack), and a noble head of\na lioness, with eyes and nostrils inlaid, which had evidently once\nformed part of a fountain. One other discovery was most precious,\nnot for its own artistic value, which is slight enough, but for the\nlink which it gives with one of the other great sister civilizations\nof the ancient world. This was the lower part of a small diorite\nstatuette of Egyptian workmanship, with an inscription in hieroglyphic\nwhich reads: 'Ab-nub-mes-Sebek-user maat-kheru' (Ab-nub's child,\nSebek-user, deceased). The name of the individual and the style\nof the statuette point to Sebek-user, whoever he may have been,\nhaving been an Egyptian of the latter days of the Middle Kingdom,\nprobably about the Thirteenth Dynasty. This is the first link in\nthe chain of evidence, which, as we shall see later, shows the\ncontinuous connection between the Minoan and Nilotic civilizations.\n\nNine weeks after the excavations on the hill of Kephala had begun,\nthe season's work was closed, and, surely, never had a like period\nof time been more fruitful of fresh knowledge, more illuminative\nas to the conditions of ancient life, or more destructive of hoary\nprejudices. It was a new world, new because of its very ancientry,\nthat had begun to rise out of the buried past at the summons of\nthe patient explorer.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V\n\nTHE PALACE OF 'BROAD KNOSSOS' (_continued_)\n\nThe discoveries of 1900, important as they were, were evidently\nfar from having exhausted the hidden treasures of the House of\nMinos; but even the explorer himself, who spoke of his task as\nbeing 'barely half completed' by the first year's work, had no\nconception of the magnitude of the task which yet lay before him,\nor of the richness of the results which it was destined to produce.\nThe early work in the second year led to a further disclosure of\nthe large area of the Western Court of the palace, which seems\nto have formed the meeting-place between the citizens of Knossos\nand their royal masters. Here probably all the business between\nthe town and the palace-folk was transacted; stores were brought\nup, received and paid for by the palace stewards, and passed into\nthe great magazines; and here, perhaps, the ancients of the Knossian\nAssembly gathered in council to discuss affairs, as the men of the\nGreek host gathered in the Iliad, while the King sat in state in\nthe Western Portico, presiding over their deliberations. The Portico\nitself, with its wooden central pillar, 16 feet in height, must have\nbeen a sufficiently imposing structure, while the great court on\nwhich it opened, more than 160 feet in length, must have formed a\nstately meeting-place for the citizens. Whether as market-place or\nopen-air council-room, this West Court must have presented a gay\nand animated spectacle when the prosperity of the Minoan Empire\nwas at its height. Along the outer wall of the palace fronting the\ncourt ran a projecting base, which served as a seat where merchants\nor suppliants might wait, sheltered from the sun by the shadow of\nthe vast building at their backs, till their business fell to be\ndisposed of (Plate XV. 1). Meanwhile they could beguile the time\nby watching the ever-changing picture in front of them, where gay\ncourtier figures, with gold and jewels on neck and arm, mingled with\ngrave citizens of substance from the town, or gathered round some\nEgyptian visitor, newly arrived on board one of the Keftiu ships,\nto discuss some matter of trade--a clean-cut and austere-looking\nfigure, in his garb of pure white linen, beside the more gaudily\nclothed Minoans. When their eyes wearied of the glare of sunlight\non the red cement pavement and the brilliant crowd, they could\nturn to the wall behind them, where above their heads ran a broad\nzone of paintings in fresco--shrines with scenes of religion,\nconventional decorations, and lifelike representations of the great\nbulls which played so conspicuous, and sometimes so tragic, a part\nin the Minoan economy.\n\nBut the main discoveries of the season were to lie on the opposite\nside of the building from the Western Court. The Central Court,\ninstead of being, as it had seemed at first, the boundary of the\nbuilding on the eastern side, was now found to have been the focus\nof the inner life of the palace. For on its eastern margin, as the\nexcavations progressed, there came to light a mass of building,\nfully equal in importance to that on the western side, and perhaps\nof even greater interest. Here the slope of the ground had been\nsuch that storey had been piled above storey, even before the level\nof the Central Court had been reached, so that on this side it was\nnot only the basement of the building that had been preserved, but\na whole complex of rooms going down from the central area to different\nlevels, and connected with one another by a great staircase, which,\nin the course of this and subsequent seasons' excavations, was found\nto have had no fewer than five flights of steps. Of this staircase,\nthirty-eight steps are still preserved, and good fortune had so\nbrought it about that at the destruction of the palace some of\nthe upper chambers had fallen in such a manner that their debris\nactually propped up the staircase and some of the upper floorings,\nand kept them in place; and thus it has been possible to reconstruct\na large part of the arrangement of the various rooms and floors in\nthis quarter of the building (Plate XVI. 1). Far down below the\nlevel of the Central Court lay a fine Colonnaded Hall about 26 feet\nsquare, from which the great staircase, with pillars and balustrades,\nled to the upper quarter (Plate XVII. 2), while adjoining it was\na stately and finely-proportioned hall--the Hall of the Double\nAxes--about 80 feet in length by 26 feet in breadth, and divided\ntransversely by a row of square-sided pillars (Plate XVII. 1). In\nthis part of the building, and especially in the Colonnaded Hall,\nthe conflagration in which the glories of Knossos found their close\nhad been extremely severe, and the evidences of fierce burning\nwere everywhere. In a small room in an upper storey, whose floor\nwas near the present surface of the ground, there came to light\nalso evidence which suggested that the catastrophe of the palace,\nin whatever form it may have come, came suddenly and unexpectedly.\nThe room had evidently been a sculptor's workshop, and the artist\nwho used it had been employed in the fabrication of those splendid\nvessels of carved stone in which the Minoan magnates delighted. One\nof them still stood in the room, finished and ready for transport.\nIt was carved from a veined limestone approaching to marble in\ntexture, and was of noble proportions, standing 27-1/4 inches in\nheight, while its girth was 6 feet 8-3/4 inches, and its weight\nsuch that it took eleven men to carry it from the room where it had\nwaited so long for its resurrection. Its workmanship was superb.\nThe upper rim was decorated with a spiral band, while round the\nbulging shoulder ran another spiral, whose central coils rose up\nin bold relief into forms like the shell of a snail, and its three\nhandles bore another spiral design. But beside it stood another\namphora, smaller than its neighbour, and giving unmistakable proof\nthat the artist's work had been suddenly interrupted, for it had\nonly been roughed out, and its decoration had not been begun. The\nskilful hand that should have finished it had perhaps to grasp\nsword or spear in the last vain attempt to repel the assault of\nthe invader, and we can only wonder over his half-done work, and\nimagine what untoward fate befell the worker, and for what unknown\nmaster, if he survived the sack, he may have exercised the skill\nthat once gratified the refined taste of his Minoan lord.\n\nNot far from the sculptor's workshop, and in the same quarter of\nthe palace, was found a splendid and convincing proof of the\nmagnificence of the appointments of the House of Minos in its palmy\ndays. This was a board which had evidently been designed for use\nin some game, perhaps resembling draughts or chess, in which men\nwere moved to and fro from opposite ends. The board was over a\nyard in length, and rather more than half a yard in breadth. Its\nframework was of ivory, which had originally been overlaid with thin\ngold plate, and it was covered with a mosaic of strips and discs\nof rock-crystal, which in their turn had been backed alternately\nwith silver and blue enamel paste. Round its margin ran a border of\nmarguerites whose central bosses were convex discs of rock-crystal\nwhich had probably been set originally in a blue paste background.\nAt the top of the board were four beautiful reliefs representing\nnautilus shells, set round with crystal plaques, and bossed with\ncrystal. Below them came four large medallions, set among crystal\nbars backed with silver plate, and then eleven bars of ribbed crystal\nand ivory, alternating with one another. Eight shorter bars of\ncrystal backed with blue enamel fill spaces on either side of the\ntopmost section in the lower part of the board, which consists of\na two-winged compartment with ten circular openings, the medallions\nof which have been broken out, but were probably of crystal backed\nwith silver. The remaining space of the board was filled with flat\nbars of gold-plated ivory alternating with bars of crystal on the\nblue enamel setting. The mere summary of its decoration conveys\nno idea of the splendour of a piece of work which, as Professor\nBurrows says, 'defies description, with its blaze of gold and silver,\nivory and crystal.' The Late Minoan monarch who used it--for so\ngorgeous a piece of workmanship can scarcely have been designed\nfor anyone but a King--must have been as splendid in his amusements\nas in all the other appointments of his royalty (Plate XVIII.).\n\nThe gaming-board suggested the lighter and more innocent side of\nthe palace life. A darker and more tragic aspect of it was hinted\nat by the fresco which was found in the following season among\ndebris fallen from a chamber overlooking the so-called Court of\nthe Olive Spout. This was a picture of those sports of the arena in\nwhich the Minoan and Mycenaean monarchs evidently took such delight,\nand in which the main figures were great bulls and toreadors. In\nthis case the picture is one of three toreadors, two girls and\na boy, with a single bull. The girls are distinguished by their\nwhite skins, their more vari-coloured costumes, their blue and\nred diadems, and their curlier hair, but are otherwise dressed\nlike their male companion. In the centre of the picture the great\nbull is seen in full charge. The boy toreador has succeeded in\ncatching the monster's horns and turning a clean somersault over\nhis back, while one of the girls holds out her hands to catch his\nas he comes to the ground. But the other girl, standing in front\nof the bull, is just at the critical moment of the cruel sport.\nThe great horns are almost passing under her arms, and it looks\nalmost an even chance whether she will be able to catch them and\nvault, as her companion has done, over the bull's back, or whether\nshe will fail and be gored to death. With such a sport, in which\nlife or death depended upon an instant, in which a slip of the\nfoot, a misjudgment of distance, or a wavering of hand or eye meant\nhorrible destruction, we may be sure that the tragedies of the\nMinoan bull-ring were many and terrible, and that the fair dames\nof the Knossian Palace, modern in costume and appearance as they\nseem to us, were as habituated to scenes of cruel bloodshed as\nany Roman lady who watched the sports of the Colosseum, and saw\ngladiators hack one another to pieces for her pleasure.\n\nThat the sport of the bull-ring, and particularly this exciting\nand dangerous game of bull-grappling, or [Greek: taurokathapsia],\nwas an established and habitual form of Minoan sport is proved by\nthe multitude of representations of it which have survived. The\ncharging bull of Tiryns, the first to be discovered, was a mystery\nso long as it stood alone; but it is only one of a succession of\nsuch pictures--painted upon walls, engraved upon gems, and stamped\non seal impressions--which show that the Cretans and Mycenaeans\nwere as fond of their bull-fights as a modern Spaniard of his.\n\nWhere did they get the toreadors, male and female, whose lives\nwere to be devoted to such a terrible sport--a sport practically\nbound to end fatally sooner or later? We may be fairly sure, at\nall events, that bull-grappling was not taken up voluntarily even\nby the male, and still less by the female, toreadors; and one of\nthe discoveries made in the excavations of 1901, and followed up\nlater, gave its own suggestion of an explanation. Not very far from\nthe North Entrance of the palace, beneath the room where, the year\nbefore, had been found the fresco of the Little Boy Blue gathering\ncrocuses--an innocent figure to cover so grim a revelation--there\ncame to light the walls of two deep pits, going right down, nearly\n25 feet, to the virgin soil. The pits were lined with stone-work\nfaced with smooth cement, and it seems most probable that these\nwere the dungeons of the palace, in which we may imagine that the\nmiserable captives brought back by the great King's fleet from its\nvoyages of conquest and plunder, and the human tribute paid by the\nconquered states, dragged out their existence until the time came\nfor them either to be trained for the cruel sport to which they\nwere devoted, or actually to take their places in the bull-ring.\nIf it be so, then the dungeons of Minos would keep their captives\nsecurely enough; escape from the deep pits, with their smooth and\nslippery walls, must have been practically impossible, save by\nconnivance on the part of the guards, or by the intervention of\nsome tender-hearted Ariadne.\n\nIf those dark walls could only reveal the story of the doomed lives\nwhich they once imprisoned, we should probably be able to realize,\neven more fully than we do, the shadowed side of all the glittering\nsplendour of Knossos, and the grim element of barbaric cruelty\nwhich mingled with a refined artistic taste and a delight in all\nforms of beauty. In none of these great civilizations of the ancient\nworld were splendour and cruelty separated by any great interval\nfrom one another, nor was a very remarkable degree of refinement\ninconsistent with a carelessness of life, and even such a thirst\nfor blood, as we would consider more natural in a savage state;\nbut it is seldom that the evidences of the two things lie so close\nto one another as where at Knossos the innocent figure of the\ncrocus-gatherer almost covers the very mouth of the horrible pit\nin which the captives of Minos waited for the day when their lives\nwere to be staked on the hazard of the arena.\n\nAmong the other treasures recovered by this season's work was a\nquantity of fine painted pottery which had fallen from the upper\nrooms into the basement when the palace floors collapsed. Some of\nthe fragments were of that early polychrome style known as 'Kamares\nware,' from the cave on the southern slope of Mount Ida, where it\nwas first discovered by Mr. J. L. Myres. Its designs are purely\nconventional and largely geometric--zigzags, crosses, spirals, and\nconcentric semicircles--and are executed in beautiful tints of\nbrown, red, yellow, black, and white, the design being sometimes\nin dark on a light ground, and sometimes in light upon dark. The\nextraordinary thinness of the walls of these polychrome vessels,\nand the fineness of the clay from which they are fabricated, show to\nwhat a pitch the potter's craft had reached at the early period to\nwhich they belong. Of the later pottery of Knossos, which substituted\nnaturalistic motives, executed in monochrome, for the conventional\npolychrome designs of the Kamares period, many specimens were also\nfound during the excavations of this season.\n\nThe frescoes of the previous year were supplemented by the discovery\nof a number of others, representing zones of human figures, about\none-third of life-size, set out on blue and yellow fields with\ntriple borders of black, red, and white bands. One well-preserved\nfigure is that of a girl with very large eyes, lips of brilliant\nred, and curling black hair. Her high-bodied dress is looped up\nat the shoulder with a bunch of blue, with red and black stripes,\nand fringed ends. A border of the same robe, adorned with smaller\nloops, crosses the bosom, and between its blue and red bands the\nwhite tint of the skin displays itself, showing that the material\nof the robe was diaphanous. Relief work in stucco was represented\nby fragments of a life-sized figure, since pieced together by M.\nGillieron, which must have been that of some Minoan King. The head\nwears a fleur-de-lys crown and peacock plumes, and round the neck\nof the finely modelled torso there runs a collar of fleur-de-lys\nornament.\n\nAgain the connection of Knossos with Egypt was evidenced, and this\ntime in most interesting fashion. Near the wall of a bathroom which\nwas unearthed by the north-west side of the North Portico, there was\nfound the lid of an Egyptian alabastron, bearing the cartouche of\na King, which reads, 'Neter nefer S'user-en-Ra, sa Ra Khyan.' These\nare the names of one of the most famous Kings of the enigmatical\nHyksos race--Khyan--'the Embracer of the Lands,' as he called himself,\none of whose memorials, in the shape of a lion figure, carved in\ngranite, and bearing his cartouche upon its breast, was found as\nfar east as Baghdad, and is now in the British Museum. The statuette\nof Sebek-user, son of Ab-nub, evidenced a connection between Knossos\nand Egypt in the time of the later Middle Kingdom. This cartouche\nof Khyan shows that the connection was maintained in that dark\nperiod of Egyptian history which lay between the fall of the Middle\nKingdom and the rise of the Empire. The intercourse between Crete\nand Egypt, however, goes much farther back than either the domination\nof the Hyksos or the Middle Kingdom. The discovery of various stone\nvessels in translucent diorite, and other hard materials familiar\nto the student of Early Egyptian work as characteristic of the\ntaste of the earliest dynasties, shows that for the beginning of\nthe connection between the two great Empires we must go back to\nthe early days of the Old Kingdom in Egypt. The two civilizations,\nas we shall see later, can be equated period by period from the\nearliest times until the catastrophe of Knossos.\n\nAmong the seal impressions in clay, which were found in considerable\nnumbers this season, were two worthy of attention: the one of great\nimportance, the other scarcely of importance, but at least of interest.\nThe first was an impression of the figure of a female divinity,\ndressed in the usual flounced garb of the Mycenaean period, standing\nupon a sacred rock on which two guardian lions rest their forefeet,\nthe arrangement of the design being very much the same as that of\nthe relief on the Lion Gate at Mycenae, only with the figure of\nthe goddess taking the place of the sacred pillar. In her hands the\ngoddess holds something which may be either a weapon or a sceptre,\nand before her stands a male votary in an attitude of adoration.\nIn the background is a shrine with sacred columns, in front of\nwhich rise the 'horns of consecration,' which were characteristic\nof Minoan temples, as apparently also of other Eastern religious\nstructures. The second discovery was a clay matrix, formed from\nthe impression of an actual seal, and evidently designed for the\npurpose of providing counterfeit impressions. In fact, we have\nhere an evidence, brought to light after three millenniums, of some\nvery ancient attempt at forgery in the very palace of the great\nlaw-giver.\n\nThe main result of the season of 1902 was the practical reconstruction\nof a large part of the Eastern or Domestic Quarter of the palace.\nThe chief room in this part of the building was the Queen's Megaron,\nan inner chamber divided transversely by a row of pillars, along\nwhose bases ran a raised seat, where, no doubt, the maids of honour\nof the Minoan Court were wont to sit and gossip. The pillared portico\nopened upon another elongated area, a characteristic feature of\nMinoan architecture, which served the purpose of a light-shaft,\nilluminating the inner room. The light-well had been covered with\na brilliant white plaster, on which were the remains of a bird\nfresco--a long, curving wing, with feathers of red, blue, yellow,\nwhite, and black. Adjacent to the Queen's Megaron was a small bathroom,\nconstructed for a portable bath--a fragment of which, in painted\nterra-cotta, was found in the portico of the adjoining hall.\n\nThe fresco of the bull-fight, already referred to, was paralleled in\nsubject, and more than matched in artistic quality, by the discovery,\nin a small secluded room which had apparently served as a treasury,\nof a deposit of ivory figurines of the most exquisite workmanship.\nThe height of the best preserved specimen is about 11-1/2 inches,\nand it is hard to say whether the boldness of the design or the\nprecision with which the details of the tiny figure are wrought out\nis the more admirable. The attitude is that of a man flinging himself\nforth in the abandon of a violent leap, with legs and arms extended.\nHis straining muscles are indicated with perfect faithfulness, and\neven the veins in the diminutive hand and the nails of the tiny\nfingers are clearly marked. The hair had been formed by curling\nstrands of thin gold wire inserted in the skull. There can be no doubt\nthat these figures formed part of a scene like that of the toreador\nfresco, for the violent motion suggested is consistent with nothing\nbut some desperate feat of agility like bull-grappling. Probably the\nleaping figures were suspended by thin gold wires over the backs of\nivory bulls, and thus presented a realistic miniature reproduction\nof the Minoan bull-ring. The extraordinary multiplication of such\nscenes, in painting, in the round, on gems and seal impressions,\nhelps one to realize the hold which the passion of bull-fighting,\nor, rather, bull-grappling, had upon the Cretan mind, a hold no\ndoubt connected with the important part which the bull appears\nto have played in the Minoan religion (Plate XIX.).\n\n[Illustration XII: MINOAN PAVED ROAD (_p_. 110)\n\nNORTH ENTRANCE, KNOSSOS (_p_. 75)]\n\nOne of the season's finds was peculiarly useful and interesting, as\nhaving yielded a considerable mass of material for reconstructing\nthe appearance of a Minoan town. A great chest of cypress wood--in\nwhich perhaps some Knossian Nausicaa once kept her store of linen--had\nbeen decorated with a series of enamelled plaques, depicting a\nMinoan town, with its towers and houses, its fields and cattle\nand orchards. The chest itself had perished in the conflagration\nof the palace, leaving only a charred mass of woodwork; but the\nplaques survived. Some of them represent houses, evidently of wood\nand plaster fabric, for the round ends of the beams show in the\nfrontage. On the ground-floor are the doors, in some cases double;\nabove are second and third storeys, with rows of windows fitted with\nsome red material, which may have been oiled and tinted parchment,\nwhile some of the houses have an attic storey with windows above the\nthird floor. It is evident that the houses of the Minoan burghers\nwere not the closely-packed mud hovels, separated from one another\nonly by narrow alleys, which characterize the plan of the Egyptian\ntown discovered by Petrie at Illahun, but were substantial structures,\ngiving accommodation which, even to modern ideas, would seem\nrespectable. Of course, one must suppose that the poorer quarters\nof the town would scarcely be represented on a fabric designed\nfor use in the palace; but the actual remains of a Minoan town,\nunearthed at Gournia by Mrs. H. B. Hawes, show that that town,\nat least, was largely composed of houses which must have pretty\nclosely resembled those on the porcelain plaques of Knossos.\n\nMost surprising of all, however, in many respects, was the revelation\nof the amazingly complete system of drainage with which the palace\nwas provided. The gradient of the hill which underlay the domestic\nquarter of the building enabled the architect to arrange for a\ndrainage system on a scale of completeness which is not only\nunparalleled in ancient times, but which it would be hard to match\nin Europe until a period as late as the middle of the nineteenth\ncentury of our era. A number of stone shafts, descending from the\nupper floors, lead to a well-built stone conduit, measuring 1 metre\nby 1/2 metre, whose inner surface is lined with smooth cement.\nThese shafts were for the purpose of leading into this main conduit\nthe surface-water from the roofs of the palace buildings, and thus\nsecuring a periodical flushing of the drains. In connection with\nthis surface-water system, there was elaborated a system of latrines\nand other contrivances of a sanitary nature, which are 'staggeringly\nmodern' in their appointments.\n\nIn the north-eastern quarter, under the Corridor of the Game-Board,\nare still preserved some of the terra-cotta pipes which served as\nconnections to the main drain. They are actually faucet-jointed\npipes of quite modern type, each section 2-1/2 feet in length and\n6 inches in diameter at the wide end, and narrowing to 4 inches at\nthe smaller end. 'Jamming was carefully prevented by a stop-ridge\nthat ran round the outside of each narrow end a few inches from the\nmouth, while the inside of the butt, or broader end, was provided\nwith a raised collar that enabled it to bear the pressure of the\nnext pipe's stop-ridge, and gave an extra hold for the cement that\nbound the two pipes together'[*] (Plate XX. 2).\n\n[Footnote *: R. M. Burrows, 'The Discoveries in Crete,' p. 9.]\n\nIndeed, the hydraulic science of the Minoan architects is altogether\nwonderful in the completeness with which it provided for even the\nsmallest details. On a staircase near the east bastion, on the\nlower part of the slope, a stone runnel for carrying off the surface\nwater follows the line of the steps. Lest the steepness of the\ngradient should allow the water to descend too rapidly and flood\nthe pavement below, the runnel is so constructed that the water\nfollows a series of parabolic curves, and the rapidity of its fall\nis thus checked by friction. The main drains are duly provided\nwith manholes for inspection, and 'are so roomy,' says Dr. Evans,\n'that two of my Cretan workmen spent days within them clearing out\nthe accumulated earth and rubble without physical inconvenience.'\nThose who remember the many extant descriptions of the sanitary\narrangements, or rather the want of sanitary arrangements, in such\na town as the Edinburgh of the end of the eighteenth century, will\nbest appreciate the care and forethought with which the Minoan\narchitects, more than 3,000 years earlier, had provided for the\nsanitation of the great Palace of Minos (Plates XVI. 2 and XX. 1).\n\nTurning from the material to the spiritual, evidence as to the\nreligious conceptions of the inhabitants of the palace was forthcoming\nin two instances. In one early chamber there was found a little\npainted terra-cotta object consisting of a group of three columns\nstanding on an oblong platform. The square capitals of the columns\neach carried two round beams, their ends showing, exactly as in\nthe case of the pillar on the Lion Gate at Mycenae; and on the top\nof the beams doves were perched. Here is the evidence of a cult in\nwhich a Dove Goddess--a Goddess of the Air--was worshipped under\nthe form of a trinity of pillars; and confirmation of the existence\nof such a form of belief was afforded by the discovery, in the\nsouth-east corner of the palace, of a little shrine, in which,\nalong with the usual 'horns of consecration' and sacred Double\nAxes, were found three figures of a goddess, of very archaic form,\non the head of one of which there was also perched a dove. The Double\nAxes in the shrine again emphasized the importance in the palace\nworship of the Labrys, and underlined the suggestion that the Palace\nof Knossos is nothing more nor less than the legendary Labyrinth of\nMinos. 'That the _Labrys_ symbol should be the distinguishing cult\nsign of the Minoan Palace makes it more and more probable that\nwe must in fact recognize in this vast building, with its maze of\ncorridors and chambers and its network of subterranean ducts, the\nlocal habitation and name of the traditional Labyrinth.'[*]\n\n[Footnote *: A. J. Evans, _Annual of the British School at Athens_,\nvol. viii., p. 103.]\n\nThe season of 1903 was marked by two important discoveries within\nthe palace area. Of these we may first consider the so-called Theatral\nArea. (Plates XXI. and XXII.). Such an area had been found at Phaestos\nby the Italian explorers, and it was natural to expect that something\ncorresponding to it would not be lacking at Knossos. When found,\nit proved to be of later date and of more developed form than the\nstructure at Phaestos; but the general idea was the same. At the\nextreme north-west angle of the palace, abutting on the West Court,\nthere was discovered a paved area about 40 by 30 feet, divided up\nthe centre by a causeway. On its eastern and southern sides it\nwas overlooked by two tiers of steps, the eastern tier having at\none time consisted of eighteen rows, while the greatest number on\nthe south side was six, diminishing to three as the ground sloped\nupwards. At the southeastern angle, where the two tiers met, a\nbastion of solid masonry projected between them.\n\n[Illustration XIII: RELIEF OF BULL'S HEAD (_p_. 77)\n\nFrom 'The Palace of Minos,' by Arthur J. Evans, in _The Monthly\nReview_.]\n\nThis area, for whatever purpose it may have been designed, was\nevidently an integral portion of the Later Palace structure, for no\nfewer than five causeways converge upon it from different directions;\nbut it was in no sense a thoroughfare, and the rows of steps around\nit do not lead, and can never have led, anywhere. What can have been\nthe purpose of its existence? Dr. Evans's view, which is generally\naccepted, is that it was some sort of a primitive theatre, where\nthe inhabitants of the palace gathered to witness sports and shows\nof some kind, the tiers of steps affording sitting accommodation\nfor them, while the bastion at the south-east angle may have been\na kind of Royal Box, from which Minoan majesty and its Court circle\nsurveyed the games. There would be accommodation on the steps for\nsome four or five hundred spectators.\n\nIt must be confessed that the place leaves much to be desired as\na theatre. The shallow steps must have made somewhat uncomfortable\nsitting-places, though one must remember that the Minoan ladies\noften, apparently, adopted a sitting posture which was more like\nsquatting than sitting, and that a seat found in 1901, evidently\ndesigned for a woman's use, was only a trifle over 5 inches in\nheight. But male dignity required more lofty sitting accommodation;\nthe seat of the throne of Minos is nearly 23 inches high, and the\nspectators of the Knossian theatre cannot have been all women.\nNeither does the shape of the area appear to be particularly well\nadapted to the purpose suggested; and, on the whole, if it were really\ndesigned for a theatre, we must admit that the Minoan architects\nwere less happily inspired in its erection than in most of their\nother works. At the same time, however, the obstinate fact remains\nthat we can suggest no other conceivable purpose which the place can\nhave served; and so, until some more likely use can be suggested,\nwe are scarcely entitled to demur to Dr. Evans's theory.\n\nAdmitting, then, for want of any better explanation, that it may\nhave been a Theatral Area, what were the games or shows which were\nhere presented to the Minoan Court and its dependents? Certainly\nnot the bull-fight. For that there is manifestly no space, as the\nflat area is not larger than a good-sized room; while the undefended\nposition of the spectators would as certainly have resulted in\ntragedies to them as to the toreadors. But from the great rhyton\nfound at Hagia Triada, from a steatite relief found at Knossos\nin Igor, and from various seal-impressions, we know that boxing\nwas one of the favourite sports of the Minoans, as it was of the\nHomeric and the classical Greeks; and the Theatral Area may have\nserved well enough for such exhibitions as those in which Epeus\nknocked out Euryalus, and Odysseus smashed the jaw of Irus. Or\nperhaps it may have been the scene of less brutal entertainments\nin the shape of dances, such as those which delighted the eyes of\nOdysseus at the Palace of Alcinous. To this day the Cretans are\nfond of dancing, and in ancient times the dance had often a religious\nsignificance, and was part of the ceremonial of worship. So that it\nis not impossible that we have here a spot whose associations with\nthe House of Minos are both religious and literary--'the Choros\n(or dancing-ground) which Daedalus wrought in broad Knossos for\nfair-haired Ariadne' (Iliad XVIII., 590).\n\nIf the Theatral Area be really the scene of the palace sports,\nit has for us a romantic as well as an historical interest; for\nPlutarch tells us that it was at the games that Ariadne first met\nTheseus, and fell in love with him on witnessing his grace and\nprowess in the wrestling ring. It may be permissible to indulge\nthe imagination with the thought that we can still behold the very\nplace where, while the grim King and his gaily-bedecked courtiers\nlooked on at the sports which were meant only as a prelude to a\ndreadful tragedy, the actors in one of the great romances of the\nworld found love waiting for them before the gates of death. In\nany case, the spot may well have been a most fitting one for the\nbirth of an immortal tale of love. For it is not improbable that,\nin its religious aspect, it had a connection with a greater, a\nDivine namesake of the human Ariadne. The great goddess of Knossos,\nin one aspect of her nature, was the same whom the Greeks knew\nlater as Aphrodite, the foam-born Goddess of Love. To this goddess\nthere was attached in Crete the native dialect epithet of 'The\nExceeding Holy One,' 'Ariadne,' and the Theatral Area may well\nhave been the place where ceremonial dances were performed in her\nhonour.\n\nWithin the palace walls abundant remains of fine polychrome ware of\nthe Middle Minoan period were found as the season's work went on.\nThe dungeons of the preceding year's excavations were supplemented\nby the discovery of four more, making six in all, and it was shown\nthat these pits must have belonged to a very early period in the\nhistory of the buildings, for they have no structural connection\nwith the walls of the Later Palace, which, indeed, cross them in\nsome places. But the great discovery within the area was that of\nthe Temple Repositories. As the eastern side of the palace gave\nevidence of having been the domestic quarter, so the west-central\npart showed traces of having had a special religious significance\nin the palace life. Religion, indeed, seems to have bulked very\nlargely in the economy of the House of Minos, which is what might\nhave been expected when one remembers the closeness of the relations\nbetween Zeus and Minos as depicted in the legends, and realizes\nthat very probably the Kings of Knossos were Priest-Kings, and\nperhaps even incarnations of the Bull-god.\n\nNear the west-central part of the palace the Double Axe sign occurred\nvery frequently, and other evidences seemed to suggest that somewhere\nin this vicinity there must have been a sanctuary of some sort.\nThis season's explorations confirmed the suggestion, for, near\nthe Pillar Room at the west side of the Central Court, there were\ndiscovered two large cists, which had been used for the storage of\nobjects connected with the palace cult. The cist which was first\nopened was closely packed, to a depth of 1.10 metres, with vases; and\nbelow these there was a deposit of fragments and complete examples of\nfaience, including the figures of a Snake Goddess and her votaresses,\nvotive robes and girdles, cups and vases with painted designs, and\nreliefs of cows and calves, wild goats and kids. In fact, this\nRepository was a perfect treasure-house of objects in faience; but\nin the second cist such objects were wanting, with the exception\nthat a missing portion of the Snake Goddess was found, the place\nof the faience being taken by gold-foil and crystal plaques.\n\nSome of the small faience reliefs are of particularly exquisite\ndesign and execution, particularly one of a Cretan wild-goat and\nher young, the subject being executed in pale green, with dark\nsepia markings, and characterized by great directness and naturalism\nof treatment. Most interesting, however, were the figures of the\nSnake Goddess and her votaresses. The goddess is 13-1/2 inches in\nheight. She wears a high tiara of purplish-brown, with a white\nborder, and her dress consists of a richly embroidered jacket,\nwith laced bodice, and a skirt with a short double _panier_ or\napron. Her hair is dressed in a fringe above her forehead, and\nfalls behind on her neck and shoulders; the eyes and eyebrows are\nblack, and the ears are of extraordinary size; the bust is almost\nentirely bare. But the curious feature of the little figure is\nthat around her are coiled three snakes. One, which is grasped in\nthe right hand, passes up the arm, descends behind the shoulders\nand down the left arm to the hand, which holds the tail. Two other\nsnakes are interlaced around her hips, and a fourth coils itself\naround the high tiara. The figure of the votaress is somewhat similar;\nbut her skirt is flounced all the way down in the regular Minoan\nstyle, and she holds a snake in her right hand. The characteristic\nfeature of both figures is the modernness of their lines, which\nare as different as possible from those of the statues of classic\nGreece. The waist is exceedingly slender, and altogether 'the lines\nadopted are those considered ideal by the modern corset-maker rather\nthan those of the sculptor.'\n\nThere can be little doubt that these tiny figures point to the\nworship of an earth goddess, whose emblem is the snake--the other\naspect of the heavenly divinity whose symbols are the doves. It may\nbe noted that at Gournia Miss Boyd (Mrs. Hawes) found a primitive\nfigure of a goddess, twined with snakes and accompanied by doves,\ntogether with a low, three-legged altar, and the familiar horns\nof consecration. Strangely enough, along with the Snake Goddess\nof Knossos there was found in the Temple Repositories a cross of\nveined marble, with limbs of equal length, which Dr. Evans believes\nto have actually been the central object of worship in the cult,\nand which he has placed in this position in his reconstruction\nof the little shrine. This discovery, 'pointing to the fact that\na cross of orthodox Greek shape was not only a religious symbol\nof the Minoan cult, but an actual object of worship, cannot but\nhave a profound interest in its relation to the later cult of the\nsame emblem which still holds the Christian world.' The fact of\nthe equal-limbed cross having at so early a date been the object\nof worship also suggests the reason why the Eastern Church has\nalways preferred the Greek form of cross to the unequal-limbed form\nof the Western Church.\n\nOutside the area of the palace proper discoveries of almost equal\nimportance were made. About 130 yards to the east of the Northern\nEntrance there came to light the walls of a building which Dr. Evans\nhas designated the Royal Villa. It proved to be by far the finest\nexample yet discovered of Minoan domestic architecture on a moderate\nscale, and contained a finely preserved double staircase; while among\nthe relics found within its walls were some very beautiful examples\nof the ceramic art, including a fine 'stirrup' or 'false-necked'\nvase of the Later Palace style, decorated in lustrous orange-brown\non a paler lustred ground. Still more beautiful was a tall painted\njar, nearly 4 feet in height, bearing an exquisite papyrus design\nin relief (Plate XXIII.).\n\n[Illustration XIV: CLAY TABLET WITH LINEAR SCRIPT, KNOSSOS (_pp_.\n80 & 241)\n\nFrom 'The Palace of Minos,' by Arthur J. Evans, in _The Monthly\nReview_]\n\nThe main feature of the Villa was a long pillared hall, measuring\nabout 37 by 15 feet. At the one end of it was a raised dais, separated\nby a balustrade from the rest of the hall, and approached by an\nopening in the balustrade with three steps. Immediately in face\nof the opening a square niche breaks the wall behind the dais,\nand here stand the broken fragments of a gypsum throne. A fine\nstone lamp of lilac gypsum stands on the second step of the dais\n(Plate XXIV.). The two rows of pillars which run down the hall\ndivide it into a nave and side aisles, and the hall presents all the\nelements of a primitive basilica, with its throne for the presiding\nBishop or Priest-King. It is possible that we have here the first\nsuggestion of that style of architecture which, passing through the\nstage where the King-Archon of Athens sat in the 'Stoa Basilike'\nto try cases of impiety, found its full development at last in\nthe Roman Basilica, the earliest type of Christian church. 'Is\nthe Priest-King of Knossos, who here gave his decisions,' says\nProfessor Burrows, 'a direct ancestor of Praetor and Bishop, seated\nin the Apse within the Chancel, speaking to the people that stood\nbelow in Nave and Aisles?'[*]\n\n[Footnote *: 'The Discoveries in Crete,' pp. 10, 11.]\n\nSo far in the explorations at Knossos metal-work had been conspicuous\nby its absence. That the Minoans were skilled metal-workers was\nobvious, for many of their ceramic triumphs presented manifest\nindications of having been adaptations of metal forms; and the gold\ncups of Vaphio, which, there can be little doubt, came originally\nfrom Crete, bore witness to a skill which would not have disgraced\nthe best Renaissance goldsmiths. But the men, whoever they may\nhave been, who plundered the palace at the time of its great\ncatastrophe, had done their work thoroughly, and left behind them\nlittle trace either of the precious metals or of bronze. It turned\nout, however, that in a block of building which stands between the\nWest Court and the paved area to the north-west of the palace,\na strange chance had preserved enough to testify to the art of\nthe bronze-workers of Knossos. One of the floors of this building\nhad sunk in the conflagration before the plunderers had had time\nto explore the room beneath, and under its debris were found five\nmagnificent bronze vessels--four large basins and a single-handled\newer. The largest basin, 39 centimetres in diameter, is exquisitely\nwrought with a foliated margin and handle, while another has a\nlovely design of conventionalized lilies on its border.\n\nMention has already been made of the paved causeway which bisects\nthe Theatral Area of the palace. This was found, in 1904, to have\na continuation in the shape of a well-made road leading in a\nnorth-westerly direction towards the hillside (Plate XII. 1). It\nwas overlaid by a Roman roadway, and an interesting comparison\nwas thus made possible between the Minoan work and that of the\ngreat road-makers of later days. The Roman road came out rather\nbadly from the comparison, the earlier construction being superior\nin every respect. The central part of the Minoan road consisted\nof a well-paved causeway, rather more than 4-1/2 feet wide, while\non either side of this there extended to a breadth of more than\n3-1/2 feet a strip of pebbles, clay, and pounded potsherds rammed\nhard, making the whole breadth of the road almost 12 feet. Close\nby this first European example of scientific road-making ran the\nremains of water conduits, which may have led from a spring on Mount\nJuktas, and near the road also were found magazines of clay tablets,\ngiving details of numbers of chariots, bows, and arrows, while in\nthe immediate neighbourhood of these were two actual deposits of\nbronze-headed shafts.\n\nAs the Minoan road was followed up in 1905, it led the explorers\ntowards an important building in the face of the hill to the north-west.\nIts exploration was rendered extremely difficult by the fact that\nits masonry ran right back into the side of the hill, which was\ncovered by an olive wood, beneath whose roots lay a stratum made\nup of the remains of Graeco-Roman houses. But the building, when\nexplored, proved to be well worth the labour, for the Little Palace,\nas it is called, was an important structure with a frontage of\nover 114 feet, and its pillared hall was worthy of comparison even\nwith the fine rooms of its great neighbour. In Late Minoan times\npart of this fine hall had been used as a shrine, and in it were\nfound, along with the usual 'horns of consecration,' three fetish\nidols, grotesque natural concretions of quasi-human type. Of these,\nthe largest had some resemblance to a woman of ample contours, while\na smaller nodule suggested the figure of an infant, and near it\nwas a rude representation of a Cretan wild-goat. The third nodule\nwas of apelike aspect. In view of all the religious associations\nof Crete, it can scarcely be doubted that these grotesque images,\n'not made with hands,' represent Mother Rhea, the infant Zeus, and\nthe goat Amaltheia. The cult of stones, meteorites and concretions\nsuch as these of the Little Palace, has been widespread in all\nages; one has only to remember the black stone which forms the\nmost sacred treasure of Mecca, the black stone which stood in the\nTemple of the Great Mother at Rome, and the image of the great\ngoddess Diana at Ephesus, 'which fell down from Jupiter.' Hesiod's\nstory of how Kronos or Saturn devoured a stone under the belief\nthat he was swallowing the infant Zeus evidently belongs to the\nrecollections of a worship in which such natural idols as these\nwere adored.\n\nHitherto Knossos had yielded only one small and inadequate\nrepresentation of that seafaring enterprise upon which the Minoan\npower rested, though even this had, in its own way, a certain\nsuggestiveness of the romance and terror of the sea. It was a\nseal-impression, found in 1903, in the Temple Repositories, on\nwhich a great sea-monster, with dog's head and open jaws, is seen\nrising from the waves and attacking a fisherman, who stands up in\nhis light skiff endeavouring to defend himself. The Little Palace\nyielded a somewhat more adequate representation of the Minoan marine\nin the shape of another seal-impression, which showed part of a\nvessel carrying one square sail, and propelled also by a single\nbank of oars, whose rowers sit under an awning. Imposed upon the\nfigure of the vessel is that of a gigantic horse, and the impression\nhas been construed as a record of the first importation of the\nthoroughbred horse into Crete, probably from Libya, an interpretation\nwhich seems to demand a certain amount of faith and imagination, for\nMosso's criticism, that 'the perspective is faulty,' is extremely\nmild. But at least the representation of the vessel itself gives\nus some idea of the galleys which maintained the Minoan peace in\nthe AEgean.\n\n[Illustration XV: (1) PALACE WALL, WEST SIDE. MOUNT JUKTAS IN BACKGROUND\n(_p_. 84)\n\n(2) BATHROOM, KNOSSOS]\n\nAmong other treasures yielded by the Little Palace was a vessel of\nblack steatite in the shape of a bull's head. The idea was already\nfamiliar from other examples, but the execution of this specimen\nwas beyond comparison fine. 'The modelling of the head and curly\nhair,' says Dr. Evans, 'is beautifully executed, and some of the\ntechnical details are unique. The nostrils are inlaid with a kind\nof shell like that out of which cameos are made, and the one eye\nwhich was perfectly preserved presented a still more remarkable\nfeature. The eye within the socket was cut out of a piece of\nrock-crystal, the pupil and iris being indicated by means of colours\napplied to the lower face of the crystal which had been hollowed\nout, and had a certain magnifying power.'[*] Students of Early\nEgyptian art will be reminded of the details of the eyes in the\nstatues of Rahotep and Nefert, and in the bronze statue of Pepy.\n'Even after the Cnossian ivories, faience figurines, and faience\nand plaster reliefs,' writes Mr. Hogarth, 'after the Cnossian and\nHaghia Triadha frescoes, after the finest \"Kamares\" pottery, and\nthe finest intaglios, the Vaphio goblets and the Mycencae dagger\nblades, one was still not prepared for the bull's head _rhyton_\n... with its painted transparencies for eyes, and its admirable\nmodelling, and the striking contrast between the black polished\nsteatite of the mass and the creamy cameo shell of the inlay work.[**]\n\n[Footnote *: The _Times_, August 27, 1908.]\n\n[Footnote **: _Fortnightly Review_, October, 1908, pp. 600, 601.]\n\nWithin the palace proper, the work of 1907 witnessed the discovery\nof a huge beehive chamber excavated in the rock underlying the\nSouthern Portico. It had been filled in with later debris and sherds\nof the Middle Minoan period, and evidently belonged to a period\nantedating that of the construction of even the earliest palace.\nIts floor was only reached in 1908 by a small shaft at the depth\nof 52 feet from the summit of its cupola; and as yet the floor\nremains largely unexplored, and may be expected to furnish valuable\ninformation as to the Early Minoan culture. Professor Murray has\nsuggested that this huge underground vault may be the actual Labyrinth\nof the legend, the underground Temple of the Bull-God, and the scene\nof the dark tragedies which belong to the story of the Minotaur;\nbut for the confirmation or negation of this suggestion we must\nwait until the great vault itself has been thoroughly explored.\n\nSuch, then, have been the outstanding results of the excavation\nof the ancient palace of the Cretan Sea-Kings, so far as it has\nyet proceeded. Of the wealth of material which has been brought to\nlight much, of course, still waits, and, perhaps, may long wait,\nfor interpretation. The facts are there, but the significance of\nthem is not always easily discerned. But, at least, the importance\nof the supreme fact cannot be questioned; the emergence of this\nmagnificent relic of a civilization, so great and so advanced as to\nfill the mind with wonder, so curiously corroborating the ancient\nlegends as to the greatness and power of the House of Minos, and\nyet so absolutely lost as to have left no trace of itself, save\nin romantic story, until the patience and skill of present-day\nexplorers restored its relics to the light of day to tell, though\nas yet only imperfectly, their own tale of splendour and disaster.\n\nThe interpretation and co-ordination of the immense body of material\ngathered by Dr. Evans must for long be the work of scholars. Perhaps\nit is not too much to hope that when the Minoan script has at length\nyielded up its secrets we shall be able to comprehend clearly those\nhistorical outlines of the rise and magnificence and fall of a\ngreat monarchy and culture, which at present have to be cautiously\nand sometimes precariously inferred from the indications afforded\nby scraps of potsherd and fragments of stone or metal. And then\nthe actual story of the House of Minos will appeal to all. To-day,\nperhaps, the main impression left on the ordinary student by this\nresurrection is one of sadness. Here was a kingdom so great and\nso imposing, a civilization so highly advanced and so full of the\njoy of living. And it has all passed away and been forgotten, with\nits vivid life, and its hopes and fears; and we can only wonder\nhow life looked to the men and women who peopled the courts of\nthe vast palace, and what part was played by them in the fragments\nof old legend that have come down to us.\n\nThe pathos of this aspect of his discoveries has not been missed by\nthe explorer. Writing of the restoration of the Queen's apartment\nof the palace, a restoration rendered necessary by the decomposing\naction of wind and rain on the long-buried materials, Dr. Evans\nsays: 'From the open court to the east, and the narrower area that\nflanks the inner section of the hall, the light pours in between\nthe piers and columns just as it did of old. In cooler tones it\nsteals into the little bathroom behind. It dimly illumines the\npainted spiral frieze above its white gypsum dado, and falls below\non the small terra-cotta bath-tub, standing much as it was left\nsome three and a half millenniums back. The little bath bears a\npainted design of a character that marks the close of the great\n\"Palace Style.\" By whom was it last used? By a Queen, perhaps,\nand mother, for some \"Hope of Minos\"--a hope that failed.'[*]\n\n[Footnote *: The _Times_, August 27, 1908.]\n\nThe little bath-tub in the Queen's Megaron at Knossos takes its\nplace with the children's toys of the Twelfth Dynasty town at Kahun\nin bringing home to us the actual humanity of the people who used\nto be paragraphs in Lempriere's 'Classical Dictionary' or Rollin's\n'Ancient History.'\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI\n\nPHAESTOS, HAGIA TRIADA, AND EASTERN CRETE\n\nWe have followed the fortunes of the excavations at Knossos in\nconsiderable detail, not only as being the most important, but as\nillustrating also in the fullest manner the legendary and religious\nhistory of Crete. But they are very far from being the only important\ninvestigations which have been carried on in the island, and it\nmay even be said that, had Knossos never been excavated, it would\nstill have been possible, from the results of the excavations made\nat other sites, to deduce the conclusion which has been arrived at\nas to the supreme position of Crete in the early AEgean civilization.\n\nBoth in the Iliad and the Odyssey Phaestos is mentioned along with\nKnossos as one of the chief towns of Crete; and it is at and near\nPhaestos that the most extensive and important remains of Minoan\nculture have been discovered, apart from the work at Knossos. The\nsplendid valley of the Messara, on the southern side of the island,\nis dominated towards its seaward end by three hills, rising in steps\none above the other, and on the lowest of the three, overlooking\nthe plain, stood the Palace of Phaestos, the second great seat of\nthe Minoan lords of Crete. As in the case of Knossos, a few blocks\nof hewn stone, standing among the furrows of the cornfield which\noccupied the site, were the only indications of the great structure\nwhich had once crowned the hill, and it was the existence of these\nwhich induced the Italian Archaeological Mission to attempt the\nexcavation. In April, 1900, the first reconnaissance of the ground\nwas made, with no very encouraging results. By September of the\nsame year the great palace had been discovered, though, of course,\nthe full revelation of its features was a matter of much longer\ntime. The work has been carried on by Professor Halbherr, Signor\nPernier, and others, concurrently with the excavations of Dr. Evans;\nand the result has been the revelation of a palace, similar in many\nrespects to the House of Minos at Knossos, though on a somewhat\nsmaller scale, and characterized, like the Labyrinth, by distinct\nperiods of building. At Phaestos, indeed, the remains of the earlier\npalace, consisting of the Theatral Area and West Court, with the\none-columned portico at its south end, are of earlier date than the\nexisting important architectural features at Knossos, belonging to\nthe period known as Middle Minoan II., the time when the beautiful\npolychrome Kamares ware was in its glory, while the main scheme\nof the palace at Knossos, as at present existing, must be placed\nsomewhere in the following period, Middle Minoan III.\n\nThis first palace of Phaestos had been destroyed, like the early\npalace at Knossos, but not at the same time, for it apparently lasted\ntill the beginning of the Late Minoan period, while at Knossos the\ncatastrophe of the first palace took place at the end of Middle\nMinoan II. From this fact it has been suggested that the first\ndestruction of Knossos was the result of civil war, in which the\nlords of Phaestos overthrew their northern brethren of the greater\npalace, but the evidence seems somewhat scanty to bear such an\ninference.\n\nAfter the catastrophe at Phaestos, a thick layer of lime mixed with\nclay and pebbles was thrown over the remains of the ruined structure\nas a preparation for the rebuilding of the palace, and thus the\nrelics of the earlier building, which are now unveiled in close\nconnection with the later work, though on a rather lower level,\nwere completely covered up before the second palace rose upon the\nsite. The Theatral Area at Phaestos to some extent resembles that\nof Knossos, but is simpler, lacking the tier of steps at right\nangles to the main tier, and lacking also the Bastion, or Royal\nBox, which at Knossos occupies the angle of the junction of the\ntwo tiers. It consists of a paved court, ending, on the west side,\nin a flight of ten steps, more than 60 feet in length, behind which\nstands a wall of large limestone blocks. As at Knossos, a flagged\npathway ran across the area, obliquely, however, in this case.\nBeneath the structure of the second palace were discovered some\nof the chambers of the earlier building, with a number of very\nfine Kamares vases (Plate XXVI.).\n\nBut the chief glory of the palace at Phaestos is the great flight\nof steps, 45 feet in width, which formed its state entrance, the\nbroadest and most splendid staircase that ever a royal palace had\n(Plate XXVI.). 'No architect,' says Mosso, 'has ever made such a\nflight of steps out of Crete.' At the head of the entrance staircase\nstood a columned portico, behind which was the great reception-hall\nof the palace. The halls and courts of Phaestos are comparable for\nspaciousness even with the finest of those at Knossos, and, indeed,\nthe Megaron, so called (wrongly), of Phaestos is a more spacious\napartment than the Hall of the Double Axes at the sister palace,\nthe area of the Phaestos chamber being over 3,000 square feet, as\nagainst the 2,000 odd square feet of the Hall of the Double Axes.\nThe Central Court, 150 feet long by 70 broad, is a fine paved\nquadrangle, but has not the impressiveness of the Central Court\nat Knossos, with its area of about 20,000 square feet.\n\nOn the whole, the two palaces wonderfully resemble each other in\nthe general ideas that determine their structure, though, of course,\nthere are many variations in detail. But, as contrasted with the\nsister palace, the stately building at Phaestos has exhibited a\nmost extraordinary dearth of the objects of art which formed so\ngreat a part of the treasures of Knossos. Apart from the Kamares\nvases and one graceful flower fresco, little of importance has\nbeen found. The comparative absence of metal-work at Knossos can\nbe explained by the greed of the plunderers who sacked the palace;\nbut Phaestos is almost barren, not of metal-work alone. All the\nmore interesting, therefore, was the discovery, made in 1908, of\nthe largest inscribed clay tablet which has yet been found on any\nMinoan site. This was a disc of terra-cotta, 6.67 inches in diameter,\nand covered on both sides with an inscription which coils round\nfrom the centre outwards. 'It is by far the largest hieroglyphic\ninscription yet discovered in Crete. It contains some 241 signs\nand 61 sign groups, and it exhibits the remarkable peculiarity\nthat every sign has been separately impressed on the clay while\nin a soft state by a stamp or punch. It is, in fact, a printed\ninscription.'[*] One of the hieroglyphs, frequently repeated, is\nthe representation of the head of a warrior wearing a feathered\nheaddress which remarkably resembles the crested helmets of the\nPulosathu, or Philistines, on the reliefs of Ramses III. at Medinet\nHabu. From his analysis of the various signs Dr. Evans has concluded\nthat the inscription is not Cretan, but may represent a script,\nperhaps Lycian, in use in the coast-lands of Asia Minor. No\ninterpretation of the writing can yet be given, but Dr. Evans has\npointed out evidences of a metrical arrangement among the signs,\nand has suggested that the inscription may conceivably be a hymn\nin honour of the Anatolian Great Mother, a goddess who corresponded\nto the Nature Goddess worshipped in Minoan Crete, whose traditions\nhave survived under the titles of Rhea, Britomartis, Aphrodite\nAriadne, and Artemis Dictynna. The pottery in connection with which\nit was found dates it to at least 1600, perhaps to 1800, B.C.[**]\n\n[Footnote *: A. J. Evans, 'Scripta Minoa,' p. 24.]\n\n[Footnote **: See Appendix, p. 264.]\n\nThe hill of Hagia Triada, about two miles to the north-west of\nPhaestos, proved sufficiently fruitful to compensate the Italian\nexplorers for the incomprehensible barrenness of Phaestos. Here\nstand the ruins of the Venetian church of St. George, itself built\nof stone which was hewn originally by Minoan masons. The retaining\nwall of the raised ground in front of the church had given way,\nexposing a section of archaeological relics, Minoan potsherds, and\nfragments of alabaster, to a depth of more than six feet; and this\naccidental exposure led to the discovery of the Royal Villa, which\nthe lords of Phaestos had erected as a dependency of the great palace,\nor as a country seat. Hagia Triada proved to be as rich in objects of\nartistic interest as Phaestos had been poor. Some of the fresco work\ndiscovered, in particular a scene with a cat hunting a red pheasant,\nreminiscent of the hunting-cat scene on the Mycenae dagger-blade,\nis of extraordinary merit. The cat scene is judged by Professor\nBurrows to be superior in vivacity to the famous Egyptian Eighteenth\nDynasty tomb-picture of the marsh-fowler with the trained cat,\nthough to those familiar with the wonderful dash of the Egyptian\nwork in question this will seem a hard saying.\n\nThere can be nothing but admiration, however, for the three astonishing\nvases of black soapstone which were discovered at the villa. They\nremain a most convincing evidence of the maturity of Minoan art,\nand the mastery to which it had attained over the expression of\nthe human form in low relief. It has been already noticed that\nthe fine Minoan pottery is largely an imitation of earlier work\nin metal, and this is true also of these stone vases. What the\nMinoan craftsman was capable of when he was allowed to deal with the\nprecious metals we can see from the few specimens which have survived\nto the present time. The Vaphio gold cups, with their bull-trapping\nscenes, are generally admitted now to be of Cretan workmanship,\nthough found in the Peloponnese, and Benvenuto Cellini himself\nneed not have been ashamed to turn out such work, admirable alike\nin design and execution. Little of such gold-work has survived, for\nobvious reasons. The metal was too precious to escape the plunderer\nin the evil days which fell upon the Minoan Empire; and the artistic\nvalue of the vases and bowls would seem trifling to the conquerors\nin comparison with the worth of the metal.\n\nBut the artists of the time worked not only in the precious metals,\nbut also in stone, trying to reproduce there the forms with which\nthey had decorated the vessels wrought in the costlier medium.\nProbably, when the steatite was worked to its finished shape, it was\ncovered with a thin coating of gold-leaf, at least this suggestion,\noriginally made by Evans, has been confirmed in one instance, where\npart of the gold-leaf was found still adhering to a vase discovered\nat Palaikastro by Mr. Currelly. In the case of the Hagia Triada\nvases the gold-coated steatite had no charms for the plunderer,\nwho merely stripped off the gold-leaf and left its foundation to\ntestify to us of the skill of these ancient craftsmen. The largest\nof the three stands 18 inches in height. It is divided by horizontal\nbands into four zones. Three of these show boxers in all attitudes\nof the prize-ring--striking, guarding, falling; while the second\nzone from the top exhibits one of the bull-grappling scenes so\ncommon in Minoan art, with two charging bulls, one of them tossing\non his horns a gymnast who appears to have missed his leap and\npaid the penalty. The figures are admirably modelled and true to\nnature, save for the convention of the exaggeratedly slender Minoan\nwaist, which seems to create an impression of unusual height and\nlength of limb. The second vase (Plate XXVII.) is much smaller, and\nrepresents a procession which has been variously interpreted as a\nband of soldiers or marines returning in triumph from a victory, or\nas a body of harvesters marching in some sort of harvest thanksgiving\nfestival. This interpretation seems, on the whole, the more probable\nof the two. In the middle of the procession is a figure, interesting\nfrom the fact that he is so different from his companions. He has\nnot the usual pinched-in waist of the Cretans, but is quite normally\ndeveloped, and he bears in his hand the _sistrum_, or metal rattle,\nwhich was one of the regular sacred musical instruments of the\nEgyptians. In all probability he is meant to represent an Egyptian\npriest, though what he is doing in a Cretan festival it is hard to\ntell. The three figures, possibly of women, who are following him,\nhave their mouths wide open, and are evidently singing lustily.\nOne of the figures, that of an elderly man, who appears to be the\nchief of the party, is clad in a curious, copelike garment, which\nmay be either a ceremonial robe or a wadded cuirass. Apart from all\nquestions of what kind of incident the artist meant to represent,\nthe artistic value of his work is unquestionable. It has been said\nof this little vase that 'not until the fifth century B. C. should\nwe find a sculptor capable of representing, with such absolute\ntruth, a party of men in motion.'\n\nThe smallest of the three vases, only 4 inches in height, bears the\nrepresentation of a body of soldiers with heads and feet showing\nabove and below their great shields, which are locked together\ninto a wall. The shields are evidently covered with hide, as the\nbulls' tails still show upon them. But the interest centres in\ntwo figures which stand apart from the others. One seems to be a\nchieftain or general; he has long, flowing hair, a golden collar\nround his neck, and bracelets on his arms, while in his outstretched\nright hand he holds a long staff, which may be the shaft of a lance,\nor, more probably, an emblem of authority, like the staves carried\nby Egyptian nobles and officials. His legs are covered halfway\nup to the knee by a genuine pair of puttees, five turns of the\nbandage being clearly marked. He appears to be giving orders to\nthe other figure, perhaps that of a captain or under-officer, who\nstands before him in an attitude of respectful attention. The captain\nis slightly lower in stature than his chief, though this may be\ndue to the fact that room has had to be found for the tall curving\nplume of the low helmet which he wears. His neck is adorned with a\nsingle torque, and he carries a long heavy sword sloped over his\nright shoulder. Instead of wearing puttees, like his commander, he\nwears half-boots, like those on the figurine discovered by Dawkins\nat Petsofa. Neither the chieftain nor his officer appears to wear\nany defensive armour; their only clothing is a scalloped loin-cloth,\nslightly more heavily bordered in the case of the chief than in\nthat of the soldier; and the modelling of the bodies, with the\nindications of muscular development, particularly in the legs of\nthe chieftain, is exceedingly fine, and of an accuracy marvellous\nwhen the diminutive scale of the figures is considered. The little\nvase is a valuable document for the appearance and equipment of\nthe warriors of those far-off times, but it is also a treasure\nof art. 'The ideal grace and dignity of these two figures,' says\nProfessor Burrows, 'the pose with which they throw head and body\nback, is beyond any representation of the human figure hitherto\nknown before the best period of Archaic Hellenic art.'\n\nThe interest of another of the Hagia Triada finds arises from the\nfact that it appears to represent a religious ceremony in honour of\nthe dead. The object in question is a limestone sarcophagus covered\nwith plaster, on which various funerary ceremonies are painted. The\nartistic merit of the work is small, for the figures are badly\ndrawn and carelessly painted, and in all likelihood represent the\ndecaying art of the Third Late Minoan period; but the subjects and\ntheir arrangement are of importance (Plate XXVIII.). On one side\nof the sarcophagus a figure stands against the door of a tomb. He\nis closely swathed, the arms being within his wrappings, and his\nattitude is so immobile as to suggest that he is dead. Towards him\nadvance three figures, one bearing something which, by a stretch\nof charity, may be described as the model of a boat, the others\nbearing calves, which, curiously enough, are represented, like\nthe great bulls of the frescoes, as in full gallop. At the other\nend of the panel a priestess pours a libation into an urn standing\nbetween two Double Axes, with birds perched upon them. Behind the\npriestess is a woman carrying over her shoulders a yoke, from which\nhang two vessels, while behind her, again, comes a man dressed in a\nlong robe, and playing upon a seven-stringed lyre. On the opposite\nside of the sarcophagus, the painting, much defaced, shows another\npriestess before an altar, with a Double Axe standing beside it, a\nman playing on a flute, and five women moving in procession. On\nthe ends of the sarcophagus are pictures, in one case of a chariot\ndrawn by two horses, and driven by two women; in the other, of a\nchariot drawn by griffins and driven by a woman, who has beside\nher a swathed figure, perhaps again representing a dead person. The\nfigures of the lyre and flute players are interesting as affording\nvery early information concerning the forms of European musical\ninstruments. The double flute employed shows eight perforations,\nand probably the full number, allowing for those covered by the\nplayer's hands, was fourteen. The lyre approximates to the familiar\nclassic form, and the number of its strings shows that Terpander can\nno longer claim credit as being the inventor of the seven-stringed\nlyre, which was in use in Crete at least eight centuries before the\ndate at which his instrument was mutilated by the unsympathetic\njudges at Sparta to put him on a level with his four-stringed\ncompetitors.\n\n[Illustration XVI: A FLIGHT OF THE QUADRUPLE STAIRCASE (_p_. 85)\n\nWALL WITH DRAIN (_p_. 98)]\n\nMore important, however, is the suggestion of Egyptian influence\nin the grouping of the figures. No one familiar with the details of\nthe ceremony of 'opening the mouth' of the deceased, so continually\nrepresented in Egyptian funerary scenes, can fail to recognize the\noriginal inspiration of the scene on the Hagia Triada sarcophagus.\nThe tomb in the background, the stiff swathed figure propped like\na log in front of it, the leafy branch before the dead man, taking\nthe place of the bunches of lotus-blooms, the offerings of meat,\nand the sacrifice of the bull--this is an Egyptian funeral with\nthe mourners dressed in Cretan clothes. We have already seen a\npriest from the banks of the Nile brandishing his sistrum in the\nHarvest Procession; and the sarcophagus suggests that Egyptian\nreligious influence was telling, if not on the actual views of\nthe Cretans as to the state of man after death, at all events upon\nthe ceremonial by means of which these views were expressed. Phaestos\nand Hagia Triada, we must remember, owing to their position, would\nbe more exposed to Egyptian influence than even Knossos, where\ntraces of it are not lacking.\n\nThe villa at Hagia Triada showed the same attentive care for sanitary\narrangements which has been already noticed at Knossos. Mosso has\nnoted an illustration of the honesty with which the work had been\nexecuted. 'One day, after a heavy downpour of rain, I was interested\nto find that all the drains acted perfectly, and I saw the water\nflow from sewers through which a man could walk upright. I doubt\nif there is any other instance of a drainage system acting after\n4,000 years.'\n\nThe excavations at Knossos, Phaestos, and Hagia Triada have yielded,\nin the main, evidence of the splendour of the Minoan Kings; but\nother sites in the island, while presenting perhaps nothing so\nstriking, have added largely to our knowledge of the common life\nof the Minoan race. At Gournia an American lady, Miss Harriet Boyd\n(now Mrs. Hawes), made the remarkable discovery of a whole town,\nmainly dating from the close of the Middle Minoan period, though\nthe site had been occupied from the beginning of the Bronze Age.\nGournia had had its modest palace, occupying an area of about half\nan acre, with its adaptation, on a diminutive scale, of the Knossian\nTheatral Area, its magazines, and its West Court, where palace and\ntown met, as at Knossos, for business purposes. But the main interest\nof the little town centred in its shrine and in the houses of the\nburghers, with their evidences of a wonderfully even standard of\ncomfortable and peaceful life, by no means untinged with artistic\nelegance.\n\nThe shrine, discovered in 1901, stood in the very heart of the\ntown, and was reached by a much-worn paved way. The sacred enclosure\nwas only some 12 feet square, and Mrs. Hawes is inclined to believe\nthat its rough walls never stood more than 18 inches high, forming\nmerely a little _temenos_, in which stood a sacred tree, and the\nsmall group of cult objects which were still huddled together in\na corner of the shrine. 'It is true that they are very crude, made\nin coarse terra-cotta, with no artistic skill; nevertheless, they\nare eloquent, for they tell us that the Great Goddess was worshipped\nin the town-shrine of Gournia, as in the Palace of Knossos. Here\nwere her images twined with snakes, her doves, the \"horns of\nconsecration,\" the low, three-legged altar-table, and cultus vases.\nTo complete the list, a potsherd was found with the Double Axe\nmoulded upon it, an indication, perhaps, that some who claimed kin\nwith the masters of Crete paid their devotions at this unpretentious\nshrine.'[*] The smallness of the shrine at Gournia may be compared\nwith the smallness of the sacred rooms at Knossos, and seems to\nhave been characteristic of the Minoan worship.\n\n[Footnote *: 'Crete the Forerunner of Greece,' p. 98.]\n\nThe 5-feet-broad roadways of the town, neatly paved, are conclusive\nevidence of the infrequent use of wheeled vehicles. Flush with their\nborders stand the fronts of the houses. Two-storey houses were\ncommon, some of them with a basement storey beneath the ground-floor\nwhen the slope of the hill admitted of such an arrangement. In all\nlikelihood the general appearance of the homes was much like that\nof the comfortable-looking houses depicted on the faience plaques\nof Knossos, already referred to. Even ordinary craftsmen's houses\nhave six to eight rooms, while those of the wealthier burghers\nhave perhaps twice as many. Here and there evidences of the former\noccupations of the inhabitants came to light--a complete set of\ncarpenter's tools in one house, a set of loom weights in another,\nthe block-mould in which a smith had cast his tools in a third.\nThat the citizens of the little town were not entirely ignorant\nof letters was evidenced by the presence of a tablet bearing an\ninscription in the linear script of Knossos, Class A, and the beauty\nof their painted pottery shows that they were by no means lacking\nin refinement and artistic feeling. The town was sacked and burned\nabout 1500 B.C., as its discoverer thinks, perhaps a century before\nthe fall of the great palace at Knossos. Partially reoccupied,\nlike other Cretan sites, during the Third Late Minoan period, it\nhas since then lain tenantless, waiting the day when its ruined\nhouses should be revealed again to testify to the quiet and peaceful\nprosperity that reigned under the aegis of the great sea-power of\nthe House of Minos.\n\nAt Palaikastro another town of closely-packed houses, covering a\nspace of more than 400 by 350 feet, has been revealed. Its existing\nremains are of somewhat later date than those of Gournia, and the\nhouses are, on the whole, rather larger, but their general style\nis much the same. Near the town, at Petsofa, Professor J. L. Myres\nhas unearthed, among a wealth of other votive offerings, a number\nof curious clay figurines, interesting as being among the earliest\nexamples of polychrome decoration (they belong to Middle Minoan I.,\nand are painted in a scheme of black and white, red and orange),\nbut still more interesting--'with their open corsage, wide-standing\ncollars, high shoe-horn hats, elaborate crinolines, and their general\nimpression of an inaccurate attempt at representing Queen Elizabeth'--as\nevidence of how utterly unlike was the costume of prehistoric woman\nin the AEgean area to the stately and simple lines of the classic\nGreek dress.\n\nThe Cretan discoveries have tended as much as any work of recent\nyears to reduce the extravagant claims which used to be put forward\non behalf of the Phoenicians as originators of many of the elements\nof ancient civilization, and evidence is now forthcoming to show that\noriginality in even their most famous and characteristic industry,\nthe dyeing of robes with the renowned 'Tyrian purple,' must be denied\nto them and claimed for the Minoans. In 1903, Messrs. Bosanquet\nand Currelly found on the island of Kouphonisi (Leuke), off the\nsouth-east coast of Crete, a bank of the pounded shell of the murex\nfrom which the purple dye was obtained, associated with pottery of\nthe Middle Minoan period; and in 1904 they discovered at Palaikastro\ntwo similar purple shell deposits, in either case associated with\npottery of the same date.\n\n[Illustration XVII: (1) HALL OF THE DOUBLE AXES (_p_. 86)\n\n(2) GREAT STAIRCASE, KNOSSOS (_p_. 86)]\n\nAt Zakro, on the eastern coast of the island, Mr. Hogarth has excavated\nthe remains of what must have been an important trading-station.\nIn one single house of one of its merchants he came upon 500 clay\nseal-impressions, with specimens of almost every type of Cretan\nseal design, which had evidently been used for sealing bales of\ngoods. Some of the Zakro pottery also was of extreme beauty, one\nspecimen in particular, conspicuous from the fact that its delicate\ndecoration had been laid on subsequent to the firing of the vessel,\nand could be removed by the slightest touch of the finger, showing\nevident traces of Egyptian influence in its adaptation of the familiar\nlotus design of Nilotic decorative art (Plate XXIX. 2).\n\nOn the tiny island of Mokhlos, only some 200 yards off the northern\ncoast of Crete, to which it was probably united in ancient days, Mr.\nSeager has excavated, in 1907 and 1908, an Early Minoan necropolis,\nfrom which have come some remarkable specimens of the skill with\nwhich the ancient Cretan workmen could handle both stone and the\nprecious metals. Scores of beautiful vases of alabaster, breccia,\nmarble, and soapstone, wrought in some cases to the thinness of\na modern china cup, suggest at once the protodynastic Egyptian\nbowls of diorite and syenite, and show that if the Cretan took\nthe idea from Egyptian models, he was not behind his master in\nthe skill with which he carried it out. Not less surprising is the\nwork in gold, which includes 'fine chains--as beautifully wrought as\nthe best Alexandrian fabrics of the beginning of our era--artificial\nleaves and flowers, and (the distant anticipation, surely, of the gold\nmasks of the Mycenae graves) gold bands with engraved and _repousse_\neyes for the protective blinding of the dead.'[*][**]\n\n[Footnote *: A. J. Evans, the _Times_, August 27, 1908.]\n\n[Footnote **: For Mr. Seager's work on the Island of Pseira, see\n'Excavations on the Island of Pseira, Crete,' by R. B. Seager.\nPhiladelphia, 1910.]\n\nExcavating outside the area of the palace at Knossos, Dr. Evans\nopened, on a hill known as Zafer Papoura, about half a mile north\nof the palace, a large number of Minoan tombs dating from the Third\nMiddle Minoan period onwards. They revealed a civilization still high,\nthough giving evidence of gradual decline in its later stages. The\nearlier tombs provided, what had been singularly lacking at Knossos,\na number of fine specimens of the 'stirrup-' or 'false-necked' vase.\nThere was also a number of bronze vessels and weapons, including\nswords, some of which were nearly a metre in length. In one tomb,\nwhich had evidently belonged to a chieftain, there was found a\nshort sword of elaborate workmanship, with a pommel of translucent\nagate, and a gold-plated hilt, on which was engraved a scene of\na lion chasing and capturing one of the Cretan wild-goats. The\noccurrence in some of the tombs of a long rapier and a shorter\nsword or dagger is unexpected, as there are no representations of\nthe two weapons being worn together in Minoan warfare. Mr. Andrew\nLang has made the picturesque suggestion that we may have here an\nanticipation of the duelling custom of the Elizabethan age, in\nwhich the dagger was held in the left hand, and used for parrying\nthrusts, or for work at close quarters, as in the savage encounter\nbetween Sir Hatton Cheek and Sir Thomas Dutton at Calais in 1610.\n\nOn the hill of Isopata, between Knossos and the sea, Dr. Evans\nalso discovered a stately sepulchre, whose occupant had evidently\nbeen some Minoan King of the Third Middle period. The tomb consisted\nof a rectangular chamber measuring about 8 by 6 metres, and built of\ncourses of limestone blocks, which projected one beyond the other\nuntil they met in a high gable, forming a false arch similar to\nthose of the beehive tombs at Mycenae. The back wall of the chamber\nhad a central cell opposite to its blocked entrance, and the portal,\nalso false-arched, led into a lofty entrance-hall, in the side\nwalls of which, facing one another, were two cells, which had been\nused for interments. The whole was approached by an imposing avenue\ncut in the solid rock. The tomb had been rifled in ancient days,\nbut there still remained a golden hair-pin, parts of two silver\nvessels, and a large bronze mirror; while among the stone vessels\nfound a diorite bowl again recalled the hard stone vessels of the\nEarly Egyptian dynasties.\n\nThe Dictaean Cave has already been mentioned as being peculiarly\nassociated with the legends about the birth of Zeus and his relationship\nwith Minos. Hesiod states that Rhea carried the new-born Zeus to\nLyttos, and thence to a cavern in Mount Aigaios, the north-west\npeak of Dicte. Lucretius, Virgil, and Dionysius of Halicarnassus\nall knew of a story in which the whole childhood of Zeus had been\npassed in a cave on Dicte, and Dionysius assigns to the Dictaean\nCave that finding of the law by Minos which presents so curious a\nparallel to the giving of the tables of the law to Moses on Mount\nSinai. Minos, he says, went down into the Sacred Cave, and reappeared\nwith the law, saying that it was from Zeus himself. And the last\nlegend, related by Lucian, places in the same cave that union of\nZeus with Europa from which Minos sprang. The Dictaean Cave, then,\nis of special interest in connection with the origins of the Minoan\ncivilization, or, rather, with the fancies which later minds wove\naround some of the sacred conceptions of the Minoan civilization.\nIt is a large double cavern, south-west of Psychro, and some 500\nfeet above the latter place. Its exploration by Mr. Hogarth revealed\nample evidence of its early connection with the cult of that divinity\nupon whom the Greeks foisted their own ideas of Zeus.\n\nA scarped terrace overlooking the slope of the hill gives access\nto the shallow upper grotto, in which were found the remains of an\naltar, and close by a table of offerings, while the ground beneath\nthe floor of the cave yielded, in regular stratification, Kamares\nware, immediately above the virgin soil; then glazed ware, with\ncloudy brown stripes on a creamy slip; then regular Mycenaean ware,\nwith the familiar marine and plant designs; and, uppermost, bronze.\nThe lower grotto has at first a sheer fall from the upper one, then\nslopes away for some 200 feet to an icy pool surrounded with a forest\nof stalagmites; and in this gloomy cavern the evidence was manifest\nof an ancient cult of a divinity to whom the Double Axe was sacred.\nThere was a great mass of votive offerings of all sorts--engraved\ngems, bronze statuettes (including a Twenty-second-Dynasty figure\nof the Egyptian god Amen-Ra), and an abundance of common rings,\npins, brooches, and knives; but the chief feature of the find was\nthe Double Axe, of which numerous specimens were found embedded in\nthe stalagmites around the dark pool at the foot of the cavern,\nsome of them still retaining their original shafts. It is evident\nthat the cave on Dicte was the seat of a very ancient worship,\nconnected with that worship whose emblems were the Double Axe Pillars\nin the Palace of Knossos, and that this worship, as revealed by the\ncharacter of the remains in the grotto, goes back to the early\ndays of the Minoan civilization.\n\nThroughout all these explorations, covering a considerable portion\nof the island, one common feature presents itself--a feature already\nnoted and commented on in connection with Knossos. Nowhere have we\nmet with anything in the remotest degree resembling the colossal\ncitadel walls which are the most striking feature of Mycenae and\nTiryns. Phaestos and Hagia Triada are as devoid of fortification as\nKnossos. Gournia and Palaikastro are open towns. Everything points\nto the existence of a strong and peaceful rule, allowing the natural\nbent of the island race to develop quietly and steadily during long\nperiods in those lines of work, alike useful and artistic, whose\nremains excite our admiration to-day, and resting for generation\nafter generation on the sea-power which kept all enemies far from\nthe shores of the fortunate island and guarded the trade-routes\nof the AEgean.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII\n\nCRETE AND EGYPT\n\nThe question of the relationship between the Minoan civilization\nand the other great civilizations of the ancient world, particularly\nthose of Babylonia and Egypt, is not only of great intrinsic interest,\nbut also of very considerable importance to the attempt at a\nreconstruction of the outlines of Minoan history and chronology.\nFor it is only by means of synchronisms with the more or less\nsatisfactorily, established chronology of one or other of these\nkingdoms that even the most approximate system of dating can be\narrived at for the various epochs of the great civilization which the\nCretan discoveries have revealed. Had it been possible to establish\nsynchronisms with both Babylonian and Egyptian chronology, the result\nwould not only have been satisfactory as regards our knowledge\nof the Minoan periods, but might have proved to have a secondary\noutcome of the very greatest importance in the settlement of the\nacute controversy which at present rages round the chronology of\nancient Egypt from the earliest period down to the rise of the\nNew Empire. As it is, this has so far proved to be impossible by\nreason of the absence from the chain of the Babylonian link.\n\nIt may be held as reasonably certain that for many centuries there\nwas no lack of intercourse and interchange of commodities and ideas\nbetween Crete and Asia; indeed, it is beginning to be more and\nmore manifest that in that ancient world there was infinitely more\nintercommunication between the different peoples than had been\nsuspected. Far from the prehistoric age being a time of stagnation,\nit was rather a time of ceaseless movement. Perhaps the most striking\nexample of the distance across which communication could take place\nin almost incredibly early times is afforded by the discovery on\nthe site of ancient Troy--the Second City, roughly contemporary\nwith Early Minoan III.--of a piece of white jade, a stone peculiar\nto China. By what long and devious routes it had reached the coast\nof Asia Minor who can say? Yet the fact of its occurrence there\nproves the fact of communication.\n\n[Illustration XVIII: THE KING'S GAMING-BOARD (_p_. 87)\n\n_G. Maraghiannis_]\n\nUp to the present time it cannot be said that any object unquestionably\nMesopotamian has been found on any AEgean site, nor any object\nunquestionably AEgean on a Mesopotamian one. But it has been suggested\nthat certain carved ivories found by Layard at Nimrud in the Palace\nof Sennacherib show manifest traces of AEgean influence; and in\nSouthern Syria, at all events--at Gezer, Tell-es-Safi, and\nelsewhere--indisputably AEgean pottery and weapons have been discovered\nin sufficient quantity to show that there was certainly communication\nbetween the Minoan civilization and the shores of Asia. Intercourse\nis suggested also by the obvious communities of religious conception\nexisting between Crete and Asia. In both places the divine spirit\nis believed to associate itself with sacred pillars, such as the\nDouble Axe pillars at Knossos; in both it is personified as a Woman\nGoddess, the mother of all life, to whom is added a son, who is also\na consort; while the emblems of the ancient cults--the guardian\nlions of the goddess on the hill, the Double Axe, and the triple\npillars with perching doves--are property common to both Crete\nand Asia. This may not point, however, to a continued intercourse,\nbut only to community at some early point of the history of both\nraces.\n\nOf actual traces of Mesopotamian influence singularly few are to\nbe found in Crete. Dr. Evans has shown the correspondence of a\npurple gypsum weight found during the second season's excavations\nat Knossos, with the light Babylonian talent, while the ingots of\nbronze from Hagia Triada represent the same standard of weight.\nIt may be that the drainage system so highly developed at Knossos\nand Hagia Triada found its first suggestion in the terra-cotta\ndrain-pipes discovered at Niffur by Hilprecht, though it is by no\nmeans obvious that copying should be necessary in such a matter.\nThe clay tablets engraved with hieroglyphic and linear script suggest\nat once the corresponding and universal use of the clay tablet for\nthe cuneiform script of Babylonia; and that is practically all\nthat can be said of any connection between the cultures of Crete\nand Mesopotamia.\n\nThe case is quite different, however, when we come to the relations\nbetween Crete and the great civilization of the Nile Valley. In\nthis case there is, if not abundance, at all events a sufficiency\nof evidence as to an intercourse which extended through practically\nthe whole duration of the Minoan Empire. For the Early Dynastic\nperiod of Egyptian history the evidence is somewhat slight, and\nthe interpretation of it not always certain. When we come to the\nMiddle Kingdom of Egypt--a period contemporaneous with Middle Minoan\nII. and III.--it becomes both more abundant and more unquestionable\nin meaning; while with the New Empire (Eighteenth Dynasty) and Late\nMinoan II. we reach absolutely firm ground, the correspondence of\nart motives, and the actual proofs of intercourse, especially on\nthe Egyptian side, being indisputable. Our object, then, in this\nchapter is to exhibit the evidence of the relationship between\nCrete and Egypt, and to inquire to what conclusion it leads us\nconcerning the dates of the various periods of Minoan history.\n\nFor the earliest period we are left with somewhat scanty evidence.\nProfessor Petrie has found in some of the First Dynasty graves at\nAbydos vases of black hand-burnished ware, which are very closely\nallied, both inform and colour, to the primitive 'bucchero' discovered\nimmediately above the Neolithic deposit in the West Court at Knossos;\nand he has suggested that, as the pottery is not Egyptian in style,\nit may have been imported from Crete. On various sites in the palace\nat Knossos there have been found stone vessels of diorite, syenite,\nand liparite, exquisitely wrought. Now, such work is eminently\ncharacteristic of the Early Egyptian Dynastic period, the artists\nof that time taking a pride in turning out bowls of these intensely\nhard stones, wrought sometimes to such a degree of fineness as to\nbe translucent. The chances are against these bowls having been\nimported in later days, as the taste for them gradually died out\nin Egypt, and 'no ancient nation had antiquarian tastes till the\ntime of the Saites in Egypt and of the Romans still later.' The\nstone vessels discovered by Mr. Seager at Mokhlos, though wrought\nout of beautiful native materials, betray, according to Dr. Evans,\nthe strong influence of protodynastic Egyptian models. Coming down a\nlittle farther, to Early Minoan III., there is evidence of Egyptian\ninfluence in the fact that the ivory seals of this period seem\nto derive their motives from the so-called 'button-seals' of the\nSixth Egyptian Dynasty. Mr. H. R. Hall believes that the derivation\nwas the other way about. 'It would seem very probable that this\ndecidedly foreign decoration motive was adopted by the Egyptians\nfrom the AEgeans about the end of the Old Kingdom (=Early Minoan\nIII.), so that the Egyptian seal designs are copied from those of\nthe Cretan seal-stones, rather than the reverse. Egyptian designs\nwere very ancient, and had the spiral been Egyptian, we should\nhave found it in the art of the Old Kingdom. It was a foreign\nimportation, and its place of origin is evident.'[*] Whether in\nthis case the Minoan borrowed from the Egyptian or the Egyptian\nfrom the Minoan is, however, immaterial; either way the fact of\nintercourse is established.\n\n[Footnote *: Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology,\nvol. xxxi., part v., p. 222.]\n\nWe may assume, then, that, in all probability, there was intercourse\nof some kind between Crete and Egypt as early as the time of the First\nEgyptian Dynasty, and that by the time of the Sixth Dynasty, which\nmarks the close of the great period of the Old Kingdom in Egypt--the\nperiod of the Pyramid Builders (Third to Sixth Dynasty)--intercourse\nwas common. In fact, it may be said that, from the origin of both\npeoples, the likelihood is that they were in contact. It is possible\nenough that both the Nilotic and the Minoan civilization sprang from\na common stock, and that the Neolithic Cretans and the Neolithic\nEgyptians were alike members of the same widespread Mediterranean\nrace.\n\n[Illustration XIX: IVORY FIGURES AND HEADS FROM KNOSSOS (_p_. 76)\n\nFrom 'Annual of the British School of Athens,' by permission]\n\nHow was the connection between Crete and Egypt maintained at this\nextremely early period? Professor Petrie believes that it was by\nthe natural and direct sea-route across the Mediterranean. The\nrepresentations of vessels painted on pre-dynastic Egyptian ware\nshow that the Neolithic Egyptians were familiar, to some extent,\nwith the building and the use of ships, and Professor Petrie supposes\nthat galleys such as those represented were the ships by means\nof which the Egyptians and Cretans maintained their intercourse.\nMr. Hall, on the other hand, maintains that this is impossible,\nand that the boats of the pre-dynastic ware are merely small\nriver-craft, totally unfitted for seafaring work.[*] In his 'Oldest\nCivilization of Greece' he roundly asserts 'that these boats were\nthe ships which plied between Crete and Egypt some 4,000 years\nB.C. Nothing can ever prove'; and he therefore believes that the\ncommunication was kept up by way of Cyprus and the Palestinian\ncoast. But the evidence either way is of so extremely slight a\ncharacter, and the delineations in question are so rude, that it\nmight as well be said that nothing can ever prove that these boats\nwere _not_ the ships which plied between Crete and Egypt. It does\nnot seem obvious why the voyage between Crete and Egypt should be\nimpossible to navigators who could accomplish that between Crete\nand Cyprus; and if communication were maintained by way of Cyprus,\nit seems strange that that island should show practically no trace of\nhaving been influenced by Minoan civilization until a comparatively\nlate date. 'It was not till the Cretan culture had passed its zenith\nand was already decadent that it reached Cyprus.'[**] That the Homeric\nGreeks were by no means daring navigators does not necessarily\nimply that an island race, whose whole tradition throughout its\nhistory was of sea-power, should have been equally timid. When\nit is remembered in what type of vessel the Northmen risked the\nAtlantic passage, one would be slow to believe that even in immediately\npost-Neolithic times the Cretans could not have evolved a type of\nboat as adequate to the run between Crete and the Nile mouths as\nthe 'long serpents' were to face the Atlantic rollers.\n\n[Footnote *: 'Egypt and Western Asia,' p. 129.]\n\n[Footnote **: H. R. Hall, Proceedings of the Society of Biblical\nArchaeology, vol. xxxi., part v., p. 227.]\n\nBut however the case may stand with regard to the pre-dynastic\nperiod, there can be no question that by the end of the Third Dynasty\neven Egypt had developed a marine not inadequate to the requirements\nof the Cretan passage. We know that Sneferu, the last King of the\nThird Dynasty, sent a fleet of forty ships to the Syrian coast\nfor cedar-wood, and that in his reign a vessel was built of the\nvery respectable length of 170 feet. Coming farther down, we know\nalso that Sahura of the Fifth Dynasty sent a fleet down the Red\nSea as far as Punt or Somaliland. And if the Egyptians, by no means\na great seafaring race, were able to do such things at this period\nof their history, surely an island race, whose sole pathway to the\nouter world lay across the sea, would not be behind them. There can\nscarcely be any question that, by the time of the Pyramid builders\nat latest, Cretan galleys were making the voyage to the Nile mouths,\nand unloading at the quays of Memphis, under the shadow of the new\nPyramids, their primitive wares, among them the rude, hand-burnished\nblack pottery, in return for which they carried back some of the\nwonderful fabric of the Egyptian stone-workers.\n\nBut supposing that the connection between the primitive Minoan\ncivilization and the earliest Dynasties of Egypt is a thing established,\nwhat does this enable us to assert as to the date to which we are to\nascribe the dawn of the earliest culture that can be called European?\nHere, unfortunately, we are at once involved in a controversy in\nwhich centuries are unconsidered trifles, and a millennium is no\nmore than a respectable, but by no means formidable, quantity.\nEgyptian chronology may be regarded as practically settled from the\nbeginning of the Eighteenth Dynasty downwards. There is a general\nconsent of authority that Aahmes, the founder of that Dynasty, began\nto reign about 1580 B.C., and the dates assigned by the various\nschools of chronology to the subsequent Dynasties differ only by\nquantities so small as to be practically negligible. But when we\nattempt to trace the chronology upwards from 1580 B.C., the consent\nof authorities immediately vanishes, and is replaced by a gulf of\ndivergence which there is no possibility of bridging. The great\ndivergence occurs in the well-known dark period of Egyptian history\nbetween the Twelfth and the Eighteenth Dynasties, where monumental\nevidence is extremely scanty, almost non-existent, and where historians\nhave to grope for facts with no better light to guide them than\nis afforded by the History of Manetho, and the torn fragments of\nthe Turin Papyrus. The traditional dating used to place the end\nof the Twelfth Dynasty somewhere around 2500 B.C., allowing thus\nsome 900 odd years for the intervening dynasties before the rise\nof the Eighteenth. The modern German school, however, represented\nby Erman, Mahler, Meyer, and the American, Professor Breasted,\narguing from the astronomical evidence of the Kahun Papyrus, cuts\nthis allowance short by over 700 years, allowing only 208 years\nfor the great gap, and proposing to pack the five Dynasties and\nthe Hyksos domination into that time. Professor Petrie, finally,\naccepting, like the German school, the astronomical evidence of\nthe Kahun Papyrus, interprets it differently, and pushes back the\ndates by a complete cycle of 1,460 years, allowing 1,666 years\nfor the gap between the Twelfth Dynasty and the Eighteenth. Thus,\neven between the traditional and the German dating there is a gulf\nof 700 years for all dates of the Twelfth Dynasty, while as between\nthe German dating and that of Professor Petrie the gulf widens to\nover 1,400 years.\n\nInto the question of which system of dating should be adopted it\nis impossible to enter, though it may be said that if 1,666 years\nseems a huge allowance for the five Dynasties, 208 years seems\nalmost incredibly small. The result is what concerns us here, and\nwe are faced with the fact that, while the traditional dating places\nthe First Egyptian Dynasty at about 4000 B.C., the German school\nwould bring it down to 3400 B.C., and Professor Petrie thrusts\nit back to 5510 B.C. Dr. Evans, in provisionally assigning dates\nto the periods of Minoan history, formerly drew nearer to the\ntraditional than to either the German dating or that of Professor\nPetrie; but he has gradually modified this position, and now dates\nhis Middle Minoan II., which synchronizes with the Twelfth Egyptian\nDynasty, at 2000 B.C., thus practically accepting the chronology\nof the German school. This would place Early Minoan I., which must\nbe equated with the First Dynasty, about 3400 B.C. Practically,\nall that can be said with a moderate amount of certainty is that\nthe earliest civilization of Crete, like that of Egypt, was in\nexistence at a period not much later than 3500 B.C., while it is\nnot impossible that it may be 1,500 years older. Even accepting\nthe lower figure, the antiquity of man's first settlements on the\nhill of Kephala becomes absolutely staggering to the mind. If the\ngrowth of deposit on the hill was at the rate of something like 3\nfeet in a millennium--a reasonable supposition--it follows that\nwe must place the earliest habitations of Neolithic man at Knossos\nnot later than 10000, perhaps as early as 12000 B.C.\n\nIt is not till many centuries after the Sixth Egyptian Dynasty had\npassed away that we come upon fresh evidence of the connection between\nthe two countries. The earlier palaces at Knossos and Phaestos had been\nbuilt, and the first period of Middle Minoan, with its beginnings\nof polychrome decoration and its Queen Elizabeth figurines from\nPetsofa, had come and gone in Crete, while in Egypt the corresponding\nperiod had been marked by the troublous times between the Seventh\nand the Eleventh Dynasties. But the rise of the Twelfth Dynasty in\nEgypt marked the beginning of a more stable state of affairs in\nthe Nile Valley, and in this period, which corresponds with Dr.\nEvans's Middle Minoan II., there are again evidences of touch between\nthe two kingdoms. With regard to absolute dating, we are of course\nas much in the dark as ever, and may choose between 2000, 2500,\nand 3459 B.C. In any case, at this point, put it provisionally\nat 2000 B.C., the Egypt of the Senuserts and Amenemhats and the\nCrete of Middle Minoan II. are manifestly contemporaneous, and in\nwell-established connection. In Crete this was the period when\nthe beautiful polychrome Kamares ware was at the height of its\npopularity, and at Kahun, close to the pyramid of Senusert II.,\nProfessor Petrie some years ago discovered some unquestionable\nspecimens of this fine ware, which had certainly been imported from\nCrete, as the fabric is one quite unknown to native Egyptian ceramic\nart. Even more conclusive was Professor Garstang's discovery, in an\nuntouched tomb at Abydos, of a polychrome vessel in the latest\nstyle of the period, in company with glazed steatite cylinders,\nwhich bear the names of Senusert III. and Amenemhat III., the last\ngreat Kings of the Twelfth Dynasty.\n\nBut the most interesting link between the two countries is found\nin the fact that in this period there was erected in Egypt the\nbuilding which came to be looked on as the parallel to the Cretan\nLabyrinth, and which, with a curious inversion of the actual facts,\nwas long supposed to be the original from which the Cretan Labyrinth\nwas derived. The pyramid of Amenemhat III., the greatest King of\nthe great Twelfth Dynasty, and indeed one of the greatest men who\never held the Egyptian sceptre, stood at Hawara, near the mouth\nof the Fayum. Not far from it Amenemhat erected a huge temple,\nsuch as had never been built before, and never was built again,\neven in that land of gigantic structures. The great building was\nerected, in a taste eminently characteristic of the Middle Kingdom,\nof great blocks of fine limestone and crystalline quartzite. It has\nlong since disappeared, having been used as a quarry for thousands\nof years; but the size of the site, which can still be traced,\nshows that in actual area the temple covered a space of ground\nwithin which Karnak, Luqsor, and the Ramesseum, huge as they all\nare, could quite well have stood together.\n\nEven in the time of Herodotus enough was still remaining of this\nvast building to excite his profound wonder and admiration, and it\nseemed to him a more remarkable structure than even the Pyramids. 'It\nhas,' he says, 'twelve courts enclosed with walls, with doors opposite\neach other, six facing the north, and six the south, contiguous to\none another, and the same exterior wall encloses them. It contains\ntwo kinds of rooms, some under ground, and some above ground over\nthem, to the number of 3,000, 1,500 of each.' He was not allowed\nto inspect the underground chambers. 'But the upper ones, which\nsurpass all human works, I myself saw; for the passages through\nthe corridors, and the windings through the courts, from their\ngreat variety, presented a thousand occasions of wonder as I passed\nfrom a court to the rooms, and from the rooms to halls, and to\nother corridors from the halls, and to other courts from the rooms.\nThe roofs of all these are of stone, as also are the walls; but\nthe walls are full of sculptured figures. Each court is surrounded\nwith a colonnade of white stone, closely fitted.'[*] Herodotus\nbelieved that the building belonged to the time of Psamtek I.,\nin which, of course, he was ludicrously far astray, but otherwise\nthere seems no reason to question that his description actually\nrepresents what he saw, though no doubt his lively mind somewhat\nmultiplied the number of the rooms.\n\n[Footnote *: Herodotus II. 148.]\n\nPliny the elder, judging from his description, evidently saw much\nthe same thing at Hawara as Herodotus had seen, though time must\nhave somewhat diminished the splendour of the building. Now, to\nthis temple there was already applied in the time of Herodotus the\nname Labyrinth. It used to be believed that the Hawara Labyrinth\ngave its name to the Cretan one, and an Egyptian etymology was\narranged for the word 'labyrinth,' according to which it would\nhave meant 'the temple at the mouth of the canal.' The Egyptian\nform of the title, however, is 'a mere figment of the philological\nimagination.' Probably originality lies in the other direction.\nThe first palace at Knossos dates from a period certainly as early\nas, probably somewhat earlier than, the Hawara temple; and since\nthe derivation of the word 'labyrinth' from the Labrys or Double\nAxe, making the palace the House or Place of the Double Axe, seems\nquite satisfactory, the Egyptian Labyrinth in all likelihood derived\nits name from the House of Minos at Knossos. Apart, however, from\nany mere question of names, there appears the interesting parallel\nthat the two most famous Labyrinths, the first palace at Knossos,\nand the great Hawara temple, actually belong to the same period--a\nperiod when, as we know from the other evidence, there was certainly\nactive intercourse between the two nations.\n\nMr. Hall has pointed out[*] the resemblance between the actual\nbuilding at Knossos and the descriptions left to us of its Egyptian\ncontemporary. The literary tradition of the Labyrinth of Minos\nis that it was a place of mazy passages and windings, difficult\nto traverse without a guide or clue, and the actual remains at\nKnossos show that the palace must have answered very well to such\na description, while the feature of the Hawara temple which struck\nboth Herodotus and Pliny was precisely the same. 'The passages\nthrough the corridors and the windings through the courts, from\ntheir great variety, presented a thousand occasions of wonder.'\nThe resemblance extended to the material of which the buildings\nwere erected. The fine white limestone of Hawara must have closely\nresembled the shining white gypsum of Knossos, and though the Egyptian\nLabyrinth has passed away too completely for us to be able to judge\nof its masonry, yet the splendid building work of the Eleventh\nDynasty temple of Mentuhotep Neb-hapet-Ra at Deir-el-Bahri, with\nits great blocks of limestone beautifully fitted and laid, affords\na good Middle Kingdom parallel to the great gypsum blocks of the\nKnossian palace. Of course we cannot attribute to Cretan influence\nthe style of the Egyptian building in this respect. For hundreds\nof years the Egyptians had been past masters in the art of great\nconstruction with huge blocks of stone, so that, if there is to\nbe any derivation on this point, it may rather have been Crete\nwhich followed the example of Egypt. But it may not be altogether\na mere coincidence that, in a period of Egyptian history which\nwe know to have been linked with an important epoch of Cretan\ndevelopment, there should have been erected in Egypt a building\nabsolutely unparalleled, so far as we know, among the architectural\ntriumphs of that nation, but bearing no distant resemblance, if\nthe descriptions are to be trusted, to the great palace which the\nMinoan Sovereigns had newly reared, or were, perhaps, still rearing,\nfor themselves at Knossos. Is it permissible to fancy that the\nenvoys of Amenemhat III. may have brought back to Egypt reports and\ndescriptions of the great Cretan palace which may have fired that\nKing with the desire to leave behind him a memorial, unique among\nEgyptian buildings, but inspired by the actual achievements of his\nbrother monarchs in Crete? Whether the idea of this relation between\nthe two buildings be merely fanciful or not, their resemblances add\nanother illustration to the proofs of the close connection between\nthe Minoan and the Egyptian cultures in the third millennium B.C.\n\n[Footnote *: _Journal of Hellenic Studies_, 1905, part ii.]\n\nWith the succeeding Cretan epoch, Middle Minoan III., we come into\ntouch with the dark age of Egyptian history, the great gap covering\nDynasties XIII.-XVII., towards the close of which is to be placed\nthe Hyksos domination. As the age was so troubled in Egypt, it\nis scarcely probable that we shall find much evidence there of\nany connection between the two lands; but the evidence found on\nCretan soil, though slight, is conclusive as to the fact that\ncommunication was maintained. For the earlier part of the period\nwe have the statuette, already mentioned as having been found at\nKnossos, bearing the name of 'Ab-nub's child, Sebek-user, deceased,\nborn of the lady Sat-Hathor.' 'Who Sebek-user was,' as Mr. Hall\nremarks, 'and how his statuette got to Crete, we have no means\nof knowing.' But the 'deceased' in the inscription shows that the\nstatuette was a funerary or memorial one, and it is hardly likely\nthat such an object was imported merely for its own sake or for\nits artistic value, which is slight enough. May it not be that\neither Ab-nub, the father, or Sebek-user, the son, or both, may\nhave been Egyptians resident at the Court of Knossos, either as\nrepresentatives of Egyptian interests or as skilled artificers,\nand that the statuette is the memorial of one who died far from\nhis native land, but not without friends to see that he did not\nlack the funerary attentions which would have been his at home? No\ndoubt there was interchange of persons as well as of commodities\nbetween the two lands; some of the artists and craftsmen of both\ncountries would naturally go to where there was a demand arising\nfor their work, or where instructors were being sought to teach\nthe new arts; and Ab-nub and his son Sebek-user may have drifted\nto Knossos in this manner, and found at last their graves there.\nWere they conceivably responsible for the 'imported alabaster vases\ndating from the Middle Kingdom of Egypt,' which were found in the\nroyal tomb at Isopata?\n\nTowards the close of this epoch the ceramic art of Knossos shows\nfeatures which are directly attributable to Egyptian influence.\nThe art of glazing pottery was not a native Cretan, but an Egyptian\nart; it is in full use in Egypt from the very beginnings of the\nFirst Dynasty. But now we find it appearing in a high state of\ndevelopment in Crete in the beautiful faience reliefs of the wild-goat\nand kids, the vases with the wild-rose in relief on the lip, and\nthe figurines of the Snake Goddess and her votaresses. The Cretan\nartists, however, though they borrowed the process, adapted it\nto their own tastes. In Egypt the native faience of the time is\nof strictly conventional type, with black design on blue; but the\nCretan emancipated himself from these limits, and made his faience\nreliefs in the polychrome style, which still persisted, though\nnow no longer so prevalent as it had once been.\n\nThe disastrous period of the Hyksos domination in Egypt has left\nbut one trace at Knossos, but that is of peculiar interest, for\nit is the lid of an alabastron bearing the name of the Hyksos King\nKhyan. It cannot be said that we know any of the Hyksos Kings,\nbut Khyan is the one whose relics are the most widely distributed\nand have the most interest. The finding of the lid at Knossos, his\nfarthest west, is balanced by the lion, bearing his cartouche,\nfound many years ago at Baghdad, his farthest east, while in his\ninscriptions he calls himself 'Embracer of territories.' So it\nhas been suggested that the Knossos lid and the Baghdad lion are\nthe scanty relics of a great Hyksos empire which once extended\nfrom the Euphrates to the First Cataract of the Nile, and possibly\nalso held Crete in subjection. In all likelihood, however, the\nidea is merely a dream; certainly so far as regards Crete it is\nmost improbable. In the palmiest days of the Egyptian navy the\nPharaohs never held any dominion over Crete, and even Cyprus was\nnever really under their rule. It is much less likely still that a\nKing of the Hyksos race, whose whole tradition is of the land and\nthe desert, should have succeeded in establishing any suzerainty\nover a race whose whole tradition is of the sea, and which was\nthen in the full pride of its strength.\n\nAnother era of history has passed away before we again find Crete\nand Egypt in close touch with one another. In Crete the last period\nof Middle Minoan had been succeeded by the first of Late Minoan,\nin which the great palace of the Middle period was being gradually\ntransformed into a still larger and more magnificent structure,\nwhich was not to be completed until the succeeding period. In Egypt\nthe Seventeenth Dynasty had at last, after long hesitation, picked\nup the gauntlet thrown down by the Hyksos conquerors, and the War\nof Independence had resulted in the expulsion of the Desert Princes\nand their race. The conquering Dynasty had been succeeded by the\nEighteenth, the Dynasty of Queen Hatshepsut, Tahutmes III., and\nAmenhotep III., and Egypt was in the full tide of a great revival,\nalike in world-influence, in trade, and in art. Queen Hatshepsut,\nwho states in one of her inscriptions that 'her spirits inclined\ntowards foreign peoples,' had sent out her squadron to Somaliland,\nand Tahutmes III. had organized a war-fleet on the Mediterranean\ncoast-line. The ancient Empire of the Nile was opening its arms\nin every direction to outside influences, and was drawing into\nthe ports of the great river the commercial and artistic products\nof every known people.\n\nAmong the races who are most prominent in the Egyptian records\nof the period are the Keftiu, who are frequently represented in\nthe paintings of the time, and always with the same characteristic\nfeatures, the same dress and bearing, the same products of commerce\nand art. Who, then, were the Keftiu? The word means the people\nor the country 'at the back of'--in other words, at the back of\n'the Very Green,' as the Egyptians called the Mediterranean. So\nthat the Keftians with whom the merchants and courtiers of Egypt\ngrew familiar in the times of Hatshepsut and Tahutmes III. Were to\nthem the men 'from the back of beyond'--the farthest distant people\nwith whom they had any dealings. But what race could correspond to\nthese 'back of beyond' men? In Ptolemaic times the word 'Keftiu'\nwas unquestionably applied to the Phoenicians, who had for long\nbeen the great seafarers and carriers of the Mediterranean; and\ntill recent years it was generally believed that the Keftiu of the\nEighteenth Dynasty were Phoenicians also, though their faces, as\ndepicted on the Egyptian wall-paintings, did not bear the slightest\ntrace of Semitic cast. But the discoveries of the last few years\nhave demolished that idea for ever, along with many other beliefs\nas to the influence of the overrated Phoenicians upon the culture of\nthe Mediterranean area, and the pictures of the Minoans of Knossos\nhave made it certain that the Keftiu of the Eighteenth Dynasty\nwere none others than the ambassadors, sailors, and merchants of\nthe Sea-Kings of Crete. Fortunately, the tomb-painting which has\npreserved so many interesting details of Egyptian life, was never\nmore assiduously practised or more happily inspired than at this\nperiod. In all the chief tombs there are pictured processions of\nNortherners, Westerners, Easterners, and Southerners, the North\nbeing represented by Semites, the East by the men of Punt, the\nSouth by negroes, and the West by the Keftiu; and we can compare\nthe men of the Knossos frescoes with their fellow-countrymen as\ndepicted on the tomb-walls of the Theban grandees, and be certain\nthat, allowing for the differences in the style of art, they are\nessentially the same people. The tombs which preserve best the\nfigures of the Keftiu are those of Sen-mut and Rekh-ma-ra. That\nof Sen-mut is the earlier, though only by a generation, or perhaps\nrather less. He was the architect of Queen Hatshepsut, the man who\nplanned and executed the great colonnaded temple at Deir-el-Bahri,\nand who set up Hatshepsut's gigantic obelisks. His tomb at Thebes\noverlooks the temple which he built at his Queen's command to be\n'a paradise for Amen,' and on its walls we can see 'the men from\nthe back of beyond' walking in procession, each with his offering\nto present to the Pharaoh. There can be no question as to who they\nare. The half-boots and puttees, the decorated girdle compressing\nthe waist, not quite so tightly as in the Minoan representations,\nthe gaily adorned loin-cloth, which is the only article of attire,\nall are practically identical with the type of such a fresco as that\nof the Cupbearer at Knossos. The conscientious Egyptian artists\nhave carefully represented also the elaborate coiffure which was\ncharacteristic of the Minoans, who allowed their hair to fall in\nlong tails down their shoulders, doing part of it up in a knot or\ncurl on the top of the head. The tribute-bearers carry in their\nhands or upon their shoulders great vessels of gold and silver,\nsome of them exactly resembling in shape the Vaphio cups, though\nmuch larger than these, some of them of the type of the bronze\newer found in the north-west house at Knossos.\n\n[Illustration XX: (1) MAIN DRAIN, KNOSSOS (_p_. 98)\n\n(2) TERRA-COTTA DRAIN PIPES (_p_. 98)]\n\nRekh-ma-ra, in whose tomb are the other notable pictures of the\nKeftiu, was also a great figure in Egyptian history in the next\nreign. He was Vizier to Tahutmes III., the conquering Pharaoh of\nthe Eighteenth Dynasty. The pictures on the walls of his tomb are,\nat least in some cases, evidently more than mere racial studies;\nthey are careful portraits. 'The first man, \"The Great Chief of\nthe Kefti, and the Isles of the Green Sea,\" is young, and has a\nremarkably small mouth with an amiable expression. His complexion is\nfair rather than dark, but his hair is dark brown. His lieutenant,\nthe next in order, is of a different type--elderly, with a most\nforbidding visage, Roman nose, and nut-cracker jaws. Most of the\nothers are very much alike--young, dark in complexion, and with\nlong black hair hanging below their waists and twisted up into\nfantastic knots and curls on the tops of their heads.'[*]\n\n[Footnote *: H. R. Hall, 'Egypt and Western Asia,' p. 362.]\n\nThese Keftiu, then, were the Minoans of the Great Palace period of\nCrete, the pre-Hellenic Greeks, the Pelasgi of old Greek tradition,\nin whose time the great civilization of the Minoan Empire reached its\nculminating point, and was within a little of its final disaster.\nIt is a fortunate circumstance that Sen-mut and Rekh-ma-ra should\nhave caused them to be portrayed when they did, for in two or three\ngenerations more the glory of Knossos had passed away, never to be\nrevived. Greece gave to Egyptian scholars the key to the translation\nof the hieroglyphics in the Greek version of the Egyptian text on\nthe Rosetta Stone; the paintings of the Theban tombs have paid\nback an instalment of that debt in showing us the likenesses of\nthose 'Greeks before the Greeks' who dwelt in Crete. Perhaps some\nday the debt will be fully repaid by the discovery of a bilingual\ntext in Egyptian and Minoan, giving us in hieroglyphics a version\nof some passage of that Minoan script which now exists only to\ntantalize us with records of an ancient history which we cannot read.\nSuch a discovery is by no means beyond the bounds of possibility.\nIt is not so long since Boghaz-Keui supplied us with a cuneiform\nversion of the famous treaty between the Egyptians and the Hittites\nin the time of Ramses II.; perhaps some site in Crete or Egypt\nmay yet provide us with a bilingual treaty between Tahutmes III.\nand the Minoan Sovereign of his time.\n\nAfter the time of Tahutmes, the evidences of connection between\nthe two lands grow scanty once more. The fact that the faience of\nthe time of Amenhotep III. has discarded the old Egyptian tradition\nof black upon blue, and now rejoices in splendid chocolates, purples,\nviolets, reds, and apple-greens, shows that Cretan influence was\nstill strong. Fragments of Late Minoan pottery found in abundance\non the site of Akhenaten's new capital at Tell-el-Amarna show that\neven in the reign of this King, the heretic son and successor of\nAmenhotep III., Crete was still trading with Egypt. But before\nAkhenaten came to the throne, about 1380 B.C.--possibly twenty\nyears before that event--the great catastrophe which brought the\nMinoan Empire of Knossos to a close had already happened. The Cretan\nwares which filtered into Egypt after 1400 B.C. were the products\nof the Minoan decadence, when the survivors of the Empire of the\nSea-Kings--a broken and dwindling race--were still trying to maintain\na slowly failing tradition of art under the new masters, perhaps\nthe Mycenaeans of the mainland, who, driven forth themselves by\nthe pressure of Northern invaders, had crushed in their turn the\ngentler sister civilization of Crete.\n\nThe Mycenaean 'stirrup-vases' pictured in the tomb of Ramses III.\n(1202-1170 B.C.), and the representations in the tomb of Imadua of\ngold cups of the Vaphio type, carry the connection down to the last\ndregs of the dying' race; but by the time of Ramses III. the Minoan\nkingdom had probably been dead and buried for about two centuries.\nIn fact, with the rise of the Nineteenth Dynasty in Egypt (1350\nB.C.), the name of the Keftiu disappears from the Egyptian records,\nand in the place of the men from the back of beyond there appears\na confused jumble of warring sea-tribes, some of them possibly the\nmen who had overthrown the Minoan Empire, some of them probably\nrepresenting the broken fragments of that Empire itself, who unite\nin attacks upon Egypt, but are foiled and overthrown. In the record\nof the earlier of these invasions, that which took place in the\nreign of Merenptah (1234-1214 B.C.), the successor of Ramses II.,\nit is difficult to trace any names that have Cretan connections.\nThe Aqayuasha may conceivably have been Achaeans; but that is another\nstory.\n\nBut when we come to deal with the great invasion in the reign of\nRamses III., about 1200 B.C., we get into touch with tribes which\nbear almost beyond question the marks of Cretan origin, and one of\nwhich is particularly interesting to us on other grounds. In the\neighth year of Ramses III. The eastern coasts of the Mediterranean\nwere swept by a great invasion of the 'Peoples of the Sea.' 'The\nisles were restless, disturbed among themselves,' says Ramses in\nhis inscription at Medinet Habu. Very probably the incursion was the\nresult of the southward movement of the invading northern tribes,\nwhose pressure was forcing the ancient AEgean peoples to migrate\nand seek new homes for themselves. Landing in Northern Syria, the\nsea-peoples quickly made themselves masters of the fragments of\nthe once formidable Hittite confederacy, and, absorbing in their\nalliance the Hittites, who may indeed have been of their own kin,\nthey moved southwards along the sea-coast, their fleet of war-galleys\nkeeping pace with the advance of the land army. They established\na central camp and place of arms in the land of Amor, or of the\nAmorites, and their southward movement speedily became a menace\nto the Egyptian Empire. Ramses III., the last great soldier of\nthe true Egyptian stock, made effective preparations to meet them.\nGathering at the Nile mouths a numerous fleet, which carried large\nnumbers of the dreaded Egyptian archers, he advanced with the land\narmy to meet the invaders, his fleet also accompanying the march\nof the army. The locality of the encounter between the two forces\nis doubtful, some placing it in Phoenicia, and others much nearer\nto the Egyptian frontier. In any case, a great battle was fought,\nboth by land and sea, and the Egyptian army and fleet were entirely\nsuccessful in the double encounter. The reliefs of Ramses at Medinet\nHabu show the details of the battle, the Egyptian fleet penetrating\nand overthrowing that of the sea-peoples, while the Pharaoh from\nthe shore assists by archery in the discomfiture of his enemies.\nThe result of the double victory was to put an effective check\non any aspirations which the invaders may have cherished in the\ndirection of a permanent occupation of Egypt, though quite probably\nthey continued to hold the territory they had already gained.\n\n[Illustration XXI: THEATRAL AREA, KNOSSOS: BEFORE RESTORATION (_p_.\n100)]\n\nThe tribes which are mentioned in the inscriptions of Ramses as\nhaving been leagued together in this attempt are the Danauna, the\nUashasha, the Zakkaru, the Shakalsha, and the Pulosathu, in alliance\nwith the North Syrian tribes. The Danauna are evidently the Danaoi,\nor Argives, the same race which, under Achaean overlords, composed the\nmass of the Greek army at the siege of Troy. As Danaos, the name-hero\nof the race, was King of Rhodes and Argos, these sea-Danaoi may have\nbeen Rhodian Argives. The Shakalsha are a more doubtful quantity,\nhaving been variously identified with the Sikels of ancient Sicily\nand with the Sagalassians of Pisidia. But the remaining tribes are\nin all probability Cretans, fragments of the old Minoan Empire\nwhich had collapsed two centuries before, and was now gradually\nbecoming disintegrated under the continued pressure from the north. The\nZakkaru have been connected by Professor Petrie with the coast-town\nof Zakro, in Eastern Crete, and the identification, though not\nabsolutely certain, is at all events very probable. The Uashasha\nhave been associated by Mr. H. R. Hall with the town of Axos, in\nCrete. There remain the Pulosathu, who are, almost beyond question,\nthe Philistines, so well known to us from their connection with\nthe rise of the Hebrew monarchy. The Hebrew tradition brought the\nPhilistines from Kaphtor, and Kaphtor is plainly nothing else than\nthe Egyptian Kefti, or Keftiu. In the Philistines, then, we have\nthe last organized remnant of the old Minoan sea-power. Thrown\nback from the frontier of Egypt by the victory of Ramses III.,\nthey established themselves on the maritime plain of Palestine,\nwhere perhaps the Minoans had already occupied trading-settlements,\nand there formed a community consisting of five cities, governed by\nfive confederate tyrants. No doubt they brought under and held in\nsubjection the ancient Canaanite population of the district, whom\nthey would rule as the Normans ruled the inhabitants of Sicily.\nIn the district which they governed, and especially at Tell-es-Safi\n(Gath), Messrs. Bliss and Macalister have discovered many specimens\nof pottery which is obviously Cretan of the Third Late Minoan period,\ntogether with ware which is local in the sense of having been\nmanufactured on the spot, but is quite certainly Late Minoan also\nin its design and decoration.\n\nSo, then, the nation with which we have all been familiar from the\nearliest days of childhood as the hated rival of the young Hebrew\nstate, whose wars with the Hebrews are the subject of so many of\nthe heroic stories of Israel's Iron Age, was the last survival of\nthe great race of Minos. Samson made sport for his Cretan captors\nin a Minoan Theatral Area by the portico of some degenerate House\nof Minos, half palace, half shrine, with Cretan ladies in their\nstrangely modern garb of frills and flounces looking down from\nthe balconies to see his feats of strength, as their ancestresses\nhad looked down at Knossos on the boxing and bull-grappling of the\npalmy days when Knossos ruled the AEgean. The great champion whom\nDavid met and slew in the vale of Elah was a Cretan, a Pelasgian,\none of the Greeks before the Greeks, wearing the bronze panoply with\nthe feather-crested helmet which his people had adopted in their\nlater days in place of the old leathern cap and huge figure-eight\nshield. Ittai of Gath, David's faithful captain of the bodyguard,\nand David's body-guards themselves, the Cherethites and Pelethites\n(Cretans and Philistines), were all of the same race.\n\nThough these last supporters of the great Minoan tradition had\nfallen upon evil times, it is evident that they were not altogether\ndegenerate. The references to their cities in Scripture show that\nthey still retained the national taste for splendid buildings;\nand no doubt their culture, though belonging to the last and most\ndebased period of Minoan art, was far in advance of that of the\nrude Hebrew tribes. The golden mice and tumours which they sent to\nthe Hebrews along with the ark of Jehovah recall on the one hand\nthe skill of the Minoan goldsmiths, and on the other the votive\nimages of animals and diseased human organs placed in the old shrine\nat Petsofa. The respect which was excited by their warlike prowess\ncan easily be read between the lines of the Hebrew story. A race\nthat to its opponents appears to breed giants is a race that has\nproved itself thoroughly respectable on the field of war; and the\nfact that a small league of five towns maintained itself so long as\nit did, and was able to make itself so dreaded, points to bravery\nand skill in arms altogether out of proportion to its actual strength\nin mere numbers. Evidently the last Minoans succeeded in creating\nan atmosphere for themselves in Palestine, and in impressing the\nsurrounding peoples with a wholesome terror of them. We may imagine\nthe men from Crete, lithe and agile, as we see them on the Boxer\nVase of Hagia Triada, swaggering in their bronze armour among the\nweaker Orientals, much as the later Greek hoplite of the times of\nPsamtek I. or Haa-ab-ra domineered over the native Egyptians.\n\nBut all the same the Philistine was an anachronism, a survival from\nan older world. The day of the Minoan, like that of his early friend\nthe Egyptian, had passed away. The stars of new races were rising\nabove the horizon, and new claimants were dividing the heritage of\nthe ancient world. To the new Greek the realm of knowledge and\nart which his Cretan forerunner had not unworthily cultivated; to\nthe Mesopotamian the realm of armed dominance, to which also the\nCretan had once laid claim; to the Hebrew the realm of spiritual\nthought, in which, by reason of our ignorance, we can say next to\nnothing of the Cretan's achievement, save only that he too sought\nfor God, if haply he might feel after Him and find Him.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII\n\nTHE DESTROYERS\n\nThe Empire of the Sea-Kings had not been immune from disaster and\ndefeat any more than any other great Empire of the ancient world.\nThe times of conquest and triumph, when Knossos exacted its human\ntribute from the vanquished states, Megara or Athens, or from its\nown far-spread dependencies, had occasionally been broken by periods\nwhen victory left its banners, and when the indignities it had\ninflicted on other states were retaliated on itself. Once at least\nin the long history of the palace at Knossos, if not twice, there\nhad come a disastrous day when the Minoan fleet had either been\ndefeated or eluded, when some invading force had landed and swept\nup the valley, had overcome what resistance could be made by the\nguard of the unfortified palace, and had ebbed back again to its\nships, leaving death and fire-blackened walls behind it. The Second\nMiddle Minoan period closes with the evidence of such a general\ncatastrophe, in which the palace was sacked and fired, and there\nare also traces which suggest that the end of the preceding period\nwas marked by a similar disaster.\n\nBut these catastrophes, whether the agents of them were mere sea-rovers,\nmaking a daring raid upon the eyrie of the great sea-power, or\nthe warriors of rival mainland states, eager to avenge upon their\nenemy what they themselves had suffered at her hands, or, as Dr.\nEvans and other explorers incline rather to believe, Cretans from\nPhaestos, whose purpose was merely to overthrow the ruling dynasty,\nscarcely interrupted the current of Minoan development. If the\nenemy came from without, he came only to destroy and plunder, not\nto occupy, and, having done his work, departed; if from within\nthe Empire, his triumph made no breach in the continuity of the\nMinoan tradition. The palace rose again from its ashes, greater\nand more glorious than before, and men of the same stock carried\non the work that had been checked for a while by the rough hand of\nwar. The men of the Third Middle Minoan period reared the beginnings\nof the second palace on the site where the first had stood, and in\nthe relics of their arts and crafts the same spirit which informed\nthe earlier period still prevails, with no greater modifications\nthan such as come naturally to the art of any nation by the mere\nlapse of time.\n\nFrom the beginning of Middle Minoan III. to the end of Late Minoan\nII.--a period, that is to say, of either some 500 or almost 2,000\nyears, according to the scheme of Egyptian chronology which we\nmay adopt--the civilization of Crete apparently followed a course\nof even and peaceful development. At Knossos, Phaestos, and Hagia\nTriada the great palaces slowly grew to their final glory. The\nart that had produced the beautiful polychrome Kamares ware passed\naway, and was succeeded by the naturalism which has left us the Blue\nBoy who gathers the white crocuses, and the faience reliefs of the\nTemple Repositories, a naturalism which, with various modifications\nin style and material, persists to the end of Late Minoan I. In the\nmidst of this period (Late Minoan I.) come what are perhaps the\nhighest developments of Minoan art in the shape of the steatite vases\nof Hagia Triada, Boxer, Harvester, and Chieftain. On the mainland\nthe kindred culture of Mycenae was rising to its culmination, and\nthe art represented in the Circle-Graves was almost in the fulness\nof its bloom. Naturalism declines in its turn, and is succeeded by\nthe Later Palace style, more grandiose, more mannered, and less\nfree than that which had preceded it. It was in the Later Palace\nperiod (Late Minoan II.) that the miniature frescoes were painted,\nto preserve for us the strangely modern style of the Minoan Court,\nwith its flounced and furbelowed dames. Naturalism, though failing,\nwas still capable of great things, and its last efforts in the palace\nat Knossos gave us the magnificent reliefs of painted stucco, such\nas the bull's head and the King with the peacock plumes. Over the\nseas, the Egyptians of the Eighteenth Dynasty were setting down on\ntheir tomb walls those likenesses of the Keftiu which have helped\nus to the date of this last development of Minoan greatness.\n\n[Illustration XXII: THEATRAL AREA, KNOSSOS: RESTORED (_p_. 100)\n\n_G. Maraghiannis_]\n\nProbably the power and grandeur of the Empire was never more imposing\nthan during the hundred years before 1400 B.C. The House of Minos\nat Knossos had reached its full development, and stood in all its\nsplendour, an imposing mass of building, crowning the hill of Kephala\nwith its five storeys around the great Central. Court, its Theatral\nArea, and its outlying dependencies. Within its spacious porticoes and\ncorridors the walls glowed with the brilliant colours of innumerable\nfrescoes and reliefs in coloured plaster. The Cup-Bearer, the Queen's\nProcession, the Miniature Frescoes of the Palace Sports, stood\nout in all their freshness. Magnificent urns in painted pottery,\nwith reliefs like those of the great papyrus vase (Plate XXIII.),\ndecorated the halls and courts, and were rivalled by huge stone\namphorae, exquisitely carved. The King and his courtiers were served\nin costly vessels of gold, silver, and bronze _repousse_ work.\nThe Empire of the Sea-Kings was at its apogee, and on every hand\nthere were the evidences of security and luxury.\n\nBut, as in the contemporary Egypt of Amenhotep III. a similar\ndevelopment in all the comforts and luxuries of civilized life\nwas swiftly followed by the downfall under Akhenaten, so in Crete\nthe luxury of Late Minoan II. was only the prelude to its great\nand final disaster. Exactly when the catastrophe came we cannot\ntell. The Cretan Empire was certainly still existent in all its\nglory in 1449 B.C., when Amenhotep II., the son of the great Tahutmes\nIII., came to the throne, for Rekh-ma-ra, the Vizier of Tahutmes,\nin whose tomb the visit of the Keftian ambassadors is pictured,\nsurvived, as we know, into the reign of Amenhotep. The twenty-six\nyears of Amenhotep II.'s reign, and the almost nine of Tahutmes\nIV., bring us to the accession of Amenhotep III. in 1414, and the\nthirty-six years of the latter take us to 1379 B.C. or thereby,\nwhen the heretic Akhenaten, whose reign was to witness the downfall\nof the Egyptian Empire in Syria, ascended the throne. Somewhere\nwithin these seventy years the Empire of the Minoans passed away\nin fire and bloodshed, and we shall probably not go far wrong if\nwe suppose that the great catastrophe came about the year 1400\nB.C. The conclusion of Dr. Evans is that 'it seems reasonable to\nsuppose that the overthrow at Knossos had taken place not later\nthan the first half of the fourteenth century.'[*] Mrs. H. B. Hawes\nplaces the fall of Knossos at 1450; but Rekh-ma-ra must have still\nbeen living at that date, and, as Professor Burrows remarks, 'it\nwould at least be a strange coincidence if Egyptian artists were\npainting the glories of the Palace at the very moment when they\nwere passing away.'\n\n[Footnote *: 'Scripta Minoa,' pp. 52, 53.]\n\nThat there was a huge disaster, which broke for ever the power of\nthe Sea-Kings, is unmistakable. The Minoan kingdom did not fall\nfrom over-ripeness and decay, as was the case with so many other\nempires. The latest relics of its art before the catastrophe show\nno signs of decadence; the latest specimens of its linear writing\nshow a marked advance on those of preceding periods. A civilization\nin full strength and growth was suddenly and fatally arrested.\nEverywhere throughout the palace at Knossos there are traces of\na vast conflagration. The charred ends of beams and pillars, the\nvery preservation of the clay tablets with their enigmatic records,\na preservation due, probably, to the tremendous heat to which they\nwere exposed by the furious blazing of the oil in the store jars\nof the magazines, the traces of the blackening of fire upon the\nwalls--everything tells of an overwhelming tragedy. Nor was the\ncatastrophe the result of an accident. There is no mistaking the\nsignificance of the fact that in the palace scarcely a trace of\nprecious metal, and next to no trace of bronze has been discovered.\nFire at Knossos was accompanied by plunder, and the plundering\nwas thorough. A few scraps of gold-leaf, and the little deposit\nof bronze vessels that had been preserved from the plunderers by\nthe fact that the floor of the room in which they were found had\nsunk in the ruin of the conflagration, are evidences, better than\nabsolute barrenness would have been, to the fact that the place\nwas pillaged with minute thoroughness, and the unfinished stone jar\nin the sculptor's workshop tells its own tale of a sudden summons\nfrom peaceful and happy toil to the stern realities of warfare.\n\nThe evidence from Phaestos and Hagia Triada tallies with that from\nKnossos. Everywhere there are the traces of fire on the walls,\nand a sudden interruption of quiet and luxurious life. The very\nstone lamps still stand in the rooms at Hagia Triada, and on the\nstairs of the Basilica at Knossos, as they stood to lighten the\nlast night of the doomed Minoans. Of course there are no records,\nand if there were we could not read them; but it is easy to imagine\nthe disastrous sea-fight off the mouth of the Kairatos River, or\nelsewhere along the coast, the wrecks of the once invincible Minoan\nfleet driven ashore in hopeless ruin in the shallow bay, like the\nAthenian fleet at Syracuse, the swift march of the mainland conquerors\nup the valley, the brief, desperate resistance of the palace guards,\nand then the horrors of the sack, and the long column of flushed\nvictors winding down to their ships, laden with booty, and driving\nwith them crowds of captive women. Similar scenes must have been\nenacted at Phaestos and Hagia Triada, either by other forces of\ninvaders, or by the same host sweeping round the island.\n\nFrom this overwhelming disaster the Minoan Empire never recovered.\nThe palace at Knossos was never reoccupied as a palace, at least on\nanything like the scale of its former magnificence. The invaders\npossibly departed as swiftly as they had come, or if, as seems\nmore probable, they eventually established themselves as a ruling\ncaste among the subject Minoans, they chose for their dwellings\nother sites than those of the old palaces. The broken fragments of\nthe Minoan race crept back after the sack to the blackened ruins\nof their holy and beautiful house, not to rebuild it, but to divide\nits stately rooms and those of its dependencies by rude walls into\npoor dwelling-houses, where they lived on--a very different life\nfrom that of the golden days before the sack.\n\n[Illustration XXIII: GREAT JAR WITH PAPYRUS RELIEFS (_p_. 206)]\n\nIn their own way they strove to continue, possibly under the modifying\ninfluence of the art tradition of their conquerors, the great story\nof the art of Knossos. There is no abrupt break in the style of the\npottery and other articles belonging to the latest Minoan period, as\ncompared with that of the days before the catastrophe. Technical skill\nis almost as great as ever; it is degeneration in the inspiration of\nthe art that has begun. The spirit of the nation has been broken,\nand its art is no longer living. Though the old models are followed,\nit is with less complete understanding, with a perpetually increasing\ninterval, and with less and less fidelity. 'With the inability to\ncreate new ideas of art and life,' says Dr. Mackenzie, 'is coupled\nthe slavish adherence to inherited tradition and custom in both.\nNothing new is produced, and nothing old is changed.'[*] 'For Crete\nthe sack is AEgospotami, Late Minoan III., the long months that\nculminate in the surrender of Athens; the sack is Leipzig, Late\nMinoan III., the slow closing in on Paris that leads up to the\nabdication of Napoleon.'[**] Finally, even the technique fails, and\nthe great art which gave to the world the figures of the Cup-Bearer\nand the King with the Peacock Plumes dies out in monstrosities.\n\n[Footnote *: _Annual of the British School at Athens_, vol. xiii.,\np. 426.]\n\n[Footnote **: R. M. Burrows, 'The Discoveries in Crete,' p. 100.]\n\nThe long decay was to some extent arrested by the coming of other\nwaves of invaders, probably Achaeans, to whose influence may be\nattributed the change in customs which begins to show itself in the\npost-Minoan period. Burning begins to take the place of inhumation\nas a means of disposing of the dead; Continental types of weapons\nmake their appearance in the tombs; iron swords and daggers are\neven found. In life the men who use these weapons are clad, not\nwith the Minoan loin-cloth, but with the garments which we associate\nwith the Greeks of the Classical period, garments which require\nthe use of the fibula or safety-pin to fasten them. The potter's\nart begins to find new motives, and to develop the use of the human\nform as a type of adornment in a manner almost entirely foreign to\nthe Minoan tradition. At last, perhaps four centuries after the\nfall of Knossos, comes the great tidal wave of Dorian invasion,\nengulfing the work alike of conquerors and conquered, and blowing\nout all the landmarks of the ancient cultures.\n\nAnd through all these changes, and ever since, the ruined House of\nMinos remained absolutely deserted, until, more than 3,000 years\nafter the sack, its echoes were wakened by the spades and picks\nof Dr. Evans's workmen. Around the ruins grim and cruel legends\nswiftly grew up. The old traditions, dimly surviving in the minds\nof the native Cretans, of the bull-fight and the prize-ring, and\nthe tribute of toreadors from the conquered nations, seemed to be\ncorroborated by the very decorations of the palace walls, still\nvisible amidst the ruins, and around them were woven the stories\nwhich have come down to us as legends of early Greece. 'Let us\nplace ourselves for a moment,' says Dr. Evans, 'in the position of\nthe first Dorian colonists of Knossos after the great overthrow,\nwhen features now laboriously uncovered by the spade were still\nperceptible amid the mass of ruins. The name [Labyrinth] was still\npreserved, though the exact meaning, as supplied by the native\nCretan dialect, had been probably lost. Hard by the western gate,\nin her royal robes, to-day but partially visible, stood Queen Ariadne\nherself--and might not the comely youth in front of her be the\nhero Theseus, about to receive the coil of thread for his errand\nof liberation down the mazy galleries beyond? Within, fresh and\nbeautiful on the walls of the inmost chambers, were the captive\nboys and maidens locked up here by the tyrant of old. At more than\none turn rose a mighty bull, in some cases, no doubt, according\nto the favourite Mycenaean motive, grappled with by a half-naked\nman. The type of the Minotaur itself as a man-bull was not wanting\non the soil of prehistoric Knossos, and more than one gem found\non this site represents a monster with the lower body of a man\nand the forepart of a bull.\n\n'One may feel assured that the effect of these artistic creations\non the rude Greek settler of those days was not less than that of\nthe disinterred fresco on the Cretan workman of to-day. Everything\naround--the dark passages, the lifelike figures surviving from an\nolder world, would conspire to produce a sense of the supernatural.\nIt was haunted ground, and then, as now, \"phantasms\" were about. The\nlater stories of the grisly King and his man-eating bull sprang,\nas it were, from the soil, and the whole site called forth a\nsuperstitious awe. It was left severely alone by the new-comers.\nAnother Knossos grew up on the lower slopes of the hill to the\nnorth, and the old Palace site became \"a desolation and hissing.\"\nGradually earth's mantle covered the ruined heaps, and by the time\nof the Romans the Labyrinth had become nothing more than a tradition\nand a name.'[*]\n\n[Footnote *: _Monthly Review_, March, 1901, pp. 131, 132.]\n\nWho, then, were the invaders who, whether they remained as a ruling\ncaste in the land which they had conquered, or merely destroyed\nand departed, inflicted upon the Minoan civilization a blow from\nwhich it never recovered? The Cretans of Praesos, whose story of the\nSicilian expedition of Minos has already been mentioned, stated to\nHerodotus that, after that great disaster, 'to Crete, thus destitute\nof inhabitants ... other men, and especially the Grecians, went, and\nsettled there.' As Mr. Hogarth has pointed out, 'the men of Praesos\nwere no doubt, in the true saga spirit, foreshortening history by\ncrystallizing a process into a single event.' It is very improbable,\nin view of the evidence afforded by the long survival and gradual\ndecay of the Minoan tradition, that there was any immediate general\noccupation of the island on the part of the conquering race. The\nprocess which finally resulted in the island of Crete becoming\n'the mixed land,' with a heterogeneous population of Pelasgians,\nDorians, Achaeans, and other tribes, must have been a gradual one,\nextending, in all probability, over several centuries. Any large\ninflux of foreign elements was impossible so long as Crete was\ndominated by a great and warlike central power; but once that power\nwas broken by the catastrophe in which the Palaces of Knossos and\nPhaestos were overthrown, there was nothing to hinder the gradual\ndrifting in of the wandering tribes of the AEgean and of the North.\n\nHow that catastrophe came about we can see, not with any certainty\nof detail, but with some amount of probability as to its general\noutlines, from that echo of a period of wandering and strife in\nthe Mediterranean area which comes to us from the records of Ramses\nIII. at Medinet Habu. 'The isles were restless, disturbed among\nthemselves,' and it was one of the later waves of that storm which\nbroke itself against the armed strength of Egypt about 1200 B.C.\nProbably the process of migration had been going on for several\ngenerations. The rude but vigorous tribes of the North had been\npressing down upon the races which had created that remarkable\nBronze Age civilization of the Danubian area, whose relics have\nbeen coming to light of late years; and these in their turn, under\nthe pressure from the North, had been moving down towards the\nMediterranean, driving before them the peoples, probably of kindred\nstock to themselves, who had occupied the lands of the Mycenaean\ncivilization.\n\nWe know that long before the Homeric poems took shape the Achaeans\nhad established themselves as the ruling caste in the Argolid,\nin Laconia, and elsewhere; and that the pressure had begun even\nwhile Mycenae was at the height of its power is suggested by the\nfigures on one of the steles of the Circle-Graves, where a Mycenaean\nchieftain in his chariot is pursuing an enemy whose leaf-shaped\nsword shows that he was one of the Danubian race. The Mycenaean\nwas the victor in the first shock; but the steady pressure of the\ntribes from the North was not to be permanently resisted, and the\nend was the establishment of an alien race in power at Mycenae. The\nMycenaean stele, where the chief of the ancient stock pursues his\nNorthern assailant, has its _motif_ reversed in the archaic Greek\nstele discovered by Dr. Pernier at Gortyna, where a big Northerner\nwith round shield and greaves threatens a tiny Minoan or Mycenaean,\ncrouching behind his figure-of-eight shield. The two rude pictures\nmay be taken as typical of the beginning and the end of the process\nwhich resulted in the establishment of the race of Agamemnon at\n'Golden Mycenae.' Pressed upon thus by the warlike Achaeans, perhaps\nalready forced from their homes on the mainland, the Mycenaeans\nof Tiryns and Mycenae were obliged to fare forth in search of new\ndwelling-places. Not unnaturally the emigrants may have turned to\nthe land from which their civilization had originally sprung, in\nthe expectation that the Cretans would not refuse a welcome and a\nhome to men of their own stock. Seemingly they were disappointed in\ntheir expectation. The Minoans, or, at least, the Minoan rulers, were\nnot prepared to admit peacefully the incursion of this new element\ninto their kingdom; and the wanderers, under the spur of desperate\nneed, took by force what was denied to them as suppliants. So, in\nall probability, the glory of the Minoan Empire was destroyed by\nthe hands of its own children, the descendants of men whom Knossos\nherself had sent forth to hold her mainland colonies.[*]\n\n[Footnote *: _Cf_. Dr. Mackenzie, _Annual of the British School\nat Athens_, vol. xiii., pp. 424, 425.]\n\nIn such circumstances there would be no sudden eclipse of the ancient\nculture. Modified slightly, if at all, by the influx of what, after\nall, was a kindred element, it would persist, as the evidence shows\nit persisted, until it perished of natural decay. Even when the\nAchaeans, and, later still, the Dorians, followed in the wake of the\nMycenaean immigrants, though their advent brought, as we have seen,\nimportant changes in customs and in art motives, the ancient native\nculture remained the fundamental element of the newer civilization.\nIt has been pointed out by Mr. Hogarth that the Geometric vases\nof the early Iron Age in Crete exhibit in their decoration merely\nstylized Minoan motives, while 'the shields and other bronzes of the\nIdaean Cave, the latest of which come down probably to the ninth\nor even the eighth century, are artistic descendants of Minoan\nmasterpieces modified by some element of uncouthness which was\nprobably of Northern origin.'[*]\n\n[Footnote *: _Fortnightly Review_, October, 1908, p. 602.]\n\nThus in slow decay, after the great catastrophe, passed away the\ngreat civilization of the Minoan Empire. Not all of the tribes\nwhich had owned the dominion of the House of Minos were content,\nhowever, to remain as subjects to the mainland conquerors. The\ndestruction of the central power at Knossos must have involved, as\nDr. Evans has suggested,[*] the collapse of much of the commerce\non which the island of the Hundred Cities depended for the support\nof its great population. Already in the reign of Amenhotep III.\nof Egypt, that powerful monarch had been obliged to establish a\nspecial coastguard service at the mouths of the Nile to protect his\ntrade-routes against the Lycian pirates. When the Minoan fleet was\nno longer in being to police the AEgean, these and other piratical\nraces must have quickly driven the Cretan merchant marine from the\nseas. The purple fisheries and the oil trade would dwindle and\ndie, and the population which had been supported by them would be\ndriven from a land which could no longer maintain it. The colonizing\nmovement which has left traces of Minoan culture in Anatolia, in\nPalestine, in Sicily, and even in Spain, began, no doubt, at an\nearlier period, when the Empire of the Sea-Kings was in its full\nstrength; but it probably received a considerable impulse at this\ntime of forced emigration. The sudden introduction of the same\nculture into Cyprus at some period after 1400 B.C. has been referred\nto conquest by men of the AEgean race, who may very well have been the\nmen of Knossos driven forth by the pressure of altered conditions\nto find a new home for themselves.\n\n[Footnote *: 'Scripta Minoa,' p. 59.]\n\nThe Mycenaean pottery found at Tell-el-Amarna shows that there was\nstill an opening in Egypt for the products of AEgean art at least as\nlate as the reign of Akhenaten; and it is more than probable that\nin Egypt many of the _emigres_ of the Minoan _debacle_ found a home.\nThe art of the reign of Akhenaten is characterized by the somewhat\nsudden outburst of a naturalistic style almost entirely foreign to\nthe Egyptian tradition; and, as Mr. Hall foresaw eleven years ago,\nit has been suggested[*] that the naturalism of Tell-el-Amarna\nowes some of its inspiration to the influence of the fugitives\nwho brought with them from Crete the traditions of the great art\nof Knossos. Such a suggestion is no longer so improbable as it\nseemed to be in 1901, when it was still a tenable theory that the\nnew development of Egyptian art was due to Mesopotamian influence,\nand came from Mitanni with Queen Tyi, the wife of Amenhotep III.\nNow that it is certain that Tyi was no Mitannian, but a native\nEgyptian, that door is closed, and we must suppose either that\nEgyptian art suddenly and spontaneously awakened to a new style of\nvision and execution, from which, again, it as suddenly departed,\nor else that some foreign influence was working strongly upon the\nrigid Egyptian convention, modifying and vivifying it. If a foreign\ninfluence, why not the influence of the Minoan _emigres_, whose\nart we at least know to have been capable of such an effect? Of\ncourse, it is, after all, matter of surmise, and perhaps the chances\nare rather in favour of the new art of Akhenaten's time having\nbeen a genuinely native growth, influenced and inspired by the\nnew ideas with which the heretic King was seeking to leaven the\nnational life; but it is certainly far from unlikely that the break-up\nof the Minoan Empire did influence the art of Egypt, and perhaps\nthat or other nations, in a manner something similar to, though on\na smaller scale than, that in which the capture of Constantinople\ninfluenced the culture of Europe in the fifteenth century.\n\n[Footnote *: R. M. Burrows, 'The Discoveries in Crete,' p. 96.]\n\nWe have already seen the evidence for the migration of Minoan tribes\nof a later age in the assault of the Zakkaru and Pulosathu upon\nEgypt 200 years after the fall of Knossos, and the establishment\nof the latter tribe as an independent power upon the coast of\nPalestine--events which may have been due to the advance of another\nwave of Northern colonists upon the shores of Crete. One more glimpse\nof the dying sea-power of the Cretan race, now itself disorganized\nand predatory, is given us by the Golenischeff papyrus, which tells,\namong other adventures of the unfortunate Wen-Amon, envoy of Her-hor,\nthe priest-King of Upper Egypt (_circa_ 1100 B.C.), how the Egyptian\nambassador was threatened with capture by eleven ships of Zakru\npirates, who put into Byblos when he was about to sail thence.\nWhether these were genuine Minoans or not, it is impossible to\ntell; their immediate connection was apparently with Dor, on the\ncoast of Palestine; but their name suggests the town of Zakro, in\nEastern Crete, and it is not unlikely that they belonged to the\nsame race as the Zakkaru of the time of Ramses III.\n\nThereafter the Egyptian records are silent as to the scattered\ntribes of Crete, just as they had been silent since the rise of\nthe Nineteenth Dynasty as to the organized Empire of the Keftians.\nThe eleven shiploads of Zakru sea-robbers are the last degenerate\nrepresentatives of the great marine which, under the Kings of the\nHouse of Minos, had once held the undisputed Empire of the AEgean.\nThe ring of Minos was destined to lie for long ages beneath the\nwaves before the descendants of Theseus brought it up again.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX\n\nTHE PERIODS OF MINOAN CULTURE\n\nWe must now endeavour to form some idea of the various periods\ninto which the long enduring culture of the Minoan Empire more\nor less naturally falls, and to note some of the characteristic\nfeatures of each period. The chief aid in the formation of such\nan idea is given by the remains of the pottery which have survived\nfrom each period, and it is largely from the classification of\nthe pottery at Knossos and other sites that the scheme adopted\nby Dr. Evans and other workers has been derived. The deposit left\nby Neolithic man on the hill of Kephala averages about 6 metres\nin thickness below the later deposit which marks the occupation\nof the site by the post-Neolithic culture. We are thus led to an\nalmost fabulous antiquity for the first occupation of the site.\nIn the earliest beginnings of human development, progress, with\nits consequent accumulation, is slow, and if we allow a rate of\n3 feet of deposit for each thousand years, we shall probably not\nbe very far wrong. Such an allowance brings us to about 10,000\nB.C. as the time when Neolithic man began his first settlement on\nthe hill of Knossos.\n\n_Neolithic Age_.--The remains found in the deposit of this period\nare naturally of a very simple and primitive character. They consist\nof pottery, handmade without any use of the wheel, and hand-burnished,\nblack in colour, and, in the latest specimens, adorned with incised\nornament, which is sometimes filled in with a white chalky substance.\nWhile this description is characteristic of the deposit generally, a\ngradual progress in the potter's art is traceable from the virgin soil\nupwards. In the earliest stratum, immediately above the depositless\nvirgin soil, the pottery, for the depth of the first metre, was entirely\nplain, unfired, polished within and without, with no appearance of\nnarrowed necks or moulded bases. The next metre shows the beginning\nof incised ornament, but in almost inappreciable quantity, and\nthe third and fourth metres show the gradual, but extremely slow,\ngrowth of this species of decoration, the proportion of incised\nvases in the fourth metre only reaching 3 per cent. The fifth metre\ndeposit, however, discloses one important innovation. The proportion\nof incised vases is scarcely greater than in the preceding stratum,\nbut almost all of them have the incisions filled in with the white\nchalky substance already alluded to, forming a geometric design of\nwhite upon black. Along with this new development of the incised\nware goes a development of the unincised, whose surface is now not\nonly polished to the highest degree of lustre, but is thereafter\nrippled in vertical lines by the pressure of some blunt instrument,\nso as to produce an undulating effect, like that of the ripple\nmarks on sand. The rippling of the unincised pottery continues\nalong with the chalk filling of the incised through the remainder\nof the Neolithic series, and, in fact, appears to have enjoyed\nan even superior popularity. In the sixth metre from the virgin\nsoil indications begin to present themselves of the fact that the\nNeolithic period is about to draw to a close, for some of the pottery\nis beginning to assume the shapes which are characteristic of the\npainted ware of the earliest Minoan period, and in the following\nmetre paint begins to make its appearance as a means of decoration\nin rivalry with the incision and rippling of the earlier strata.\nFrom this point, then, we begin to get into touch with the genuine\nMinoan periods, of which, according to Dr. Evans's classification,\nthere are three--Early, Middle, and Late Minoan--each in its turn\nsubdivided into three sub-periods.\n\n_Early Minoan I_.--The pottery of this period takes over in great\npart the style of the primitive hand-burnished black ware inherited\nfrom the preceding age. But though this supplies the greater proportion\nof the material, it is not the characteristic feature. This is\nsupplied by the fact that the potter now begins to use paint as a\nmeans for producing the lustrous black surface which his Neolithic\npredecessor produced by hand-burnishing. A lustrous black glaze\nmedium is spread as a slip over the surface of the clay, so as to\nproduce an effect generally similar to that of the hand-polished\nware, and on this lustrous slip the decoration is painted, generally\nin white, more rarely in vermilion. Thus we have painted vases,\nwith light design upon a dark ground.\n\nHaving made this step, the artist varied his procedure by applying\nthe black slip itself as the decoration in bands upon the natural\nbuff colour of the clay, thus giving a decorative scheme of dark\ndesign upon a light ground. The ware now for the first time gives\nevidence of having been fired. The primitive 'bucchero,' still\nsurviving alongside of the painted pottery, is very closely related\nto the imported vases found by Petrie in First Dynasty tombs at\nAbydos; and a further link with Egypt is afforded by the fact that\nvases of Proto-Dynastic Egyptian form in diorite and syenite were\ndiscovered in the south and east quarters of the palace at Knossos.\nEarly Minoan I. is thus to be equated with the earliest beginnings\nof Dynastic rule in Egypt--that is to say, it dates from about\n5500 B.C. if Petrie's date for the First Dynasty be adopted, or\nfrom about 3400 B.C. if the Berlin dating be preferred. From this\nperiod there survive no remains of building at Knossos.\n\n_Early Minoan II_.--The distinguishing characteristic of the second\nperiod of Early Minoan is the greater freedom and originality shown\nin the designs of the vases. The style of painted decoration remains\nmuch the same as in the preceding period; but the vases now develop\nlong spouts or beaks, and are the 'beak-jugs' (Schnabelkanne) of\nthe German archaeologists. While a tendency may be observed to vary\nthe straight line decoration of Early Minoan I. by the introduction\nof simple curves, there is also a revival of the fashion for the\nold incised geometric-patterned ware. A curious development of\nthis period is found in the mottled ware from Vasiliki, where the\ndecoration was accomplished neither by incising nor by painting a\ndesign, but by a method of firing in which the vases, first painted\nred, were so placed that the hot coals actually came into contact\nwith the vases at certain points, and produced black patches upon\nthe red paint. The resultant mottled surface was then hand-polished,\nand sometimes, but more rarely, used as the medium for a design\nin white. To this period belong the oldest parts of the deposit\nat Hagios Onouphrios, and the greater part of the contents of the\nbee-hive chamber tomb at Hagia Triada, where, along with incised\nand early painted vases, were found copper daggers with very short\ntriangular blades, a number of rude stone seals, and very primitive\nidols, rudely imitating the human form. There are still no traces\nof any surviving building on the hill of Knossos, nor is there any\ndefinite link with Egypt to afford an opportunity for determining\nthe date of the period.\n\n[Illustration XXIV: THE BASILICA. STONE LAMP. THE ROYAL VILLA, KNOSSOS\n(_p_. 108)]\n\n_Early Minoan III_.--In this period the proportion of painted vases\nsteadily increases, though for a time there is also a revival of\nthe incised ornament, attributed by Dr. Evans to influence from\nthe Cyclades, which at this time also gave to Crete the idea of\nthe flat, banjo-shaped human figurines which are characteristic\nof the early deposits of Melos and Amorgos.\n\nThe use of the potter's wheel probably now begins, and the clay is\ncarefully sifted and fired, the favourite colour scheme being white\non lustrous brown or black slip, though sometimes the alternative\nscheme of dark upon light is adopted; and vases are sometimes fashioned\nout of very thin clay, in anticipation of the fine egg-shell Kamares\nware of Middle Minoan II. The chief decorative motive is a horizontal\nband, or more than one, around the upper part of the vase. On these\nbands the chief ornament is the zig-zag, and curves directly derived\ntherefrom, and the spiral begins to appear as a form of decoration.\nIt is uncertain whether the credit for the origination of this\nfavourite form of decorative motive is to be attributed to Egypt\nor to Crete. Miss Hall[*] regards the Early Minoan III. spirals\nas late-comers in the field, attributing the first development of\nthe spiral to the painters of Egyptian pre-Dynastic vases; but Mr.\nH. R. Hall[**] denies the right of the volutes on the pre-Dynastic\nvases to be regarded as spirals at all, considers that the true\nspiral appears suddenly in Egypt as 'a new and unprecedented thing'\nabout the beginning of the Middle Kingdom, and infers that in its\nuse the Cretans were original, and the Egyptians merely borrowers;\nwhile Dr. Evans[***] denies originality to both, and holds that\nthe use of the spiral was first developed on the European side\nof the AEgean.\n\n[Footnote *: 'The Decorative Art of Crete in the Bronze Age,' p.\n9.]\n\n[Footnote **: Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology,\nvol. xxxi., part 5, pp. 221, 222.]\n\n[Footnote ***: 'Scripta Minoa,' p. 126.]\n\nThe fact that the seals of this period show motives derived from\nthe Egyptian Sixth Dynasty 'button-seals' suggests that Early Minoan\nIII. is to be equated with the end of the Old Kingdom in Egypt.\nThis, however, is but a slight help as to the positive date of\nthe Minoan period, owing to the huge gap between the different\nsystems of Egyptian chronology. All that can be said is that on\nPetrie's system of dating the Minoan period which is contemporary\nwith the end of the Sixth Dynasty would date about 4000 B.C., and\non the Berlin system about 2475 B.C. Though the two cultures are\ncontemporaneous, it is, of course, by no means to be inferred that\nthe art of Early Minoan III. has left us any relics which are worthy\nof being placed on a level with the wonderful work of the Egyptian\nOld Kingdom artists. The primitive pictographs on the bead-seals\nof this period mark the beginnings of this form of Minoan script,\nwhich persisted until Late Minoan I., when it was at last superseded\nby the linear form of writing which had made its appearance in\nMiddle Minoan III.\n\n_Middle Minoan I_.--With this period we have distinct advance in\nmore directions than one. The Minoan artist is beginning to feel\nhis way towards that polychrome style of decoration which reached\nsuch a remarkable development in the Kamares vases of the succeeding\nstage. In the decoration of his ware, which does not exhibit any\nmarked advance in form upon that of Early Minoan III., he has begun\nto supplement the familiar white on the dark slip by adding yellow,\norange, red, and crimson. The Petsofa figurines, already alluded\nto, which belong to this period, have a colour scheme of black\nand white, red and orange. Along with this development of the use\nof colour goes a corresponding advance in design. The motives of\nthe former period are continued, but are much more developed, and\nmore freely handled. Instead of being stiffly disposed in bands\nround the vessel, they are now frequently grouped with the idea\nof covering the ground of the vases in a graceful manner without\nany attempt at formal definition of the limits of each article of\nthe design, the artist's idea being simply to fill, in a manner\nsatisfying to the eye, the space upon which he had to work. The\nzonal system still persists side by side with the freer style,\nand is often very skilfully handled as a means of decoration. One\nof the characteristic features of Middle Minoan ceramic art--the\nuse of relief to enhance the effect of the polychrome decoration\nthrough the addition of contrasts of light and shade--is seen coming\ninto use in the earliest part of the period.\n\nDecoration is still geometric, and was to continue so for long.\nNot until Middle Minoan III. do we get a really naturalistic style\nof decorative art. But in Middle Minoan I. there are indications\nwhich, though slight, seem to point to a striving after realism\non the part of some of the artists of the period. This tendency\nis apparent even in some of the geometric designs, which are so\ndisposed as to form an approach to naturalistic patterns. But the\nmost remarkable example of the tendency is seen in a fragment of\na vase from Knossos, figured by Dr. Mackenzie,[*] on which the\nfigures of three of the Cretan wild goats are followed by that\nof a gigantic beetle with a tail. 'The subject of the design,'\nsays Dr. Mackenzie, 'in its naturalistic character is so advanced\nthat, were it not for the company in which the fragments occur,\nwe should be tempted to assign it to a much later age.' It is\nunfortunate that only a part of the design has survived, and that\nno parallel to it has ever been found. Was it merely a sport, the\nfreak of some ancient potter who was weary of the conventional\ndesigns of his time, and tried his hand at something new, combining\nthe wild life that he could see from the window of his workshop\nwith that which crawled upon its floor, without ever dreaming of\nthe problem he was setting for the students of 4,000 years later to\nexercise themselves upon? The style of the goat and beetle fragment\nis dark upon light. The goats are surrounded by an incised outline,\nand filled in with lustrous black glaze; the beetle is drawn freely\nin the black glaze, without incision, almost as though it had been\na humorous afterthought of the potter.\n\n[Footnote *: _Journal of Hellenic Studies_, vol. xxvi., part I,\nplate ix. 3.]\n\nMiddle Minoan I. has no surviving link with Egyptian art, a fact\nwhich may be explained by the consideration that from the end of the\nSixth Dynasty to the establishment of the Eleventh, Egypt appears\nto have been passing through a time of great confusion. The period\nis practically a Dark Age so far as Egyptian history is concerned.\n\n[Illustration XXV: (1) KNOSSOS VALLEY\n\n(2) EXCAVATING AT KNOSSOS]\n\n_Middle Minoan II_.--We now come to the period when the first undoubted\ntraces of the Cretan palaces begin to reveal themselves. The chief\narchitectural remains of the period are, however, not at Knossos,\nbut at Phaestos. There the Theatral Area, at least, was in existence\nearly in this period, possibly in the later part of the preceding\none. But at Knossos the chief evidence for the high state of\ncivilization attained in this period is the pottery, which reaches a\nvery advanced development. This is the age of the splendid polychrome\nvessels of the type called 'Kamares,' from the cave on Mount Ida\nwhere they were first discovered by Mr. J. L. Myres. The vases\nand cups of this fabric, from the delicacy of their forms, the\ngrace of their designs, and the richness of their colour, are among\nthe most notable survivals of Minoan ceramic art. The clay is fine\nand carefully sifted, and the walls of the vessels are of extreme\nthinness and delicacy, approaching to that of the finest egg-shell\nchina. The designs upon the vases are often moulded in low relief\nas well as painted, and the thinness of their walls, the form of\ntheir handles, and the knobs upon them, which are evidently meant to\nsuggest rivets, show that the potters of the time were endeavouring\nto emulate the achievements of their brother artists, the metal\nworkers. The designs upon the vases themselves are conventional,\nthe idea being to produce a rich and harmonious effect of form\nand colour rather than to secure any imitation of Nature. Indeed,\nthe patterns are very largely geometric; the zig-zag, the cross,\nand concentric circles occur frequently; and when plant life is\nimitated it is skilfully conventionalized, as in the case of the\nwater-lily cup, perhaps the most beautiful specimen of the ware\nof the period, on which the white petals start from a centre at\nthe foot of the cup and enfold its body. The ground of this cup\nis lustrous black, and the white of the petals is accentuated by\nthin lines of red, while a geometric pattern moulded in low relief\nruns round the rim of the cup above the waterlilies (Plate XXIX.\n4). The colours of the vases are varied, consisting chiefly of\nwhite, orange, crimson, red, and yellow, and each colour is used\nin several shades. 'Black shades into purple, white into cream;\nbrown has sometimes a red, and sometimes an olive tint; yellows\nare either pale or orange; and red is not only a crude vermilion,\nbut is weakened to pink, or strengthened with shades of orange\nand cherry and terra-cotta.' In the decoration of the vases both\nstyles flourish side by side, dark design upon light ground, and\nlight upon dark. In some vessels of the period there is a combination\nof conventionalized naturalistic ornament and geometric design.\n\nA distinct link between Egypt and Middle Minoan II. is afforded by\nthe fact that at Kahun, close to the pyramid of Senusert II., near\nthe Fayum, Professor Petrie discovered vases which are unquestionably\nof Kamares type, while the synchronism with the Twelfth Dynasty was\nfully established by Professor Garstang's discovery at Abydos of\nfragments of a polychrome vessel of late Middle Minoan II. type in\nan untouched tomb, which also contained glazed steatite cylinders\nwith the names of Senusert III. and Amenemhat III. Middle Minoan\nII., then, equates with the times of the Twelfth Egyptian Dynasty,\na period which was in many respects the most brilliant of Egyptian\nhistory.\n\nWhen we come to inquire, however, as to positive date, we are still\nmet, though almost for the last time, by the great discrepancy\nbetween the systems of Egyptian dating. The Twelfth Dynasty is\nplaced by Professor Petrie at about 3400 B.C., by the traditional\ndating about 2500 B.C., while the modern German school brings down\nthe date as low as 2000 B.C. No more can be said than that Middle\nMinoan II. certainly does not begin earlier than 3400 B.C., and\ncan scarcely begin later than 2000 B.C. The period closes with the\nevidence of a great catastrophe at Knossos, in which the palace was\nburned; and, as already mentioned, the fact that Phaestos shows no\nevidence of such a disaster at this point has roused the suspicion\nthat the Lords of Phaestos may have been responsible for the destruction\nof the greater palace.\n\n_Middle Minoan III_.--To this period belong the beginnings of the\nsecond palace at Knossos. The western portion of the palace probably\ndates largely from this time, though it was altered and extended\nlater; and we must place here the Temple Repositories, and certain\nother chambers on the northeast side of the Central Court, though\nthey were covered up and built over in Late Minoan I. At all events,\na very great and splendid building must have existed upon the site\nat this time. Egypt was passing through the dark period between the\nThirteenth and Seventeenth Dynasties, which includes the domination\nof the Hyksos; but the civilization of Crete, on the contrary, was\ncontinually and steadily advancing. To this age belong many of\nthe most interesting and precious relics of the Minoan culture.\n\nThe art of the period gradually undergoes a great change from that\nof Middle Minoan II. Polychrome decoration steadily declines, and\nis superseded by monochrome. The beautiful lustrous black glaze\nground of the vases is replaced by a dull purple slip on which\nthe decoration is often laid in a powdery white paint. The best\ndesigns are found in this white upon a lilac or mauve ground. In\nthe designs themselves conventionalism and geometric ornament pass\naway, and are followed by a development of naturalism. Dr. Mackenzie\nhas pointed out that it is to this growth of naturalism that we\nmust trace the gradual disappearance of polychrome decoration.\n'Once we have the portrayal of natural objects, such as flowers,\nwhich becomes so rife before the close of the Middle Minoan Age,\nit soon becomes apparent that a scale of colours, which in their\nrelation to each other were capable of producing polychrome effects\nof great beauty, was quite inadequate towards the reproduction of\nthe natural colours of objects. Thus green, for example, which is\nthe first necessity towards the rendering of leaves and stems, did\nnot exist in the colour repertory of the vase painter. The ceramic\nartist must thus have felt that with his limited scale of colours\nhe could not produce the same natural effects as the wall-painter\nwith his. On the other hand, he must have been equally conscious\nthat natural objects such as flowers did not look natural in a\npolychrome guise which was not that of Nature. The only solution\nof the colour difficulty in the circumstances was a compromise in\nthe shape of a convention. Thus the tendency came into being to\nmake all natural objects either simply light on a dark ground,\nor dark on a light ground.'[*]\n\n[Footnote *: _Journal of Hellenic Studies_, vol. Xxvi., part I,\npp. 257, 258.]\n\nThe two flowers most generally used for the purpose of ornamentation\nare the lily and the crocus. For the first time the importance of\npottery as an evidence of the condition of the art of the period\nis second to that of other artistic products. It is to Middle Minoan\nIII. that there belongs the wonderful fabric of faience, of which so\nmany specimens were discovered in the Temple Repositories. In them\nthe same tendency towards naturalism reveals itself. The wild-goat\nsuckling its kid, the flying-fish, the porcelain vases, one of them\nwith cockle-shell relief, and another with ferns and rose-leaves\non a ground of pale green, are all instances of the naturalistic\ngrowth. Evidence is also afforded of a great delight in scenes\nconnected with the sea, and we have the flying-fish and the seal\nwith the seaman in his skiff defending himself against the attacks\nof the sea-monster, to witness to the Minoan appreciation alike\nof the curiosities and the dangers of the deep.\n\nFresco-painting also begins to leave survivals, and we have particularly\nthe fresco of the Blue Boy gathering white crocuses. At the beginning\nof the period the old form of pictographic writing is still in\ngeneral use, but by the close of Middle Minoan III. the earlier\ntype of the linear script, Class A, has made its appearance and\nis extensively used. The Middle Minoans of the Third period were\nthe fabricators of the huge knobbed and corded _pithoi_, or jars,\nsome of them with the curious 'trickle,' ornament, which is surely\ndecoration reduced to its last straits. The artist merely dabbed\nquantities of brown glaze paint around the rims of his jars, and\nallowed it to trickle down the sides at its own will. The result\nis curious, but can scarcely be called beautiful (Plate IX. 2).\n'Ab-nub's child, Sebek-user, deceased,' whose statuette was found\nat Knossos, gives us a point of connection between the earlier\npart of Middle Minoan III. and the Thirteenth Egyptian Dynasty,\nwhile the alabastron of Khyan links the later portion of the period\nwith the Hyksos domination in Egypt. The King who built the great\ntomb at Isopata, already described, must have reigned at Knossos\nduring this period.\n\n_Late Minoan I_.--In this period we come into touch with a great\ndeal of the fine work of the Royal Villa at Hagia Triada, which\nhas been already described. A considerable portion of the area\nof the palace at Knossos, dating from the preceding age, is now\ncovered up by new construction, and the second palace begins to\nassume the form which was completed in the subsequent period. In\npottery the naturalistic style still persists, but the technique\nbegins to modify, and the white design on a dark ground occurs\nless frequently than design in dark glaze paint on the natural\nlight ground of the clay. Ornament begins to partake increasingly\nof a marine character; the octopus, the Triton shell, the nautilus,\nand seaweed, appear as designs, and are executed in lifelike fashion,\nwhich contrasts strongly with the later conventionalized method\nof representing them. Indeed, Middle Minoan III. And Late Minoan\nI. and II. show a distinct appreciation of and delight in all the\nbeauty and wonder of the sea, which suggest the important part\nwhich it played in the lives of the Cretan populace. 'At ports\nwhere sailors and fishermen and divers for sponge and purple went\nand came, it was natural for an imaginative race to acquire that\nsense of the magic and mystery of the sea, that curiosity about\nthe life in its depths, which found expression in these ceramic\npictures.'[*]\n\n[Footnote *: R. C. Bosanquet, _Journal of Hellenic Studies_, vol.\nxxiv., part 2, p. 322.]\n\n[Illustration XXVI: GREAT STAIRCASE, PHAESTOS (_p_. 120)\n\n_G. Maraghiannis_]\n\nAlong with the marine designs went naturalistic representations\nof flowers and grasses--the lily and the crocus, already familiar\nfrom earlier work, the Egyptian lotus in a form adapted to the taste\nof the Minoan artist, and ivy leaves and tendrils. A peculiarly\ngraceful design on a vase from Zakro shows an adaptation of the\nEgyptian lotus, presenting that favourite Nilotic motive in a style\nmore flexible and easy than that of the native representations of\nit. The design in this case is painted in white on a reddish-brown\nground, and its peculiarity is that the white was laid on after the\nvase had been fired, and can be removed with the finger (Plate XXIX.\n2). The three vases from Hagia Triada, the Boxer, the Harvester, and\nthe Chieftain, belong to this period, as do also the frescoes of\nthe Hunting Cat and the Climbing Plants, and probably the Royal\nGaming Board from the palace at Knossos. At this time, too, we\ncome upon the long bronze swords which had succeeded the daggers\nof the preceding ages. Hieroglyphic writing is now superseded by\nthe linear script of Class A, which now comes into regular use,\nalthough at Knossos the documents in this script, according to\nDr. Evans, are only to be found in the stratum belonging to the\nlast period of Middle Minoan, their place being supplied by Class\nB, which occurs only at Knossos.\n\nAt Hagia Triada and Gournia the older forms of vase are mingled\nwith early specimens of the type variously known as 'Buegelkanne,'\n'Vases a Etrier,' or 'Stirrup-vases.' These vases, named from the\nstirrup-like appearance of their curving handles, may more correctly\nbe called 'false-necked vases,' from the fact that the neck to\nwhich the handles unite is closed, and another neck is formed,\nfarther away from the handles, for convenience in pouring. The\nfalse-necked vase is the characteristic pottery type of Late Minoan\nIII., and occurs very frequently on the Mycenaean sites of that\nperiod. The seals with fantastic forms of monsters, such as those\nfound in such numbers at Zakro, date from the beginning of Late\nMinoan I., and to this period also belong the earlier of the Shaft-\nor Circle-Graves at Mycenae, so that now for the first time Minoan\ncan be equated with Mycenaean. We are still without any system of\ndating that is absolutely certain, but this is the last period\nof which such a remark is true. The next period brings us into\ntouch with Egyptian synchronisms whose date is certain to within\na few years.\n\n_Late Minoan II_.--To Late Minoan II. belong the great glories\nof the second palace at Knossos, which arrived at its greatest\nsplendour just before the time at which it was to be destroyed.\nNow were built the Throne Room and its antechamber, and the Royal\nVilla with its dais and throne and columned hall, while the walls\nof the completed palace were covered with the splendid frescoes\nof whose beauties the Cup-Bearer and the spectators watching the\ngames give us evidence. The reliefs in hard plaster, such as the\nbull's head and the King with the peacock plumes, show the style\nof decoration which gave variety on the walls to the paintings on\nthe flat. In pottery the change of style and decoration is gradual,\nbut quite pronounced. The chief characteristic of the time is the\nfabrication of large decorated vases and _pithoi_, such as the\nbeautiful papyrus relief vase of the Royal Villa, nearly 4 feet\nin height (Plate XXIII.; see also Plate XXX.). Naturalism still\nsurvives in occasional designs, but the bulk of the design is\nconventional, and the composition of the various elements is often\nextremely skilful. A typical form of vessel of this period is the\nlong narrow strainer, which is borne by the Cup-Bearer in the palace\nfresco, and of which various specimens have been found. In many\ncases these strainers were made of variegated marble, though pottery\nwas also used for them.\n\nThe bronze vessels from the north-west house at Knossos, and the\nswords from the earlier Zafer Papoura graves, testify to the skill\nwith which metal was wrought. One of these swords from the chieftain's\ngrave, the short weapon which the noble of Late Minoan II. carried\nalong with his long rapier, perhaps for parrying thrusts, as the\ngallants of Queen Elizabeth's time used their daggers, has a pommel\nof translucent agate, and a gold-plated hilt engraved with a design\nof a lion chasing and capturing a wild-goat. Great bronze vessels\nwere wrought with splendid conventional designs, and some of the\nstone vases of the period are amazing in the skill with which they\nwere worked and decorated. 'How the hard material was worked with\nprecision in the _inside_ of vessels which have only the narrowest\nof neck orifices, and that in an age of soft bronze tools, is as\ngreat a mystery as the mode of working diorite and granite in\nprehistoric Egypt.'[*] Perhaps the most splendid specimen is the\ngreat amphora, 2 feet high by 6 feet in circumference, with its\ntwo magnificent spiral bands, which was found in the so-called\nSculptor's Workshop at Knossos, beside the smaller vessel which\nhad only been roughed out when the catastrophe of the palace came.\n\n[Footnote *: D. G. Hogarth, _Cornhill Magazine_, March, 1903, p.\n329.]\n\nThe linear script, Class B, now supersedes the earlier type, Class\nA.\n\nIn this period we come for the first time into a sphere where there\nis practically an absolute certainty in dating; for now we have the\nKeftiu appearing in the tomb frescoes of the Eighteenth Dynasty\nat Thebes, with their vessels of characteristic Minoan type, and\ntheir purely Minoan style of dress and general appearance. Sen-mut's\ntomb gives us a date about 1480 B.C., and Rekh-ma-ra's may bring\nus down to 1450 B.C., or thereby. It is somewhat striking that\nthe periods of greatest splendour alike for the Egyptian Empire\nand for the Minoan should virtually coincide. In either case, the\nduration of the culmination of splendour was short. The magnificence\nof the Egypt of Hatshepsut, Tahutmes III., and Amenhotep III., was\nspeedily to be clouded and dimmed by the disasters of the reign\nof Akhenaten; but even before the glory of the Eighteenth Dynasty\nhad passed away, the sun of the Minoan Empire had set. Late Minoan\nII., with all its triumphs of architecture and art, was brought to\nan abrupt close by the sack of the palaces, probably about 1400\nB.C., and the great frescoes of the palace at Knossos were the last\nevidences of a magnificence which was never to be revived again\non Cretan soil.\n\nDuring this period intercourse between Crete and Egypt must have\nbeen frequent and close. It is not only indicated by the evidence\nof the Sen-mut and Rekh-ma-ra tombs, but by the parallelism in\nthe styles of art in the two countries. The art of each remains\ntruly national, but the frescoes of Knossos and Hagia Triada and\nthose of the Eighteenth Dynasty in Egypt are inspired by the same\nspirit, though in either case the result is modified by national\ncharacteristics.\n\n[Illustration XXVII: THE HARVESTER VASE, HAGIA TRIADA (_p_. 124)\n\n_G. Maraghiannis_]\n\n_Late Minoan III_.--This, the last period of the Minoan civilization,\ncommences with the destruction of the palace of Knossost somewhere\nbefore 1400 B.C., and presents no definite line of termination.\nThe great style of art represented by the preceding period does\nnot at once degenerate into barbarism. If, as seems probable, the\nmen who destroyed the Cretan palaces were Mycenaeans of the mainland,\nmore or less of the same stock as the Cretan representatives of the\nMinoan tradition, we can see how the catastrophe of the palaces\nneed not have been followed by any immediate catastrophe of the art\nof Crete. At the same time the true spirit of the Minoan race had\nbeen destroyed, and degeneration of the standard of art naturally\nfollowed. The level of artistic work in the earlier part of the\nperiod is still high--in fact, it is that of what is considered\nthe best Mycenaean art--the technical skill which produced the\nmasterpieces of the Palace period still survives, but the inspiration\nwhich gave it life is gone. Originality in design vanishes first,\nand is gradually followed by skill in execution; the old types are\nreproduced in more and more slovenly fashion, and at last even\nthe material employed follows the example of degeneration. This\nperiod of gradual decadence is, however, the period of greatest\ndiffusion of the products of Minoan, or, rather, as we may now\ncall it, of Mycenaean art. At Ialysos in Rhodes, and in the lower\ntown of Mycenae, types parallel with the work of Crete are found,\nand Tell-el-Amarna furnishes specimens of pottery whose degeneracy\nfrom the type of the Palace period declares them to belong to these\ndays of decadence. Specimens of Late Minoan III. work are found\nat Tarentum, and the island of Torcello, near Venice, and even\nas far west as Spain. One of the characteristic features of the\nperiod is the fact that the stirrup-vase, found at Hagia Triada\nand Gournia in Late Minoan I., but almost totally wanting in Late\nMinoan II., now becomes common.\n\nTowards the close of the period the site of the palace at Knossos\nwas partially reoccupied by a humbler race of men, who used the\nrooms that had once witnessed the pride of the Minoan Sovereigns,\ndividing them up by flimsy partition-walls to suit their smaller\nneeds. An age of transition succeeded, during which the character\nof the Cretan population was gradually modified by successive waves\nof invasion from the mainland, until Crete assumed the guise of\n'the mixed land,' under which Homer knew it; and finally came the\ngreat invasion of the Dorians, which brought in for Crete, as for\nthe rest of Greece, the dark age which preceded the dawn of the\ntrue Hellenic culture.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X\n\nLIFE UNDER THE SEA-KINGS\n\nWhat manner of men were the people who developed the Bronze Age\ncivilization of Crete? Can we form any idea of their physical\ncharacteristics, of their homes and social conditions, of the general\naspect of their daily life, and of the occupations in which they\nwere engaged? Such questions can only be answered more or less\ngenerally in the absence of written material, or, rather, in our\nlack of understanding of the written material that exists; but,\nstill, a considerable mass of evidence is in existence from which\nsome broad outlines may be deduced with moderate certainty, and\nthe object of this chapter is to present these outlines.\n\nFirst, as to the physical characteristics of the race. Two lines\nof evidence are here available. On the one hand, there is that\nafforded by the actual remains of the bodies of men and women of\nthe Minoan race which have been exhumed from ossuaries of the Bronze\nAge, and studied by anthropologists. Generally speaking, the result\nof their investigations has been to show that the Minoans belonged\nto the southernmost of the three great racial belts into which\nthe ancient peoples of Europe may be divided--the so-called\nMediterranean race. That is to say, they were a people of the\nlong-headed type, dark in colouring and small in stature. The average\nheight, estimated from the bones which have been measured, is somewhat\nunder 5 feet 4 inches, which is about 2 inches less than the average\nof the modern Cretans, and corresponds more to the stature of the\nSardinians and Sicilians of the present time. A few skulls of the\nbroad-headed type appear among the general long-headedness, and\nprobably point to some intermixture of race; but, as a whole, the\npeople were long-headed. The shortness of stature indicated by the\nbones is a feature which one would scarcely have inferred from\nthe other line of evidence available--the actual representations\nof men and women of their own race which the Minoans have left in\ntheir fresco-paintings; but allowance must, of course, be made\nfor the artistic convention which tended to accentuate slenderness\nof figure, and therefore to increase apparent height.\n\nJudging from the surviving pictures, the Minoan men were bronzed,\nwith dark hair and beardless faces; their figures were slender,\nand their slenderness was made all the more conspicuous by the\nfashion which prevailed of drawing in the waist by a tightly fastened\nbelt, which seems, in some cases at least, to have had metal edges;\nbut muscularly they were well developed, and the pictures suggest\nlitheness and agility in a high degree. 'One would say a small-boned\nrace, relying more on quickness of limb and brain than on weight\nand size.' The hair of the men was worn in a somewhat elaborate\nfashion, being done up in three coils on the top of the head, while\nthe ends of it fell in three long curls upon the shoulders. On the\nother hand, their dress was extremely simple, consisting normally\nof nothing but a loin-cloth, girt by the broad belt already mentioned,\nthe material of which the loincloth was made being frequently gaily\ncoloured or patterned, as in the case of the Cup-Bearer, whose\ngarment is adorned with a dainty quatre-foil design. That more\nelaborate robes were worn on certain occasions of importance is\nshown by the sarcophagus at Hagia Triada (Plate XXVIII.), where\nthe lyre player wears a long robe coming down to the ankles and\nbordered with lines of colour, while the other men in the scene\nwear tucked robes reaching a little below the knees (or possibly\nbaggy Turkish trousers); and also by the Harvester Vase, where\nthe chief figure in the procession is clad in a stiff garment,\nwhich has been variously interpreted as a wadded cuirass, or as\na cope of some stiff fabric.\n\nOn their feet they wore sometimes shoes, with puttees twisted round\nthe lower part of the leg, and sometimes half-boots, as shown on\nthe Chieftain Vase and one of the Petsofa figurines. Indeed, the\nfootgear of the Minoans seems to have been somewhat elaborate. In\nthe representations of the Keftiu, on the walls of Rekh-ma-ra's\ntomb, the shoes are white, and have bindings of red and blue, and\nin some cases are delicately embroidered. Such examples as the shoe\non an ivory figure found at Knossos, and the terra-cotta model of\na shoe found at Sitia, show the daintiness with which the Minoans\nindulged themselves in the matter of footwear. In personal adornment\nthe men to some extent made up for their simplicity in the matter\nof dress. The Cup-Bearer wears a couple of thick bracelets on his\nupper arm, and another, which bears an agate signet, on his wrist;\nand such decorations seem to have been in common use. The King\nwhose figure in low relief has been reconstructed from fragments\nfound at Knossos, wears peacock plumes upon his head, while round\nhis neck he has a collar of fleur-de-lys, wrought, no doubt, in\nprecious metal.\n\nThe Minoan women are depicted with a perfectly white skin, which\ncontrasts strongly with the bronzed hue of the men. The deep coppery\ntint of the men, and the dead white skin of the women is, of course,\nto be accepted only as a convention, similar to that adopted by\nEgyptian artists, meant to express a difference of complexion caused\nby greater or less exposure to the weather; and we need not imagine\nthat there was so great a contrast between the colouring of men\nand women in actual life as would appear from the paintings. If\nthe dress of the male portion of the populace was simple, that of\nthe female was the reverse. An elaborate and tight-fitting bodice,\ncut excessively low at the neck, covered, or affected to cover,\nthe upper part of the body, which is so wasp-waisted as to suggest\nuniversal tight-lacing. From the broad belt hung down bell-shaped\nskirts, sometimes flounced throughout their whole length, sometimes\nrichly embroidered, as in the case of a votive skirt represented\nin faience among the belongings of the Snake Goddess found in the\nTemple Repositories. In some cases--_e.g._, that of the votaress\nof the Snake Goddess--the skirt, below a small panier or apron, is\ncomposed of different coloured materials combined in a chequer pattern\ndistantly resembling tartan. A fresco from Hagia Triada represents\na curious and elaborate form of dress, consisting apparently of\nwide trousers of blue material dotted with red crosses on a light\nground, and most wonderfully frilled and vandyked. Diaphanous material\nwas sometimes used for part of the covering of the upper part of\nthe body, as in the case of some of the figures from the Knossos\nfrescoes. Hairdressing, as already noticed, was very elaborate, and\nabove the wonderful erections of curls and ringlets which crowned\ntheir heads, the Minoan ladies, if one may judge from the Petsofa\nfigurines, wore hats of quite modern type, and fairly comparable\nin size even with those of the present day. A seal from Mycenae,\nrepresenting three ladies adorned with accordion-pleated skirts,\nshows that heels of a fair height were sometimes worn on the shoes.\nNecklaces, bracelets, and other articles of adornment were in general\nuse, and the workmanship of some of the surviving specimens is\nastonishingly fine (Plate XXXII.). Altogether, so far as can be\nestimated from the representations which have come down to us,\nthe appearance of a Minoan assembly would, to a modern eye, seem\ncuriously mixed. The men would fit in with our ideas of their period,\nbut the women would remind us more of a European gathering of the\nmid-nineteenth century.\n\nThe houses which were occupied by these modern-looking ladies and\ntheir mates were unexpectedly unlike anything in the house-building\nof the Classical period. There is little of the uniformity of style\nand arrangement which characterizes the ordinary Greek house. The\nMinoan burgher built his home as the requirements of his site and\nof his household suggested, and was not the slave of any fixed\nconvention in the matter of plan. The houses at Gournia, Palaikastro,\nand Zakro, which may be taken as typical specimens of ordinary\nMinoan domestic architecture, must have been much more like modern\nhouses than anything that we know of in Greek towns of the Classical\nperiod; and the elevations of Minoan villas preserved in the faience\nplaques from the chest at Knossos suggest the frontages of a suburban\navenue. Some of the Knossian plaques show houses of three and four\nstoreys, with windows filled in with a red material which, as Dr.\nEvans suggests, may have been oiled and tinted parchment. In such\nhouses, as distinguished from the palaces, there was no separation\nbetween the apartments of men and women. The fabric of the houses\nwas generally of sun-dried brick, reared upon lower walls of stone;\nsome of the Knossian villas, however, were plastered and timbered,\nthe round beam-ends showing in the frontage. Oblong windows took\nthe place of the light-wells which give indirect illumination to\nthe palace rooms. The accommodation must have been fairly extensive.\nThe smaller houses have six to eight rooms, the larger ones twice\nthat number; while one of the houses in Palaikastro has no fewer\nthan twenty-three rooms.\n\nWithin doors the walls were finished with smooth plaster, and probably\ndecorated with painting, though, of course, on a humbler scale than\nin the palaces. The floors were of flagstones and cement, even\nin the upper storeys, and in some cases of cobbles or of earth\nrammed hard. The furniture of the rooms has perished, except in\nthe case of such articles as were of stone or plaster; but the\nevidence we possess of the comfort and even the luxury of the life\nof these times in other respects suggests that the townsfolk of\nGournia and the other Cretan towns were not lacking in any of the\nessentials of a comfortable home life. The great chest at Knossos\nwhich was once decorated with the faience plaques was, of course,\npart of the furnishing of a royal home, and we are not to suppose\nthat such magnificent pieces of furniture were common; but in their\nown fashion the ordinary Minoan houses were doubtless quite adequately\nappointed, and the great variety of domestic utensils which has\nsurvived shows that life in the Bronze Age homes of Crete was by no\nmeans a thing of primitive and rough-and-ready simplicity, but was\nwell and carefully organized in its details. It has been remarked\nthat 'cooking in Homer is monotonous, because no one eats anything\nbut roast meat'; but this accusation could not be brought against\nthe Minoans, who had evidently attained to a considerable skill\nand variety in the way in which they prepared their viands for\nthe table. The three-legged copper pot which was the most common\nvessel for cooking purposes was supplemented by stewpans with\ncondensing-lids, and a variety of other forms of saucepan, while\nthe number of different types of perforated vessels for straining\nand other purposes shows the care with which the art of cooking\nwas attended to. Probably the Minoan kitchen, though we are still\nmuch in the dark as to its form, was almost as well equipped for\nits special functions as the kitchen of the present day.\n\nWe are, unfortunately, without any evidence as to the appearance\nof the great palaces in their finished state. The inner plan can\nbe traced, but it is difficult to arrive at any idea of what these\nhuge buildings must have looked like from the outside. It is fairly\nevident, however, that there cannot have been any symmetrical balancing\nof the different architectural features. The palaces were more\nlike small towns than simple residences, and the impression made\nupon the eye must have been due more to the great mass and extent\nof the building than to any symmetry of plan. Probably we must\nconceive of them as great complex blocks of solid building, rising\nin terrace above terrace, the flat roofs giving an appearance of\nsquareness and solidity to the whole. On a closer approach the eye\nwould be impressed by the wide and spacious courts, the stately\nporticoes, the noble stairways, and the wealth of colour everywhere\ndisplayed; but, on the whole, so far as can be judged, it was only\nfrom within that the splendour of the Minoan palaces could be fairly\nestimated.\n\nA palace such as that of Knossos sheltered an extraordinary variety\nand complexity of life. An abundance of humbler rooms served for\nthe accommodation of the artists and artisans who were needed for\nthe service and adornment of the palace, and of whom whole companies\nmust have lived within the walls, 'dwelling with the king for his\nwork,' like the potters and foresters mentioned in Scripture. Several\nshrines and altars provided for the religious needs of the community.\nRooms of state were set apart for public audiences and for council\nmeetings. In fact, the building was not only a King's dwelling-place,\nbut the administrative centre of a whole empire, and within its\nwalls there was room for the offices of the various departments\nand for the housing of their records.\n\nThe domestic quarter of the palace still reveals in some of its\nrooms the environment of luxury and beauty in which the Minoan\nroyalties lived. The Queen's Megaron may be taken as typical. A\nrow of pillars rising from a low, continuous base divides the room\ninto two parts. The upper surface of the base on either side of\nthe pillars is of stucco moulded so as to form a long couch, which\nwas doubtless covered with cushions when the room was in use. Light\nwas furnished in the day-time, according to Cretan Palace practice,\nnot by windows, but by light-wells, of which there are two, one on\nthe south and one on the east side. In one of these light-shafts\nthe brilliant white stucco surface which reflected the light into\nthe room is decorated with a modelled and painted relief, of which\na fragment has survived, representing a bird of gorgeous plumage,\nwith long curving wing, and feathers of red, blue, yellow, white,\nand black. Near the light-well on the other side of the line of\npillars, outside nature was brought within doors by a beautiful\npiece of fresco-painting which shows fishes swimming through the\nwater, and dashing off foam-bells and ripples in their rapid course.\nAlong the north wall of the room ran another gay fresco, representing\na company of dancing-girls on a scale of half life-size. One of\nthe dancers is clad in a jacket with a yellow ground and blue and\nred embroidered border, beneath which is a diaphanous chemise. Her\nleft arm is bent, and her right stretched forward; her features are\npiquant, if not beautiful, and a slight dimple shows at the corner\nof her lips. Her long black hair, elaborately waved and crimped,\nfloats out on either side of her head as she turns in the movement of\nthe dance. The fragments of decoration which have survived help us\nto realize a very beautiful room, gay with colour, yet never garish\nbecause of the softness of the indirect illumination, in which we may\nimagine the Minoan Court ladies, in their modern gowns, reclining\non the cushions of the long couch, discussing the incidents of the\nlast bull-grappling entertainment, the skill of the young Athenian\nTheseus, and the obvious infatuation of Princess Ariadne, or employing\ntheir time more usefully in some of the wonderful embroidery-work\nin which the fashion of the period delighted. By night the scene\nin the palace would be even more picturesque. Greatstone lamps,\nstanding on tall bases, and each bearing several wicks on the margin\nof its broad bowl of oil, flared in the rooms and corridors, lighting\nup the brightly coloured walls, and sending many-tinted reflections\ndancing from the bronze and copper vases and urns which decorated\nthe passages and the landings of the stairways; while through the\nbreadths of light and shadow moved in an always changing stream\nof colour the gaily dressed figures of the Minoan Court.\n\nEven at this exceedingly early stage of human progress, the various\nbranches of industry had become fairly separated and specialized,\nmore so, perhaps, than in the Homeric period, and a considerable\nvariety of tools was employed in the various crafts. The carpenter\nwas evidently a highly skilled craftsman, and the tools which have\nsurvived show the variety of work which he undertook. At Knossos a\ncarefully hewn tomb held, along with the body of the dead artificer,\nspecimens of the tools of his trade--a bronze saw, adze, and chisel.\n'A whole carpenter's kit lay concealed in a cranny of a Gournia\nhouse, left behind in the owner's hurried flight when the town was\nattacked and burned. He used saws long and short, heavy chisels\nfor stone and light for wood, awls, nails, files, and axes much\nbattered by use; and, what is very important to note, they resemble\nin shape the tools of to-day so closely that they furnish one of\nthe strongest links between the first great civilization of Europe\nand our own.'[*] Such tools were, of course, of bronze. Probably\nthe chief industry of the island was the manufacture and export of\nolive oil. The palace at Knossos has its Room of the Olive Press,\nand its conduit for conveying the product of the press to the place\nwhere it was to be stored for use; and probably many of the great\njars now in the magazines were used for the storage of this\nindispensable article. As we have seen, Dr. Evans conjectures that\nit was the decay of the trade in oil during the troubled days after\nthe sack of the palaces that drove the Minoans abroad from their\nisland home to seek their fortunes elsewhere. Besides the trade\nin oil, it would seem that there must have been a trade in the\npurple of the murex, and no doubt the Keftiu mariners found a ready\nmarket for this much-prized product long before the Phoenicians\ndreamed of Tyrian purple. Minoan pottery was manifestly also an\narticle of export--a fragile cargo for those days. The fact that\ntwo of the Keftiu envoys in the Rekh-ma-ra frescoes carry ingots\nof copper of the same shape as those found by Dr. Halbherr at Hagia\nTriada suggests that Crete may have exported copper to Egypt in the\ntime of Tahutmes III. as Cyprus exported it in large quantities\nin that of Amenhotep III.\n\n[Footnote *: C. H. and H. Hawes, 'Crete the Forerunner of Greece,'\np. 37.]\n\nIt is unfortunate that so far we have no large-scale representations\nof the ships in which these early masters of the ocean conducted\nthe sea-borne commerce of the AEgean world. The various seal-stones\nand impressions, and the gold ring from Mokhlos, are interesting,\nbut it would have been much more satisfactory had we been able to\nsee representations of the Minoan galleys as complete as those which\nQueen Hatshepsut has left of the ships of her merchant squadron.\nThe vessels represented are almost universally single-masted, with\none bank of oars, whose number varies from five to eleven a side,\na high stern, and a bow ending either in a barbed point or an open\nbeak, which suggests resemblances to the galleys of the sea-peoples\nwho were defeated by Ramses III. In some instances the length of\nthe voyage undertaken appears to be indicated. A crescent moon on\nthe forestay, and another on the backstay of a vessel with seven\noars a side, may point to a two months' voyage, while a disc over\nthe beak of another which has no oars at all may indicate one of\na year's duration, or perhaps, more probably, one of a complete\nmonth. The supreme part which the sea played in the life of the\nCretans is shown unmistakably by the fact that practically every\nMinoan site of importance is on the coast, or within easy reach of\nit, while the innate national delight in all the wonderful creatures\nof the marine world is seen in the constant use of their forms as\nmotives in decorative work. No designs are so common on Minoan\npottery as those derived from the sea; the octopus, the murex, the\nnautilus, the coral, and various forms of algae, occur continually,\nand are utilized with great skill, while such pictures as the Dolphin\nFresco (Plate X. 1) show the fascination which marine life had\nupon the Minoan mind, and the care with which it was observed.\nThat commerce was thoroughly organized and attended to with that\ncareful precision which seems to have been characteristic of the\nrace is seen from the Zakro excavations, where Mr. Hogarth found\n500 seal impressions in the house of a single merchant. Trade must\nhave been very far removed indeed from primitive conditions when\nmerchants were so careful about the security of their bales of\ngoods.\n\n[Illustration XXVIII: SARCOPHAGUS FROM HAGIA TRIADA (_p_. 127)\n\n_G. Maraghiannis_]\n\nSo far as the evidence goes, the Minoan Empire does not appear\nto have been a specially warlike one. No doubt there was a good\ndeal of fighting in its history, as was the case with all ancient\nempires. But the insular position of Crete, and the predominance\nwhich the Minoan navy established on the sea, saved the island\nEmpire from the necessity of becoming a great military power, and\nthe absence of the spirit of militarism is reflected in the national\nart. While an Assyrian palace would have been decorated from end to\nend with pictures of barbarous bloodshed and plunder, while even\nthe milder Egyptians would have adorned their walls with records\nof the conquests of their Pharaohs, the Kings of the House of Minos\nturned to other and more gentle scenes for the decoration of their\nhomes. Flower-gatherers and dancing-girls, harvest festivals and\nreligious processions, appealed to their minds far more than the\nendless and monotonous succession of horrors with which the Mesopotamian\nmonarchs delighted to disfigure their walls; and even the dangers\nof the bull-ring, as seen on the Knossian frescoes, are mild and\ngentle when compared with the abominations where Teumman has his\nhead sawed off with a short dagger, and other unfortunates are\nflayed alive, or have their tongues torn out.\n\nThe archives of the palace at Knossos certainly show that a military\nforce was kept on foot, and was thoroughly organized and well looked\nafter. There are records of numbers of chariots, and of the issue\nof equipments to the charioteers of the force; and many of the\ntablets refer to stores of lances, swords, bows, and arrows, a\nstore of nearly 9,000 arrows being mentioned in one of the finds;\nwhile an actual magazine, containing hundreds of bronze arrow-heads,\nhas been discovered. We may remember that in ancient warfare the\nCretan bowmen were as famous as the Balearic slingers or the archers\nof England. On the whole, however, the genius of the Minoans, like\nour own, was more commercial than military, though, no doubt, they\nwere not devoid of the fighting spirit when occasion arose. Their\nkinsmen of Mycenae and Tiryns, less happily situated, were forced\nto develop the military side of life; but the position and the\nmaritime power of Crete secured for the fortunate island those\nlong centuries of tranquil growth which were so fruitful in the\narts of peace. With one possible exception, no records appear to\nhave been found as yet dealing with the Minoan marine; but it is\nimpossible to believe that a people so methodical, who kept such\ncareful record of their military stores, should not have had a\nthoroughly organized department to deal with the infinitely more\nimportant matter of their navy, and perhaps the records of the\nMinoan Board of Admiralty may yet come to light and be deciphered,\nto enable us to understand how the first great sea-power of history\ndealt with its fleets.\n\nComparatively few agricultural tools have survived, probably because\nfew were used; but some bronze sickles have been found. These are\nnot curved like the modern ones, but are bent at an angle, and\nhave a longer handle, so that the peasants would not be obliged\nto bend down so much in the work of reaping. The figures on the\nHarvester Vase carry a curious implement, which has been variously\ndescribed, according as those who deal with it believe the vase\nto represent a triumphal march of warriors returning from battle\nor a harvest procession. In the first case it is described as a\nkind of trident with a hook attached to it, for the purpose of\ngrappling the rigging of an opponent's vessel; in the second, it\nis looked upon as a common hay-fork. The resemblance to a hay-fork\nseems satisfactory enough, though the three prongs are much longer\nthan the two of the implement used nowadays, and the hook attached\nremains unexplained; but if the implement must be supposed to be a\nmilitary weapon, it seems singularly ill-contrived and inadequate\nfor such rough service. It might conceivably be a trident for spearing\nfish, but, on the whole, the hay-fork idea seems most satisfactory.\n\nHand-querns were used for the grinding of corn, and numbers of\nthese and of mortars for pounding grain remain. Indeed, in some\ncases the actual grains of barley and the pease which were stored\nfor future use still remain in the great jars. In a jar at Hissarlik,\nSchliemann found no less than 440 pounds of pease, and some of his\nworkmen lived for a time on this food, which might conceivably\nhave been stored against a siege of Troy earlier than that recorded\nin the Iliad. The olive-tree was of great importance, as yielding\nthe staple product of the island, and the fig-tree seems also to\nhave been in general cultivation, and was held to be sacred; but,\nstrangely enough, though wine must have been in constant use, as\nis shown by the vessels for its storage and service, there is only\none representation of the vine, and even in that case the identity\nof the object depicted is doubtful. Weaving was an art in which\nthe Minoans were well skilled, to judge from the fabrics which\nare represented in the frescoes. As in Penelope's time, it was a\ndomestic art, and probably almost every household had its loom,\nwhere the women turned out the materials for ordinary wear. In\nmany of the houses have been found the loom-weights, mostly of\nstone or clay, which took the place of the more modern weaver's\nbeam in serving to keep the threads taut; and there are also numbers\nof the stone discs which were attached, in spinning, to the foot of\nthe spindle, to keep it straight and in motion. These loom-weights\nand spindle-discs are frequently ornamented with spiral incisions.\n\nBut the arts in which the islanders were supreme were those of the\npotter and the metal-worker, the chief evidences of whose skill\nhave been already discussed. The reputation of Crete as a centre\nof metal-working became legendary in ancient times, and, in all\nlikelihood, the bronze-worker and his fellows, the gold- and\nsilver-smiths, attained the height of their skill before their\nbrethren the potters, since, as we have seen, many of the finest\npottery specimens are obviously designed on bronze, or, at all\nevents, on metal models, the resemblance even going so far as the\ncopying of the seams and rivets of the metal originals. Bronze\nwas smelted in furnaces, the remains of one of which still exist\nnear Gournia; and was cast in moulds, many of which have survived.\nThe tools and weapons which were made of the metal show an average\nalloy of about ten per cent. of tin. For beaten work, copper in an\nalmost pure state appears to have been used. Gold was in extensive\nuse for the best class of ornamental work, and the Vaphio cups,\nwhich are now held to have been imported to Laconia from Crete,\nare evidence of the marvellous skill which the Minoan goldsmiths\nhad attained; while the necklaces and other articles of personal\nadornment found at Mokhlos and in the beehive tombs at Phaestos\n(Plate XXXII.), are only to be matched, among ancient work, by\nthe diadems of the Twelfth Dynasty Princesses, found at Dahshur\nin Egypt. Silver is comparatively scarce on Minoan, as on other\nAEgean sites, though a number of fine silver vessels have been found\nat Knossos and elsewhere; and this scarcity is perhaps due, not\nonly to the greed of the plunderers, but also to the fact that,\nduring the greater part of the period covered by the Minoan Empire,\nthe metal itself was actually scarcer and more valuable than gold.\nIn Egypt, whose supplies of silver apparently came from Cilicia, it\nmaintained a higher value than gold until the time of the Eighteenth\nDynasty, or about the period of the fall of Knossos; but then and\nthereafter its value fell, owing to increasing supplies, below that\nof the more precious metal. It does not appear that the gold-silver\nalloy--'electrum,' of which the Egyptians were so fond--was used\nby the Minoans.\n\n[Illustration XXIX: MINOAN POTTERY (_pp_ 198 & 204)\n\nReproduced from _The Journal of Hellenic Studies_, by permission\nof the Council of the Hellenic Society]\n\nOf the social life of the people in these prehistoric times we\nknow practically nothing. Only one inference, possibly precarious\nenough, may be made from one of the features of the architecture of\nKnossos. There is no attempt to seclude the life of the palace from\nthat of the town and country around it. On the contrary, the building\nseems almost to have been arranged with the view of affording the\ncitizens of the Minoan Empire every facility for intercourse with\nthe royal household. The great West Court, with its portico and\nits seats along the palace wall, suggests considerable freedom of\naccess for the populace to the immediate neighbourhood of royalty.\nIt is perhaps rather a large inference to conclude that 'the very\narchitecture of the Palaces of Knossos and Phaestos may testify to\nthe power of the democracy';[*] but at least the thoughtfulness\nwith which the comfort of the people visiting the palace was provided\nfor, and the general openness and lack of any jealous seclusion,\ntestified to by the whole style of the buildings, suggest that\nthe relations between the Kings of the House of Minos and their\nsubjects were much more human and pleasant than those obtaining\nin most ancient kingdoms.\n\n[Footnote *: Mosso, 'The Palaces of Crete,' p. 163.]\n\nFrom their art one would, on the whole, conclude the people to\nhave been a somewhat attractive race, frankly enjoying the more\npleasant aspects of life, and capable of a keen delight in all the\nbeauties of Nature. Minoan art has little that is sombre about it;\nit is redolent of the open air and the free ocean, and a people who\nso rejoiced in natural beauty and delighted to surround themselves\nwith their own reproductions and interpretations of it can scarcely\nhave been bowed beneath a heavy yoke of servitude, or have lived\nother than a comparatively free and independent life. How much the\nGreeks of the Classic period imbibed of the spirit of this gifted\nand artistic race we can only imagine. The artistic standpoint of\nthe Hellenic Greek is somewhat different from that of his Minoan or\nMycenaean forerunner, and he has lost that keen feeling for Nature\nwhich is so conspicuous in the work of the earlier stock; but the\ntwo races are at least at one in that profound love of beauty which\nis the dominant characteristic of the Greek nature, and it may\nwell be that something of that feeling formed part of the heritage\nwhich the conqueror took over from the conquered, and which, added\nto the virility and intellectual power of the northern race, made\nthe historic Greek the most brilliant type of humanity that the\nworld has ever seen.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI\n\nLETTERS AND RELIGION\n\nOf all the discoveries yet made on Cretan soil, that which, in\nthe end, will doubtless prove to be of the greatest importance is\nthe discovery of the various systems of writing which the Minoans\nsuccessively devised and used. As yet knowledge with regard to these\nsystems has not advanced beyond the description of the materials\nand their comparison with those furnished by other scripts, a task\nwhich has so far been accomplished by Dr. Evans in the first volume\nof his 'Scripta Minoa.' An immense amount of material has been\naccumulated, and has been separated into various classes, which\nhave been shown to be characteristic of different periods of Minoan\nhistory. It is possible to arrive at a general understanding of\nthe matters to which certain items of the material refer, but the\nactual reading of the inscribed tablets has as yet proved to be\nimpossible. To all appearance, moreover, a considerable proportion\nof the material appears to be not literary, in any true sense,\nbut to consist of inventories and accounts, perhaps also of legal\ndocuments and other such records of purely business and practical\ninterest. Even so it would be a matter of no small importance could\nit be found possible to decipher the records, let us say, of the\nWar Office or Admiralty of Knossos, or to survey the details of\nroyal house-keeping in those far-off days; and it may still be\nhoped that, when the ardently desired bilingual inscription at\nlast turns up and makes decipherment possible, we may find that\ndocuments of more genuinely literary interest are not altogether\nlacking. One thing at least is abundantly clear--that, as Dr. Evans\nput it in the summary of his first year's results, 'that great\nearly civilization was not dumb,' but, on the contrary, had means\nof expression amply adequate to its needs.\n\nIn 1894 M. Perrot wrote:[*] 'As at present advised, we can continue\nto affirm that for the whole of this period, nowhere, neither in\nthe Peloponnese nor in Greece proper, no more on the buildings\nthan on the thousand and one objects of luxury or domestic use\nthat have come out of the tombs, has there anything been discovered\nwhich resembled any kind of writing.' The statement was perfectly\ntrue to the facts as then known; but it was obviously unthinkable\nthat, while the Egyptians and Babylonians had their fully developed\nscripts, and while ruder races, such as the Hittites, had their\nsystems of writing, the men who built the splendid walls and palaces\nof Tiryns and Mycenae, and wrought the diadems and decorations of the\nShaft-Graves, should have been so far back in one of the chiefest\nessentials of human progress as to be unable to communicate with one\nanother by means of writing. We have already seen how the discoveries\nof the first year's work at Knossos settled that question for ever,\nand revealed the existence of more than one form of writing. Since\nthen the material has been rapidly accumulating, and at present the\nnumber of objects--tablets, labels, and other articles-inscribed\nwith the various Cretan scripts can be counted by thousands.\n\n[Footnote *: Perrot et Chipiez, 'La Grece primitive: l'Art mycenien,'\np. 985.]\n\nThe earliest form of Minoan writing that can be traced consists of\nrude pictographic symbols engraved upon bead-seals and gems. This\nprimitive pictographic writing is characteristic of the Early Minoan\nperiod, and throughout the succeeding period of Middle Minoan it was\ngradually developed into a hieroglyphic system which is believed\nto present some analogies to the Hittite form of writing. But in\nthe latest phases of the Third Middle Minoan period there begins\nto appear, at Knossos and elsewhere, a series of inscriptions in a\nvery different style. The characters are no longer hieroglyphic,\nbut have become definitely linear, and are arranged very much as\nin ordinary writing. In general they are incised upon the clay\ntablets of which so many hundreds have been found, but there are\nseveral instances in which they have been written with ink, apparently\nwith a reed pen, as in the case of the two Middle Minoan III. cups\nfound at Knossos, which bear linear inscriptions executed before the\nclay was fired. While in the case of the hieroglyphic inscriptions\nthe characters run indifferently from left to right, or from right\nto left, in this linear script their fixed direction is the usual\none, from left to right. Suffixes were apparently used to indicate\ngender, and pictorial signs indicating the contents of the document\nare also in use, though more sparingly than they came to be in\nthe later form of script. Such signs as occur seem to show that\nthe documents in which they are found mainly related to matters\nof business. The saffron-flower, various vessels, tripods, and\nbalances, probably for the weighing of precious metals, occur most\nfrequently among these determinatives.\n\nAt Knossos this form of linear writing, Dr. Evans's Class A, appears\nto have had a comparatively short vogue. Documents belonging to it\nare only found in the particular stratum which is connected with\nMiddle Minoan III., and are to be dated, according to Dr. Evans's\nlatest revision of the chronology, not later than 1600 B.C., the\nperiod at which Middle Minoan III. closes. In the Late Minoan periods\nwhich follow, the linear script of Class A is superseded at Knossos\nby another form, Class B. In other parts of the island, however,\nClass A seems to have survived as a general form of writing much\nlonger than at Knossos. At Hagia Triada the very large deposits of\nlinear writing--larger, indeed, than the representation of Class A at\nKnossos--belong to the First Late Minoan period, and are contemporary\nwith the wonderful work of the steatite vases and the fresco of the\nhunting-cat; while at Phaestos the final catastrophe of the palace\ntook place at a time when the linear writing of Class A was still in\nfull use. At Zakro, Palaikastro, Gournia, and elsewhere, examples\nof this script have been found, showing that it was prevalent,\nat all events, throughout Central and Eastern Crete; and in all\ncases it is associated with remains which belong to the close of\nMiddle Minoan III. and the beginnings of the Late Minoan period.\nBut it would appear that this form of writing was not confined to\nCrete, but was more widely diffused. Traces of it, or of a script\nvery closely allied with it, have been found at Thera, while at\nPhylakopi in Melos evidence has come to light of a whole series of\nmarks closely corresponding to the Cretan Class A. This would seem\nto suggest what in itself is entirely probable, that the language\nused in Minoan Crete was predominant, or at all events was understood\nand largely used, throughout the AEgean area. The inscription on\nthe libation table found by Dr. Evans at the Dictaean Cave belongs\nto this class, and also that upon the similar object found by Mr.\nCurrelly at Palaikastro.\n\n[Illustration XXX: LATE MINOAN VASE FROM MYCENAE (_p_. 206)\n\nReproduced from _The Journal of Hellenic Studies_, by permission\nof the Council of the Hellenic Society]\n\nWhen, at the beginning of the Late Minoan period, the Palace of\nKnossos was remodelled, another great change accompanied the\narchitectural one. This was the entire supersession of the linear\nscript, Class A, by another similar but independent form, which\nhas been named Class B. Somewhat remarkably, although the specimens\nof the script discovered at the Palace of Knossos and its immediate\ndependencies are far more numerous than those of Class A, the use\nof Class B seems, so far as the evidence yet collected goes, to\nhave been entirely confined to Knossos. The beginning of the use\nof this system may have been in the early part of the fifteenth\ncentury B.C., and it was in full service at the great catastrophe of\nKnossos, at the end of the fifteenth or beginning of the fourteenth\ncentury B.C. Its use still continued after the fall of the Minoan\npower, tablets inscribed with this form of writing being found\nin the Late Minoan III. House of the Fetish Shrine at Knossos.\nAccording to Dr. Evans, whose 'Scripta Minoa' sums up all that is\nat present known of these enigmatic Cretan writings, Class B is\nnot a mere outgrowth of Class A. The scripts are certainly allied,\nand there are indications that B is the more highly developed of the\ntwo, having a smaller selection of characters and a less complicated\nsystem of compound signs; but at the same time several of the signs\nfound in B do not occur in A at all, and some of those which belong\nto both scripts are found in a more primitive form in B. The language\nexpressed in both scripts must, however, have been essentially\nthe same. It is suggested, therefore, that in the supersession\nof Class A by Class B we have another indication of the dynastic\nrevolution which is supposed to have caused that ruin of the palace\nwhich closed the Middle Minoan period.\n\nThe records of Class B give evidence of a very considerable advance\nin the art of writing. 'The characters themselves have a European\naspect. They are of upright habit, and of a simple and definite\noutline, which throws into sharp relief the cumbrous and obscure\ncuneiform system of Babylonia. Although not so cursive in form\nas the Hieratic or Demotic types of Egyptian writing, there is\nhere a much more limited selection of types. It would seem that\nthe characters stood for syllables or even letters, though they\ncould in most cases also be used as words.... The spaces and lines\nbetween the words, the _espacement_ into distinct paragraphs, and\nthe variation in the size of the characters on the same tablet,\naccording to the relative importance of the text, show a striving\nafter clearness and method such as can by no means be said to be\na characteristic of Classical Greek inscriptions.'[*] A decimal\nsystem of numbers was in use, the highest single amount referred\nto being 19,000, and percentages were evidently well understood,\nas a whole series of tablets is devoted to them.\n\n[Footnote *: 'Scripta Minoa,' pp. 39, 40.]\n\nThe tablets themselves were originally of unburnt, but sun-dried,\nclay, and their preservation, as we have seen, is probably due to\nthe excessive heat to which they were exposed during the great\nfire which destroyed the palace. 'Fire itself, so fatal to other\nlibraries, has thus insured the preservation of the archives of\nMinoan Knossos.' Great care was plainly bestowed upon the storage\nof the tablets. They were stored in chests and coffers of various\nmaterials, and were evidently carefully separated according to\nthe different departments to which their contents referred. In\none deposit near the northern entrance, which was the 'Sea-Gate'\nof the palace, the largest of the seatings which had secured the\ncases in which the tablets were stored bore a representation of a\nship, possibly an indication of the fact that these tablets belonged\nto the Minoan Board of Admiralty. One set of tablets had been stored\nin a room which presents all the appearance of having been an office,\nand the frequent occurrence in this deposit of the figures of a\nhorse's head, a chariot, and a cuirass, suggests that the store\nbelonged to the Minoan War Office, and refers to the equipment\nof the Chariot Brigade of the Knossian army.\n\nFurther evidence of the business-like methods of the Minoan officials\nwas given by the fact that many of the seals belonging to the various\nstores were countermarked on the face, and had their backs countersigned\nand endorsed, evidently by examining officials, while they appear to\nhave been regularly filed and docketed for reference. Indeed, the\nMinoan methods have already borne the test of having been accepted\nas evidence in a modern court of law. 'In 1901,' says Dr. Evans,\n'I discovered that certain tablets had been abstracted from the\nexcavations, and had shortly afterwards been purchased by the museum\nat Athens. It further appeared that one of our workmen--a certain\nAristides--had left the excavation about the same time for Greece, and\nhad been seen in Athens offering \"antikas\" for sale under suspicious\ncircumstances. On examining the inscriptions on the stolen tablets\nI observed a formula that showed that some or all of the pieces\nbelonged to a deposit found in Magazine XV. A reference to our\ndaybooks brought out the fact that the same Aristides had taken\npart in the excavation of this particular magazine a little before\nthe date of his hasty departure. On his return to Crete, some months\nlater, he was accordingly arrested, and the evidence supplied by the\nMinoan formula was accepted by the Candia Tribunal as a crowning\nproof of his guilt. Aristides--\"the Unjust\"--was thus condemned to\nthree months' imprisonment.' Few criminals attain to the dignity\nof being convicted on evidence 3,500 years old.\n\nCertain of the tablets contain lists of persons of both sexes,\napparently denoted by their personal names, the signs which appear\nto stand for the name being followed in each case by an ideograph\nwhich is the determinative of 'man,' or 'woman,' as the case may\nbe. It is, of course, impossible to say as yet to what rank or class\nthe people thus catalogued may have belonged; but the conjecture\nmay be hazarded that these lists may be the major-domo's records\nof the male and female slaves of the household, or perhaps of the\nartisans who appear to have dwelt within the precincts of the palace.\nAnother type of record is given by tablets such as that represented\nin Plate XIV. The tablet contains eight lines of well-written\ninscription, and consists apparently of twenty words, divided into\nthree paragraphs. In this case there are no determinatives and no\nnumerals; and it is possible that the document may be a contract,\nor perhaps an official proclamation.\n\n[Illustration XXXI: KAMARES VASES FROM PHAESTOS AND HAGIA TRIADA\n(_pp_. 120 & 197)\n\n_G. Maraghiannis_]\n\nThat such tablets were not the only form in which the Minoans executed\nthe writing of their various documents is evident from the fact\nalready noticed, that inscriptions have been found executed with a\nreed-pen, and, though those extant are written on clay vessels, it\nis obvious that the reed-pen was not a very suitable instrument for\nwriting on such materials, and that its existence presupposes some\nsubstance more adapted to the cursive writing of a pen--parchment,\npossibly, or papyrus, which could be readily obtained from Egypt.\nUnfortunately, such materials, on which, in all probability, the\nreal literary documents of the Minoans, if there were any such\ndocuments, would be written, can scarcely have survived the fire\nwhich destroyed the palace, or, if by any chance they escaped that,\nthe subsequent action of the climate; so that whatever genuinely\nliterary fragments may yet come to light must be looked for on the\nlarger tablets, and at the best can scarcely be more than brief\nextracts. We cannot expect from Crete a wealth of papyri such as\nEgypt has preserved for the archaeologist.\n\nInto quite a different category from any of the ordinary Minoan\ntablets comes the disc found at Phaestos in 1908. Its general character\nhas been already described. The long inscription which covers both\nof its faces is written in a form of hieroglyphics which, to some\nextent, resembles the Minoan pictographic system, but is not the\nsame. The crested helmets which occur frequently as signs, the\nround shields, the fashion of dress of both men and women, and the\nstyle of architecture depicted in the hieroglyphic rendering of\na house or pagoda, are not Minoan; and, on the whole, the evidence\nseems to point to the disc being the product of some allied culture,\nperhaps Lycian, in which a language closely akin to that of Minoan\nCrete was used. The inscription on the disc is carefully balanced\nand arranged, and each side contains exactly the same number of\nsign-groups, with one additional group on face A, which is separated\nfrom the preceding part of the inscription by a dash. Certain sets\nof sign-groups recur in the same order, as though they constituted\nsome kind of refrain. From these indications it has been suggested\nthat the whole inscription is a metrical composition, a short poem\nor hymn--perhaps one leaf of an Anatolian Book of Psalms whose other\npages have perished. It is agreed that the language and religion of\nthe western coast of Asia Minor were closely allied to those of\nCrete, and it is possible that when the Minoans developed their\nown language on somewhat different lines from the mainlanders,\nthey maintained in parts of their religious service the old form\nof the speech common to themselves and their Anatolian relatives,\nas a kind of sacred language.[*]\n\n[Footnote *: See Appendix, p. 264.]\n\nThus, it is abundantly evident that the civilization of Minoan\nCrete, far from being dumb, had varied and perfectly adequate means\nof expressing itself. The old Cretan tradition that the Phoenicians\ndid not invent the letters of the alphabet, but only changed those\nalready existing, is amply justified; for this seems to have been\nprecisely what they did. The Phoenician mind, if not original, was\nat all events practical. The great stumbling-block in the way of\nthe ancient scripts was their complexity--a fault which the Minoan\nusers of the Linear Script, Class B, had evidently already begun to\nrecognize and endeavour to amend. What the Phoenicians did was to\ncarry the process of simplification farther still, and to appropriate\nfor their own use out of the elements already existing around them a\nconveniently short and simple system of signs. The position which\nthey came to occupy, after the Minoan empire of the sea had passed\naway, as the great carriers and middlemen of the Mediterranean, gave\ntheir system a spread and a utility possible to no other system\nof writing; and so the Phoenician alphabet gradually came to take\nits place as the basis of all subsequent scripts. Unquestionably\nit was a great and important service which was thus rendered by\nthem; but, all the same, the beginnings of European writing must\nbe traced not to them, but to their predecessors the Minoans, and\nthe clay tablets of Knossos, Phaestos, and Hagia Triada are the\nlineal ancestors of all the written literature of Europe.\n\nIn attempting to deal with the Minoan religion we are met by the\nfact that it is as yet quite impossible to present any connected\nview of the subject. As in the case of their literature we have\nthe actual records but cannot read them, so in the case of their\nreligion a considerable mass of facts is apparent, but we have no\nmeans of co-ordinating them so as to arrive at any definite idea\nof a religious system. Some of the ritual we can see, and even\nunderstand something of the Divinity to whom it was addressed,\nbut the theology is lacking. Accordingly, nothing more can be done\nthan to present the fragmentary facts which are apparent.\n\nThe Minoans, it seems fairly clear, were never, like their successors\nthe Greeks, the possessors of a well-peopled Pantheon; nor was the\nchief object of their adoration a male deity like the Greek Zeus.\nThere are, indeed, traces of a male divinity, who was adopted by\nthe Greeks when they obtained predominance in the island, as the\nrepresentative of their own supreme deity, and who became the Cretan\nZeus. But in Minoan times this being occupied a very subordinate\nplace, and undoubtedly the chief object of worship was a goddess--a\nNature Goddess, a Great Mother--[Greek: potnia thaerou], the Lady\nof the Wild Creatures--who was the source of all life, higher and\nlower, its guardian during the period of its earthly existence,\nand its ruler in the underworld.\n\nThe functions of this great deity, it has been aptly pointed out,\nare substantially those claimed for herself by Artemis in Browning's\npoem, 'Artemis Prologizes':\n\n  'Through heaven I roll my lucid moon along;\n   I shed in hell o'er my pale people peace;\n   On earth, I, caring for the creatures, guard\n   Each pregnant yellow wolf and fox-bitch sleek,\n   And every feathered mother's callow brood,\n   And all that love green haunts and loneliness.'\n\nShe was a goddess alike of the air, the earth, and the underworld, and\nrepresentations of her have survived in which her various attributes\nare expressed. As goddess of the air, she is represented by a female\nfigure crowned with doves; as goddess of the underworld, her emblems\nare the snakes, which we see twined round the faience figure at\nKnossos, or the terra-cotta in the Gournia shrine. Her figure is\noften seen upon seals and gems, standing on the top of the rock or\nmountain, with guardian lions in attendance, one on either side,\nand sometimes with a male votary in the background.\n\nThe earliest form of her worship, and one which proved very persistent,\nwas apparently aniconic. The divinity was not embodied in any graven\nimage, but was inherent in such objects as the rude natural concretions\nfound in the House of the Fetish Shrine, or was supposed to dwell\nin sacred trees, on which sometimes perch the doves which indicate\nthat the goddess is present as ruler of the air, or which are twined\nwith serpents, showing her presence as goddess of the earth and\nunderworld. In the place of sacred trees we have often sacred pillars,\nwhich seem to have been objects of worship down to Late Minoan\nII. at least, since in the Royal Villa at Knossos, dating from\nthis period, there is a pillar-room similar to the much earlier\npillar-rooms of the Great Palace. The little group of three pillars\nfound at Knossos evidently represents the divinity in her aspect as\na heavenly goddess, for the pillars have doves perching upon their\ncapitals. Sometimes, as in the case of the Lion Gate at Mycenae, and\nother representations, we have the pillar with the two supporting\nlions, an anticipation of the anthropomorphic figure of the goddess\non the rock. It is possible that in some cases the figures of the\nDouble Axes standing between horns of consecration were also looked\nupon as embodiments of the divinity. A similar mode of representing\ndeity occurs in the earlier stages of many religions, and the sacred\npillar set up by Jacob at Bethel may be instanced as an example\nof its presence in the beginnings of the Hebrew worship.\n\nIn general the Minoan Great Mother appears to have been looked\nupon as a being of beneficence, and as the giver of 'every good\nand perfect gift'; but her association with the lion and the snake\nshows that there was also a more mysterious and awful side to her\ncharacter. When the later Greeks came into the island and found\nthis deity in possession, she became identified, in the various\naspects of her many-sided nature, with various goddesses of the\nHellenic Pantheon. Foremost and specially she became Rhea, the\nmother of the gods, who had fled to Crete to bear her son Zeus.\nOtherwise she was Hera, the sister and the spouse of Zeus, and\nin this case the story of the marriage of the great goddess and\nthe supreme god probably represents the fusion of religious ideas\non the part of the two races, the conquerors taking over the deity\nof the conquered race, and uniting her with the Sky God whom they\nhad brought with them from their Northern home. She also survived\nas Aphrodite, as Demeter, and, in her capacity as Lady of the Wild\nBeasts, as Artemis.\n\nThe suggestion of the association of Zeus with the Minoan goddess\nmay have been given to the Northern conquerors by a feature of the\nCretan religion which they found already in existence. On certain\nseal impressions and engraved gems there are indications that the\ngreat Nature Goddess was sometimes associated with a male divinity.\nThis being, however, seems to have occupied an obscure and inferior\nposition. In most of the scenes in which he is represented he, is\neither in the background, or reverentially stands before the seated\nfemale divinity. It would appear that the Achaeans appropriated this\ninsignificant god as the representative of their own Zeus, attributed\nto him birth from the Great Goddess in her own cave-sanctuary of\nDicte, and endowed him with many of the attributes which she had\nformerly possessed, including the Double Axe emblem of sovereignty,\nso that in Hellenic times the supreme deity of the island was always\nthe Cretan Zeus, Zeus of the Double Axe, though in reality he was\nno Cretan god at all, or at best a secondary divinity, dressed\nin borrowed plumes and with greatness thrust upon him.\n\nAs to the forms of worship with which the Great Mother of Crete was\nserved, comparatively little is known. The most striking feature\nis the seemingly total absence of what we should call temples.\nIn this respect Crete presents a curious contrast to Egypt: in\nEgypt we have an abundance of vast temples, but practically no\nsurviving palaces; in Crete the case is exactly reversed, and we\nhave huge palaces but no temples. The reason of this appears to\nbe, as Dr. Mackenzie has pointed out,[*] that the Minoan religion\nwas of an entirely domestic character. 'At Knossos all shrines\nare either house-shrines or palace-shrines. The divinities are\nhousehold and dynastic divinities having an ancestral character\nand an ancestral reputation to maintain.' To put it in a word,\nworship in the Minoan religion was essentially Family Worship. No\ndoubt there were public ceremonials also, in which the King, who\nseems to have been Priest as well as King (if, indeed, he was not\nviewed as an incarnation of deity), performed the principal part; but\nthere can have been nothing like the habitual publicity of parts of\nthe worship of the god which was contemplated in the great peristyle\ncourts of the Egyptian temples and the processional arrangements\nof part of their service. 'At Knossos,' says Dr. Mackenzie, 'we\nfound, as a matter of fact, that there was a tendency for each\nhouse to have a room set apart for family worship. Of such shrines\nthe palace was found to have more than one. Those shrines were\nfound to be in a very private part of the house, and usually to\nhave no thoroughfare through them.'\n\n[Footnote *: _Annual of the British School at Athens_, vol. xiv.,\np. 366.]\n\nWhat these shrines were like we may to some extent judge from the\nfragmentary fresco found at Knossos, representing one of the\npillar-shrines where the Great Goddess was worshipped in her emblems\nof the sacred pillars. The structure consists of a taller central\nchamber, with a lower wing on either side of it. The material of\nwhich it is built is apparently wood, faced and decorated in certain\nparts with chequer-work in black-and-white plaster. The whole building\nrests upon large blocks of stone, immediately above which in the\ncentral chamber comes a solid piece of building, adorned first\nwith the chequer-work, and then, above this, with two half-rosettes\nbordered with _kuanos_. Over this rises the open chamber of the\nshrine, which contains nothing but two pillars of the familiar\nMinoan-Mycenaean type, tapering downwards from the capitals. These\nrise from between the sacred horns, which occur in practically\nevery religious scene as emblems of consecration (_cf._ the 'horns\nof the altar' in the Hebrew temple worship). The lower chambers\non either side contain each a single pillar, again rising from\nbetween the horns of consecration. A Minoan lady, dressed in a gown\nof bluish-green, sits with her back to the wall of the right-hand\nlower chamber, and the scale of the shrine is given by the fact\nthat, her seat being on the same level as the floor of the chamber,\nher head is in a line with the roof beam which rests on the capital\nof the sacred pillar. The remains of an actual shrine discovered\nin 1907 close to the Central Court at Knossos show that the fresco\ndoes not exaggerate the smallness of the sacred buildings. The\nGournia shrine, situated in the centre of the town, is about twelve\nfeet square, and its discoverer believes that the walls of the\nsacred enclosure may never have stood more than eighteen inches\nhigh. Here, again, were the horns of consecration, the doves, and\nthe snakes twined round the image of the goddess.\n\nOf what sort were the acts of worship in connection with the Minoan\nReligion? Sacrifice was certainly prominent, and the bull was probably\nthe chief victim offered to the goddess. In one of the scenes on\nthe Hagia Triada sarcophagus, a bull is being sacrificed, and his\nblood is dripping into a vessel placed beneath his head. Behind is\nthe figure of a woman, whose hands are stretched out, presumably\nto hold the cords with which the victim is bound. Two kids crouch\non the ground below the bull, perhaps to be offered in their turn.\nLibation also formed part of the ceremonial, and on the same sarcophagus\nthere are two scenes in which it occurs. In the one instance (Plate\nXXVIII.), the vessel into which the offering is being poured stands\nbetween two sacred Double Axes with birds perched upon them; in\nthe other the libation-vessel stands upon an altar with a Double\nAxe behind it. The three receptacles of the Dictaean Libation Table\nsuggest a threefold offering like that of mingled milk and honey,\nsweet wine, and water, which, in the Homeric period, was made to\nthe Shades of the Dead and to the Nymphs.\n\nAs was perhaps natural in the cult of a goddess, the chief part\nin the ritual seems to have been taken by priestesses. Men share\nin the ceremonies also, but not so frequently, and apparently in\nsubordinate roles. Part of the ritual evidently consisted of dancing,\nand music also had its place, as is evident from the figures of\nthe lyre and flute players on the sarcophagus of Hagia Triada.\nThe question of whether the Minoans had any worship of ancesters\nor sacrifice to the dead is raised by several relics. Above the\nShaft-Graves at Mycenae stood a circular altar, where offerings\nmust have been made either to the Shades of the Dead or on behalf\nof them, and the scenes on the Hagia Triada sarcophagus, resembling\nso curiously those of the Egyptian ceremony of 'the Opening of\nthe Mouth,' suggest a belief in the continued existence of the\nspirit, either as an object to be propitiated by sacrifice, or\nas a being which needed to be sustained in its disembodied state\nby offerings of meat and drink.\n\nThe relation of the Minoan King to the religion of his country\nis a point of some interest, though the facts known are scarcely\nsufficient to afford ground for more than surmise. The very structure\nof the palace at Knossos gives evidence of the importance of the\npart which he played in spiritual matters, and of the intimate\nconnection which existed in the Minoan, as in so many other ancient\nfaiths, between Royalty and Religion. There are not only several\nshrines and altars in the palace, but it is probable, as Dr. Mackenzie\nhas pointed out,[*] that the so-called bathrooms at Knossos and\nPhaestos are not bathrooms at all, but small chapels or oratories,\nso that altogether religion bulks very largely in the arrangements\nof the Royal dwelling. In fact, the Kings and Queens of Knossos\nwere Priest-Kings and Priest-Queens, the heads of the spiritual\nas well as of the material life of their people; and it is not at\nall unlikely, from what is known of the religious views of other\nancient peoples, that the Priest-King was looked upon as an incarnation\nof divinity. If so, of what divinity? It is here that, in all\nlikelihood, we get near the heart of the Minotaur legend. 'The\ncharacteristic mythical monster of Crete,' says Miss Jane Harrison,[**]\n'was the bull-headed Minotaur. Behind the legend of Pasiphae, made\nmonstrous by the misunderstanding of immigrant conquerors, it can\nscarcely be doubted that there lurks some sacred mystical ceremony\nof ritual wedlock ([Greek: ieros gamos]) with a primitive bull-headed\ndivinity.... The bull-Dionysos of Thrace, when he came to Crete,\nfound a monstrous god, own cousin to himself.... Of the ritual of\nthe bull-god in Crete, we know that it consisted in part of the\ntearing and eating of a bull, and behind is the dreadful suspicion\nof human sacrifice.' The actual evidence found on Minoan sites for\nthe existence of such a bull-headed divinity is somewhat slight, the\nclearest instance being a seal-impression from Knossos, representing\na monster who bears an animal head, possibly a bull's, upon a human\nbody, and who is evidently regarded as divine, since he is seated\nand reverently approached by a human worshipper; but, taken in\nconnection with the universal currency of the Minotaur legend,\nit is probably sufficient. What relation this monstrous divinity\nheld to the other objects of Minoan worship is not apparent.\n\n[Footnote *: _Annual of the British School at Athens_, xiv., p.\n366. The suggestion is also made by Mosso, 'The Palaces of Crete,'\npp. 64-66.]\n\n[Footnote **: 'Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion,' pp.\n482, 483.]\n\nIt may be, then, that this deity was the one of whom the King was\nsupposed to be the representative and incarnation, and in that\ncase the bull-grappling, which was so constant a feature of the\npalace sports, had a deeper significance, and was in reality part of\nthe ceremonial associated with the worship of the Cretan bull-god.\nIn this connection Professor Murray has emphasized[*] certain facts\nin connection with the legendary history of Minos, which would\nseem to link the Cretan monarchy with a custom not infrequently\nobserved in connection with other ancient monarchies and faiths.\nIt will be remembered that the legend of Minos states variously\nthat he 'ruled for nine years, the gossip of Great Zeus,' and that\nevery nine years he went into the cave of Zeus or of the bull-god,\nto converse with Zeus, to receive new commandments, and to give\naccount of his stewardship. The nine-year period recurs in the\naccount of the bloody tribute of seven youths and seven maidens\nwho were offered to the Minotaur every ninth year. May we not,\ntherefore, have in these statements a distorted recollection of\nthe fact that the Royal Incarnation of the Bull-God originally\nheld his office only for a term of nine years, and that at the\nend of that period he went into the Dictaean Cave, the sanctuary\nof his divinity, and was there slain in sacrifice, while from the\ncave his successor came forth, and was hailed as the rejuvenated\nincarnation of divinity, to reign in his turn, and then to perish\nas his predecessor had done? In this case the seven youths and\nseven maidens who were offered to the Minotaur at the end of the\nnine-year period may have been slain with him to be his companions\nand servants in the underworld, or, as is perhaps more likely,\nthey may, in a later stage of the custom, have been accepted as\nhis substitutes, so that the death of the King was merely a ritual\none.\n\n[Footnote *: 'The Rise of the Greek Epic,' pp. 127, 128.]\n\nOf course, this explanation of the Minos legend and the story of\nthe human tribute is in the meantime only a supposition, and not\nsusceptible of absolute proof; but the constant recurrence of the\nnine-year period is, at least, very striking, and it is worth\nremembering that a custom precisely similar to that suggested has\nexisted in connection with several ancient monarchies, and, indeed,\nsurvives to the present day. In the ancient Ethiopian kingdom the\nKing was obliged to slay himself when commanded to do so by the\npriests. A similar custom prevailed in Babylonia and among the\nancient Prussians, while several modern African tribes slay their\nKing when the first sign of age or infirmity begins to show itself\nin him. Professor Flinders Petrie has shown[*] that the greatest of\nthe Egyptian feasts, the 'Sed' Festival, was a ceremonial survival\nof a time when the Pharaoh, the Priest-King and representative of\nGod on earth, was slain at fixed intervals. The object in all such\ncases is manifestly to secure that the incarnation of divinity shall\nalways be in the prime of his vigour, and shall never know decay.\nIt is impossible, no doubt, to say that such a feature belonged to\nthe Minoan religious polity; the evidence is not such as to admit\nof certainty, yet it is not unlikely that in a custom similar to\nthis lies the interpretation of the main features of the Minotaur\nlegend.\n\n[Footnote *: 'Researches in Sinai,' pp. 181-185.]\n\nSuch, then, was the Empire of the Minoan Sea-Kings as it has been\nrevealed to us by the excavations and researches of the last ten\nyears. Apart from the actual information gained of this great race,\nwhich must henceforward be regarded as one of the originating sources\nof Greek civilization and learning, and therefore, to a great extent,\nof all European culture, perhaps the most striking and interesting\nresult that has been attained is the remarkable confirmation given to\nthe broad outlines of those traditions about Crete which have survived\nin the legends and in the narratives of the Greek historians. The\nfable of the Minotaur is now seen to be no mere wild and monstrous\nimagining, but a reflection, vague and grotesque as seen through\nthe mist of centuries, of customs which did actually exist in the\npalace life of Knossos, and were very probably parts of the religious\npractice of the country. The slaying of the Minotaur by the Athenian\nTheseus may well be an echo of the conquest of the Minoan Empire by\nthe mainland tribes. The story which makes Theseus bring up from\nthe Palace of Amphitrite the ring which Minos had thrown into the\nsea, seems almost certainly to be a symbolic expression of the passing\nover of the sea-power of the AEgean from the once-omnipotent Minoans\nto the Achaeans and the other restless tribes who for generations\nafter the fall of Knossos held the dominion of the ocean, and were\nthe terror of all peaceful nations, and a menace to the existence\nof even so great a power as Egypt. No one now dreams of hesitating\nto accept the statements of Herodotus and Thucydides as to the\ngreat sea-empire of Crete. Whoever the Minos to whom they allude\nmay have been--whether he was actually a single great historical\nmonarch who brought the glory of the kingdom to its culmination,\nor whether the name was the title of a race of Kings, is a matter\nof small moment. In either case the sea-power of Minoan Crete was a\nreality which endured, not for one reign, but for many reigns; and\nit is practically certain that, during a long period of history,\nthe whole sea-borne trade of Europe, Asia, and Africa, was in the\nhands of these, the earliest lords of the ocean.\n\n[Illustration XXXII: GOLDSMITHS' WORK FROM BEEHIVE TOMBS, PHAESTOS\n(_p_. 216)\n\n_G. Maraghiannis_]\n\nThe recollections of the fallen power that survived in the Greek\nmind were chiefly those connected with the oppressive aspect of\nthe dominion which the Lord of Knossos exercised over the AEgean\narea; but in Egypt there lingered for centuries a tradition which\ndid more justice to the glories of Minoan Crete. In the Timaeus,\nPlato tells a story of how Solon went to Egypt, and was told by\na priest at Sais that long ago there had been a great island in\nthe western sea, where a wonderful central power held sway, not\nonly over the whole of its own land, but also over other islands\nand parts of the continent. In an attempt at universal conquest,\nthis island State made war upon Greece and Egypt, but was defeated\nby the Athenians, and overwhelmed by the sea as a punishment for its\nsins, leaving only a range of mud-banks, dangerous to navigation,\nto mark the place where it had been. In the Timaeus and Critias, Plato\ndescribes with considerable detail the features of the island State,\nand the details are such that he might almost have been describing\nwhat the Egyptian priest who originally told the story was no doubt\nendeavouring to describe--the actual port and Palace of Knossos,\nwith the life that went on there. 'The great harbour, for example,\nwith its shipping and its merchants coming from all parts, the\nelaborate bathrooms, the stadium, and the solemn sacrifice of a bull,\nare all thoroughly, though not exclusively, Minoan; but when we read\nhow the bull is hunted \"in the temple of Poseidon without weapons\nbut with staves and nooses,\" we have an unmistakable description of\nthe bull-ring at Knossos, the very thing which struck foreigners\nmost, and which gave rise to the legend of the Minotaur.'[*]\n\n[Footnote *: 'The Lost Continent,' _Times_, February 19, 1909. The\nanonymous writer was the first to identify Crete with the 'Lost\nAtlantis.']\n\nThe boundaries which Plato assigns to the Empire of the lost State\nare practically identical with those over which Minoan influence\nis now known to have spread, while the description of the island\nitself is such as to make it almost certain that Crete was the\noriginal from which it was drawn. 'The island was the way to other\nislands, and from these islands you might pass to the whole of\nthe opposite continent which surrounded the true ocean.' So Plato\ndescribes Atlantis; and when you set beside his sentence a modern\ndescription of Crete--'a half-way house between three continents,\nflanked by the great Libyan promontory, and linked by smaller island\nstepping-stones to the Peloponnese and the mainland of Anatolia'--there\ncan be little doubt that the two descriptions refer to the same\nisland.\n\nThe only difficulty in the way of accepting the identification is\nthat it is stated that the lost Atlantis lay beyond the Pillars\nof Hercules; but doubtless this statement is due to Solon's\nmisinterpretation of what was said by his Egyptian informant, or to\nthe Saite priest's endeavour to accommodate his ancient tradition\nto the wider geographical knowledge of his own time. The old Egyptian\nconception of the universe held that the heavens were supported\non four pillars, which were actual mountains; and probably the\noriginal story placed the lost island beyond these pillars as a\nmetaphorical way of stating that it was very far distant, as indeed\nit was to voyagers in those early days. But by Solon's time the\nlimits of navigation were extended far beyond those of the early\nseafarers. The Phoenician trader had pushed at least as far west\nas Spain; Necho's fleet had circumnavigated Africa; and so 'the\nisland farthest west,' which naturally meant Crete to the Egyptian\nof the Eighteenth Dynasty who first recorded the catastrophe of the\nMinoan Empire, had to be thrust out beyond the Straits of Gibraltar\nto satisfy the wider ideas of the men of Solon's and Necho's time.\n\nAlmost certainly then, Plato's story gives the Saite version of the\nactual Egyptian records of the greatness and the final disaster of\nthat great island state with which Egypt so long maintained intercourse.\nDoubtless to the men of the latter part of the Eighteenth Dynasty the\nsudden blotting out of Minoan trade and influence by the overthrow\nof Knossos seemed as strange and mysterious as though Crete had\nactually been swallowed up by the sea. The island never regained\nits lost supremacy, and gradually sank into the insignificance\nwhich is its characteristic throughout the Classical period. So,\nthough neither the priest of Sais nor his Greek auditor, and still\nless Plato, dreamed of the fact, the wonderful island State of which\nthe Egyptian tradition preserved the memory, was indeed Minoan\nCrete, and the men of the Lost Atlantis whose portraits Produs saw\nin Egypt were none other than the Keftiu of the tombs of Sen-mut\nand Rekh-ma-ra.\n\n\n\n\nCHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY\n\nPrior to 1580 B.C. the dates in the summary must be regarded as\nmerely provisional, and the margin of possible error is wide. The\ntendency on the part of the Cretan explorers has been to accept\nin the main the Berlin system of Egyptian dating in preference\nto that advocated by Professor Flinders Petrie ('Researches in\nSinai,' pp. 163-185), on the ground that the development of the\nMinoan culture can scarcely have required so long a period as that\ngiven by the Sinai dating. It must be remembered, however, that\nthe question is still unsettled, and that the longer system of\nProfessor Petrie must be regarded as at least possible.\n\nCRETE.\n                  EGYPT (BERLIN).\n                                    EGYPT (PETRIE).\n\n    B.C.\n10000-3000, Neolithic Age.\n_c._ 3000-2600, Early Minoan I.\n                  Dynasties I.-V., 3400-2625 B.C.\n                                    Dynasties I.-V., 5510-4206 B.C.\n_c._ 2600-2400    \"      \"   II.\n                  Dynasty VI., 2625-2475 \"\n                                    Dynasty VI., 4206-4003 \"\n_c._ 2400-2200    \"      \"   III.\n                  Dynasties VII.-X., 2475-2160 \"\n                                    Dynasties VII.-X., 4003-3502 \"\n_c._ 2200-2000, Middle Minoan I.\n  (earlier palaces at Knossos and Phaestos).\n                  Dynasty XI., 2160-2000 \"\n                                    Dynasty XI., 3502-3459 \"\n_c._ 2000-1850, Middle Minoan II.\n  (pottery of Kamares Cave; at end\n  of period destruction of Knossos).\n                  Dynasty XII., 2000-1788 \"\n                                    Dynasty XII., 3459-3246 \"\n_c._ 1850-1600, Middle Minoan\n  III. (Later Palace Knossos;\n  first Villa Hagia Triada;\n  early in period, statuette of\n  Sebek-user; late, Alabastron\n  of Khyan).\n                  Dynasties XIII.-XVII., 1788-1580 B.C.\n                                    Dynasties XIII.-XVII., 3246-1580 B.C.\n                     (Period of confusion and of Hyksos domination.)\n1600-1500, Late Minoan I.\n  (Later Palace Phaestos begun).\n1500-1400, Late Minoan II.\n  (Later Palace Knossos completed;\n  _c._ 1400, fall of Knossos).\n                  Dynasty XVIII., 1580-1350 B.C.\n                                    Dynasty XVIII., 1580-1322 B.C.\n                    (Keftiu on walls of tombs of Sen-mut and Rekh-ma-ra.)\n1400----, Late Minoan III.\n  (period of partial reoccupation and decline).\n                  Dynasty XIX., 1350-1205 B.C.\n                                    Dynasty XIX., 1322-1202 B.C.\n_c._ 1200 (?) Homeric Age.\n                  Dynasty XX., 1200-1090 \"\n                                    Dynasty XX., 1202-1102 \"\n                    (Cretan tribes mentioned and portrayed by Ramses\n                    III., Medinet Habu.)\n                  Dynasty XXI., 1090-945 B.C.\n                                    Dynasty XXI., 1102-952 B.C.\n                    (Zakru pirates mentioned by Wen-Amon, Golenischeff\n                    Papyrus.)\n\n\n\n\nBIBLIOGRAPHY\n\nIn the following short list will be found the volumes on the Minoan\nand Mycenaean civilizations which are most accessible to the ordinary\nreader:\n\n_Annual of the British School at Athens_, vols. vi.- . (Reports\nof excavations by Evans, Hogarth, and others, and many articles\nof interest on the results of discovery. Well illustrated.)\n\n_Journal of Hellenic Studies_, vols. xx.- . (Articles by Evans,\nHall, Mackenzie, Rouse, and others. Admirable illustrations.)\n\nBROWNE, H.: _Homeric Study_. (Relations of Homeric and Minoan\ncivilizations).\n\nBURROWS, R. M.: _The Discoveries in Crete_. (An able discussion\nof the results of excavations).\n\nEVANS, A. J.: _Cretan Pictograms and Pre-Phoenician Script._ (Dr.\nEvans's earlier volume on the Minoan writing.) _Essai de Classification\ndes Epoques de la Civilisation Minoenne._ (Short summary of the\nMinoan periods.) _Mycoenean Tree and Pillar Cult_. (Reprint from\n_Journal of Hellenic Studies_, vol. xxi.) _Prehistoric Tombs of\nKnossos_. (Isopata, etc.). _Scripta Minoa_. (Latest and fullest\ndiscussion of Minoan script.) Articles in the _Times_ newspaper\nand the _Monthly Review_.\n\nHALL, E. H.: _The Decorative Art of Crete in the Bronze Age_.\n\nHALL, H. R.: _Egypt and Western Asia_. (Relations of Crete and\nEgypt.) _The Oldest Civilization of Greece_. (Deals with Mycenaean\ndiscoveries up to 1901.) Various articles in the Proceedings of the\nSociety of Biblical Archaeology, the _Journal of Hellenic Studies_,\netc.\n\nHARRISON, J. E.: _Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion. The\nReligion of Ancient Greece_.\n\nHAWES, C. H. and H.: _Crete the Forerunner of Greece_. (Concise\nand interesting manual.)\n\nHAWES, H. B.: _Gournia, Vasiliki, and other Prehistoric Sites on\nthe Isthmus of Hierapetra, Crete_.\n\nHOGARTH, D. G.: _Authority and Archoeology_; (Contains summary of\nearlier Mycenaean discoveries.) _Ionia and the East_. (Relations\nof Oriental and early Greek civilizations.) Articles in _Cornhill\nMagazine_ and _Fortnightly Review_.\n\nLANG, A.: _Homer and his Age_.\n\nMOSSO, A.: _The Palaces of Crete and their Builders_. (Chiefly useful\nfor its numerous illustrations.)\n\nMURRAY, G.: _The Rise of the Greek Epic_. (Exceedingly vivid and\nsuggestive.)\n\nRIDGEWAY, W.: _The Early Age of Greece_.\n\nSCHUCHHARDT, C.: _Schliemann's Excavations_. (Useful summary of\nthe work of Schliemann, translated by E. Sellers.)\n\nSEAGER, R. B.: _Excavations on the Island of Pseira, Crete_.\nPhiladelphia, 1910. (Finely illustrated.)\n\nTSOUNTAS AND MANATT: _The Mycenaean Age_.\n\nFor the chronology of Ancient Egypt see--\n\nBREASTED, H.: _History of Egypt_. (1906. Abridged issue, 1908.)\n\nPETRIE, W. M. F.: _History of Egypt_, vols. i.-iii. _Researches\nin Sinai_.\n\nFor the topography of Crete, Pashley's _Travels in Crete_ and Spratt's\n_Travels and Researches in Crete_ will still be found interesting\nand useful, though published in 1837 and 1865 respectively. For\nthe history of the island in mediaeval and modern times _A Short\nPopular History of Crete_, by J. H. Freese, may be consulted.\n\n_Antiquites Cretoises_, by G. Maraghiannis, Candia, Crete, gives\nfifty excellent plates of Minoan relics, chiefly from Phaestos and\nHagia Triada, with a short introduction by Signor Pernier, of the\nItalian Archaeological Mission.\n\n\n\n\nAPPENDIX\n\nTRANSLATIONS OF THE PHAESTOS DISK\n\nTwo translations of the Phaestos disk have been put forward. The\nfirst is by Professor George Hempl, of Stanford University, U.S.A.,\nand appeared in _Harper's Magazine_ for January, 1911, under the\ntitle, 'The Solving of an Ancient Riddle.' The second, by Miss F.\nMelian Stawell, of Newnham College, appeared in the _Burlington\nMagazine_ of April, 1911, under the title, 'An Interpretation of\nthe Phaistos Disk.'\n\nBoth are characterized by considerable ingenuity; but the trouble is\nthat they do not agree in the very least. Professor Hempl maintains\nthat the disk is the record of a dedication of oxen at a shrine in\nPhaestos, in atonement of a robbery perpetrated by Cretan sea-rovers\non some shrine of the great goddess in Asia Minor. Miss Stawell, on\nthe other hand, believes that the disk is the matrix for casting\na pair of cymbals, and that the inscription is the invocation which\nthe worshippers had to chant to the goddess.\n\nA comparison of portions of the two renderings will at least show\nthat certainty can scarcely be said to have been reached. Professor\nHempl thus renders the opening lines of Face A:\n\n'Lo, Xipho the prophetess dedicates spoils from a spoiler of the\nprophetess. Zeus, guard us. In silence put aside the most dainty\nportions of the still unroasted animal. Athene Minerva, be gracious.\nSilence! The victims have been put to death. Silence!'\n\nCompare Miss Stawell's translation of the same lines:\n\n'Lady, 0 hearken! Cunning one! Ah, Queen! I will sing, Lady, oh,\nthou must deliver! Divine One, mighty Queen! Divine One, Giver of\nRain! Lady, Mistress, Come! Lady, be gracious! Goddess, be merciful!\nBehold, Lady, I call on thee with the clash! Athena, behold, Warrior!\nHelp! Lady, come! Lady--keep silence, I sacrifice--Lady, come!'\n\n\n\n\nINDEX\n\nA\n\nAahmes, founder of Eighteenth Dynasty, 147\nAbnub, 82, 155, 203\nAbydos: First Dynasty graves at, 142, 191; Twelfth Dynasty\ngrave at, 150, 199\nAchaeans: position of, in Homeric poems, 23; manners of, 26; invasion of\n  Greece, 62; influence of, on Cretan customs, 178; conquest of Mycenae,\n  182; modifications of Minoan religion by, 247\nAchilles: arms of, 27; shield of, 27, 28, 58, 74\nAEgean, 13\nAEgeus, King of Athens, 10-13\nAgamemnon, Tomb of, 37, 42, 43, 45, 46\nAgriculture, Minoan, 226\nAigaios, Mount, 136\nAithra, mother of Theseus, 11\nAkhenaten, 163, 173, 174, 185, 208\nAlabastron of Khyan, 93\nAlcinous, Palace of, 25, 26, 47, 49, 56\nAltar: in Dictaean Cave, 137; at Shaft-Graves, 251\nAmaltheia, 7, 111\nAmenemhat III., 150; Labyrinth of, 150-155; pyramid of, 47; cylinders of, 199\nAmenhotep, II., 174\nAmenhotep III., 158, 162, 173, 174, 184, 185, 208\nAmen-Ra, statuette of, in Dictaean Cave, 137\nAmor, Amorites, 165\nAmorgos, 193\nAnatolia, 6; Minoan settlements in, 184\nAndrogeos, son of Minos, 10\nAndromache, 24, 41\nAniconic worship, 245, 246\nAphrodite: aspect of Cretan goddess, 104, 122; identified with Minoan\n  goddess, 247\nAqayuasha invade Egypt, 164\nArchon, the King, 108\nArgives, 166\nArgolid: place of, in Greek history, 22; conquest of, by Achaeans, 182\nAriadne, 3, 179; flees with Theseus and deserted by him, 13; Choros of,\n  at Knossos, 103; title of Cretan goddess, 104, 122\nAristides, 'The Unjust,' 240\nArmour: Homeric, 26-28, 61; Mycenaean, 61\nArmy, Minoan, 225, 226\nArrows, deposits of, at Knossos, 110, 225\nArtemis Dictynna, aspect of Cretan goddess, 122, 247\nAsia, community of religious conceptions between Crete and, 141\nAthens: conquered by Minos, 10, 170; place in Homeric poems, 21\nAtlantis, Plato's legend of, 257-259\nAtreus, Treasury of, 43, 46-48\nAxos, 166\n\nB\n\nBabylonia, relations with Crete, 139-142\nBacchylides, legend of Theseus and the ring of Minos, 13\nBasilica, origin of, 108\nBathroom of Queen's Megaron, 95\nBeak-jugs=schnabelkanne, _q.v._\nBeehive chamber at Knossos, 113, 114\nBeehive tombs: at Mycenae, 46-48, 56; at Orchomenos, 48, 56; at Phaestos, 229\nBliss finds Minoan pottery at Telles-Safi, 167\nBoghaz-Keui, treaty between Hittites and Egyptians discovered at, 162\nBosanquet, Mr.: Minoan purple, 133; marine decoration, 204\nBoxer Vase, the, 124, 169, 172, 204\nBoxing, Minoan, 103\nBreasted, H., Egyptian chronology, 148\nBritomartis, 122\nBronze, use of, for weapons, 27, 60, 228\nBrowne, H., 'Homeric Study,' 30-32, 62\nBucchero: deposit of, at Knossos, 66, 189, 191; at Abydos, 142, 143\nBuegelkanne=stirrup-vases, _q.v._\nBull: fresco of, at Tiryns, 49, 90; at Knossos, 66; relief of, at\nKnossos, 77, 78, 172; fresco, 88, 89\nBull-god, 105, 252, 253\nBull-grappling, 88-91, 257, 258\nBunarbashi, supposed site of Troy, 38\nBurial, 58-60\nBurrows, Professor: quoted, 88, 98, 99, 108, 109, 122, 174, 177;\nMinoan art in Egypt, 185\nButton seals, 143, 194\nByblos, Wen-Amon at, 186\n\nC\n\nCallimachus, character of Cretans, 8\nCarians expelled by Minos, 9\nCarpenter, tools of, 221, 222\nChariots, 225\nCherethites=Cretans, 168\nChieftain Vase, the, 125, 126, 172, 204, 213\nChoros built by Daedalus at Knossos, 14\nChronology, Egyptian and Minoan, 147 _et seq._\nCilicia, 229\nCircle-Graves=Shaft-Graves, 43-46, 172, 205; steles of, 182; altars at, 251\nCists in Temple Repositories, 105\nColonnades, Hall of, 85\nCooking utensils, 218\nCopper: export of, 223; use of, in beaten work, 229\nCorinth in Homeric poems, 21\nCornaro describes ruins at Knossos, 63\nCourt: Western, Knossos, 66, 83, 84; Central, Knossos, 68, 70, 85; of the\n  Olive Spout, 88\nCremation, 58-60\nCritias, the, legend of Atlantis, 257-259\nCross in Snake Goddess shrine, 107\nCuirass. See Armour\nCuneiform, 81, 142\nCup-Bearer: Fresco of, 67, 68, 173, 206; dress of, 213, 214\nCurrelly, Mr., 124, 133, 236\nCurtius on Treasury of Atreus, 48\nCyclades, 9; influence on Minoan art, 193\nCyprus, 51, 157; Minoan civilization in, 145, 185; export of copper, 223\n\nD\n\nDaedalus, 3; builds Labyrinth, 10, 14; flees to Sicily, 14, 15; makes Choros\n  at Knossos, 103\nDaggers from Shaft-Graves, 57, 58\nDahshur, Egyptian jewellery from 229\nDanaos, King of Argos and Rhodes 166\nDanauna=Danaoi invade Egypt, 165, 166\nDancing, Minoan, 103\nDancing-girls, fresco of, 220\nDanubian civilization, 181, 182\nDavid, 167, 168\nDawkins, Mr., 126\nDead, disposal of, 58-60, 178\nDecimal system, Minoan, 238\nDeir-el-Bahri: Eleventh Dynasty temple at, 154; Hatshepsut's temple at,\n  160; tomb of Senmut, 160\nDemeter identified with Minoan goddess, 247\nDeterminatives in Minoan writing, 235, 240\nDiana, of Ephesus, 111\nDictaean Cave, 7, 8, 64, 70, 136, 137, 247, 254\nDionysius of Halicarnassus, 136\nDionysos, 252\nDisc, hieroglyphic, of Phaestos, 121, 241, 242\nDolphin Fresco, 224\nDor, 187\nDorian (Dorians): conquest, 2, 4, 33, 62; invasion of Crete, 178, 210\nDoerpfeld, Professor, discovers Sixth City of Troy, 40, 41, 50, 51\nDouble Axe, 246; pillars of, at Knossos, 70; emblem of Divinity, 70; of\n  Zeus of Labraunda, 70; at Gournia, 130; in Dictaean Cave, 137; on\n  sarcophagus, 250; Hall of the, 86, 120; in shrines at Knossos, 100, 105\nDrainage: at Knossos, 98, 99; at Hagia Triada, 129\nDress: of Minoan women, 73; of men, 74, 213-216\nDungeons of Knossos, 90, 91, 104\nDynasties, Egyptian: First, date of, 148; Third, 146; Fifth, 146; Sixth,\n  143, 149; Twelfth, 148, 150-155, 199; Thirteenth, 200; Seventeenth, 158,\n  200; Eighteenth, 158-163; Nineteenth, 163\n\nE\n\nEgypt: relations of, with Crete, 139; chronology of, 147 _et seq._\nElectrum, 229\nEnkomi, 51\nEpeus, 103\nErman Egyptian chronology, 148\nEthiopia, King of, obliged to slay himself at command of priests, 254\nEuropa, mother of Minos, 7, 8, 136\nEuryalus, 103\nEvans, A. J., 1, 2; purchases hill of Kephala, 64, 65; discoveries at\n  Knossos, 65-116; derivation of Labyrinth, 71; on relief of bull's head,\n  77, 78; on tablets of Knossos, 79, 80; drains at Knossos, 99; bull's\n  head _rhyton_, 113; restoration of Queen's Megaron, 115; 'Scripta\n  Minoa' quoted, 121; excavations at Zafer Papoura, 134; at Isopata, 135;\n  Minoan chronology, 149; first destruction of Knossos, 171; date of sack\n  of Knossos, 174; growth of Cretan legends, 179, 180; classification of\n  Minoan periods, 190; origin of spiral, 194; decline of Minoan oil-trade,\n  222; Minoan writing, 232, 233, 235, 236, 237-238, 239, 240\n\nF\n\nFetish shrine at Knossos, 111, 237, 245\nFibula, use of, in late Minoan III., 178\nFig-tree, 227\nFigurines: ivory, at Knossos, 96; faience, 105, 106, 156; banjo, 193\nFlute on Hagia Triada sarcophagus, 127, 128\nFortifications: of Knossos, 74, 75, 76; of Tiryns and Mycenae, 75, 138\nFresco (Frescoes): bull at Tiryns, 49; at Knossos, 66; Procession at\n  Knossos, 66; Cup-Bearer, 67, 68, 173, 206; of Throne Room, 71, 72; Blue\n  Boy, 73, 90, 172, 202; miniature, 73, 74, 172, 173, 206; toreador, 88,\n  89; bird, 95, 220; dancing-girls, 220; Dolphin, 224.\nFrieze (Friezes): at Tiryns, 49, 56; at Knossos, 56\n\nG\n\nGallery, the Long, 68-70\nGaming Board, the King's, Knossos, 87, 88, 204\nGarstang, Professor, Kamares vase at Abydos, 150, 199\nGath=Tell-es-Safi, _q.v._\nGaza, 10\nGezer, Minoan pottery at, 140\nGillieron, M., reconstruction of relief, 93\nGod, Minoan: insignificance of, 247; identified with Zeus, 247\nGoddess: seal-impression of, 94; Dove Goddess, 100, 107, 245; Snake,\n  105-107, 130, 156, 245; Minoan supreme deity, 244; representations of,\n  245, 246; identified with Greek goddesses, 246, 247\nGold: abundance of, in Shaft-Graves, 44, 45 ; absence of, at Knossos, 77\nGoldsmith's work at Mokhlos, 134\nGortyna, stele of, 182\nGournia: Minoan houses at, 97, 130, 131, 216; shrine at, 107, 130, 245;\n  Minoan town, 129-132; sack of, 131; stirrup-vases at, 205; furnace near,\n  228; linear script at, 236\nGrote denies historicity of Greek legends, 3, 17\n\nH\n\nHaa-ab-ra, 169\nHagia Triada: Boxer _rhyton_, 103; villa at, 122; artistic work, 122, 203;\n  vases of, 123-126; sarcophagus, of, 127-129; sanitation of, 129; sack of,\n  175, 176; bee-hive tomb at, 192; dress on fresco from, 215; linear script\n  at, 235, 236\nHagios Onouphrios, deposita at, 192\nHalbherr, Professor: work at Phaestos, 118; discovery of copper at Hagia\n  Triada, 223\nHall of Colonnades, Knossos, 85; of Double Axes, Knossos, 86\nHall, H. R., 155; origin of spiral, 48, 143, 193; sea-route to Egypt, 145;\n  on Labyrinth, 153; Keftiu in tomb of Rekh-ma-ra, 161; identification of\n  Uashasha, 166; Minoan influence on Egyptian art, 185\nHall, Miss, origin of spiral, 193\nHarrison, Miss J., on the Minotaur legend, 252\nHarvester Vase, the, 124, 125, 129, 172, 204, 213, 226\nHatshepsut, 158, 160, 208, 223\nHawara, Labyrinth at, 150-155\nHawes, Mrs.: carpenters' tools at Gournia, 222; discoveries at Gournia,\n  97, 107, 129, 130; sack of Knossos, 174\nHector, 41; slays Periphetes, 61; shield of, 61\nHelmet. See Armour\nHephaestos makes arms of Achilles, 27, 28\nHera identified with Minoan goddess, 247\nHerakleids, return of, 2\nHer-hor, 186, 187\nHerodotus: on sea-power of Minos, 9, 76, 256; Labyrinth at Hawara, 151,\n  152; Greek settlement in Crete, 180\nHesiod: legend of Kronos, 111, 136\nHieroglyphics: Minoan, 64, 78; Egyptian and Hittite, 64, 80, 81\nHilprecht, 141\nHissarlik, site of Troy, 37, 51\nHittites: Treaty with Egypt, 162; absorbed in advance of sea-peoples, 164\nHogarth, D. G.: quoted, 20; duration of Mycenaean civilization, 51, 52; on\n  bull's head _rhyton_, 113; excavations at Zakro, 133, 224; at Dictaean\n  Cave, 136, 137; Greek settlement in Crete, 180; geometric vases of Iron\n  Age, 183, 184; Minoan craftsmanship, 207\nHomeric civilization, 21-33; houses, 25, 55; crafts in, 56-58; disposal\n  of dead, 58\nHomeric poems, 20; geography of, 54; houses in, 25, 55; crafts in, 56-58\n'Horns of consecration,' 94, 95, 100, 130, 246, 249, 250\nHorse on seal-impression at Knossos, 112\nHouses: Minoan, 97, 216-218; at Gournia, 130, 131; fabric of, 217\nHyksos, 93, 94, 155, 157, 200, 203\nHyria, foundation of, 15\n\nI\n\nIalysos, Late Minoan III. work at, 209\nIcarus, son of Daedalus, 14\nIda, Mount, 92; Kamares cave on, 197\nIdaean Cave, 7; bronzes of, 183, 184\nIdomeneus in Iliad, 22\nIllahun, 97\nImadua, tomb of, 163\nIncised ornament, 189, 192, 193\nIron: use of for weapons, 27, 60; in Late Minoan III., 178\nIrus, 103\nIsopata, royal tomb at, 135, 136, 156, 203\nIttai, Captain of David's bodyguard, 168\n\nJ\n\nJacob, sacred pillar of, at Bethel, 246\nJade, white, discovered at Troy, 140\nJuktas, Mount: tomb of Zeus on, 7, 63; springs on, 110\n\nK\n\nKahun: Twelfth Dynasty town at, 116; papyrus, 148; Kamares ware at, 150, 199\nKairatos River, 76, 176\nKalochaerinos, excavations at Knossos, 64\nKamares ware, 92, 118, 120, 137, 150, 172, 197-199\nKamikos besieged by Minos, 15\nKaphtor=Crete and Kefti, 166\nKarnak, 151\nKaselles at Knossos, 69\nKeftiu, the, 158-163, 259\nKephala, site of Palace of Knossos, 64, 65\nKerkuon slain by Theseus, 11\nKhyan: alabastron of, 93, 157, 203; lion of, 157\nKing, Minoan, relation to religion, 248, 251-255\nKokalos, King of Kamikos, 14\nKlytemnestra, Treasury of, 48\nKnossos, 5; in Iliad, 22; Palace of, 63-116; ruins at, 63, 64; Neolithic\n  remains at, 66; fortifications of, 74, 75; sack of, 86; Royal Villa,\n  107-109; Minoan road, 110; Little Palace, 110-113; beehive chamber, 113,\n  114; Queen's Megaron, 115, 116; sack of, 173-176; reoccupation of, 176,\n  177, 210; first sack of, 199\nKouphonisi. See Leuke\nKronos, 6, 7, 111\nKuanos, 25, 49, 56, 58\n\nL\n\nLabrys: name of Double Axe, 70; derivation of Labyrinth, 71, 100\nLabyrinth, 3, 10, 11, 13, 14, 18; derivation of name, 71, 153; beehive\n  chamber, Knossos, 114; Minoan and Egyptian Labyrinths, 150-155\nLamp, stone, in Royal Villa, 108, 221\nLang, Mr. A., Minoan swords, 135\nLayard, 140\nLegends of Crete, 6-18\nLeuke, deposit of purple shell at, 133\nLibation table: of Dictaean Cave, 64, 236, 251; of Palaikastro, 236\nLight-wells, 217, 220\nLinear Script: Class A, 202, 204, 234-236; Class B, 205, 207, 236, 238\nLion Gate, 42-43, 94, 100, 246\nLoin-cloth, 213\nLoom-weights, 228; at Gournia, 131\nLotus, Minoan use of, 204\nLucian, 136\nLucretius, 136\nLuqsor, 151\nLycian pirates, 184\nLyre on Hagia Triada sarcophagus, 127, 128\nLyttos, 136\n\nM\n\nMacalister finds Minoan pottery at Tell-es-Safi, 167\nMackenzie, Dr.: decay of Minoan art, 177; naturalism in Minoan art, 196,\n  201; character of Minoan religion, 248, 249; Minoan bathrooms, 252\nMagazines at Knossos, 68, 69\nMahler, Egyptian chronology, 148\nManetho, history of, 147\nManolis, 68\nMecca, 111\nMedinet Habu, reliefs at, 121, 164, 165, 181\nMediterranean race, 212\nMegara conquered by Minos, 10, 170\nMegaron: Queen's, 95, 115, 116, 220, 221; of Phaestos, 120\nMelos, 51, 193\nMenelaus, 15, 23; Palace of, 25\nMentuhotep Neb-hapet-Ra, Temple of, 78, 154\nMerenptah, 164\nMeriones in Iliad, 22\nMessara Valley, 117\nMetal-working: Homeric and Mycenaean, 56-58; at Knossos, 109\nMeyer, Egyptian chronology, 148\nMiddle Kingdom of Egypt, 82, 93, 94, 150-155\nMinoa, 10, 15\nMinoan culture: date of beginning of, 147-149; periods of--Early Minoan\n  I., Middle Minoan II., 149, 150-155; Middle Minoan III., 155-157; Late\n  Minoan I., 158; Late Minoan III., pottery of, in Palestine, 167; Middle\n  Minoan II., catastrophe at close of, 170; Early Minoan I., 190, 191;\n  Early Minoan II., 191, 192; Early Minoan III., 192-194; Middle Minoan\n  I., 194-197; Middle Minoan II., 197-200; Middle Minoan III., 200-203;\n  Late Minoan I., 203-205; Late Minoan II., 205-208; Late Minoan III.,\n  208-210; wide diffusion of products of, 209\nMinoans: physical characteristics, 211-213; dress, 213-216; houses of,\n  216-218\nMinos: legends of, 3-18; birth of, 7; association with Zeus, 8, 253;\n  Sea-King, 9; conquers Megara and Athens, 10; pursues Daedalus, 14; death\n  of, 15; and Zeus, 105, 136; laws of, 136\nMinotaur, 3, 10, 49, 258; relation of legend to Minoan religion, 256\nMinyas, Treasury of, 48\nMitanni, 185\nMokhlos: excavations at, 40; necropolis at, 133, 134, 143; gold ring from, 223\nMortars, 227\nMosso, 112, 120; drainage at Hagia Triada, 129; Minoan democracy, 230;\nMinoan bath rooms, 252\nMother: the Great, at Rome, 111; Anatolian, 122; Minoan, 244-247\nMouliana, tombs at, 59\nMurex, 133, 222\nMurray, Professor: name of Minos, 8; worship of bull-god in Crete, 253\nMycenae, 1, 5; in Homeric poems, 22; Lion Gate of, 42, 43; Treasuries of,\n  42, 43, 46-48; Shaft-Graves, 43-46\nMycenaean civilization, 5, 6; extent of, 50, 51; duration of, 51, 52;\n  inspiration of, 52-54; relation to Homeric civilization, 54-62; crafts\n  of, 56-58; disposal of dead, 58-60\nMyres, Mr. J. L.: discovery of Kamares ware, 92, 197; figurines at Petsofa,\n  132\n\nN\n\nNaturalism, development of, 196, 201\nNausicaa, 24, 26\nNaville, excavations at Deir-el-Bahri, 78\nNecho, fleet of, circumnavigates Africa, 259\nNeolithic Period at Knossos, 188-190\nNestor, 22; cup of, 56\nNiffur, 1; drainage at, 141\nNimrud, carved ivories at, 140\n\nO\n\nOdysseus, 22; palace of, 25; versatility of, 26; brooch of, 56; defeats\n  Irus, 103\nOlive-oil, export of, 222\nOlive Press, Room of the, 222\nOlive Spout, Court of the, 88\nOlive-tree, 227\nOlympiad, First, 2, 52\nOpening the mouth, Egyptian funerary ceremony, 128, 251\nOrchomenos, 5; in Homeric poems 22, Treasury of Minyas, 48\n\nP\n\nPalace, Homeric, 25, 55\nPalace, the Little, 111\nPalaikastro, 124; Minoan town at, 132; deposit of purple shell at, 133;\n  houses at, 216, 217; Linear Script at, 236\nPapyrus: Turin, 148; Kahun, 148; Golenischeff, 186\nPashley describes ruins at Knossos, 63\nPasiphae, wife of Minos, 10, 18, 252\nPaul, St., Epistle to Titus, 8\nPausanias, on Tomb of Agamemnon, 37, 42, 43\nPelasgi, 161, 167\nPelethites=Philistines, 168\nPeloponnese, 6\nPen, the, used in Minoan writing, 241\nPenelope, 24\nPepy, statue of, 113\nPercentages on Minoan tablets, 238\nPerdix slain by Daedalus, 14\nPeriphetes slain by Hector, 61\nPernier, Dr., stele at Gortyna, 182; work at Phrestos, 118\nPerrot, M., Minoan writing, 233\nPetrie, Professor: discovers AEgean remains in Egypt, 51; plan of Egyptian\n  town, 97; Egyptian Sed Festival, 255; identification of Zakkaru, 166;\n  Egyptian chronology, 194, 199; Minoan pottery at Abydos, 142, 191;\n  sea-route between Crete and Egypt, 144, 145; Egyptian chronology, 148;\n  Kamares ware at Kahun, 150\nPetsofa: figurines, 126, 132, 195, 213, 215; votive offerings at, 168\nPhaestos, 5; in Homeric poems, 117; discovery of Palace, 118; Theatral Area,\n  118, 119; destruction of palace, 119; staircase, 120; Megaron, 120;\n  Central Court, 120; hieroglyphic disc, 121, 122; lords of, destroy\n  Knossos, 171; sack of, 175, 176; earliest buildings at, 197; first sack\n  of Knossos, 200; beehive tombs at, 229; Linear Script at, 236\nPhilistines: on reliefs at Medinet Habu, 121; invade Egypt, 165, 166, 186;\n  settle in Palestine, 166-169\nPhoenicians: relation to Minoan culture, 53; invention of alphabet, 64;\n  writing, 81, 243; purple dye of, 132, 133; not the Keftiu, 159\nPhylakopi, 51; Linear Script at, 236\nPictographs: beginnings of, 194; decline of, 202, 204; development of, 234\nPillars, sacred, 70, 246\nPiracy in Homeric poems, 22\nPithoi, 64, 69, 202, 206\nPits. See Dungeons\nPlato, legend of Atlantis, 257-259\nPliny, Labyrinth of Hawara, 152\nPlutarch, story of Theseus, 103\nPolychrome ware, 104, 132, 172; beginnings of, 194, 195; development of,\n  197-199\nPolycrates, sea-power of, 9\nPolyphemus, 22\nPorcelain plaques on chest, 97\nPortico: southern, Knossos, 68; western, 66, 83, 84\nPotter's wheel, introduction of, 193\nPraesians, account of Greek settlement in Crete, 180\nPraesos, 15\nPriam, Palace of, 25, 39; Treasure of, 38, 39, 40, 41\nPriestesses (Priests) in Minoan religion, 251\nProcession, Corridor of the, Knossos, 67\nProclus, portraits of men of Atlantis in Egypt, 259\nProcrustes slain by Theseus, 11\nPsamtek I., 152, 169\nPsychro, 136\nPulosathu = Philistines, _q.v._\nPunt, Egyptian voyages to, 146\nPurple, 133, 222\n\nQ\n\nQuerns, Minoan, 227\n\nR\n\nRahotep, statue of, 113\nRamesseum, 151\nRamses II., Treaty with Hittites, 162\nRamses III.: reliefs of, 121, 181; victory over sea-peoples, 164-166\nRekh-ma-ra, tomb of, 160-162, 207, 208, 214, 223, 259\nReligion, Minoan: supreme goddess in, 244, 245; representations of goddess,\n  245-246; identification of, with Greek goddesses, 246, 247; Minoan god\n  identified with Zeus, 247; absence of temples, 248; family worship, 248;\n  shrines 249, 250; sacrifice and ritual, 250, 251; place of King in,\n  251-255\nRhea, 6, 7, 111, 122, 136; identified with Minoan goddess, 247\nRhiphaean Mountains, 3\nRhodes, Late Minoan III. work in, 209\n_Rhyton_: from Hagia Triada, 103; bull's head, from Knossos, 113\nRipple ornament, 190\nRoad, Minoan at Knossos, 110\nRosetta Stone, 80, 162\n\nS\n\nSack of Knossos, 86\nSacrifice in Minoan worship, 250, 252\nSagalassians=Shakalsha (?), 166\nSahura, King of Fifth Dynasty, 146\nSais, legend of Atlantis at, 257-259\nSalamis, late Mycenaean graves at, 59\nSamson, 167\nSarcophagus, the, Hagia Triada, 127-129, 213, 250, 251\nSardinia relics of Minoan civilization, 51\nSardinians, 212\nSat-Hathor, 155\nScaean Gate, 39\nSchliemann, 1, 2, 5; youth of, 34-36; excavates ancient Troy, 38-41, 227;\n  Mycenae, 42-48; discovers Shaft-Graves, 43-46; excavates Treasury of\n  Atreus, 46-48; excavates at Orchomenos, 48; at Tiryns, 48, 49; considers\n  excavations at Knossos, 64\nSchnabelkanne, 39, 192\nScript, Minoan, 64, 78-81; Linear, at Gournia, 131\nSculptor's workshop, 86, 87\nScylla betrays Megara, 10\nSeager, excavations at Mokhlos, 40, 133, 134, 143\nSeal-impressions at Zakro, 133\nSeals: Minoan, 143; button, 143\nSea-power: of Minos, 9, 76; of Knossos, 76, 77\nSeats, Minoan, 102\nSebek-user, statuette of, 82, 93, 155, 156, 203\n'Sed' Festival in Egypt, 255\nSen-mut, tomb of, 160-162, 207, 208, 259\nSenusert (Usertsen), II., III., 150; III., 199\nShakalsha invade Egypt, 165, 166\nShield. See Armour\nShips: Minoan, 112, 223; Egyptian, 144\nShoes, Minoan, 213, 214\nShrines: at Gournia, 130, 131, 250; at Knossos, 249, 250, 252\nSicilians, 212\nSicily, 10; relics of Minoan civilization in, 51, 184\nSickles, 226\nSikels=Shakalsha (?), 166\nSinnis slain by Theseus, 11\nSistrum on Harvester Vase, 125\nSitia, 214\nSnake Goddess, 105-107, 245, 250; dress of votaress of, 215\nSneferu, King of Third Dynasty, 146\nSocrates, 17\nSolon, legend of Atlantis, 257-259\nSpain, relics of Minoan civilization in, 51, 184, 210\nSparta in Homeric poems, 21\nSpratt describes ruins at Knossos 63\nSpiral, origin of, 48, 143, 144, 193, 194\nStaircase: at Knossos, 85, 86; at Phaestos, 120\nSteles of Shaft-Graves, 43\nStillman, 64\nStirrup vases: at Knossos, 81, 108; at Zafer Papoura, 134; tomb of Ramses\n  III., 163; at Gournia and Hagia Triada, 205, 210; prevalence of, in Late\n  Minoan III., 210\n'Stoa Basilike,' 108\nSuffixes in Minoan Script, 235\nSwords: in Shaft-Graves, 44; iron, 60; bronze, at Zafer Papoura, 134, 135;\n  iron, in Late Minoan III., 178; bronze, in Late Minoan I., 204; from\n  Zafer Papoura, 206\n\nT\n\nTablets, clay, of Knossos, 78-81, 110, 238 _et seq._\nTahuti, 69\nTahutmes III., 158, 161, 208\nTahutmes IV., 174\nTalent, Babylonian, at Knossos and Hagia Triada, 141\nTarentum, Late Minoan work at 209\nTelemachus, 22, 23\nTell-el-Amarna: tablets of, 79; capital of Akhenaten, 163; Minoan pottery\n  at, 185\nTell-es-Safi, Minoan pottery at, 140, 167\nTemple repositories, 104-107, 172, 200\nTemples: Egyptian, 25; absence of, in Minoan religion, 248\nTerpander, invention of lyre, 128\nTeumman, 225\nTheatral Area: Knossos, 100-104; Phaestos, 101, 197\nThera, Linear Script at, 236\nTheseus, 3, 9; adventures of, 11; vanquishes Minotaur, 12, 13; marries and\n  deserts Ariadne, 13; brings up ring of Minos, 13, 256\nThrone, palace of Knossos, 72\nThrone Room: decorations of, 72; _impluvium_ in, 72; date of, 206\nThucydides on sea-power of Minos, 9, 76, 256\nTimaeus, the, legend of Atlantis, 257-259\nTiryns, 1, 5; in Homeric poems, 22; wall of, 49; frieze, 49; fresco of\n  bull, 49\nTomb paintings, Egyptian, 74\nTools, carpenters' and smiths', at Gournia, 131, 221, 222\nTorcello, Late Minoan work at, 209\nToreadors, 88-91; figurines of, 96\nTrees, sacred, 245\nTrickle ornament, 202, 203\nTroy, I; siege of, 22; site of, 37; First City, 38; Second City, 39, 40,\n  140; Sixth City, 40, 41, 51\nTsountas, 50\nTyi, Queen, 185\n\nU\n\nUashasha invade Egypt, 165, 166\n\nV\n\nVaphio cups, 51, 109, 123, 161, 229\nVases: stone, at Knossos, 81, 86, 143; stirrup, 81, 108, 134; Kamares, 92;\n  stone, at Mokhlos, 134, 143; at Isopata, 136\nVases a Etrier=stirrup vases, _q.v._\nVasiliki, mottled ware of, 192\nVenetian occupation, 63\nVilla, Royal, at Knossos, 107-109, 246\nVine, 227\nVirgil, 136\n\nW\n\nWater-lily cup, 198\nWeaving, 227, 228\nWen-Amon, adventures of, 186, 187\nWindows, 217\nWomen, position of, in Homeric poems, 24\nWriting: beginnings of, in AEgean area, 80, 81; Phoenician, 81; Minoan, 234-243\n\nZ\n\nZafer Papoura, swords from, 206\nZakkaru invade Egypt, 165, 166, 186, 187\nZakro: lotus vase from, 204; seals at, 133, 205, 224; houses at, 216;\nMinoan town at, 133; pottery at, 133; Zakkaru from, 166, 187; Linear Script\n  at, 236\nZakru pirates, 187\nZeus: birth of, marriage of, to Europa, death and burial of, 7, 8;\n  association with Minos, 8, 105, 136; Double Axe emblem, 70; of Labraunda,\n  70; fetish idol of, 111; associations with Dictaean Cave, 136, 247;\n  identified with Minoan god, 247\n\nTHE END\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: PLAN OF THE PALACE OF KNOSSOS.\n\nKEY TO NUMBERS\n\n              1. Northern Entrance and Portico.\n              2. Bastion and Guard-House.\n              3. Northern Piazza.\n              4. Room of the Flower Gatherer.\n              5. Room with Stirrup Vases, Walled Pit beneath.\n              6. Ante room to Throne Room.\n           7, 7. Throne Room with Tank.\n              8. Temple Repositories.\n           9, 9. East and West Pillar-Rooms.\n             10. Court of the Altar.\n             11. South Propylaeum.\n             12. Corridor of the Cup Bearer.\n             13. Corridor of the Procession.\n             14. West Portico.\n             15. Long Gallery with Magazines on West Side.\n             16. North-West House with Bronze Vessels.\n             17. Northern Bath.\n             18. Deposit of Pictographic Tablets.\n             19. North-Eastern Magazines.\n             20. Corridor of the Draught-Board.\n             21. Room of the Olive Press.\n             22. Great Staircase.\n         23, 23. Hall of the Colonnades, with Light-Well.\n     24, 24, 24. Hall of the Double Axes, with Light-Well.\n 25, 25, 25, 25. Queen's Megaron, with Light-Wells.\n             26. Deposit of Ivory Figurines.\n         27, 27. Built Drains.\n             28. Court of the Sanctuary.\n             29. South-East House with Pillar-Room.\n             30. Court of the Oil-Spout.\n             31. Magazines with large Pithoi.\n             32. East Bastion.\n             33. Early Buildings, partly in continuous use.\n             34. Sculptor's Workshop (on upper floor).\n              A. Altar-Base in Central Court.\n              B. Shrine of the Snake Goddess.\n           C, D. Altar-Bases in West Court.\n              E. Shrine of Dove Goddess and Double Axes.\n              F. Altar-Base in Court of the Sanctuary.\n              G. Altar Base in Court of the Altar.\n\nPLAN ACCOMPANYING 'THE SEA-KINGS OF CRETE' BY THE REV. JAMES BAIKIE,\nF.R.A.S. (A. AND C. BLACK, LONDON.)]","title":"The Sea-Kings of Crete","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":72832}