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THE PALACE OF MINOS
AT KNOSSOS
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THE
PALACE OF MINOS
A COMPARATIVE ACCOUNT OF THE SUCCESSIVE
STAGES OF THE EARLY CRETAN CIVILIZATION
AS ILLUSTRATED BY THE DISCOVERIES
AT KNOSSOS %
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BY SIR ARTHUR^ EVANS
D. LITT., ETC., F.R.S., F.B.A., HON. V.P.S.A., ROYAL COLD Ml DAI. I Is I R.I.B.A.
FOREIGN MEMBER OP THE R. Ac An. OP TUB LINCBI, OP I UK BAVARIAN, R. DANISH, SWEDISH, AND SERBIAN ACADS., OF THE liOTTINGEN SOC. OP SCIENCES, OF THE R. ACAD. OF SCIENCES, AMSTERDAM, OP THE GERMAN, AUSTRIAN, AND AMERICAN ARCH. IXSTS. AND THE ARl II. SOC. OP ATHIN* 1
COHRESPONUANT DB I.'IXSTIIUT DB FRANCE
EXTRAORDINARY PROFESSOR OF PREHISTORIC ARCHAEOLOGY
HON. KEEPER OF THE ASHMOLEAN MUSEUM AND FELLOW OF BRASENOSE COLLEGE IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
VOLUME I V V'3 3
THE NEOLITHIC AND EARLY AND MIDDLE MINOAN AGES
WITH 542 FIGURES IN THE TEXT, PLANS, TABLES, COLOURED AND SUPPLEMENTARY PLATES
MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED
ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON
1921
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PREFACE
THE excavations carried out by me from 1900 onwards on the site of Knossos, which brought to light the prehistoric Palace and its dependencies, were provisionally described in my somewhat full and copiously illustrated Reports in the Annual of the British School at Athens. Of the extent of the great building the view opposite, showing its remains from the East, and the ' Tell ' on which it stood, will give the best idea. It embraced fully six acres of ground.
But to the excavators, entering on what was then in fact a wholly unexplored world, the true relationships of the vast mass of new materials there brought to light could only be gradually elucidated. The finds in many cases necessarily came out piecemeal, and the lacunas in them were often only filled in after intervals of years. The ground-plan of the Palace itself and its successive stages could only be laboriously traced out by means of the cumulative results of successive campaigns. Every step forward was in the dark. There was no existing building of the class to serve as a guide, and logically consecutive exploration was impossible. It became evident, more- over, that, marvellously rich in materials as was the Palace Site of Knossos, its full story could only be told with constant reference to the supplementary light supplied by the parallel excavations which the discovery of the ' Palace of Minos' had called forth on other Cretan sites.
It seemed to be highly desirable, therefore, that at least a summary presentment of the results obtained by the excavations at Knossos should be set forth in a systematic fashion, as part of a single story and in close relation to the evidence obtained from these other sources. As a preliminary step, however, to any such undertaking it was necessary to elaborate a system of archaeological classification which should cover the vast field occupied by the prehistoric Cretan civilization. With this object I had already submitted to the Anthropological Section of the British Association, at its Cambridge Meeting in 1904, a preliminary scheme for classifying the successive phases of the prehistoric civilization of Crete, and for which I then ventured to propose the term ' Minoan'. An outline of this scheme, by which this Minoan Civilization was divided into three main Sections—
i
vi THE PALACE OF MINOS, ETC.
Early, Middle, and Late — each with three Sub-Periods, was submitted by me to the Prehellenic Section of the Archaeological Congress at Athens in 1905^ of which I was a President.
The proposed classification was favourably received by my colleagues, to several of whom I subsequently had an opportunity of explaining many points in detail on the scene of the excavations at Knossos itself.
Subsequent discoveries made some modifications of the original system desirable, and a sketch of this revised outline of classification was laid by me before the Archaeological Congress at Rome in October, 1912, where the idea of the present work received most welcome encouragement.
In the case of the Palace site of Knossos not only the immense com- plication of the plan itself, with its upper as well as its lower stories, but the volume and variety of the relics brought to light — unrivalled perhaps in any equal area of the Earth's surface ever excavated —have demanded for the working up of the material a longer time than was required for the actual excavations. To take a case in point, the painted stucco fragments could only be gradually pieced together as the result of long and laborious efforts. Prof. Droop, for instance, who kindly undertook the investigation of the re- mains of the Shield Fresco devoted a whole season to its reconstitution, and many weeks again were spent in a necessary revision of this. Mr. Theodore Fyfe, my architect in the earlier campaigns at Knossos, has done most brilliant work in illustrating the decorative designs of the wall-paintings,2 while Mr. Noel Heaton has brought his expert chemical and technical knowledge to bear on a minute examination and careful analysis of the painted stucco itself.3 The restoration of the painted stucco reliefs has also been a very lengthy task. In all this work the fine artistic sense and archaeological intuition of Monsieur E. Gillieron has been constantly at my disposal. The elaborate
1 Unfortunately, indeed, owing to the incompetent hands to which the editing of the Comptes rendus of the Congress was entrusted, the abstract supplied by me of the above communication appeared not only in a mutilated but in a wholly misleading form. The order of Periods was inverted, and I was made, for instance, to ascribe the chief masterpieces of Minoan Art to the last epoch of its decadence ! I published therefore a corrected version of the proposed scheme, which appeared in 1906 under the title of Essai de classification des t'po</ues de la civilisation minuenne.
2 See his monograph on the ' Painted plaster decoration at Knossos \Journ. of the Royal lust. of British Architects, vol. x, no. 4 (1902).
3 See Noel Heaton, B.Sc., F.C.S., 'The Mural Paintings of Knossos \ Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, Jan. 7, 1910. 'Minoan Lime Plaster and Fresco Painting', R.I.B.A. Journ., Sept. 1911, and compare his contribution to G. Rodenwaldt, Tiryns, vol. ii, p. 211 seqq.
PREFACE vii
architectural plans of Mr. Theodore Fyfe and Mr. Christian Doll have been the result of years of expert labour. On Mr. Doll mainly devolved the Atlantean task of raising and re-supporting the sunken elements qf the upper stories, and his practical experience of the anatomy of the building has been of service at every turn. Many drawings for this work have been gradually executed by competent artists like Monsieur E. Gillieron and his son, Mr. Halvor Bagge, and Mr. E. J. Lambert.1
It will be seen that this process of reconstitution and restoration, carried out after the publication of the provisional Annual Reports, has given many of the most important finds a wholly new value, and a summary illus- tration of these fresh results will be found in the present work. Among the hitherto unpublished specimens of Knossian antiquities here represented, — in addition to frescoes and coloured reliefs, — are a whole series of ceramic and other relics, and plans, sections, and details bearing on the successive Minoan phases.
For an account of the actual course of the principal campaigns of excavation in the Palace area itself, — which, as already explained, had to follow more or less experimental lines, — and also for many minor details, readers may be referred to the above Reports published in the Annual of the British School at Athens from 1900 to 1905 inclusive. The results of the supplementary researches made on this site in the succeeding years, and notably in 1913, have, however, only to a partial extent seen the light, and that in a very abbreviated form. A fuller description of the ' Little Palace ' to the West, with a revised Plan, will be found in Vol. II of the present work, and, in addition to the adjacent houses such as the ' Royal Villa ', the very important 'South House' will be for the first time described. A summary account of the neighbouring cemeteries will be also given in a later Section and especially of the Royal Tomb of Isopata and of the important tomb of the 'Double Axes ' more detailed descriptions of which have been already published by me in Arc/iacologia* The object of the present work, as already stated, is, while correcting as far as possible erroneous impressions contained in the original Reports, not only to complete the actual materials, but to co-ordinate and systematize them in such a way as to present the discoveries at Knossos as
1 Coloured Plates in a fuller form will be issued in a separate Atlas.
2 See Archat-ologia, lix (1906), 'The Prehistoric Tombs of Knossos ': I. '1 he Cemetery of Zafer Papoura ; II. The Royal Tomb of Isopata : Ixv (1914), I- The Tomb of the Double Axes and associated group at Knossos.
viii THE PALACE OF MINOS, ETC.
part of a continuous story and as illustrating the course of the Periods into which I have ventured to divide the Minoan Age.
But for the proper setting forth of that story, comparative illustrations from other sources have been constantly necessary. Gaps in the Knossian evidence have thus been filled in, with the kind permission of my friends and colleagues who have excavated other Cretan sites. In the case of the Palace itself I have had constantly in view the parallel edifices explored by the Italian Archaeologists at Phaestos and Hagia Triada, the discoveries in which have been placed so freely at my disposal by their excavators, Professor Federigo Halbherr and Dr. Luigi Pernier. The town sites and their con- tents brought to light by Mrs. Boyd Hawes at Gourniil and by Prof. R. C. Bosanquet and Prof. R. M. Dawkins and their colleagues at Palaikastro, on behalf of the British School at Athens, as well as that of Zakro excavated by Dr. D. G. Hogarth — with its remarkable hoard of Minoan sealings — and the interesting researches of Prof. J. L. Myres in the votive sanctuary of Petsofa, have also supplied many valuable comparisons. Miss Edith Hall (Mrs. Dohan) has clone much to elucidate the sepulchral remains and cultural evolution of pre-historic Crete. To the Committee of the British School at Athens and to the Council of the Hellenic Society I am much beholden for their liberal permission to reproduce illustrations of these discoveries from the Annual and Journal. In the course of this work 1 have been constantly indebted to the kindness of the Director of the Candia Museum, Dr. Joseph Hatzidakis, who by his own excavations at Tylissos, Malia, and elsewhere has himself made such important contributions to our knowledge of Minoan times. In all this I have also to associate his colleague Dr. Stephanos Xanthudides, the Ephor General of Cretan Antiquities and fortunate Explorer of the early ossuary ' tholoi ' of Messara, and of the- Sepulchral Cave and later Sanctuary at Nirou Khani, N.E. of Knossos.
This fresh material from other sources has been specially helpful as regards the Early Minoan Age. The evidence regarding this, though continuous at Knossos, was more fragmentary in its nature than that relating to the Age of Palaces. Supplementary data of considerable interest have here been forthcoming from the Sepulchral Cave referred to, from the primitive 'tholos' ossuaries excavated by Professor Halbherr and Dr. Xanthudides, and from the early settlement at Vasiliki explored by the American archaeologist, Mr. Richard Seager. The full brilliancy attained by this Early Minoan phase of Cretan civilization was first revealed, however,
PREFACE ix
by Mr. Seager's epoch-making discoveries in a cemetery of that Age in the little island of Mochlos.1 Part of these excavations I was myself privileged to witness, and, thanks to Mr. Seager's great kindness, I have been enabled to make a large use of his materials in illustrating the Early Minoan Sections of this work.
It must, however, be clearly understood that the site of Knossos is the central theme of the present work. Not only am I able to speak at first hand about this, but the series of objects from that site is, on the whole, more complete than can be found elsewhere. Moreover, the stratigraphic evidence on which my whole system is grounded is here better ascertained and more continuous, going back in fact without a break to remote Neolithic times.
In attempting to set forth the characteristic products of the successive Minoan Periods it will be seen that I have not relied on a single category only, such as ceramic types — indispensable as they are in this connexion. I have here clone my best to correlate these with other parallel branches of art so as to present a collective view of contemporary phenomena. Much, indeed, is lost by looking at one class of objects without taking constant count of the side lights thrown by other works of the same epoch. The clay and metal forms of vessels, for instance, are inseparably connected ; ceramic designs at Knossos are seen to be largely the reflection of the decoration of the Palace walls ; and the history of the Greater Arts is well illustrated in a com- pendious form by the types on seals and gems. These latter objects indeed, so abundantly forthcoming from the soil of prehistoric Crete, have proved of special utility in the present work of classification, and in some respects fulfil the same function as coins at a later date. Closely allied, moreover, with the sphragistic category, especially in the Early and Middle Minoan Age, is what many will regard as the most important of Cretan discoveries, the evidence of the successive stages in the evolution of the Art of Writing, beginning with a rude pictography and advancing through a conventionalized hieroglyphic signary to a fully developed linear script, which itself shows an earlier and a later phase.
In the present work it is naturally impossible to give more than a con- spectus of the successive forms of script. The earlier part of the subject
' The excavations took place in 1908. The final publication was made in 1912 (Explora- tions in the Island of Mochlos, by Richard B. Seager. Published by the American School
of Classical Studies at Athens. Boston and New York, 1912).
x THE PALACE OF MINOS, ETC.
has been already dealt with in the first volume of my Scripta Minoa?- and the materials for the fulj publication of the clay documents of the two linear scripts A and B are already in an advanced stage of preparation. The special employment of Class A for religious purposes in the closing phase of the Middle Minoan Age is illustrated below, and some of the most important documents in the developed linear script B, from the Archives of the Later Palace, together with a summary account of its inner economy as illustrated by them, will be given in the concluding part of this work.
I have also felt that the view here presented of the Minoan Age, though based throughout all its earlier outlines on the Cretan discoveries, could not be adequately drawn out without some attempt to set forth its relation to the Mycenaean culture of Mainland Greece, of which, in fact, it supplies in an overwhelming degree the antecedent stages. Among the earlier contents, at least, of the Shaft Graves the finest objects are seen to be actually of Cretan importation and, in the absence of intact royal tombs, at Knossos, those of Mycenae are practically the sole repertory for the Minoan goldsmiths' work of that epoch. The results will surprise many. Few probably have yet realized how absolute is the dependence which these comparisons substantiate. In this work of comparison I am specially grateful for the helpful information supplied me by Dr. G. Karo, Director of the German Institute at Athens, who has made the subject of the Mycenaean relics a special subject of research, and whose friendly offices even the outbreak of the Great War did not interrupt. I am further indebted to his colleagues, Dr. Kurt Miiller and Dr. Gerhart Rodenwaldt, and to the kind facilities accorded by Dr. V. Stais, Director of the Athens
J
Museum. To Mr. A. J . B. Wace, the Director of the British School, I am also greatly obliged for much help at Athens as well as for the early communication of the results derived from his supplementary investigations at Mycenae.
The opportunity here offered has also been seized to bring into relief many new points of view, and to throw out suggestions regarding the genesis and evolution of various types. The Egyptian relations of pre- historic Crete have been particularly emphasized, and much fresh evidence has been brought forward as to the relations of Minoan civilization with that of the Nile Valley, with other parts of the Aegean world, and even with the further shores of the Ionian Sea and the Western Mediterranean basin. -
1 Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1909.
2 For more general views of the results of excavation in Crete and of the comparative place that they occupy, I need hardly refer to the luminous survey of the late Professor
PREFACE xi
On Egyptological matters I have received valuable assistance from my Oxford colleague, Mr. F. LI. Griffith, while Professor Flinders Petrie, the late Dr. L. W. King and Dr. H. R. Hall of the British Museum, and Mr. C. C. Edgar, of the Cairo Museum, have supplied me with much required information.
In cases where the same conclusions may have been put forward by other investigators before the appearance of these pages, I can at least claim that my own views as here expressed have been independently arrived at through a continuous experience of the results of the excava- tions both at Knossos and on other Cretan sites. The writer has, therefore, some right to be allowed to set down his own conclusions, gradually formed, in the course of years, from a first-hand knowledge of the materials, without seeking to inquire at every turn whether similar opinions may have been already expressed in print in other quarters. Where I have been con- sciously indebted to the researches or ideas of others, I have, indeed, always endeavoured to express my acknowledgements. I was fortunate in securing the services of Dr. Duncan Mackenzie as my Assistant in the excavations, and my thanks are exceptionally due to him for the continued help that he has rendered to me at every turn in the course of the present work, and for his careful revision of the proofs. His special archaeological knowledge, particularly in the ceramic field,1 is so widely recognized that it is with great satisfaction that I am able to record that in all main points in my scheme of classification he is in complete agreement with me.
In 1913, in order to decide various important problems regarding the building which remained to be elucidated, I undertook a supplementary campaign of excavation on the Palace site, in the course of which I executed about a hundred fresh soundings beneath the floors.
Difficulties and preoccupations, however, caused by the Great War delayed the publication of this work, the materials for which were already in an advanced state in 1914. Since then, moreover, a vast amount of new R. M. Burrows in The Discoveries in Crete and their bearing on the History of ancient Civilisation, London (John Murray), 1907 ; to Professor Rend Dussaud's Civilisations prehelleniques dans le bassin de la mer Ege'e, Paris (Geuthner), 1914; or to the learned series of contributions by Dr. H. R. Hall, of which the last are contained in his History of the Near East (Methuen and Co.), London, 1919.
1 Two monographs on Minoan pottery have been published by Dr. Mackenzie in the Journal of Hellenic Studies, vols. xxiii, pp. 152-205 ; xxvi, pp. 243-67. See too his comparative studies on the relations of Crete and Melos in Excavations at Phylakopi, pp. 238-72, and on Cretan Palaces and the Aegean Civilization, in B. S. A., XI-XIV.
xii THE PALACE OF MINOS, ETC.
evidence has accumulated, partly due to the gradual completion of fuller architectural plans of the Palace itself and its contiguous buildings, and to the laborious reconstitution, already referred to, of the frescoes and other remains, partly to the results of fresh excavations, such as those which Mr. Seager and the Cretan Ephors as well as others in Mainland Greece were able to pursue, and all this has had to be assimilated with the data already collected. This further supplementary process, since it was indispensable in order to bring the work up to date, has necessitated the repeated breaking up and remodelling of the large part of this book that was already in print, and the insertion of a whole series of new figures and plates. In order, moreover, to obtain a fuller knowledge of the fresh materials and for the further investigation of certain doubtful points, I commissioned Dr. Mackenzie to visit Crete in the Autumn of 1920, and the valuable information that he was able to obtain for me on the spot is also incorporated in this work.
The present Volume, prefaced by a general sketch of the Course of Minoan Civilization, is devoted to a brief survey of the Neolithic stage and of the Early Minoan phases, followed by an account of the Palace in the Middle Minoan Age. It is hoped that the Second Volume may cover the history of the Later Palace and with it the First and Second Periods of the Late Minoan Age. A Third and supplementary Volume on a smaller scale will include a short history of the site in the concluding Late Minoan part of the Age, together with a tabular view of the Nine Minoan Periods, a general index, and Plans and Sections of the Palace in separate folding sheets and in a more elaborate form than has been yet attempted.
ARTHUR EVANS.
YOULBURY, BERKS., NEAR OXFORD, June i, 1921.
CONTENTS
PACT
THE MINOAN AGE (INTRODUCTION) . i
THE EGYPTIAN CHRONOLOGICAL SYSTEM ADOPTED IN THIS WORK 30
f .. THE NEOLITHIC STAGE IN CRETE 32
Mmoan Culture in Crete evolved out of Neolithic ; Caves and Rock-Shelters ; ' But and Ben ' Dwellings ; Deep Section at Knossos ; Evidences of High Antiquity ; ' Lower ', ' Middle ', and ' Upper ' Neolithic ; Typical products of ' Middle Neolithic ' phase; Inlaid Pottery; Steatopygous Clay Images; Ancestors of Stone types; Evolution of extended Figures ; Aegean and Anatolian families related — wide Oriental range ; Prototypes of Mother Goddess ; Stone Implements ; Chrysocolla stud ; Primitive Commerce.
THE EARLY MINOAN AGE
§ a. EARLY MINOAN I ; WITH SUB NEOLITHIC (E. M. I) . . . .56 Sub-Neolithic phase ; Incipient use of potter's oven ; Votive Deposit at Mochlos ; Clay Horns of Consecration ; Pedestalled bowls ; Sepulchral Cave of Pyrgos, N.E. of Knossos; Tall Chalices — atrophied ' Wishing-bone ' handles ; Burnished decoration — imitations of woodwork graining; Comparisons with Arkalokhori Chalice— E. M. Ill; Pedestalled bowls and suspension pots ; Trojan and Cycladic parallels; Early painted ware ; Incipient use of lustrous paint ; Further evolution of figurines ; Egyptian Stone Vases of Pre-dynastic and Proto-dynastic types found at Knossos ; Was there a Settlement from Nile Valley ? Copper implements known — Chalcolilhic phase; ' Egypto-Libyan ' seal types — monstrous forms — Evolution of Minotaur; Rectangular Houses ; Ossuary ' Tholoi ' ; Chronological clues supplied by Egyptian evidence.
§ 3. EARLY MINOAN II (E. M. II) . . . . .7'
Acme of Early Minoan Culture ; Early buildings of Vasiliki ; Painted Plaster on Walls; Primitive 'Tholoi'; 'House Tombs' of Mochlos; Pottery with dark on light decoration ; Vessels from E. M. I House-floors, Knossos ; Origin of ' butterfly ' ornament ; Clay Boats and Tables of Offering ; Prototypes of classical ' Kernoi ' ; Mottled Ware ; Comparisons with Early Egyptian spouted vessels ; Cynocephali on Ivory Seals ; 'Idols' of proto-Egyptian form; Faience Bowl and Beads; Influence of Fourth to Sixth Dynasty Stone Vases; Carinated Bowls; Stone Vases from Mochlos; Relief of Dog; Cylinders and Seals of Clay and Ivory ; Goldsmith's work ; Flowers and Foliage; 'Eye bandages' — Embryo Death Masks— anticipations of Mycenae; Copper Arms and Implements; Votive Double Axes; Dove pendants; Chronological limits.
§ 4- EARLY MINOAN III (E. M III) .... , . .103
Partial Set-back ; Characteristic E. M. Ill Features ; Cycladic Connexions ; ' Egypto- Libyan' Influences substituted for Purer Dynastic; Great Circular Hypogaea at Knossos ; One excavated under S. Porch of Palace ; Bee-hive vault and staircase, tunnelled in rock ; Probably subterranean S. entrance of an earlier Palace ; E. M. Ill
xiv CONTENTS
PAGE
Pottery ; Light on Dark Decoration ; Beginnings of true polychrome technique ; Cycladic Elements — Pyxides and Marble ' Idols ' ; Grotesque Vessels ; Ivory Seals ; Animal figures ; Specimens from Ossuary Tholos of Platanos ; Cylinders and Conoids ; Meander and Labyrinth Pattern— Sixth Dynasty Comparisons; ' Egypto-Libyan ' Button-seals — Source of Cretan 'double sickle' Types; Three-sided Bead-seals; Female potters and draught-player ; Imitation of Egyptian draught-board sign (men) ; Leg Amulets; Burial Urns and Clay Cists — Proto-Egyptian and Libyan Com- parisons; Approximate dating of E. M. III.
THE MIDDLE MINOAN AGE THE FIRST MIDDLE MINOAN PERIOD (M. M. I)
§5. M.M.I: (A) FOUNDATION OF KNOSSIAN PALACE . . . .127 Age of Palaces begins ; Traces of earlier foundation at Knossos ; M. M. I elements of Palace at Knossos ; Wall construction and analysis ; Early signs on base blocks of enceinte — parallel signary at Phaestos ; Relations of Craftsmen's signs to Linear Script; Early Keep with walled pits; ' Insulae ' within fortified enceinte; Rounded angles of original W. block ; Terra-cotta water-pipes ; M. M. I stage at Phaestos ; Early Pillar Basement at Knossos ; Oval House, Chamaezi ; Rounded angles of Knossian ' insulae ' compared : Foundation Walls of Palace ; Ossuary ' Tholoi ' superseded by Cists ; tendency towards individual interment ; Clay sarco- phagi and jars.
§6. M.M.I: (B) THE PEAK SANCTUARY OF KNOSSOS, AND THE 'TOMB
OF ZEUS' 151
Cretan Cult of natural features ; Specially prominent at beginning of Middle Minoan Age ; Rock sanctuaries ; Votive objects of Petsofa ; Exploration of similar votive stratum on Summit of Juktas ; Outer Temenos wall enclosing early settlement ; Was it a City of Refuge ? Inner shrine and Ash altar ; Peak Sanctuary of the Early Palace — Traditional 'Tomb of Zeus'; Gold Signet from Knossos illustrating early Baetylic Cult ; Minoan ' Beth-el ' ; Mother Goddess and youthful Satellite ; Anatolian parallels ; Minoan signet showing mourning scene at tomb of young warrior God— Cretan Zeus; Baetylic obelisk on Knossian ring- -illustration of 'Tomb of Zeus'; Cave sanctuaries of Psychro (' Diktaion Antron') and Kamares ; That of Knossos recognized in the great Cave of Skoteinb.
§ 7. M.M.I: (C) CERAMIC PHASES — PRE-PALATIAL (a) AND LATER (b) . 164 Beginnings of M. M. I phase precede foundation of Palace ; Earlier Centres of Culture in E. Crete ; Great advance in Arts and Crafts at Knossos at close of E. M. Ill; Evidences of a local predecessor of Palace; Series of early M.M.I deposits beneath Palace floors ; Deposit under Room of Stone Vats ; Its varied contents — clay sealings with hieroglyphs of Class A, egg-shell ware, advanced lapidaries' work, faience and inlays; Fore-arm of figurine — analogies with later Temple Repositories; Abiding sanctity of area; Other contemporary deposits belonging to M. M. la; Votive clay ' sheep-bells ' ; Growing polychromy on pottery, shown in M. M. I b • Early geometric patterns ; Influence of stone vases on ceramic polychromy ; ' Barbotine ' ornament ; Moulded and naturalistic decora- tion ; Animal Figures; Flowers and Foliage; Shells; Deposit beneath W. Court; ' Rhytons ' in form of bulls, with acrobats ; Burial jars and chests.
§8. M.M.I: (D) METAL- WORK, SEALS, AND FOREIGN RELATIONS . 191 Silver vessels and clay imitations ; ' Kantharos ' type points to Trojan source ; Influence of Early Troadic silver trade ; Clay imitations of bron/e amphoras ; Bronze weapons and implements ; Hieroglyphic Script. Class A ; Seals and sealings ; Hemi- cylinder of Ivory with Betrothal Scene; Babylonian cylinder from Platanos; Ishtar
CONTENTS xv
PAH
the Interceder and Syrian Adad ; Chronological indications supplied by discovery ; Imitation and adaptation of Early Twelfth Dynasty Scarab types ; Appearance of Hippopotamus Goddess — later source of beneficent Minoan Genii ; Decorative seal types of Egyptian derivation ; Influence of Egyptian ceiling patterns ; ('(inclusions as to chronological limits of M. M. I.
THE SECOND MIDDLE MINOAN PERIOD (M. M. II) §9. M. M. II: (A) CONSOLIDATION OF KNOSSIAN PALACE . . . 203
Earlier Palace Plan consolidated ; Its Regional arrangement — survival of original ' Insulae ' ; Great Cutting on E. slope ; Architectural parallels between Knossos and Phaestos ; Roman and later Comparisons ; Raised Causeways ; Orthostatic Walls ; ' Kalderim ' and ' Mosaiko ' paving ; High Column bases ; Use of variegated materials ; Early Palace types of Porch ; N.W. Portico and Entrance system ; ' Lustral ' Basin and Initiatory Area ; Scene of purificatory rites for those entering Building ; Early Shrines — example at Phaestos ; Miniature Terra-cotta Shrine from Loom- Weight Basement at Knossos ; Columns with perched doves — sign of Divine Possession ; Doves perched on Votaries at Knossos and Mycenae; Portable Seat for Divinity or Priest ; Early use of palanquins.
§ 10. M. M. II: (B) DRAINAGE AND SANITARY SYSTEM . .. . .225
Drainage System in Knossian Palace ; Stone Drains of Northern Entrance ; Tributary systems of Northern and North-Western 'Insulae'; Drainage system of Domestic Quarter — complete circuit ; Tributary system of North-Eastern Palace Region ; Shafts for roof drainage, access and ventilation ; Later changes ; Latrine of Domestic Quarter — modern arrangements ; Upper story drainage system.
§ u. M.M. II: (C) ROYAL POTTERY STORES; ACME OF POLYCHROME
FABRICS ...... . .231
Magazines and great Pithoi ; New stratigraphic evidence ; Storage pits and cists ; Ceramic types ; Mature style of ' Barbotine ' decoration, combined with brilliant polychromy ; Architectonic influences, and earlier ' Palace Style ' ; Bull's Head and Ostrich Egg ' rhytons ' ; Imitations of Breccia Veining ; Royal Pottery Stores— Egg- shell cups and bowls ; Imitation of inlaid metal work ; Arcaded fluting on cups at Knossos and Mycenae — the Sacral 'S'; Egg-shell ware copies of vessels in precious metals of Royal Treasury ; Originals from Shaft-Graves of Mycenae ; Early ceramic imitations of ' Vapheio ' Cups ; ' Thorn-bossed ' bowl ; Fine polychrome vase from Knossos with foliated scroll-work ; Imported examples found at Phylakopi ; Acme of polychrome decoration about middle of this Period ; the M. M. II a Ceramic style.
§12. M.M. II: (D) THE LOOM-WEIGHT DEPOSIT: LATER CERAMIC
PHASE (b) AND REACTION OF WALL-PAINTING . 248
Basement Chambers N. of Domestic Quarter ; Stratified contents ; M. M. Ill remains in upper layers ; Contents of lower Basements mature M. M. II ; ' Loom-Weight I >eposit ' — Evidences of religious connexion ; Miniature Shrine and votive vessels ; Painted plaster decoration and plaster Cist ; Ceramic characteristics of Deposit ; The Palm Tree Jar ; Lunate frieze on vessel ; Imitations of painted plaster pattern ; Architectonic origin of bands of disks; Mature polychrome style— M. M. II*: Stellate flowers with pointed petals ; Pottery from latest M. M. II deposits at Phaestos parallel with that from I x>om Weight area; Evidences of a contemporary catastrophe ; Imported Minoan pottery at Kahun, &c., in Egypt represents earlier and later M. M. II styles; Origin of foliate bands from flower chains; the Abydos Vase from Xllth Dynasty Tomb; Chronological conclusions.
xvi CONTENTS
PAGE
§ 13. M.M.II: (E) THE HIEROGLYPHIC DEPOSIT: SEALINGS AND SEAL-
STONKS .... . .... 271
Advance in naturalistic design also affects glyptic works; Gem-impressions on Clay Sealings from Hieroglyphic Deposit; Attempts at portraiture— Effigies attributed to Minoan Dynast and his Son ; Naturalistic scenes on other seal-impressions ; Types of M. M. II seals ; Signets and prism seals with hieroglyphic formulas ; Royal bead- seal ; Advanced Hieroglyphic Script of Class B; Clay bars, labels, and tablets; Linearized sign groups ; Numerals ; Independent Evolution of Minoan Hieroglyphic script, aided by Egyptian suggestion; Hieroglyphic signary — an epitome of early Cretan culture ; Selected signs— Saffron, Bee, Olive Spray, and Ship ; Silphium-like figures — compared with types on coins of Cyrene.
§14. M. M. H : (F) EGYPTIAN MONUMENT AND RELATIONS . . .286
Diorite Egyptian Monument of User found in Palace —Twelfth or early Thirteenth Dynasty date ; Connected with Nome of Goddess Wazet (Aphroditopolite) ; Minoan intercourse with Egypt, uninterrupted to c. 1760; Approximate date of close of M. M. II ; Cretan craftsmen employed for Pyramids of Illahun and Hawara ; Egyptian religious influence on Crete ; Sea-communications — discovery of submerged pre- Hellenic port of Isle of Pharos ; Colossal construction of harbour works ; Estimate of Minoan and Egyptian factors in their execution ; Port of Pharos visited by Menelaos ; Question of Minoan ports of Crete ; Considerable submergence on N. Coast ; Ancient harbour and port town of Knossos — includes Venetian port of Candia ; Island of Dia ; Minoan port of Hagia Pelagia ; Catastrophe at end of M. M. II synchronous with break-up of Egyptian unity ; Perhaps symptomatic of wider movements in E. Mediterranean Basin.
§ 15. M.M.II: (G) THE TOWN MOSAIC 301
'Town Mosaic'; Circumstances of discovery — in M. M. Ill a filling material; Probably heirloom from M. M. II b Sanctuary; Ivory 'Draughtsmen' in same deposit; _ Fragmentary remains of large Composition; Central feature towers and houses of fortified town ; Associated features relating to land and sea ; Warriors, ship and negroid figures ; Fa9ades of Town Houses ; Modern impression — four- and six- paned windows; Architectural affinities with Terra-cotta Shrine and M. M. II con- struction ; Sanctuary on Wall ; The Warriors and their Arms ; Figured representations more archaic than those of faience objects of Temple Repositories ; Comparison with Chest of Kypselos ; Libyan element in Composition — Comparison of negroid heads with 'Jewel Relief; Plaques in shape of scales with Double Axe marks; Scales, Oriental Convention for rocks ; Survivals on later Minoan ' rhytons ' with Siege Scenes ; Theme of the beleaguered City and Epic tradition.
THE THIRD MIDDLE MINOAN PERIOD (M. M. Ill)
16. M. M. Ill: (A) THE BEGINNING OF THE NEW ERA .... 315
Epoch of Transition ; Heralded by great catastrophe at end of M. M. II ; Continuity of culture preserved— but emergence of new elements ; Possible Dynastic change ; New linearized Script, Class A ; Partial dislocations at Knossos ; Close of Period well marked by stratified deposits and great Remodelling ; Data from W. and E. wing contrasted; Great filling in on E. slope; Evidences of intermediate M. M. Ill phases ; Line of delimitation between M. M. Ill and L. M. I more definite in pottery; Difficulties attending some of the greater naturalistic works such as wall- paintings and reliefs ; Such can only be referred to a great Transitional Epoch ; Importance of Spiral Fresco Deposit ; Magazine of ' Medallion ' Pithoi and Corridor of Bays.
CONTENTS xvii
PARK
§ 17. M.M. Ill: (B) THE DOMESTIC QUARTER 32-
Dramatic development of the Excavation — discovery of Grand Staircase and Residential Quarter in great East Cutting ; The ' Domestic Quarter '; Preservation of Upper Stories ; Work of Restoration ; Halls of Colonnades and Double Axes ; 'Quern's Megaron'; Court of Distaffs; Alteration of Drainage System; Service Quarter and Staircase ; Room of Stone Bench and Upper Hall of Double Axes ; System above Queen's Megaron— Bedrooms, Bath-rooms, and I^atrines ; Treasury of Shrine; The Grand Staircase of five flights,— approached from Central Court ; Tapering wooden columns — their origin in primitive stone pillars ; Low column hases ; Use of Cypress wood ; Evidence of fluted columns ; M. M. Ill Construction : Timber framework of walls and windows ; Important architectural equations supplied by area of Spiral Fresco; Chronological data— structural core of Domestic Quarter M.M. Illrt ; Existing superficial features mainly M. M. Ill 6 and I>ate Minoan ; 1'assage East of Domestic Quarter—' Marbled' and ' labyrinth ' frescoes; Egyptian Meander as House Plan; The Labyrinth and Minotaur at Knossos.
§ iS. M.M. Ill: (C) NORTH-EAST BORDERS AND BASEMENTS OF M.M. Ill
EAST HALL . . » 360
Northern Branch of Lower E.-W. Corridor; Columnar Lobby and Upper Story block; N.E. Room — Submergence of M.M. II Magazines with Great Knobbed Pithoi; Court of Stone Spout and M. M. Ill Wall ; Earlier gypsum facade line of a N.E. ' Insula ', running E.-W. ; Presumed Stepway to E. Postern ; Corridor North blocked in M.M. 1116 and converted to Magazine; So-called 'School Room'; Enclave including 'Loom-Weight Basement'; Its later M. M. Ill stratification; M.M. Ill Walls superposed here on M. M. II ; Important Deposit with Spiral Fresco, Column bases, and painted stucco bas-reliefs of bull-grappling scenes; Comparison of fresco bands with decoration of tank in bull-catching scene on gem ; Remains derived from M.M. Ill East Hall above; Drainage system of its Court — Vertical ducts, stone drain-heads, and Conduit ; Stone spout and blind well choked with M. M. Ill sherds ; Substructures showing Plan of great East Hall.
§ 19. M.M. Ill: (D) NORTH QUARTER AND ENTRANCE . . . . 3X5
Continuation North of Upper Terrace Facade ; The ' North-East Portico ' — through passage to Postern on the East; 'The Northern Quarter'; Destruction due to Vicinity of I^ater Town ; In M. M. Ill, probably Workmen's Quarter ; Signs of improved conditions in L. M. I; Discovery of Inlaid Draught-board; Fallen from Upper Floor — connected with L. M. I East Hall, though probably M. M. Ill heir- loom ; Ivory Draughtsmen from border area ; Description of Gaming Board postponed to later Section ; The ' Corridor of the Draught-board ' and Stepway to Central Court; North-Eastern Hall and connected Store-rooms— four-columned .Megaron; N.E. Magazines; North-Eastern Entrance; Its system probably linked with that of Northern Entrance ; Built drain running to main Cloaca of N. Entrance ; The Northern Entrance Passage: Narrowed in M. M. Ill, with Bastions on either side; M.M. Ill Masonry and Signs; Eastern line of Bastions later removed; Portico above W. Bastions, subsequent to this removal ; Sally Port and inner ( lateway : Bastion and Tower dominating outer Gateway ; Approached by Roadway from West and from Harbour Town— the ' Sea Gate ' of the Palace ; Propylon and Guard-room; Extensive fortification of N. approach; Hall of Eleven Pillars — probably Depot, with Loggia above ; North Pillar Crypt— M. M. Ill a Construction and Signs; Crypt of Columnar Sanctuary: Well of Greek Geometrical Period.
§ 20. M. M. Ill : (E; NORTH-WEST BAILEY AND LUSTRAL AREA . 4°5
N.W. Entrance System — scene of initiatory rites; N.W. Bailey and Temenos of Lustral Area : The ' Lustral Busin ' ; Its Store-house or Treasury : Stratified deposit within Basin ; Earlier and Later stages of M. M. Ill represented ; Ritual vessels of
I b
xviii CONTENTS
PAGE
Clay and Stone from Basin ; Stone Ewers ; Inlaid limestone bowls— their painted clay imitations ; ' White-dotted Ware ' and other contemporary types ; Moulded ears of barley on small jug; Pedestallecl Vases; Polychrome imitation of Egyptian Alabastron type; ' White dotted Ware' M. M. Ill a; Discovery in same Deposit of Alabastron lid of Hyksos King, Khyan ; Place of Khyan in Hyksos series ; Pharaonized Dynast — re-unites all Egypt ; Predecessor of the Apepis ; Chronological materials ; Wide range of Khyan's Monuments ; Approximate date of close of M. M. Ill a. Khyan's lid evidence of peaceful intercourse rather than of Conquest ; Use of Alabastra in connexion with Lustral Basins.
§ 21. M. M. Ill: (F) WEST PALACE REGION, AND DOUBLE AXE CULT . 423
Approach to Central Court from N.W. — used by Votaries ; Miniature Frescoes from Upper Sanctuary on this side ; W. Porch — Royal or Official entrance ; Porch and Corridor in existing shape Late Minoan ; W. Palace Section — Tripartite division ; Sanctuary and Treasure-house ; Pillar Rooms — Crypts of Columnar Sanctuaries ; Significance of Double Axe Marks; Evidence supplied by S.E. House of M. M. Ill date ; Its Pillar Room and Ritual Table ; Double Axe sign on pillar and pyramidal base of Axe ; Vessels of offering and ' Sacral Knot' of ivory ; ' Sacral Knots ' in Minoan cult; Minoan ' Tartan '; Early Cave in corner of Pillar Crypt ; Pillar with Double Axe sign in Palace of Malia ; Discovery of Sanctuary of Niru Khani — colossal Double Axe heads ; Bases of Double Axes in Knossian Palace ; Ritual from Sarcophagus of H. Triada ; Evocation of the Dead ; • Tomb of Double Axes ' at Knossos ; Columnar sanctuary above Pillar Room at Knossos ; Bases of fallen Columns ; Fragments of architectural frescoes found beneath later Cists ; Fagade of Columnar Sanctuary of Double Axes ; Axes inserted in Columns ; Comparison from Mycenae ; Use of Variegated materials ; Frescoes from Shrine above ; Double Axe central feature in cult of Minoan Goddess ; The Palace regarded as ' House of the Double Axes '.
§ 22. M. M. Ill: (G) FLOOR-CISTS OR 'KASELLES' OF WESTERN PALACE
REGION ..." 448
Separate enclosure of section of West Magazines ; Enclave of the ' Kaselles ' or Floor-Cists ; Those of the Long Gallery ; Remains of precious contents ; Some Cists used as Vats; Original Cists ; Closed at end of M. M. Ill ; Stratigraphic evidence of Cists beneath Stepped Porch ; ' Kaselles ' of Eighth Magazine ; Superficial recipients, of later construction ; M. M. Ill relics in filling beneath these ; Traces of later use as Oil Vats ; Mostly paved over by close of L. M. I ; Three Epochs traceable in West Magazines — three Stages in construction of their Entrances.
§ 23. M.M. Ill: (H) THE TEMPLE REPOSITORIES AND ROYAL DRAUGHT- BOARD 463
Treasury Quarter of Palace ; Survival of pre-Palace Cult Centre ; Superficial Cists of Later Shrine ; Discovery of earlier Temple Repositories beneath them ; Their Contents; M.M. Ill Pottery; Precious relics below; The Western Repository; Broken Stone Hammers ; Remains of Treasure Chests ; Gold foil and inlays ; Comparison of inlays with Royal Draught-board ; Its description ; Crystal' plaques with Silver and Kyanos backing ; Argonauts and Marguerites ; Plan and Character of Game ; The ' Citadel ' ; Compared with Greek ' Polls ' ; Discovery of ivory ' men ' — compared with Predynastic Egyptian type ; Solar symbol on base of one of these ; Connected with Minoan Goddess on mould and fresco ; Reconstruction of part of Draught-board from Temple Repository; Parallel remains from Fourth Shaft Grave at Mycenae; Small ivory disks with Minoan 'Craftsmen's marks'; Faience inlays of Mycenae Board—of Knossian Palace fabric ; ' Sacral Knots ' of faience associated with Board; Deposit of Gaming Boards in Tombs: Egyptian practice; Minoan Boards dedicated to Goddess and a special property of Dead.
CONTENTS xix
PAGM
§ 24. M.M.III: (I) KNOSSIAN FAIKNCK : Tin-: HEADS .... 486
Fnience fabrics from IVth Shaft Grave identical with those of TempK- Ri-positoriVs at Knossos: Evidences of early development of native faience in Crete; Its Egyptian origin; Moulds found at Knossos; Analysis of Knossian faience (Re- srarches of Church and Heaton); Method of manufacture ; The Palace fabric of Knossos; The faience beads—imitations of Egyptian types; History of the 'segmented' variety; Diffusion of faience bead types by Minoan Commerce; Occurrence of segmented and other imported forms in S.K. Spain and British Isles; Chronological bearing on Western Bronze Age; General indications of Minoan connexions with West Mediterranean Basin; festoons, apparently of beads and pendants, between Columns of Minoan shrines.
§ 25. M.M.III: (K) THE SNAKE GODDESS AND RELICS OK HER SIIKINE 49,5
Contents of West Temple Repository — inscribed tablets, seal-impressions; Bone and ivory relics ; Sacrificial element— Libation tables ; Faience relics from Eastern Repository ; Votive bowls and ewer ; Rose-leaf Chalice ; Fruits and flowers ; The Snake Goddess ; Her Votary or Double— fashionable dress ; Lioness crest of Votary ; Lions, concomitants of Goddess ; Votive robes and girdles of faience ; Priestesses as Snake Charmers ; Survival of Cult of Snake Goddess— Chryselephantine figure from Knossos; Berlin bronze figure with triple coil of snakes— Cretan, L. M. I; Later shrines at Gournia and Prinias ; Snakes emblem of Chthonic divinity ; Snake as domestic genius ; Wazet, Snake Goddess of Western Delta ; Her papyrus symbol — adopted in Crete; Her Uraeus suggests serpent crest of Minoan Goddess; Faience reliefs of Cow and Calf— reflect Cult of Isis and Hathor — Parallel group of Goat and Kids ; Cruciform star symbols of Hathoric Cow, adopted by Minoan Cult ; Cross, primitive pictograph of Star ; Cruciform symbols on Sealings from VV. Repository— Cross as sole type ; Cruciform inlay and faience ; Marble Cross of Orthodox shape from Repository ; Painted sea shells— pebbles on floors of Minoan Shrines ; Flying fish panel and moulded marine subjects in clay ; Compared with Fish Frescoes of Knossos and Phylakopi.
§ 26. M.M.III: (L) MINOAN FRESCO: WALL PAINTINGS AND RELIEFS . 524
Painted Plaster Reliefs — imitated in those of faience ; Dating of the mural reliefs ; The Jewel Relief fragment — part of a life-size toilet scene ; Probably derived from Columnar Hall above Pillar Crypts ; M. M. Ill frescoes on the flat ; Scenes of Bull Ring : The Minoan Fresco process ; Early Minoan plaster partly structural ; Advanced Middle Minoan technique ; Stucco layers— thinner on Gypsum ; Stucco Reliefs ; Analysis of material— Subterranean Quarry whence obtained ; ' Labyrinth ' of Gortyna compared ; Early Minoan Red facing ; Pigments used in later frescoes— the Egyptian Blue ; True fresco process on wet plaster ; Pure caustic lime plaster, — a lost Art; Artistic Shorthand of Miniature Frescoes ; M. M. Ill Frescoes of S.E. House; The Lily Fresco; Olive sprays; Spikelets of Reeds — masterpieces of Naturalistic Art. Parallels from H. Triada ; The Cat and Pheasant fresco — parallels at Knossos ; Free adaptation of Nilotic Scenes ; Flying Fish Fresco, Phylakopi — work of Knossian School; Dolphin Fresco of Queen's Megaron — M. M. Ill; Connexions of Fish Frescoes ; F'ine fresco designs of female forms by Knossian hand in Melos ; The ' Ladies in Blue ' ; ' Notched plume ' decoration on votive arrows ; On wings of Sphinxes and Griffins ; Combined with asterisk — a stellar symbol ; Asterisks on stucco face of Sphinx ; Notched plume motive on skirts of Goddess ; Degenerations of notched plume motive; Its occurrence on hearths at Knossos and Mycenae.
xx CONTENTS
PAGE
§ 27. M. M. Ill: (M) THE PALACE POTTERY STORES. . 5.52
Abundant material supplied by Palace deposits; Falling off of ceramic fabric- consequent on Catastrophe of M. M. II ; Quick wheel, too, fatal to egg-shell and embossed wares ; Symptoms of recovery ; Reaction on pottery of revival of Stone Vase-making ; Naturalistic mouldings on Clay vessels ; Palatial Store-jars ; Influence of naturalistic Wall-paintings ; M. M. Ill Pottery Stores and deposits of Palace ; S.W. Basement — fish-bones in kitchen utensil, inscribed jar ; The Temple Repositories — imported Melian vessels ; Bird on Melian Vases derived from Minoan Griffin ; Incised signs on handles, &c. ; Royal Magazines— ' Medallion' pithoi ; Pithos with signet impressions; Signets with architectural facades ; Store of culinary and other pots — knobbed decoration; Probable ritual destination; N.E. Magazines; M. M. Ill layer above Royal Pottery Stores ; Area E. of these; The 'S.E. Insula' — its sanctuary character and Initiatory Area ; Ointment pots from S.E. Lustral Basin ; Residential Section of S. E. Insula ; Magazine of the Lily Jars — Candlestick of Egyptian type ; S.E. Bathroom and painted clay Bath ; Domestic Shrine ; Magazine of False-spouted Jars ; Their evolution symptomatic of improved conditions ; Quadruple Axe motive ; Burial Jar with stellar symbol; Urn burials and clay coffins ; Deposit with Ink- inscribed Cups; Forms of M M. Ill Cups ; Signs of quick wheel — spiral Convolu- tions and string-cut bases.
§ 28. M. M. Ill: (N) SURVIVALS OF CERAMIC POLYCHROMY AND RISE OF
NATURALISM 591
Dated deposits of close of M. M. Ill ; Contrasts with M. M.II — result of Catastrophe ; Monochrome decoration again general; Tortoise-shell rippled ware, anticipation of new style ; Survivals of true polychromy ; Polychrome Rhyton of Ostrich Egg type with decorative group of Palm-trees ; Vessels from Well, Gypsades ; Polychrome jars from Repositories ; Imitations of conglomerate and breccia ; Basin with coloured imitation of granulated rock-work ; Minoan wash-basins prototypes of Melian Class ; Coiled sprays, M. M. Ill feature on painted sherds from Mycenae Shaft Graves ; Shaft Grave sherds paralleled by jars from Temple Repositories ; Influence of Naturalistic Wall-painting on pottery ; The ' Lily jars ' compared with H. Triada fresco ; Vetches, Tulips, and Reeds or Grasses on Vases ; Exclusion of Human and Animal figures from pottery — contrast with wall-paintings ; Fish, however, repre- sented ; Reflection of Dolphin Fresco on M. M. Ill jars ; Class of small reliefs of marine subjects ; ' Axe plants ' on M. M. Ill jar ; anticipation of late ' Palace Style ' ; Tangential loops on M. M. Ill Vases — link with early 1^ M. I decoration.
§ 29. M. M. Ill: (O) THE LINEAR SCRIPT A AND ITS SACRAL USAGE . 612
Hieroglyphic system superseded by advanced Linear Script A ; Palace documents of M. M. Ill date; Cups with ink-written Inscriptions— from Sanctuary site ; Graffiti on Palace pottery of M. M. Ill date; Clay documents of Temple Repositories; Early form of tablets ; Tablets from S.E. Insula—' talent ' and ' drachm ' signs ; Business documents with numerals— inventories ; Clay 'roundels', inscribed and sealed; Gypsum chip used as trial piece, from Kasella; Lapidary inscriptions of religious character ; Inscribed Votive Stone Ladles from Mountain Sanctuaries of Knossos ; Clay Votive Ladle from Early Minoan deposit at Knossos ; Specimens from votive stations on peak of Juktas and on foot-hill at Trullos ; Recurring dedicatory formula on Trullos Ladle— associated with Throne and Sceptre Sign ; Similar formula on Libation Table from Psychro Cave ; On Libation Table and Stone Cup from Palaikastro; Inscribed Votive Tablet of bronze from Psychro Cave; Name of Votary inscribed in characters of Class A— parallel phenomenon on Votive Figurine from Tylissos ; Ritual interpretation of signs on tablet — oAoAuyr; ; Triple aspect of Cult of Minoan Goddess; Dedicatory formula connected with Cradle, Temple, and I omb of Cretan Zeus; Official adoption of new Script due to hieratic influences; General knowledge of Art of Writing-Graffiti on Walls; Diffusion of script for
CONTENTS xxi
commercial purposes to Melos, &c. ; Earlier anticipations of advanced Linear Script on Seal Stones; Systemati/.ation by Central Authority in M. M. Ill ; Synopsis of ('lass A ; Comparisons between Linear and Hieroglyphic sigruiries ; Coni|>ound and barred signs and Numeration ; Relations of Linear Classes A and B— evidences of overlapping.
§ 30. THE PHAESTOS DISK IN ITS MINOAN RELATIONS . . '. . 647
Tablet of Class A found with imprinted Disk at Phaestos ; In Cist with M. M. Ill b pottery; Non-Minoan character of Disk; Hieroglyphs stamped by novel method; Order of Sign-Groups on Disk; The Signary — small common element with Minoan Scripts; The ' Manacles' sign ; Artistic execution of Signs compared with Minoan ; At date of Disk Hieroglyphs superseded by linear signs in Crete ; Indications of connexion with S.W. Anatolia ; Plumed cap and round shield of later Sea-rovers ; Arrow sign on Ship ; Anatolian religious element — Symbols of Goddess Ma ; Pagoda-like building — Lykian parallels ; Specialized character of signs on Disk ; Pictographs not of ancient derivation but drawn from contemporary life ; Phonographic elements — dual Groups; Preponderant ideography ; Simple mnemonic element ; Division into Sections— terminal dashes; Symmetrical arrangement of two faces ; Recurrent sets of sign-groups — suggesting refrains ; Metrical character of Composition ; Record of Sea raid — connected with S.W. Region of Asia Minor ; Comparison of later Egyptian Sea raids of Lykians and Confederates ; Pylon of Medinet Habu ; Religious connexion of Disk — a ' Te Deum ' of Victory ; Cretan Philistines among later Sea-Raiders; But Disk not a record of Philistines in Minoan Crete; Non- Minoan accoutrements of warriors on Disk; Keftians true Minoan representatives; Disk a foreshadowing of later ethnic relations ; An Evidence of M. M. Ill connexion between Crete and S.\V. Anatolia ; Unique record.
§ 31. M. M. Ill: (?) SEAL TYPES AND THEIR RELATIONS WITH GREATER ART .- •
Change in Signet types — no longer present inscriptions ; Survivals of hieroglyphic prism seals ; Lentoid and amygdaloid bead-seals ; Signet rings as those of IVth Shaft Grave — impressions of such ; Gems of Sphungaras Urns — Talismanic Class ; ' Milk Stones ' ; Architectural, pillared and gabled, class — Rustic Shrines ; Intaglios on ' Flattened Cylinders ' ; Plated Steatite example and parallel supplied by rhyton fragment ; Fisherman and ' Skaros ' fish ; Repository Hoard of Clay Seal-impressions —unique chronological value ; Contemporary Hoards of Zakro and Hagia Triada; Specimens of Costume and Armour on Sealings of these Hoards ; Male types with flowing apron — illustrated by votive figurine ; The ' Ritual Cuirass ' ; Other con- temporary finds of Sealings at Knossos ; Use of Sieves in Excavation ; Religious types from Repository ; Horned sheep— a nurse of infant God ; Architectonic setting; Triple gradation beneath Bull-hunting scenes— taken from supports of friezes ; Triply graduated supports of Palace Reliefs ; Illustrations from Steatite rhytons; Columns between agonistic groups— pugilist and column on Sealing; Column equivalent of Grand Stand or Theatre ; Fragment of Knossian rhyton ; '1 he fallen champion of Boxing Ring ; Gladiatorial Scene on Sealing ; Wounded champion supported on one arm ; Scene of Combatants on Mycenae Signet adapted from agonistic episodes ; Ultimate influence of Minoan Theatral episodes on Epic imagery ; Episodes of Bull-ring on signets taken over from frescoes and reliefs ; Excerpts from Cattle Pieces ; Various types of Repository Sealings ; Instantaneous impressions of Nature ; Prototype of Scylla — Sea monster on Mycenae rhyton ; Comparisons with Zakro seal-types ; Middle Minoan and Early Egyptian Elements.
§ 32. M. M. Ill: (Q) WINGED CREATIONS AND THE 'FLYING GALLOP' 701
Middle Minoan Elements of the Zakro Sealings ; Fantastic types— constant variation to baffle forgers; Fancy thus called into play— rapid transformation of types;
xxii CONTENTS
Humorous and Demonic creations; Horned Imp on Earlier signet — 'Axe-winged' Goblin on Melian pots; Underlying Egyptian motives— talismanic Value of Waz symbol; Bats' and Butterflies' wings -winged symbol on M. M. II prism seal; Fantastic forms with birds' wings— Creatures of Fancy rather than Religion ; Did they become themes of Myth? — Mythical accretions to winged figures of Minoan creation ; Melian revival ; Winged Types appropriate to Age of Daedalos ; Winged forms in Crete and Xllth Dynasty Egypt; Prototypes of Griffin — Hawk-headed I, ions of Beni-Hasan; Egyptian 'Seraphim' and 'Cherubim'; Early Egyptian Griffins with Hawk's head and Minoan derivations; Minoan Griffins in 'Flying Gallop ' ; Crested Eagle-headed type ; The Egypto-Minoan Griffin — Peacock's plumes of Late Minoan forms; Galloping Griffin type traced to M. M. II ; The 'Flying Gallop ' in Art — introduced into Egypt from Crete ; Examples on Queen Aah- hotep's Dagger-blade; 'Flying Gallop' on M. M. Ill Sealings and Mycenae blades — parallel representations ; The ' Flying Leap ' on Cretan Seals — Recurrence on Hyksos Dagger-hilt; Engraved M. M. II dagger-blade — illustrations of 'Flying Gallop ' ; Fighting Bulls and Boar-hunt ; The Boar-hunt in Minoan Art ; Converging evidence of Minoan character of Mycenae relics — Arms and Goldsmith's Work.
MAPS
East Mediterranean Basin, showing Central Position of Crete. Also Central and Eastern Crete. (Facing p. i.)
PLANS AND SECTIONS
PAGE
Fig. i. Plan of Room of the Throne, Knossos 5
Fig. 4. Section of West Court, Knossos -33
Fig. 39. Plan of E. M. II Buildings, Vasiliki 71
Fig. 73. Plan of ' House Tomb', Mochlos (T. iv) showing But and Ben Plan . . 102
Fig. 74. Plan and Sections of Early Hypogaeum, beneath S. Porch of Palace, Knossos . 105 Fig. 1 01. Plan of Early Keep showing Deep Walled Cells . . . . . .138
Fig. 104. Plans and Sections of Clay Drain Pipes 143
Fig. 108. Plan of Oval House, Chamaezi 147
Fig. 1 13 /'. Sketch Plan of part of Ridge of Juktas showing Temenos and Shrine . 155
Fig. 114. Sketch Plan of early Sanctuary on Mount Juktas 157
Fig. 121. Part of Plan of W. Quarter of Palace showing position of Vat Room Deposit . 171 Fig- 152. Diagrammatic Plan of Palace showing conjectur.il indications of arrangement
at end of M. M. II . . . . . . , . . Facing 203
Fig. 158. Plan of West Porch of Palace, Knossos 214
Fig. 159. Plan of West Porch of Palace, Phaestos 214
Fig. 1 60. Plan of South-West Porch of Palace, Phaestos 214
Fig. 162. Plan of North-West Portico, Knossos 217
Fig. 163. Plan of 'Sacellum', Phaestos 218
1'igs. 164, 165. Plan and Section of Inner Sanctuary of Early Shrine, Phaestos . .219 tig. 1 71 a. Plan of Drainage System of Domestic Quarter .... Facing 227 Fig. \fib,c. Plan and Section of S.W. part of Drainage System as remodelled early in
M. M. Ill . . . ' ' . 227
Fig. 172. Plan and Section of Latrine . . . ... . 229
Fig. 173. Early Magazines beneath Light Court of Later Propylaeum, Phaestos . .231 Fig. 177. M. M. II floor with base of Knobbed Pithos and M. M. Ill Floor superposed.
Area of Early Keep, Knossos 235
Fig. 1870. Plan of Loom-Weight Basements ........ 250
Fig. 187 £. Section of Loom-Weight Basements Fact H if 250
Fig. 221. Sketch Plan of Pre-Hellenic Port of Pharos ".292
l''ig- 233- Section beneath M. M. Ill b Pavement of Magazine of ' Medallion Pithoi' 320
Fig 236. Plan of Royal Magazines 323
CONTENTS xxiii
I'V.K
Fig. 239. Plan of Ground Floor, Domestic Quarter I-'acing 329
Fig. 240. Plan of Upper Floor, Domestic Quarter . Kiting 329
Fil;. 247. Elevation of Grand Staircase ... . 340
Fig. 266. Plan of N.E. Border Section, showing M. M. \\\b partitioning . 367
Fig. 276. Plan of Drainage System of Early East Hall 381
Fig. 278. Ground Plan suggesting the arrangement of a great M. M. Ill East Hall above 383 Fig. 281. Plan of North-East Hall and Magazines . . . 389
Fig. 282. Restored Plan of N.E. Entrance . . . -39"
Fig. 286. Plan of Northern Entrance System in M. M. Ill Period . . 397
Fig. 290. Plan and Restored Section of North Pillar Crypt . 4«>3
Fig. 291. Plan of Northern Lustral Basin and Initiatory Area . . 4°6
Fig. 293. Plan of N. Lustral Basin 4°8
Fi'g. 294, A, B. Sections of N. Lustral Basin, looking E. and \V. . 409
Pig. 303. Section showing stratum containing Alabastron Lid of Khyan, beneath later
wall and floor .... . .418
Fig. 306. Plan of South-East House (M.M. Ill) . 4*6
Fig. 322. Plan of Part of West Section of Palace, showing 'Enclave of Kaselles' and
Repositories near Pillar Crypts of Central Shrine ... . 449
Fig. 323. Plan of Cross-wall and Doorway made to secure ' Enclave of Kaselles ' . 450
Fig. 325, A, B, c, D. Cists or ' Kaselles ' in Long Gallery, Plan and Longitudinal Section :
E, F, Plan and Section of Eighth Magazine, showing Cists or ' Kaselles ' and their
later conversion into Superficial Vats ... • To face 452
Fig. 326. Section under Stepped Portico (L. M. II) showing L. M. I Magazine superposed
on M. M. Ill Cist .... -454
Fig. 331. Plan of Entrance to Eighth Maga/ine showing successive changes . . 46'
Fig. 334. Two diagrammatic Views of East Cist of Repositories (M. M. Ill) showing
interlocking joints of slabs . . • 4^6
Fig. 335, A. Plan of ' Temple Repositories ' ; n, Section of Do. Fig. 414. Sketch Plan of North-East Maga/ines and contents . Fig. 418. Plan of M. M. Ill Structures in S.E. Insula of Palace Fig. 419. Plan of Construction in N.W. angle of S.E. Insula . Fig 425. F.ntrance to ' Maga/ine of False-Spouted Jars', showing clay partitions
TABLES AND COMPARATIVE EXAMPLES OF SIGNS
AND SCRIPT
Fig. 92. Table showing derivation of Cretan ' Double Sickle ' types from Reversed Lion
types on Egypto-I.ibyan Button Seals
Fig. 99. Incised Signs on Base Blocks of Early Palace Walls, Knossos . 135
Fig. 210. Hieroglyphic Sign Groups on Seals compared with linearized versions on Clay
Documents .... Fig. 2 r i. Numerals of Hieroglyphic Series Fig. 212. Egyptian Parallels to Minoan Signs Fig. 214. Conspectus of Hieroglyphic Signs . Fig. 215. Selected Groups of Hieroglyphic Signs .
Fig. 216. >f -like Signs, apparently representing Silphium ;84
Fig. 408. Inscribed Signs on Melian Pots compared with specimens of Minoan Linear
Script A
Fig. 451. <i, Ink-written Inscription inside larger M.M. Ill Cup; fi, reduced to normal
characters of Linear Class A Fig. 452. a, Ink-written Inscription inside smaller M. M. Ill Cup ; />, Rendered in Normal
forms of Linear Class A .
Fig. 476. Synopsis of Signs of advanced Linear Class A . Fig. 477. Comparative 'fable of Signs of the Hieroglyphic and Linear Scripts.
xxiv CONTENTS
PAG*
Fig. 478. Compound forms of Class A, with ' Hand and Arm ' Sign . 645
Fig. 479. Numerals of Linear Script, Class A • 646
Fig. 483. Synopsis of Signs on Phaestos Disk • 652
Fig. 484. ' Manacles' on Disk compared with sign of Linear Class A . . 653
Fig. 485. Selected Signs from Disk . . . . .654
Fig. 488 a, l>. Repetitions of Sign-Groups on the Disk, indicative of Refrains . 662
LIST OF COLOURED PLATES
FRONTISPIECE. Faience Figure of Snake Goddess.
Plate I. Barbotine Polychrome Ware and painted Plaster Imitation . . To face 231
„ II. Egg-shell Bowls of Polychrome Style (M. M. II a) . . . 241
„ III. Polychrome Pot (M. M. II a). Knossos 247
„ IV. The Saffron Gatherer Fresco (M. M. II) . . . . 265
„ V. Inlaid Gaming Board .'..'.. . 472
„ VI. Painted Plaster with Lily Sprays (M.M. Ill) . . 537
„ VII. Survivals of Polychromy on M.M. Ill Vessels . . . 596
LIST OF SUPPLEMENTARY PLATES
Plate I. Section of Orthostatic West Fa£ade of Palace with Interior still unexcavated. Raised Causeway in Front traversing Rough Polygonal Pavement of West Court.
„ II. Part of original West Court of Phaestos ; Steps of Reception Area to left with Raised Central Causeway and part of Orthostatic West Wall showing Early Shrine in Course of Excavation. (Beyond, on Higher Level, later Border of Court and Steps of M. M. Ill Propylaeon.)
„ III. a, Thorn-bossed Polychrome Tazza, M. M. II ; b, Fluted Top of M. M. II 'Fruit Stand ' showing Influence of Metal-work.
„ IV. M M. II Polychrome Vase and Egyptian Relics from Abydos Tomb.
,, V. Hall of Colonnades. Sketch made previous to Full Excavation of Grand Staircase and before Restoration of Supporting Columns of Balustrade, by Theodore Fyfe.
„ VI. Queen's Megaron previous to Reconstitution. To Left, Private Staircase ; to Right, Inner Section with East Light-Well and Part of South and Fast Colonnade of Hall of Double Axes beyond.
„ VII. View in Hall of Colonnades showing Window lighting Private Staircase.
„ VIII. View showing Supporting Blocks of North Column-base of North-East Portico.
,, IX. View of North-West Portico showing High Column-base and Remains of fine Polygonal Paving.
„ X. Pillar of East Pillar Room, Knossos, incised with Double Axes, Corner of Stone Vat to left.
„ XL Long Corridor of West Magazines, looking South : Ridge and Peak of Juktas beyond.
THE MINOAN AGE
' JfAGNUS An INTEGRO SAECLORUM NASC1TVR OKDO'
THK progressive revelations, from 1900 onwards, of a high early [rerm civilization on Cretan soil entailed the urgent necessity for devising cenaean' a new system and terminology for the Later Prehistoric Age in the
Aegean area. The term ' Mycenaean ' no longer sufficed. The great Palaces at Knossos and Phaestos, the smaller but exquisitely appointed building of the same class at Hagia Triada, the town sites of Gournia and Palaikastro, island settlements like Pseira, the archaic mansions of Vasi- liki, the cave sanctuaries of Psychro and Kamares, primitive ' tholos ' ossuaries like those of Messara, the early tombs of Mochlos and a further series of discoveries, to which each season adds, have brought forth a mass of materials not only showing us a contemporary culture, parallel with that of Mycenae, in its own home, but carrying the origins of that culture stage beyond stage to an incomparably more remote period. For the first time there has come'into view a primitive European civilization, the earliest phase of which goes back even beyond the days of the First Dynasty of Egypt.
To this early civilixation of Crete as a whToIe^I have proposed — and the Useful- suggestion has been generally adopted bj\ the archaeologists of this and ",."(*,' other countries — to apply the name ' Mjnoarp. By the Greeks themselves 'Mmoan'. the memory of the great Age that had preceded their own diffusion through- out the Aegean lands was summed up in the name of Minos.
It is true that very different traditions were connected with that name. On the one side we gain a vision of a beneficent ruler, patron of the arts, founder of palaces, stablisher of civilized dominion. On the other is depicted a tyrant and a destroyer. The grim aspect of the great justiciary Athenian as impressed on the minds of a later generation is already reflected in ^ ^nns he Homeric epithet oXoo^wv. It was, however, reserved for Athenian refuted. hauvinism so to exaggerate the tyrannical side of that early sea-dominion i to convert the Palace of a long series of great rulers into an ogre's den. •it the fabulous accounts of the Minotaur and his victims are themselves •pressive of a childish wonder at the mighty creations of a civilixation ueyond the ken of the new-comers. The spade of the excavator has indeed clone much to explain and confute them. The ogre's den turns out to be a peaceful abode of priest-kings, in some respects more modern in its equipments than anything produced by classical Greece. The monumental
I B
2 THE PALACE OF MINOS, ETC.
reliefs within its sea-gate — visible, it would appear, to a much later date— repre- senting bull-catching scenes and, still more, the fresco panels with feats of the bull-ring in which girls as well as youths took part, go far to explain the myth. It may even be that captive children of both sexes were trained to take part in the dangerous circus sports portrayed on the Palace walls.
Minos ' the destroyer ' may certainly have existed. That the yoke
of the more civilized ruler should at times have weighed heavily on subject
peoples is probable enough. But, in the main, the result of recent discovery
has been to confirm the more favourable side of Greek tradition.
Minos Until a full interpretation of the inscribed tablets is forthcoming
the Law- .... . . r ,
giver. it must remain impossible to obtain any actual excerpts trom the Laws of Minos', or to ascertain how much of the later legislation of Greece may go back to a far more ancient source. But the minute bureaucratic precision revealed by these clay documents, the official sealings and clocket- ings, their signing and countersigning, are symptoms that speak for themselves of a highly elaborated system of legislation. In view of such evidence the legendary account of Minos, like another Moses or Hammurabi, receiving the law from the hands of the divinity himself on the Sacred Mountain, may well be taken to cover the actual existence of a code associated with the name of one of the old priest-kings of Crete.
Patron of Qf orclered government we have the proof, and, in a not less striking
degree, the evidence of extraordinary achievements in peaceful arts. The Palace traditionally built for Minos by his great craftsman Daedalos has proved to be no baseless fabric of the imagination. The marvellous works brought to light at Knossos and on other sites show moreover that the artistic skill associated with his name fell, if anything, short of the reality. At the same time the multiplicity of technical processes already mastered, the surprising advance in hydraulic and sanitary engineering — leaving Egypt far behind — bear witness to a considerable measure of attainment in the domain of science. Almost, we are tempted to believe in Talos ' the mechanical man ', or that a Cretan headland was the scene of the first experirnent in aviation — the fatal flight of Ikaros !
Greek That the word ' Minoan ' was used bv the Greeks themselves in an
Minoas. i • j • II
ethnic or dynastic as well as a personal sense is shown by the constantly recurring term Minoa applied to traditional settlements from prehistoric Crete. In the neighbourhood of Gaza, the cult of the Cretan 'Zeus' lived on into late classical times. The name attaches itself to towns, islands, and promontories not only in Crete itself but throughout the Aegean world. In Delos we find the ' Minoid Nymphs'. On the mainland of
THE MINOAN AGE 3
Greece itself the islet that guards the port of Megara, and a headland of Laconia, bear this appellation. It recurs in Corcyra. In Sicily, where of rt-cent years a series of finds have come to light illustrative of a late off- shoot of the Minoan civilization, the ' Minoan ' Herakleia bears witness to its abiding tradition. For it was said that Daedalos sought refuge on Sicilian shores, and that Minos himself, following with an ill-fated expedition, found a grave and sepulchral shrine near this Westernmost Minoa.
The dynastic use of the word ' Minos ' may perhaps be compared with Dynastic that of Pharaoh, originally signifying him of the 'great house' (Per-o), and "Minos'. ' Minoan ' may thus be fairly paralleled with ' Pharaonic ' as a term for the dynastic civilization of Egypt. It seems certain that we must recognize in Divine Minos the bearer of a divine title. He is of divine parentage and himself ] the progenitor of divine beings. Son of Zeus by Europa, herself, perhaps, an Earth-Goddess,1 wedded to Pasiphae, ' the all-illuminating,' father of Ariadne ' the Most Holy ' — Minos, in the last two relationships at least, was coupled with alternative forms of the Mother Goddess of pre- Hellenic Crete.
But this divine element in Minos has a special significance in view Divine of a series of analogies supplied by the great religious centres of the K?ng« of geographically connected Anatolian regions. In these sanctuaries the priest Anatol'a- not only represented the God, wore his dress, and wielded his authority, but often also bore his name. A most conspicuous instance of this is found in the case of Attis - or Atys, whose chief-priest, the Archigallus, regularly took the same name.3 At Pessinus he was a priest-king. The divine nature of primitive kingship is of course almost universal.4 It is well illustrated indeed in the case of Egypt, whose Pharaohs took the titles of the ' Great God ', ' the golden Horus ', Son of the Sun-god (Ra), at times, Son of the Moon (Aah), or ' engendered of Thoth ', and so forth.
In Egypt, indeed, the royal and the priestly authority were kept some- what apart, and the Temple overshadowed the Palace. In the Anatolian centres the royal and the sacerdotal abode was one and the same, and the
1 See Farnell, Cults of the Greek States, ii, Ramsay refers to this practice in his recent p. 479. paper 'on The Shrine of the (lod Men
2 Kretschmer, Einleitiing in die Geschichte Askaenos at the Pisidian Antioch '. (Abstract Jcr xriec/tischcn Sprache, p. 195, points out that in Journ. of Hellenic Studies, xxxii, 1912, Attis and the Great Mother with whom he is pp. xlix.l.) See also his Sketches in the Religious associated belong to the pre-Phrygian ele- Antiquities of Asia Minor ; B. School Annual, ment, in other words to the old Anatolian xviii. 37, &c.
element akin to the Cretan. ' I need only here refer to Frszer's iMturu
3 The authorities are collected by Dr. Frazer, on the Early History of Kingship, p. 128 Adonis, Attis, Osiris, pp. 182-4. Sir \V. M. seqq.
B 2
THE PALACK OF MINOS, ETC.
Knossian Palace was also a Sanctuary. It is these last conditions that seem to have most nearly corresponded with those of Minoan Crete. The cumulative
results of the exploration of the great building at Knossos have served more
and more to bring out the fact that it was interpenetrated with religious ele-
ments. The constant appearance of the sacred double axe or ' labrys ' as a sign
on its blocks, outnumberingall the other marks on the Palace walls put together,
and recurring on stucco and painted pottery, on seals, and in concrete shape
on the altar of a shrine, is itself of special significance in connexion with the
surviving traditions of the Labyrinth on this spot and the closely related Carian
cult. The wall-paintings themselves have( in" almost all cases, a religious
connexion direct or indirect. It is now clear that a large part of the West
Wing of the Palace was little more than a conglomeration of small shrines,
of pillared crypts designed for ritual use, and corresponding halls above.1
' Room of The best preserved existing chamber, moreover, of this Quarter, the ' Room
designed °f tne Throne ', teems with religious suggestion. With its elaborately carved
for,. cathedral seat in the centre and stone benches round, the sacral griffins
Religious . ... . .
Func- guarding on one side the entrance to an inner shrine, on the other the throne
itself, and, opposite, approached by steps, its mysterious basin, it might well evoke the idea of a.kind of consistory or chapter-house. A singularly dramatic touch, from the moment of final catastrophe, was here, indeed, supplied by the alabastra standing on the floor, beside the overturned oil-jar for their filling, with a view, we may infer, to some ceremony of anointing.- It is impossible to withhold the conclusion that the ' Room of the Throne ' at Knossos was designed for religious functions.
The salient features in its arrangement (Fig. 1), in fact, suggest an interest-
ing comparison with a ritual chamber recently discovered in one of the kindred
Com- Anatolian sanctuaries. This is the 'Hall of Initiation' excavated by the
with 'Hall British explorers3 in the sanctuary of Men Askaenos and a Mother Goddess,
of Men', described as Demeter, near the Pisidian Antioch. The throne itself, the
stone benches round, and the ' tank ' on the opposite side to the throne, find all
their close analogies, and are arranged in the same relative positions. In the
Galatian Sanctuary we see, on a larger scale it is true, a chamber with
a throne — in this case near, not actually against, the back wall — to the right
of the entrance, while, opposite it on the left side on entering the chamber,
1 See my paper on ' The Restored Shrine on in connexion with the ' N. I.ustral Basin'.
Central Court of the Palace at Knossos' (Journ. See p. 419, below, Fig. 304 b.
of R. Inst. of British Architects, 1911, p. 289 3 Miss Itf^M. Hardie (Mrs. Hasluck\ Mr.
seqq.). For the ! Room of the Throne ' see W. M. Calder, and Sir W. M. Ramsay. See
Vol.11. J.H.S., 1912, p. in seqq., and 13. S. A., xviii
- So, too, the Alabastron of Khyan stood (1911, 1912), p. 37 seqq.
THK MI NO AN AGK
is an oblong tank.1 Here, too, along the back wall runs a rock-cut bench or divan, and the chamber was approached by an ante-room or prouaos.
Cult arrangements are often handed down almost unaltered through The long periods of years, and the striking analogies here presented afford pries?-' a real presumption for believing that the much earlier Room of the Throne K|"KS- at Knossos and its adjoining tank were devised for similar rites of initia- tion and purification. Like him who presided over these Anatolian rites, a Minoan priestling may have sat upon the throne at Knossos, the adopted
GRIFFIN FACING THRONE
^A.-- -I
|
1 |
|
|
1 |
|
|
1 |
|
|
z - |
|
|
i |
|
|
" l^llwj |
INNER SHRINE
.
CENTRAL AREA OF PAVEMENT COVERED WITH PAINTED STUCCO
FIG. 1. PI.AV OF 'ROOM OF THK THRONF, ' AT KNOSSOS. Scale, i cm.= i m area. Son on earth of the Great Mother of its island mysteries. Such a person- age, indeed, we may actually recognize in the Palace relief of a figure wearing a plumed lily crown and leading, we may believe, the sacral Griffin.1 It is prob- able, indeed, that in Crete the kingly aspect was more to the fore than in the religious centres of Asia Minor. But both the actual evidence from the Palace site and the divine associations attributed to Minos lead to the conclusion that here, too, each successive dynast was 'a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedech ' and ' made like unto' the Son of God '
The names both of Minos and of Knossos, together with others bound up with the religion of the spot, connect themselves with those Asiamc regions where priest-kings most thrived. The termination in -ws, ' qm foreign to Greek nomenclature ', is characteristic of a whole class of personal
1 See the plan given by Sir \V. M. Ramsay, Minor. />'. 5. A., xviii, p. 4', Fig. i. Sketches >n the Rtligma Annuities of Asia • See Vol. II, frontispiece (PI. I)
THE PALACE OF MINOS, ETC.
Anatolian names of the Carians and their kin.1 The name Kvws is thrice connected ^^ t|ie Korykian Cave and Temple of the priestly dynasts of Olbe in Cilicia.'2 TciXws the ' bronze-man ' of Minos and fabled guardian of Crete bears a name of the same family. The name of MLVO><; itself recurs as an element in Minassos, a Pisidian town,3 whose later bishops may well have perpetuated a much earlier religious tradition. The name of Daedalos is found again in that of the town of Daedala (TO. AaiSaXa) on the borders of Caria and Lykia, where was his reputed tomb.
The most ancient features in the Cretan religion find, in fact, their
Religious closest analogies on the Anatolian side, where was another Ida and another Dikte. There too we recognize under manifold appellations the same Great Mother with a male satellite who may stand to her in various relationships— a tradition which survived in Crete, in Rhea and the infant Zeus. There too we see the same cymbal-clashing Corybantic train with names like Panamoros, showing how deeply rooted was this idea in the old Asianic stock. In both areas attendant animals, as different in their nature as lions and doves, are attributed to the Goddess. Finally, the most sacred emblem of the aniconic cult of Crete, the double axe, is equally on the Anatolian side a central object of cult, and its Lydian name labrys has suggested a key not only to the title of the Carian Zeus, Labraundos, but to that of the Labyrinth,4 here identified with the palace sanctuary of Knossos. Through- out a wide Anatolian region very early religious traditions were taken over by peoples of more than one stock. It is also evident that more than one of the linguistic elements, which in that region often overlie one another, has left its mark in the early place-names of Crete. The Phrygian element, though it may be relatively late, clearly has its place in the island.
How far there was a true ethnic relationship between Crete and the neighbouring Anatolian regions is not so well ascertained. The evidence of
1 Pick, Vorgriechische Ortsnamen (1905), 3 Its site, still known as Minasun, was dis- pp. 26, 27 ; Kretschmer, Einleitung in die covered by Prof. Sterrett. It is also known Geschichte der griechischen Sprache, p. 357. from coins with the alliance inscription — Among names of this class are Carian StWws, MINAZZEHN KAI KONANEHN OMO- 'KKuTo'/ti'cos (Lykian ExaTo/xras, Akatamna\ NOIA. For the comparison' with Mi'™? cf. Lykaoninn Kav£G«, Cilician Kvis, Mws, Fick, op. at., p. 27.
IU.7>s, &c. * Kretschmer, op. at., p. 104 and A. Fick,
2 E. L. Hicks, Inscriptions from Western op. at., p. 6 seqq. Arkwright, on the other Cilicia (J. H. S., xii), pp. 230, 231, 254, 255. hand (Lycian and Phrygian Names, J. H. .S'., The name occurs both on a tomb near the 1918, p. 45 seqq.) does not admit the -nd-nth Korykian Cave and on a stone of the N. anta equation. Conway, B. S. A., viii. p. 154 seqq , of the temple above it. There would even while accepting the equation, regards the seem to have been an Anatolian Knossos. -nth names in Crete and the Peloponnese as (Cf. Ramsay,/. //. S., 1912, p. jyo.1! ' Phrygo-Cretan '.
THE MINOAN AGE 7
early racial type supplied by such sources as the Hittite reliefs of Gods Karly and princes points to the widespread existence in Eastern and Central deranceol Asia Minor of a race still represented by the modern Armenians and pro- Iir^h,y~- nouncedly brachycephalic.1 Corroborative materials of early date from South- Asia West Asia Minor, where Hittite monuments fail us, are still for the most part ' to seek. The modern population of Lykia and adjacent islands, according to Dr. von Luschan's observations,2 presents two distinct elements, hypsibrachy- cephalic and dolichocephalic, but what seem to be the oldest representatives of the indigenous stock belong to the former high, short-headed class, of Armenoid affinities/' The 'long heads', on the other hand, come into prominence in the maritime tracts, and comprise a considerable section of the Greek-speaking population. That dolichocephalic types, closely parallel to those of Minoan Crete, early existed on the Western shores of Asia Minor is shown by their occurrence in the Third Settlement at Hissarlik.4
In Crete skulls of the Neolithic Age are still wanting. From the earliest Minoan Age onwards, however, the evidence is continuous, and tends But of to show that, though from the beginning of it a brachycephalic element cephais°In existed in the island, whether the earliest or not is uncertain, over half the Crete- skulls were dolichocephalic and about a third mesocephalic.5 Towards the close of the Minoan Age the proportion of brachycephals, due probably to the
1 See especially Dr. Felix von Luschan's s Boyd Dawkins, B. School Annual, vii,
observations, summarized in his Huxley Lecture pp. 150-5; W. L. H. Duckworth, ib., ix,
for 1911, on The Early Inhabitants of Asia pp. 340-55; C. H. Hawes, ib., xi, pp. 296,
Minor (Anthr. Inst. Journ., xli). Dr. von 297; Burrows, Discoveries in Crete, pp. 166,
Luschan there shows that the type formerly 167; Mosso Esairsioni net Mediterranto
termed by him 'Armenoid' practically coin- (1907), pp. 275, 276. Sergi's examination of
cides with the Hittite. This type, as he had three skulls from the Sub-Minoan Cemetery
already pointed out in 1902, (ib. p. 242), is at Krganos (A merican Journ. of A rchaeology, v,
the basis of the later Jewish and so-called 1901, pp. 315-18), shows a survival of simi-
' Semitic ' type as distinguished from the pure lar tendencies. They were either dolicho-
Arab. cephalic or mesocephalic. These results have
• ' 1 )ie Tachtadschy tincl andere Ueberreste now been confirmed by the comprehensive
der alten Bevolkerung Lykiens' (Archiv filr measurements of Von Luschan, ' Beitrage zur
Anthropologie,\\f., 1891, p. 31 seqq ). The AnthropologievonKreta'(Z?//^r///-.//;M/W<^<f,
single old Lykian skull examined by Dr. Heft 3. 1913, p. 307 seqt).). The percentages
Luschan from a grave at Limyra (op. «'/,, for the Middle Minoan skulls, for instance, are :
p. 43 seqq.) resembles the Tachtadji type. Duckworth 65-3 dolichocephals, 26-15 rneso-
3 Such as the Tachtadji or Mahometan cephals, 8-55 brachycephals : von Luschan 58-8 wood-cutters and the Bektashi sectaries. dolichocephals, 35-3 mesocephals, 5-9 brachy-
4 See Prof. Boyd Dawkins, ft. School cephals. The results obtained by von Luschan Annual, vii. pp. 152, 153. and Hawes with regard to the modem Cretans
also show a remarkable correspondence.
8
THE PALACE OF MINOS, ETC.
intrusion of 'Alpine Man' from the North, shows a tendency to increase. To-day the long-headed type is in the minority.
These craniometrical results as well as other bodily measurements may be taken to imply that in Minoan times a large part of the popula- tion belonged to the somewhat long-heacled 'Mediterranean Race'. A typical representative of this ' Mediterranean Race ' has indeed been recog- nized in the Cupbearer of the Knossian wall-painting1 with his dark eyes, ruddy brown complexion, black wavy hair, and short compact frame.2 The head of this figure is shown in Fig. 2, c, while d reproduces that of the ' dancing lady ' fresco from the Queen's Megaron.
' Arme-
noict'
Type of
Early
Cretan
Dynast.
a. b. f. d.
FIG. 2. «, b. PORTRAIT HEADS ASSOCIATED ON M.M. II SEALING (J). c. FROM CUP-BEARER FRESCO. d. FROM DANCING LADY FRESCO.
The fine-cut nose tilted forward at the point \\hich distinguishes the figures of the Late Minoan wall-paintings, such as c and d, has generally a straight bridge. But at other times it is decidedly aquiline, and this characteristic is well marked in the design which must be regarded as the first Minoan attempt at distinct portraiture. This is seen on a sealing, other- wise impressed by a signet bearing a hieroglyphic formula of frequent occur- rence, in which I have ventured to recognize an official title of a hereditary nature since it recurs with varying personal badges on a series of prism-seals of successive periods.3 Beside this, is the impression of a head of an adult male personage, with waved hair falling in a lock behind and a decidedly aquiline
Cretan and Albanian types. The waving hair gives it a high appearance. But it is unsafe to draw too exact craniometrical deductions from this, in part, conventionalized wall-painting.
"' Scripta Minoa, i, pp. 271, 272 (Figs. 124, 125), and see p. 266, Table XXII
1 See Vol. II.
2 In my first account of the Cupbearer fresco (Knossos, Report, 1900, pp. 15, 16 ; B.S.A., vi ; Monthly Review, March, 1901, p. 124) I had described the head as ' high ' and brachycephalic. and compared certain existing
THE MINOAN AGE 9
nose (Fig. 2, <r). On another sealing the head of the same personage is coupled with that of a very young boy, presumably his son, and a portrait of a child would hardly have been executed except in the case of one of royal blood (Fig. -, (>}. Then; is then a very strong presumption that the adult head por- trayed is the actual likeness of a Minoan priest-king, whose personal badge, as we learn from a contemporary prism-seal with the hieroglyphic title in a fuller form, was a seated cat,1 suggestive of Egyptian relations. The profile before us — dating from the Second Middle Minoan Period — certainly suggests that at any rate the earlier priest-kings themselves belonged to a ruling caste of the old Anatolian type, to which the name ' Armenoid ' * may be given. On the other hand the Late Minoan profiles c and d suggest the intrusion of a new dynastic element of ' Mediterranean ' stock.
A consciousness of the essential foreignness of Minos to the Greeks comes out in a passage of the Iliad where he is made the son of the daughter (Europa) of Phoenix, :1 a version which nearly approaches the truth if we may regard the term <t>oiVi/ces or ' red-men ' 4 as having been first suggested by the ruddy brown race of the Cretan frescoes. An ethnic relationship, moreover, is implied in the tradition that Minos was brother of Sarpedon, who stands for the Lykian race, which at any rate was not Hittite.
If there were any real historic warrant lor the existence of more w.istheie than one king of the name of Minos it would serve to corroborate the dynastic use of the term. The idea is mainly based on the genealogy of which Diodoros is the principal source,5 a statement in Plutarch's Tkesau,* ami earlier and later entries in the Parian Chronicle, in which the name of a Minos is mentioned at two different epochs.7 'But the accounts by no means tall). According to the tradition followed by Diodoros there were two kings of the name, the first the grandfather of the second. This would give an interval between the two of about ninety years. In the Chronicle it is over a century and a half. The whole genealogy, moreover, is involved in mythical elements.8
A too obvious intention of this interpolation of a second Minos is
1 See below, p. 277, Fig. 207, a\ op. tit., ' Chandler's restoration of the first entry
p. 270, Fig. 121, a. (Marmora Oxoniensia, p. 21, 1. 41), A«J> OY
- For a somewhat exaggerated example see MINttZ [OJ TTP[nTOZ E BA[ZIAEYZE
the Armenian type from Aintab, illustrated by KPHTHZ], still seems preferable to TT[PO-
von I.uschan, Anthr. lust. Jmirn., xli (1911), TEPOZ, &c.], substituted by Boeckh, as Flach
PI. XXV. 3 II. xiv. 321. (Chronicon Pariuin, p. 6) points out, 'invito
4 Cf. Kick, I'orgriffhische Ortsiiamen, pp. 123, lapide.'
,24. * Hoeck's criticism of ' Minos I ' and ' Minos
•' Diod. iv. 60. ' Pint. T/ies. 18. II' (A're/a, ii, p. 50 seqq.) still holds gcwd.
10
THE PALACE OF MINOS, ETC.
Dorian adoption of Minos.
Epony-
mic
Myths.
Achaean Legend.
supplied by the desire to secure a lower rung for the ladder of ascent by means of which the new Dorian line of rulers might be brought into immediate relation with the representative name of the older indigenous dynasty. By the new-comers, Achaean as well as Dorian, the old hierarchical tradition attaching to the name of Minos was invoked as a sanction for their own claims. He was at the same time made more real by being brought down to the age immediately preceding the Trojan War. The ' adoption of Minos' itself finds an almost exact parallel in the adoption of Agamemnon not only by the Achaeans but by the later Spartan kings.1
According to Diodoros' account 2 the Dorian eponymus Doros, after his arrival irr Crete, weds the daughter of ' Kres ' and becomes the father of Asterios. Asterios in turn takes to wife Europa, who had already, by Zeus, given birth to Minos, Rhadamanthys, and Sarpedon. Minos I marries Itone, daughter of ' Lyktios ' (eponymus of Lyktos, later the great Dorian centre), and begets the namegiver of the neighbouring Lykastos. ' Lykastos ' is father by ' Ida ' of Minos II, who in turn is made the establisher of the first thalassocracy among the Hellenes. The whole genealogy is pure myth of the eponymic kind, which may have a certain value in. so far as it reflects the blending of the indigenous elements of Crete with the Greek new-comers, but which had the obvious aim of first, in a way, annexing the ' Minos I ' and thus leading up to a ' second ' who could be described as of Dorian birth.
In the more usual legend, which is in fact incorporated in that given by Diodoros, we hear only of one Minos. In the Iliad* he belongs to the second generation before the Trojan War. He is there the father of Deukalion, who impersonates the Hellenic stock in the oldest sense of the word, and through him the grandfather of the Achaean leader Idomeneus, lord of Knossos, whose name itself seems to point to early settlement in the land round Ida. The dominion of Idomeneus, according to the catalogue of ships, included, besides Knossos, Gortyna, Lyktos, Miletos, Lykastos, Phaestos, and Rhytion,4 and thus embraced the whole of Central Crete. That it represents in part at least an ethnographic break is indicated by one significant fact. The sister city of Carian Halikarnassos, the Cretan Karnessos,"' is
1 Such is the implied claim of the Spartan 2 The account of Diodoros, iv. 60, is, as envoy in his answer to Gelon of Syracuse when Hoeck points out (Kreta, ii, pp. 27, 53), largely he proposed to take command of the allied derived through an Attic medium.
3 xiii. 449-51, and cf. Od. xix. 178 seqq. 1 //. ii. 645 seqq.
'' The older name of Lyktos was Ka^r/^rrrd- iroXts (Hesychios, s.v. : cf. Pick, Vorgriechische Ortsnamen (1905), p. 29.
MCV
Greeks : fj.flJ.vuiv U7rapaipj/rr#ai VTTO (Herod, vii. 159).
6 IIcAoiriSi;« 'Aya-
TIJV re xai
THE MI NO AN AC,K
1 1
now Lyktos, later the great Dorian centre. This early account of Achaean domination in the island (which does not exclude the participation of other Hellenic elements such as the Dorian) seems to give us a real glimpse of the historic conditions in Crete at the beginning of the Iron Age. But when we go back from Idomeneus, through Deukalion of hoary tradition, to the generation beyond him we find ourselves in a very different atmosphere. The sister of Deukalion is Ariadne, his mother Pasiphae, and his father, Minos, is the direct emanation of the divinity. In other words \\e find ourselves again caught up in the celestial cycle of the old Cretan religion.1
If there be any value attaching to the early dates supplied by the 1'arian Parian Chronicle, or that of Eusebius, the first historical appearance.of a king ic|e.° bearing the name of Minos is projected within the last brilliant age of the pre-Hellenic civilization of Crete. The year given by the Parian
1 Sir William Ridgeway, in his paper entitled Minos the Destroyer rather than the Creator of the so-called ' Minoan ' culture of Cnossus (Proc. Brit. Acad., 1909-10, p. 98 seqq.), sets forth some original views on these matters. Holding by the tradition of two kings of the name of Minos, he regards ' Minos II ' as Achaean on the strength of the genealogy given in the Iliad. • Idomeneus was an Achaean, but, if he was such, his father Deucalion and his grandfather Minos must have been Achaeans ' (p. 94). This was certainly the inference desired by the logographer. 'Minos II' having been dealt with in this somewhat summary fashion, 'Minos I' has his turn. That his brother Rhadamanthys is twice spoken of in the Iliad as £av&<k (iv. 564; vii. 523) might not by itself be sufficiently convincing, since such a descriptive touch would be a natural move in the process of 'adoption'. It was necessary therefore to resort to what can only be described as les grands moyens. The fabled relationship with Phoenix seems to be the chief basis for the statement (p. 125) that ' Minos I passed into Crete from Palestine at the close of the fifteenth century B. c.' He was one of 'the tall fair-haired Achaean in- vaders ' who, we are asked to believe, had made their way to Syria from the North across the Dardanelles, like the later Gauls, and through Asia Minor (p. 126). Swooping down from
Canaan to Crete, this ' Achaean ' leader with the un- Hellenic name deals a fatal blow to ' Minoan ' civilization.
Not only here are chronological conditions ignored but the historic course of events is actually reversed. In the fifteenth century B.C., the sea-paths round the East Mediter- ranean angle were already, perhaps via Cyprus, bringing ( 'retan wares to the ports of Canaan, and painted sherds of the later ' Palace style' of Knossos begin to appear in the deposits of its Tells. (K. g. at Gezer, Maca- lister, vol. ii, p. 155, Fig. 318 — part of an alabastron with 8-shaped shields and stars ; L. M. 1 b — from the 'Second Semitic' stratum.) In the superimposed Canaanite stratum imported Aegean pottery of the Tell- eUAmarna class abounds. But the stage of armed occupation to which the formation of Philistia was due was not reached till a still later date, and the Philistine pottery of native fabric showing a matt-paint ' Metope ' style (Mackenzie. Ain Stems, If. Y..Y. Annual. 1912- 1913, p. 32) is found in the superimposed stratum. It is possible that Achaean or Dorian swarms took part in the ' Philistine ' movement, following in the wake of earlier Cretan pioneers. But a current of invasion, from Palestine to Crete, 'at the close of the fifteenth century B. c. ', is excluded by the elementary facts of East Mediterranean history.
12 THE PALACE OF MINOS, ETC.
Marble answers to 1462-1 ii. c.1 It is well within the limits of the last Palace Period at Knossos. A Mainland 'Mycenaean' reaction becomes, indeed, perceptible shortly after that date, but there was certainly no room either for Achaeans or Dorians in the island. In view, indeed, of the essential continuity of the concluding phase of Minoan culture2 it is highly improbable that Greek elements had any foothold in the island even at the later date, 1294-3, in which the name of Minos again occurs in the Chronicle 3 — -this time in connexion with Theseus.
This endeavour to annex Minos and to thrust back Achaean or Dorian Inter- dominion in Crete into the glorious clays of Minoan history is indeed in the only part and parcel of a process of which many other traces are perceptible. Odyssey. ^ striking illustration of this process is supplied by an interpolation in the Odyssey only recently exposed by Professor BeloclV but which, when once attention has been called to it, must command general recognition. This is nothing less than the famous passage 5 which has so long supplied the charter for the pre- Homeric occupation of Crete by Achaeans, Dorians, and 'divine Pelasgians ' in company with the old inhabitants. The poet is speak- ing of the traditional populousness of the island, so well brought home to us by the crowded scenes of the Knossian frescoes :—
lv 8'
ttTretyaecrtot, /ecu f.vvi]Knvra. TroA^es"
TT/CTI 8' eVl Ki>fo>o-ds, ju.eyaA.T7 TrdXi?' eV$a re
evvewpos ySacriXeue AIDS yu.eyctX.of oapicrTT^?.
1 he interpolator — regardless of the order of composition or even of the most obvious grammatical requirements — has broken into the sentence ' Ninety Cities and among them Knosos ' to insert a brief summary of the later ethno- graphy of the island— including an allusion to the three Dorian tribes !
If we may accept the view that the name of Minos, in its origin that of a divinity or deified hero, was borne, like that of Attis, by a succession of priest-kings, it goes far to explain the generalized use in which we already find the word 'Minoan' in classical times.0 In the present connexion the use of this term to designate the early civilization of Crete has much to
1 This is the date given by F. Jacoby, " Od. xix. 175-7: Chronicon Pariuw (1904), p. 6. J. Flach, «AA, S'ofXAwv yXSo-o-a ^ty/xtVv?'
Chron. Par., p. 6, makes it 1423-2. Iv 8' 'EreoVp^s /xeyaX^ropes, tV k K^S
~ St-c Yol TT * >
Awpie'es T€ Ty«x<UK€9, Slot Tf IltAuo-yot'.
Jacoby, ,,p. tit., p. 8 (Flach, op. tit., c Already in CW.xvii. 523, where the 'stranger
is described as Kprjrtj vaitTaw, oft MiVwos yeVos
Ausonia, iv (T9ToX eVmV, the 'race of Minos' seems to be equi- valent to the old Cretan stock in this generic- sense.
THE MI NO AN AGE 13
recommend it. To make use of ' Minos' like ' Pharaoh' or ' Caesar' avoids, • Minoan1 at any rate, the prejudgement of ethnographic qviestions that may occasionally j'oVnos arise in relation to the dominant element. It dispenses, moreover, with the sian'- use of the term ' Knossian", which might well seem too local and restricted.1
That intrusive ingredients may have made their way into Crete from time to time is probable enough. It has been suggested below that at the intrusive very dawn of Minoan history offshoots of the pre-dynastic Egyptian popula- tion may have found their way hither from the Delta. Towards the close of the Early Minoan Age, again, there are signs of a considerable infusion from the Northern direction, evidenced by the appearance of many types of Cycladic objects. The different kinds of sepulture found co-existing in the Late Minoan cemetery of Zafer Papoura, near Knossos, moreover, certainly point to family traditions drawn from heterogeneous sources. But, from whatever quarter exotic elements may have been drawn, it is clear that the Hutessen- native stock was strong enough to assimilate them. The culture as a whole 0fMinoan is cast in {he same mould and shows an essential unity. There may doubt- less have been more than one dynasty in the course of that long story. Set- backs there certainly were, partial or local destructions, as the centre of power shifted from Knossos to Phaestos or from Phaestos again to Knossos. But, as is shown at Knossos by the later cemetery, and at Hagia Triada by the flourishing history of its later settlement, even the destruction of the great palaces brought with it no real break. From the close of the Neolithic Age to the transitional epoch when iron was coming into use — throughout a space Neolithic of time extending, at a moderate estimate, over two thousand years — the \^yoiid course of the Minoan civilization is singularly continuous and homogeneous. M"">«n.
The term ' Minoan ' as used for the present purpose embraces the Copper and Bronze Ages of Crete but does not include that more primitive stage of culture represented by the Later Stone Age. At Knossos vast remains of this underlie the Palace and its immediate forerunners and form, in fact, the ' Tell ' on which they stand. These Neolithic strata, going clown in places over The -Tel 26 feet below the later remains, and representing at a reasonable calculation °os an antiquity of some ten thousand years, illustrate in a continuous course the evolution of the successive phases of that culture and admit already of some 1 Sir William Ridgeway, op. tit., p. 126, adds word ' Knossian '. But I have consistently used as a 'more imperative reason for rejecting the the more general term ' Minoan '. The most name " Minoan" ' that, ' as it is now being used misleading of all designations— at least for all by Dr. Evans and his followers, it deliberately the early stages of the culture — is the German assumes that all the Bronze Age culture of the ' kretisch-mykenisch '. Mycenae only comes in Aegean radiates from Cnossus '. This might at a comparatively late date. have been a just criticism against the use of the
THE PALACE OE MINOS, ETC.
Neolithic con- nexions
with Anatolia.
Relations of Ana- tolian cul- ture to Early Minoan.
Neces- sary re- serves.
rough classification. We have here the rucle foundation on which the whole of the elegant fabric of the Minoan civilization ultimately rests, and, though the material is as yet imperfectly explored, a summary survey of the salient features of this more primitive prehistoric stage has been included in this work.1
Early points of contact are there indicated not only with Greece and the Aegean world but in a special degree with Anatolia. Parallel forms of certain primitive types of crouching or squatting clay images — the proto- types, we may believe, of later forms of a Mother Goddess — seem to have been common to'both regions, and the range of these figures is now shown to extend to the Middle Euphrates, while kindred groups may be traced through the Semitic lands, and even beyond the Caspian.2 The habit of using stone maces also finds analogies over a wide East Mediterranean area. On the whole the Neolithic culture of Crete (representative of the Aegean Islands in general) may be regarded as an insular offshoot of an extensive Anatolian province, but at the same time as displaying certain formative sympathies with Thessaly and other parts of mainland Greece.
That there were already some inter-relations between this culture and the outside world is shown by the fact that the obsidian of Melos in its worked or unworked state was finding its way not only to Crete but to the Nile Valley in Neolithic times. With it came probably the Naxian emery, so important for every kind of lapidary work.
But, as a whole, down to the end of the Later Stone Age, Crete forms part of an inert mass of indefinite extension, with little to distinguish it from the mean level of primitive culture in other parts of the Aegean and Anato- lian world, or indeed throughout a large European area.
Such links with any higher civilization as may have existed we should naturally have sought in the East Mediterranean region, the more so as we have seen that the old underlying element in Crete had remote Anatolian connexions. These relations should at no period of Cretan history be left out of sight. As regards Early Minoan times, however, caution is necessary against being led astray by later conditions. The days of the Royal Road through Central Asia Minor were not yet, and the Hittite sculptures on Mount Sipylps, which attest the breaking through of the indigenous inland Power to the mouth of the Hermos, belong rather to the close of the Minoan Age. That by the middle of the Third Millennium before our era the Cap- padocian uplands had become the centre of a primitive Hittite civilization may be admitted. To judge, however, from existing data, the distinctively Hittite culture left little mark on the South- Western region of Asia Minor. 1 See p. 32 seqq. " See below, p. 49.
THE MINOAN AC.K 15
The earliest evidence of a direct importation from the Oriental world is Ois- supplied by a cylinder1 of the First Babylonian Dynasty found in a deposit "
belonging to the mature earlier phase (a) of the First Middle Minoan Period. "la" . The inscribed clay tablets, which now appear, also attest an influence from that side.
That throughout its course Minoan civilization continued to absorb Asiatic
....... ... ... iii i T'I • l-.I<-inents
elements from the Asiatic side is, on the face of it, probable enough. I his in Minoan process was, in fact, the continuation of an early drift and infiltration, going ( back to the most primitive times, and to which probably the first acquaintance with metals was due. The cult of the Double Axe was, as we have seen, common to both areas, and there is a strong presumption that its original home is to be sought in that direction. Votive axes of terra-cotta, both double and single, were brought to light moreover during M. de Sarzec's ex- cavations at the early Chaldaean site of Tello.2 The stone mace has the same wide easterly range. We have even a hint that the favourite bull- grappling sports of Minoan Crete, with their acrobatic features, had their counterparts in Cappadocia as early as 2400 n.c.3 The Early Minoan ivory seals in the shape of animals and the conoid types have also a wide Oriental distribution, and the 'signet' form that survives into Middle Minoan times show a parallelism with certain Hittite seals. A few Cretan hieroglyphs also suggest Hittite comparisons.
Taking the data at our disposal as a whole there is little evidence oriental of direct relations with the Easternmost Mediterranean shores before the fl"cnces close of the Middle Minoan Age. The Early Babylonian cylinder may ?J™£ft indeed be regarded as an incipient symptom of such relations, and the Minoan fashion of flounced costumes may have owed its first suggestion to models from that side. Early in Late Minoan times a regular commercial inter- course was established with Cyprus and the neighbouring coastlands of North Syria and Cilicia, which was the prelude to actual colonization, eventually resulting in a distinct Cypro-Minoan School of Art. From the
1 See below, pp. 197-8, Fig. 14<'>. having a structure on his back suggesting the
- L. Heuzey, Decouvertes en Chaldee par seat or throne of a deity. ... In front of the
Ernest de Sarzec, ^ livraison, PI. 45, 5, 6. bull is the figure of a man who ha* fallen face on
3 A sealed clay envelope from Cappadocia the ground, feet in the air. He is falling on
( Pinches, Liverpool Annals of . \rchaeology and his left arm, the right being stretched out back
Anthropology, i, p. 76 seqq., No. 23) bears the wards. Farther to the right is a man stand-
impression of a cylinder in the indigenous style, ing on his head and with his hands on I
and dating, according to Professor Sayce, t. ground to support himself. The figures
2400 n.c., described as follows (p. 77) : 'On to have been acrobatic in nature. See below,
the extreme right is a horned bull kneeling and p. 190.
[6
THE PALACE OF MINOS. ETC.
Reflex Action from Cyprus and N. Syria. Religious In- fluences.
Late Opera- tion of Oriental In- fluences in Crete or Asia Minor.
Anatolia and Crete on a par at close of
Neolithic.
Whence came new impulse ?
Intensive
Pre-
Dynastic
Egyptian
influence
on Crete.
First Late Minoan Period onwards we trace the reflex of all this in many signs of Syrian influences. The clay tablets that form the vehicle of script continuously reflect Oriental models. That religious influences from Semitic sources were also beginning to operate is by no means improb- able. Who shall say how early the old Chaldaean tradition of the legislator receiving the law from the God of the Mountain was implanted in Crete, as it had been in Israel ? Of great significance, moreover, is the appearance in Cretan signets belonging to the closing part of the First Late Minoan Period of priestly figures, wearing long robes of oriental fashion, and bearing ceremonial axes of a typically Syrian form. It is clear, too, that chariots and thoroughbred horses together with their accoutrements reached the Minoan and Mycenaean princes from the same side. In the last Late Minoan Period, moreover, there occur bronze figurines of a male divinity with a peaked headpiece which stand in a close relation to similar types from North Syria and the Hittite regions. In all this, account must be taken of the intermediary activities of the Keftiu people of the Egyptian Monuments.
But it must be clearly realized that the waves of higher civilizing influences that ultimately reached Crete through Syria and Cyprus from a more distant Mesopotamian source only affected Minoan culture at a time when it had already reached a comparatively advanced stage. Neither were they able to penetrate as yet with effective results through the mountain ranges of the interior of Asia Minor.
It cannot be gainsaid, indeed, that, as far as can be gathered from the evidence before us, the civilization of the Eastern Aegean shores at the close of the Neolithic Age stood on no higher level than that of Crete. It could not give more than it possessed, and we must seek on another side for the quickening spirit which about this time begins to permeate and transform the rude island culture.
In what direction then are we to look for this very early influence, thanks to which, in the course of a few generations, the Cretans had outstripped all their neighbours of the Aegean basin and evolved the high early civilization to which the term ' Minoan ' is properly applied ?
That the main impulse came from the Egyptian side can no longer now be doubted. Cumulative evidence, drawn from various sides, to which atten- tion will be called in the succeeding Sections, shows that this influence was already making itself felt in Crete in the Age that preceded the First Dynast)-. Not only does it appear, for instance, that stone vases of Pre-dynastic fabric were actually reaching the island, but a whole series of Early Minoan forms
THE MINOAN AGE 17
can be traced to prototypes in use by the ' Old Race ' of Egypt. In both cusrs again we find the same aesthetic selection of materials distinguished by their polychromy, so that the beautifully coloured vases of Mochlos find their best analogy in those of the prehistoric tombs of Naqada rather than in those of the Early Dynastic Age. Certain types of small images, the subjects and forms of seals, and the game of draughts, go back to the same early Nilotic source. That a maritime connexion between Crete and the Nile Valley began already in very early times will surprise no one who recalls the important part played by both rowing-galleys and sailing vessels in the figured representa- tions of the late Pre-dynastic Period in Egypt,1 and the ' Old Race ' had already a Mediterranean outlet at the Canopic mouth of the Nile.2 Models of Kucilityof boats, found in both Early Minoan and Cycladic graves, show that the islanders "^"rll themselves were already filled with the sea-faring spirit.3 How comparatively course, easy, indeed, under favourable circumstances, is the passage of the Libyan Sea is shown by the fact that the sponge-fishing craft that touch on the east coast of Crete, manned at times with a crew of less than a dozen men, ply their industry as far as Benghazi. The Etesian winds of summer and accompanying current greatly aid this transit.
The proto-Egyptian element in Early Minoan Crete is, in fact, so Wasthere clearly defined and is so intensive in its nature as almost to suggest some- ^ttle- thing more than such a connexion as might have been brought about by ment-' primitive commerce. It may well, indeed, be asked whether, in the time of stress and change that marked the triumph of the dynastic element in the Ntr»~Valley, some part of the older population then driven out may not have made an actual settlement on the soil of Crete.
Further waves of influence from the same side succeeded, in part due, influence it would seem, to some continued relations with members of the older indi- umjer genous stock of the Delta coasts,4 but now, in a progressive degree, to contact J witli the dynastic element in Egypt. Exquisite 'carinated' bowls of diorite and other hard materials such as were executed for the Pharaohs of the Fourth and immediately succeeding dynasties found their way to the site of Knossos '' where they were imitated by the indigenous lapidaries and potters. In the darker period of Egyptian history that intervenes between the Sixth and
1 See Petrie, Naqada and Ballas, pp. 48, 49 4 The Haau (afterwards Haunebii) or ' Fen- and Pis. LXVI, LXVII, and J. Capart, Les men ' of the Egyptians. Cf. Newberry, lot. at., debuts de Fart en £gypte, p. 116, Fig. 83, and and H. R. Hall, Oldest Civilization in Greece, p. 192, Fig. 141 pp. 158, 159 ; The Ancient History of the Near
See below p. 291, and P. Newberry, Liv. East, p. 35. Annals, &c., I, p. 17 seqq. ' See below, p. 85.
3 See below, pp. 1 18, 120, Figs. 87, 7 a, 89,6.
i c:
i8 THE PALACE OF MINOS, ETC.
Eleventh Dynasty this transmarine influence, as illustrated by the 'button-seals' and leg amulets, takes again a character perhaps best described as ' Egypto- Under Libyan '-1 In the great days of the ' Middle Kingdom' the purer Egyptian Kingdom element once more asserts itself, and countless Nilotic models, among which the lotus and papyrus are very distinguishable, are henceforward assimilated by Minoan art. The most striking record of this connexion is the diorite monu- ment of User, found in the Central Court of the Knossian Palace in a stratum belonging to the Second Middle Minoan Period.2 On the other hand, the counterpart of the evidence from Cretan soil is seen in the beautiful poly- chrome pottery of Middle Minoan fabric found at Kahun, Abydos, and else- where, in association with remains of the Twelfth and the early part of the Thirteenth Dynasty.3
An astonishing series of discoveries recently made beneath the present sea-level off the former island of Pharos, at Alexandria, may place the rela- tions of Ancient Egypt with the Minoan world in a wholly new light. The moles and wharves and capacious basins have now been traced out of a vast pre-Hellenic harbour, which rivals the Pyramids in its colossal construction.4 Hyksos That the intercourse with the Nile Valley was not broken off during the
Knossos. period of the Hyksos dominion is shown by the occurrence — again on the Palace site of Knossos, in a deposit belonging to the earlier part of the Third Middle Minoan Period — of the alabastron lid of King Khian. Increased It was, however, during the early part of the Late Minoan Age in Crete
and of the New Empire in Egypt that these inter-relations were most manifold under jn their complexion. The correspondence of Egyptian and Minoan technique pire. in metal-work is often such that it is difficult to say on which side was the borrowing. Types, too, are fused. The Egyptian griffin takes Minoan wings. Late The reproduction of Nile scenes by Minoan artists is at times so accurate and detailed as to convey the impression that guilds of Cretan craftsmen were course actually working at this time on Egyptian soil. The abundance there of im- Egypt. ported L.M. I vessels fits in, too, with a personal contact of another kind between the Minoan world and the Nile Valley evidenced by the Egyptian representa- tions of the People of the Isles of the Sea and their offerings. In the latest Minoan epoch, when Crete itself had become largely isolated through the decay of its sea-power, the commercial relations with the Nile Valley for the most part passed into the hands of the Cypriote and Mycenaean branch, but
1 See below, p. 123. 3 See below, p. 267, Figs. 198, c, 199, a.
2 See below, p. 288, Fig. 220. Theassocia- * These discoveries are due to M. Gaston lions of the stratum in which this monument lay Jondet, Engineer in Chief of Kgyptian Ports are now thoroughly established (loc. cit. p. 287). and Lighthouses. See below, p. 292 seqq.
THE MINOAN AGE 19
this does not affect the main phenomenon with which we have to do. This is the highly important historic fact, brought more clearly into relief with every fresh discovery, that for some two thousand years the Minoan civilization of Crete was in practically uninterrupted relations with that of Egypt.
The material evidence of interpenetration with Egyptian elements General cannot of course always give a clue to the more intangible influences that may ] have been brought to bear in the domain of ideas — in Cretan religion to Egypt
... -11 -I- of Minoan
for instance, in law and government, or even in literary tradition. That Culture, the elaborate systems of Minoan writing were of independent evolution is certain, but there are good reasons, for instance, to suspect the stimulus of Egyptian suggestion in the rise of the Cretan hieroglyphic signary, and a few individual signs seem to have been actually borrowed.1 The wearing of amulets iof Egyptian form, such as the leg-shaped pendants, shows > a certain community in popular superstition. The use of the Egyptian sistrum for the ritual dance of the Hagia Triada vase is a very suggestive symptom, and the adoption of a type of double-spouted libation vessel Religious associated, as it appears, with a primitive cult of Set and Horus,2 may nexions. point to a very ancient religious connexion. In Late Minoan times the evidences of a real religious syncretism accumulate — witness the constant recurrence of sphinxes and griffins and the adoption of the Egyptian was and a id- /i symbols, or of Hathoric emblems like the cow suckling her calf. Ta-urt, the Hippopotamus Goddess, becomes the prototype of Minoan Genii.
When it is realized how many elements drawn from the Minoan world lived on in that of Hellas 3 the full import of this very ancient indebtedness to Egypt at once becomes apparent. Egyptian influences, hitherto reckoned as rather a secondary incident among late classical experiences, are now seen to lie about the very cradle of our civilization.
But the essential character of this influence must not be misunderstood. Advan- As regards Egypt, Minoan Crete did not find itself in the position in which ^ulir' Palestine and Phoenicia, having only land frontiers, stood towards the great Position, border Powers of the Nile and of the Euphrates. With the sea between, it could always keep the foreign civilization at arm's length. Its enterprising inhabitants continually absorbed and assimilated Egyptian forms and ideas, developing them on independent lines. They took what they wanted, nothing more, and were neither artistically nor politically enslaved.
Something has already been said of the old underlying connexion
1 See Scripta Minna, i, pp. 197-8. * See my Address on 'The Minoan and
2 See below, p. 80. Mycenaean elements in Hellenic Life^/./f. S.,
\x\ii (1912), p. 277 seqq. C 2
20
THE PALACE OF MINOS, ETC.
Cycladic Inter- course.
Troadic Con- nexions.
Minoan Influence on Melos.
Western Relations
with Anatolia, which was in fact an inheritance from late geological times when Crete formed its South-Western foreland. The actual land bridge, it is true, had long been broken through, though the island stepping stones remained, Rhodes bulking large among them. But across the open Aegean basin that lies north of Crete, and over which the Etesian winds blow steadily throughout the summer days, direct intercourse had early begun with the Cyclades and still further lying coasts and islands. From a remote Neolithic Period the obsidian from Melos had found its way across this basin.
Intimate relations between Crete and the Cyclades are a well- marked feature of the Early Minoan Age. At the time of its most characteristic development we see Crete, the Aegean islands, and, North- Eastwards still, the First Settlement of Troy interfused with similar elements. The early silver trade from the Troadic side, about which more will be said, seems to have played a leading part in this diffusion. But of actual work in precious metals the most brilliant manifestation is to be found on Cretan soil. How poor is the jewellery of Hissarlik or the Cycladic graves compared with the exquisite fabrics of Mochlos ! Per contra, towards the close of the Early Minoan Age, a current of influence makes itself perceptible from the Central Aegean, bearing with it more primitive ingredients. Typical marble idols of Cycladic fabric and material appear in Cretan deposits, and the clay ' pyxides ' or round-liclded boxes, derived from the same quarter, present a form of ceramic decoration, consisting of incised and punctuated patterns with chalky inlay, which in Crete is but sparsely found beyond the close of the Middle Neolithic. The spiral system, with widely ramifying Northern connexions, now enters Crete from the same direction. On the other hand, the abundance of Middle Minoan polychrome sherds at Phylakopi shows an ever-increasing preponderance of Cretan influence, which by the close of the Middle Minoan Age completely dominates Melian culture. Symptoms of this are the use of the advanced Linear script, A,1 and the employment of Knossian artists to paint the panels of the Palace walls.2
Indirectly, at least, a connexion may be said to have subsisted between Crete and mainland Greece from the Early Neolithic Age onwards. The same primitive commerce in obsidian, that linked it with Melos and the Cen- tral Aegean, had wide ramifications that extended not only to the Greek mainland but to Italy and what was then the ' Far West ' beyond. Certain correspondences in types that occur in the Neolithic products both of Crete and the Aegean area — such, for instance, as the steatopygous images — may have been due to a common heritage of great antiquity and indeed reappear 1 See below, p. 561. 2 See below, p. 542.
THE MINOAN AGE
21
on the Egyptian as well as the Anatolian side. Hut the spread of similar products along continuous lines west of the Ionian, and even of the Tyrrhene Sea is not an accidental phenomenon, being everywhere coincident with the Aegea
course of the old obsidian routes. Pottery that ' belongs to the same context lnter-
.... course
as the Neolithic ware of Crete ' has been found in South Italy, Sicily, Sardinia, with Italy. the intermediate island of Pianosa, and the Ligurian Caves.1 So, too, the only Italian sites on which Neolithic clay images have been found lie on this line, in Sicily and Liguria.-
In the Second and Third Early Minoan Periods and the early part of the Middle Minoan Age, when Cretan civilization already occupied a com-
1 M<;. 3. BONE OBJECT FROM SIKEL CEMETERY OF CASTEI.I.UCCIO, NEAR SYRACUSE ({ e.).
mantling position in the Central Aegean basin, the evidence of this Western intercourse becomes even more conclusive, and it is a fair conclusion that the Troadic silver trade may have found an extension, partly perhaps through Minoan agency, to the Tyrrhene shores. Among the E. M. Ill relics of the Tholos ossuary of Kumasa in Central Crete were found silver and copper daggers of elongated triangular shape with a strong mid-rib :! which present a close conformity with daggers4 of the Chalcolithic period in Italy and Sicily. It is in M. M. I that the most striking proof of actual import from the Aegean Early side is afforded by some tubular bone objects, probably handles, with globules Relations in relief and incised ornamentation, found in tombs and cave-dwellings of the First Sikel Period 5 and identical in character with examples from the third
1 See T. E. Feet, T/ie Stone and Bronze ./;<.v /// Italy and Sicily, p. 135 seqq., and pp. 284, 285.
- In The Sepulchral Deposit of Hagios Onu- phrios near Phaeslos in its relation to primitive Cretan and Aegean Culture (Appended to Cretan Piciographs, &c., Quaritch, 1893) I had already called attention to the parallelism presented by the clay figures of the Finalese Caves (Liguria) and of Villafrati, near Palermo, to Aegean forms ; and cf. my Pre-
historic interments of the Balzi Rossi Caves i\nd their relation to the Neolithic Cave-burials of the Finalese (Anthr. Inst. Journ., \ 893, pp. 303-5).
3 A. Mosso, Escursioni nel Mediterraneo, p. 216, Fig. 120; and Le armi piii antiche di rame e di l>ronzo, pp. 490, 491, Fig. 8. (Excava- tions of Dr. Xanthudides.) See below, p. 100.
4 Peet, op. cit., p. 258, Fig. 136, and p. 260, Fig. 142, and cf. pp. 282, 283.
•" Orsi, Bull. Paletn., 1892, pp. 7, 8; Au- sonia i (1907), pp. 5, 6 ; Grotta Lazzaro.
22
THE PALACE OF MINOS, ETC.
Troadic Silver Trade. Minoan and
Minyan imita- tions of Troadic Types.
The
spirali- form decora- tion of Maltese Sanc- tuaries.
Minoan Influence in Iberic West.
stratum of the Second City of Troy.1 Among the decorative designs are reticulated bead patterns of Middle Kingdom Egyptian type,2 accompanied by curving tendrils and what seem to be stellate flowers on short stalks, suggest- ing sympathy with Minoan motives (Fig. 3). It seems clear that the Troad was betimes the emporium through which silver, from the rich deposits of its own back-country, was diffused throughout the Aegean world. Silver vessels of Troadic types and their fine ceramic imitations appear in Crete at the very beginning of the Middle Minoan Age, and some ' Minyan ' types of Mainland Greece attest the same influence.
In the same Early Metal Age cemetery of Castelluccio, near Syracuse, that produced a series of the bone handles, there came to light two door-slabs of tombs presenting spiraliform designs, and a still more fully developed system of interlocked spiral decoration is seen on the Megalithic sanctuaries of the Maltese islands — notably in the newly discovered ' Temples ' of Hal-Saflieni and Hal-Tarxien.3 These are locally of late Neolithic, or perhaps Chalcolithic, date, but their horned spiraliform decoration shows a curious parallelism with certain decorative motives of the finest M.M. II polychrome ware.4
To the great epoch of Minoan expansion (to be distinguished from later, more purely ' Mycenaean ', waves in the same direction) must be traced the engrafting of certain rapier-like sword types and of vessels with reed designs of pre-Mycenaean tradition on Sicilian soil.* Still further to the West the same influence makes itself perceptible in Eastern Spain.0 Some bronze figures of Minoan type seem to have been actually imported, and the fine bulls' heads found in Majorca, with long urus-like horns, on which at times the sacred doves are perched, point to a Minoan school.7 The sacral horns of Minoan cult themselves recur.
It was certainly in pursuit of very solid commercial objects that
Minoan or other Aegean merchants pushed forward into the West Medi-
1 Schliemann, Ilios, p. 514, No. 983, Troja, with the Predynastic Egyptian class and point to
p. 1 16, No. 41 ; Troja u. Ilion, i, p. 392, Fig. 376 (A.G6tze)&c. See also Petersen in Rom. Mitth., 1898, pp. 164-6. The stage of evolution evidenced by the dagger types of this stratum shows affinities with that of M. M. I Crete.
* Compare the Griffin's collar from Beni- Hasan, p. 710, Fig 533, below.
3 For Hal-Tarxien see Prof. T. Zammit, Archaeologia, § 2, xvii (i9(6\ p. 127 seqq. and § 2, xviii (1917), p. 263 seqq. Compare my observations,/Vw. Soc. Ants,, vol. xxviii, pp. 25 1, 252. The steatopygous figures betray an affinity
Libyan intermediaries. The Megalithic con- structions themselves, as Albert Mayr has remarked (Die vorgeschichtlichen Denkmaler von Malta, p. 719), point the same way. For the Aegean comparisons see, too, my Myc. Tree and Pillar Cull (1901), pp. 100, 101.
* See below, p. 261 and Figs. 194 k, 1 ;'.">.
5 Prehistoric Tombs of Knossos, p. 108.
" P. Paris, Essai stir I'art et Findustrie de r Espagne primitive (Paris, 1903-4) and Arch. Anz., 1906. Cf. Serif to. Minoa, i, p. 96 seqq.
7 P. Paris, op. <•//., i, pp. 157, 158.
TIIK MINOAN AGE 23
terranean basin. The increase in tin alloy in the copper implements in use Trade in in the Aegean area from the close of the Early Minoan Age onwards points iJp;iar"L. at least to one objective. In connexion with the early tin trade attention will be called below to the diffusion among the Early Bronze Age remains not only in Spain, but in the British islands, of a segmented type of faience bead, the fabric of which had been taken over by the Minoans from Egypt.1 Of another result of these Western relations we have direct evidence in the import into Crete, from the close of the Early Minoan Age onwards, of the kind of volcanic glass known as liparite and peculiar to the Aeolian Islands. Lumps of this material were found in the Palace at Knossos and, as has already been mentioned above, liparite bowls were cut by native lapidaries, following diorite models of the Fourth or succeeding Dynasties, while these, in turn, were imitated in painted clay early in the Middle Minoan Period. The manufacture of liparite vessels was still in vogue in Crete in the early part of the Late Minoan Age.
Aegean influences, in their origin, at least, due to the early trade in Relations the native obsidian, were operating, as we have seen, in Mainland Greece ^'ajn|and already in Neolithic times and are traceable in many directions during Greece, the early Ages of metal. The evidence, however, of distinctively Cretan ingredients in the Mainland culture does not become clear till the Middle Minoan Age. Even then the materials are still very few.- It is only Scanty among the sherds connected with the Minoan settlements at Tiryns and Mjlnoan Mycenae that specimens occur which must be regarded as offshoots of the 'jjjj!^^ M. M. Ill ceramic style. The general dearth of such material in the <;reece. preceding Periods only heightens the effect of the wholesale invasion of Main- Hut land Greece by Minoan forms at the close of the Middle and beginning of the sa|e°in"va. Late Minoan Age. This was no gradual change, led up to by successive stages, «» ^ but a sudden revolution involving the idea of actual conquest and widespread Forms settlement. It implies a real break in local conditions, and the dominant ^^J element that now comes into view represents an incomparably higher stage > of civilization than anything that had existed before on the Helladic side.
Some of the new features, indeed, now introduced show points ol divergence from Cretan forms so far as they are at present known to us. One remarkable phenomenon that now meets us is that the Megaron at Mycenae, which as we now know goes back at least to the borders of the
1 See below, p. 491. below p. 166, and Fig. 117 f) Steatite vases
- A matt-painted globular jug from Elateia of Cretan M. M. I fabric occurred on the Aspis
in 1'hocis, probably of Cycladic origin.shows the site at Argos. See Bulletin de Corresfondanee
influence of the M. M.I' butterfly ' motive (see Helle'nit/ne, 1906, p 38, Fig. 68.
THK PALACE OF MINOS, ETC.
Trojan tradition of Me- garon at Mycenae.
My- cenaean Culture essen- tially Minoan.
Crete Cradle of European Civiliza- tion.
Middle Minoan Age,1 does not represent the apsidal type then in vogue in Mainland Greece, including the site of Tiryns itself.2 Rather it seems to be an adaptation of the traditional Trojan form which here rises into view in an organically Minoizecl aspect. The Court in front, moreover, with its bordering Corridor, answering to the same palatial system, is constructively- treated after die manner of a Cretan light area. Where had this complete fusion been effected with the Anatolian type ?
The whole framework of the civilization that now rises into view at Tiryns and Mycenae, Thebes and Orchomenos is still Minoan. The inner spirit of Minoan society is still reflected ; its ideas of .life and death, its sports and pastimes, its sepulchral rites and religious cult. Among the countless objects of art such as those found in the Shaft Graves at Mycenae, the ' Tholos ' tombs of Vapheio and Volo, or in the earlier of the rock-cut chambers, the finest are actually of Cretan importation, while the rest are local repro- ductions of fabrics in the current Cretan style. Even where arrangements vary, every detail of the decoration is purely Minoan. Mycenaean culture in its later phase no doubt chose a course of its own, and, largely independent as it then was of its original Cretan direction, took a more markedly provincial form, parallel to the Third Late Minoan stage in Crete. But in its earlier manifestations it was not only moulded on that of the most brilliant period of Cretan civilization but was continually dominated from that side. The genesis of Mycenaean arts must be sought on Cretan soil, and two-thirds of the long course of Minoan civilization lay already behind them.
In other words, this comparatively small island, left on one side to-day by all the main lines of Mediterranean intercourse, was at once the starting- point and the earliest stage in the highway of European civilization. The early relations of Minoan Crete, both on the Egyptian and Aegean sides, glanced at in the foregoing pages, sufficiently illustrate the advantages that it
1 The frescoes belonging to the Megaron in its original form recently discovered by Dr. Rodenwaldt are of the earliest ' Miniature ' style — probably M. M. Ill b. Agonistic scenes of the Minoan class are represented, and a frag- ment (found earlier) shows women looking on from the windows of a shrine of the Double Axe Cult (see below, p. 444, Fig. 320).
- K. M tiller, Ath. Mitih. 1913, p. 86 ; G. Karo, Fiihrer durch die Rtdnen von Tiryns, p. 7. The apsidal type of house recurs in the same 'Middle Helladic' stratum at Korako
near Corinth (American excavations), at Olympia and Orchomenos, while at Thermos in Aetolia it persists to a date contemporary with L. M. I. (For the material see Vol. II.) The simple oblong Megaron type with the fixed hearth makes its first appearance at Corinth and Orchomenos in strata contemporary with the Late Mycenaean Palaces. The evidence of its existence in ' Middle Helladic ' times is still to seek. Nor is there any link of con- nexion forthcoming with the older Thessalian class.
THE MI NO AN AGE 25
drew from its geographical conditions. Kprjri] m you <?<m, /ztVoa ivl ofaom ir6i/r<p : ' cemr.il the central position of Crete in the East Mediterranean basin at once strikes the j'n"J.;1" eye.2 A half-way house between three continents, pointing East and West and Mediter- barring both the Aegean and the Libyan Seas, this 'mid-sea land' had sufficient territorial extension to permit the growth of a distinct and independent national life. Insular, but not isolated, it was thus able to develop a civiliza- tion of its own on native lines and to accept suggestions from the Egyptian or the Asiatic side without itself being dominated by foreign conventionalism. Primitive navigation, first reared perhaps in the land-locked harbours of the smaller Aegean islands, was early enlisted in the Minoan service. Long ages before the birth of Venice, Crete had ' espoused the everlasting sea ', and the first naval dominion in Mediterranean waters was wielded by Minoan Knossos.
The Egyptian relations, as above indicated, supply a certain measure for the duration of the Minoan civilization. It has been already suggested that the very pronounced Pre-dynastic element in Early Minoan culture may <"-uides. connect itself with some actual exodus of part of the older race of Nile- dwellers, due to the pressure of Menes' conquest. Taking the accession of the First Dynasty as a rough chronological guide to the beginning of the Minoan Age, and accepting provisionally Meyer's upper dating, we arrive at 3400 H. c. by a century or more.:! The lowest term of anything that can be called pure Minoan culture can hardly be brought clown much below 1 200 H. c.
For this considerable space of time, extending over some two thousand two hundred years, the division here adopted into three main Sections, Triple the ' Early ', ' Middle ', and ' Late ' Minoan, each in turn with three Periods of its own, will not be thought too minute. It allows, in fact, for each Period an average duration of nearly two centuries and a half, the earlier Periods being naturally the longer. This triple division, indeed, whether we regard the course of the Minoan civilization as a whole or its threefold stages, is in its very essence logical and scientific. In every characteristic phase of culture we note in fact the period of rise, maturity, and decay. Even within the limits of many of these Periods, moreover, the process of evolu- tion visible has established such distinct ceramic phases that it has been found convenient to divide them into two sections — a and b.
The three main phases of Minoan history roughly correspond with those
of the Early, the Middle, and the earlier part of the New Kingdom in Egypt, dence
with
1 Homer, Odyssey, xix. 172. the pure E. M. I style could hardly have been
See Folding Plate facing p. i reached much before the close of the Fourth
' A transitional ' Sub-Neolithic ' stage has Millennium B.C. See p. 70, below.
however to be allowed for and the evolution of
26 THE PALACE OF MINOS, ETC.
The Early The Early Minoan Age, the beginning of which indeed seems to overlap
to a certain extent the close of the Pre-dynastic Age in Egypt, supplies, in its middle Period (E. M. II), evidence of inter-relations with the Egypt of the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Dynasties. Certain features that characterize its concluding Period (E. M. Ill), on the other hand, betray a contact with the quasi- Libyan elements that came to the fore in the Nile Valley during the troubled times that follow on to the Sixth Dynasty.
This Early Minoan Age, the beginnings of which are taken to include a phase of somewhat gradual transition, to which the name 'Sub-Neolithic' may be given, must have extended over a relatively considerable space of time. The date of the accession of Menes, approximately fixed at 3400 B. c., has been taken above as supplying a rough terminus a qiw for the beginning of this Age, while its lower limits would be about 2100 B. c.
This is an Age of gradual up-growth and of vigorous youth. The primitive culture of Crete now assumes its distinctive features. It works out its independence of the surrounding elements of wider geographical range from which it grew, and takes up a commanding position in the Aegean world. The great ' hypogaea ' at Knossos already foreshadow palatial arrangements.
Among its most characteristic products are the elegant stone vessels of choice and brilliantly variegated materials. The fabric of painted pottery with geometrical designs, first dark on light then light on dark, also makes considerable progress. Goldsmith's work attains a high degree of delicacy and perfection and, in this branch, as well as in the reliefs and engravings on soft stone and ivory, natural forms are at times successfully imitated. The seals show a gradual advance in pictographic expression.
Middle The Middle Minoan Age covers the Period of the Middle Kingdom
Minoan in Egypt including that of the Hyksos domination. Its first Period seems largely to coincide with that of the Eleventh Dynasty, overlapping, however, the first part of the Twelfth. Its acme, the Second Middle Minoan Period, is marked by a growing intimacy of relations with the Egypt of the Twelfth and Thirteenth Dynasty, while, in a stratum belonging to the concluding M. M. Ill Period, occurred the alabastron lid of the Hyksos king Khyan. The chronological limits of this Age lie roughly between 2100 and 1580 B. c.
This is pre-eminently the Age of Palaces. The foundation of the great buildings at Knossos and Phaestos goes back to the close of M. M. I. «, or to shortly after 2000 B.C. The hierarchical position of the priest-kings was now consolidated. A true ' Early Palace Style ' had evolved itself by the end of M. M. II — an epoch marked on both sites by a great catastrophe.
THE MINOAN AGE 27
It was followed in M. M. Ill, however, by a monumental rebuilding and a Mainland splendid revival, leading up to the first era of expansion in Mainland Greece, ?>/ richly illustrated by the earliest elements in the Shaft Graves of Mycenae.
This is the Age of brilliant polychromy in ceramic decoration, and of the earliest wall-paintings. I n its latest phase it is marked by an extraordinary development of naturalism in design. But what especially distinguishes this middle stage of Minoan culture is the final evolution of the Art of Writing from the mere pictography of the earlier Periods. By M. M. I we already see the full evolution of a hieroglyphic style. In M. M. Ill, Class A of the Linear series has already taken its rise. To the same Period belongs the ' Phaestos Disk ', but the characters differ from the Cretan and may best be ascribed to some related element in S.W. Asia Minor.
The Late Minoan Age corresponds with the Eighteenth and Nineteenth The Late Dynasties in Egypt, at most including the early part of the Twentieth. Its A First and Second Periods would cover the reigns from Aahmes to Amen- hotep III. The beginning of the Mainland L. M. Ill stage is already illustrated by the earlier sherds of the 'rubbish heaps' of Tell-el-Amarna of the time of Akhenaten and his immediate successors1 (c. 1370-1350 B.C.). By the thirteenth century Minoan and Mycenaean art was in full decadence, and it is difficult to believe that anything that can be described as ptfte Minoan culture is to be found in Crete later than the early part of Rameses 1 1 1's reign.
Thus the time limits with which we have to deal for the Late Minoan Age lie approximately between 1580 and 1200 n. c.
The early part of this epoch, including the transitional phase which The preserved the fine naturalistic style of M. M. Ill, is the Golden Age ot Xge of Crete, followed, after a level interval, by a gradual decline. The settlement Cretc already begun in M. M. Ill of large tracts of mainland Greece is now continued, and the new Mycenaean culture is thus firmly planted on those shores. But the generation that witnessed this consummation saw also the final overthrow of the Palace at Phaestos, and the brilliant sole dominion of remodelled Knossos that followed on this event was itself, after no long interval, cut short. The overthrow of the great Palace took place at Expan- the close of the succeeding L. M. II Period, the result, according to the inter- fowwM. pretation suggested below, of an internal uprising, apparently of ' submerged elements. It looks as if the Mainland enterprise had been too exhausting. The centre of gravity of Minoan culture shifted now to the Mycenaean side.
1 \\\'J'f/l-f/-,l>narna,V\. XXVII 52, 28,&c.,as the L. M. Ill a Mainland phase. Most, how- well as in part of an alabastron, iSrc.. in the B. M. ever, show distinctly later associations. wv see the I, M. I /' tradition characteristic of
28 THE PALACE OE MINOS, ETC.
Finally, some hostile intrusion from the North, which is naturally to be
connected with the first Greek invasions, drove away the indigenous settlers
who had partially reoccupiecl or rebuilt the ruined sites at Knossos and
elsewhere, and put an end to the last recuperative efforts of Minoan Crete.
The culture of the succeeding Age when iron was coming into general use,
though still largely permeated with indigenous elements, is best described as
' Sub-Minoan ', and lies beyond the immediate scope of the present work.
Artistic The brilliant naturalism of the grand Transitional Epoch that links
reached the Middle with the Late Minoan Age reaches its acme in the high reliefs
in L.M. I. Of painted stucco at Knossos, in the frescoes of Hagia Triada and such works
as the 'harvester' vase. The Court atmosphere at Knossos developed
a greater formalism in art, well illustrated by the ceramic designs in
'Palace the later 'Palace Style'. Such remains, however, as the 'Room of the
L.M6 II. Throne ' which dates from the latter epoch, show the refinement in civilized
surroundings then attained. So too Class B of the linear script, now in vogue,
and confined as far as is known to Knossos, represents the highest development
of the Minoan system of writing. But the rococo spirit now visible, and which,
already in L. M. I, manifests itself in the artificial groups of the Court
ladies of the ' Miniature ' frescoes, was a harbinger of the gradual decline
that marks the course of the last Minoan Period.
graphical ^^e classification of the Minoan culture into nine successive Periods
base of does not rest on merely theoretical deductions as to the evolution and suc-
present . r T . ..
Classifica- cession oi types. In the case ot the excavations at Knossos a constant endeavour has been made to apply geological methods, so that the sequence here adopted rests on a mass of stratigraphical evidence. In such evidence.
Methods, as indeed in that afforded by geological strata, the succession of deposits in individual cases presents lacunae which have to be filled up from data supplied by other sections. Only, moreover, by considerable experience has it been possible to guard against certain subtle causes of error, such as, for instance, the total removal of a floor belonging to one construction and its substitution by another on the same level. In order to revise the evidence, largely with a view to the present study, three months of the year
Supple- 1913 were devoted by me, as already mentioned, to supplementary excava-
Tests^f t'ons on the Palace site, in the course of which about ninety explorations were made beneath the floors at various spots. The result has been, while correcting some individual errors in previous Reports, to corroborate the results already obtained as to the general classification of the successive Periods.
A good section resulting from the excavation of a part of the West
THE MINOAN AGE 29
Court of the Knossian Palace is given in Fig. 4.' It shows how great Section a relative depth is occupied by the Neolithic deposit, though in a neighbour- "vc« ing pit it was even greater. The three Early Minoan Periods were represented C°urt at by distinct layers. Above these was a definite flooring, and at this point occurred one of the lacunae in the evidence referred to above. The First Middle Minoan Period was not represented, the floor having probably been in continuous use. In a contiguous area, however, this gap is fully supplied. Otherwise the succession of the Minoan Periods is here complete up to the pavement of the Court, laid down in L. M. I. Above this point the deposit was of a more unstratified nature, containing remains of the L. M. II and L. M. Ill Periods.
The evidence supplied by the stratification of the successive cultural deposits at Knossos is more complete than that on any other Cretan site. Its general results, however, have been corroborated by the careful researches of fellow explorers on other Cretan sites, though special allowances have in these cases to be made for local conditions. Thus in great residential centres Palatial like Knossos or Phaestos changes in fashion had a tendency to set in somewhat aj,ead of earlier than in more remote provincial localities and to attain a more charac- teristic development. In the East of Crete the First Middle Minoan style shows a tendency to persist, while, on the other hand the mature class of polychrome ware in what may be called the earlier ' Palace Style ' becomes decidedly sparser away from the great centres. At Palaikastro, for instance, there was a tendency, as Mr. Dawkins has observed, for the older M. M. I traditions to survive to the borders of M. M. III. So, too, the later ' Palace Style' of L. M. II is the special product of Knossos, and its place else- where is not infrequently taken by somewhat degenerate versions of L. M. I types. These considerations must always be borne in mind, but the best standard of classification is clearly to be sought on the site which supplies the most complete succession of links in the long chain of evolution.
To take one important centre like Knossos as the norm for such a strati- Hcst ficatory classification of the Minoan Periods is advisable for another reason, Regarded as a whole, the successive human strata on a given site show in each case a certain uniformity wherever struck. Knossian
This is notably the case at Knossos, where we repeatedly find floor levels exposed in various parts of the site which exhibit a parallel series ot ceramic or other remains. Such uniformity of deposit must be taken to mark a wide- spread change or catastrophe at the epoch to which it belongs, and recurring
1 See p. 33.
Arbitrary Element in Strati- graphical Divisions.
Transi- tion with- out real break.
3o THE PALACE OF MINOS, ETC.
strata of this kind may be reasonably regarded as so many landmarks of successive historic stages.
When, ao-ain, a stratum containing ceramic or other remains of the same epoch is found to be of widespread occurrence on two or more important sites it may be taken as an indication of some general catastrophe, affecting, probably, the whole of Minoan Crete. The most striking instance of this is the evidence supplied by a well-marked deposit at Knossos and Phaestos characterized by an abundance of M. M. 1 1 pottery in the same advanced stage and pointing to a more or less contemporary destruction.
All such stratigraphical demarcations are of their nature somewhat arbitrary and any idea of Minoan civilization as divided into so many distinct compartments must be dismissed from the minds of students. All is, in fact, transition. What has been said above must again be repeated. From the earliest Minoan stage to the latest there is no real break such as might be naturally explained by conquest from abroad. Crude foreign elements, indeed, appear at intervals, but they are rapidly absorbed and assimilated. There are checks, it is true, and intervals of comparative stagnation,but though its pace occasionally varies, the course of evolution is still continuous One form merges into another by imperceptible gradations and \vhere, as is the case with a large part of the material, an object is derived from an unstratified deposit it is at times difficult, in default of direct evidence, to decide on which side of a more or less artificial dividing line it should be placed. On such individual questions opinions must constantly differ. But the classification of the Minoan Age into its Early, Middle, and Late stages, and the corresponding division of each into three Periods, finds its justification both in logic and utility.
THE EGYPTIAN CHRONOLOGICAL SYSTEM ADOPTED
IN THIS WORK
WITH regard to Egyptian chronology I have thought it best to take that of
]ogy Dr. Eduard Meyer (Aegyptische Chronologic, 1904 ; Nachtrdgc, 1908) as at least
adopted a provisional standard. I am well aware of the objections of many Egyptologists against
bringing down the date of the Twelfth Dynasty so low as 2000-1788 B. c. which
Standard, follows from the acceptance of 1876-1872 B.C. as the Sothic dating for the seventh
year of Senusert III (Borchardt, Aegypt. Zeitschrift, xxxvii, p. 99 seqq.). Dr. H. R.
Hall in his recently published Ancient History of the Near East observes (p. 23) that
' it seems impossible to force all the kings of the Thirteenth-Seventeenth Dynasties
into so small a space as 250 years, cut down their reigns as we may '.
Meyer's system, nevertheless, has received a powerful corroboration from the
THE EGYPTIAN CHRONOLOGICAL SYSTEM 31
recent researches of Monsieur Raymond VVeill l who, after an elaborate examination K. \Veill of the evidence, considers it possible to reduce the interval between the Twelfth and the ° Eighteenth Dynasty to about 210 years, the period required by the Sothic dating. It tween must be remembered that a fixed Sothic date in the other direction is supplied by the .r"je!!'h, Calendar of the Ebers Papyrus, from which it follows that the ninth year of Amen- teenth hotep I was 332 years later (within 3 years) than the seventh year of Senusert III. Dynasty. The date of the accession of Aahmes, the first king of the Eighteenth Dynasty, thus works out approximately at 1580 K. c.2
On the other hand Prof. Flinders Petrie's severely logical proposal (Researches in Petrie's Sinai, Hyo6,pp. 163-85, ch. xii, and Historical Studies, 1911, pp. 10-23) to solve the .hlsh dat~ dimculty by pushing back Senusert Ilia whole Sothic Cycle of 1461 years and thus patible raising his date to 3300 B. C. seems to me to be quite incompatible with the Cretan witn evidence. The recent discovery of a cylinder of the First Babylonian dynasty in evidence, association with Cretan scarabs imitating early Twelfth Dynasty types also supplies a valuable chronological equation quite inconsistent with this higher dating.
The characteristic polychrome wares of the Second Middle Minoan Period have M.M. II been shown by Professor Petrie's discoveries at Kahun and by the tomb found by c Professor Garstang at Abydos — where they were accompanied by cylinder-seals of wjth ' Senusert III and Amenemhat III (see below, p. 268 seqq.) — to be contemporary with Twel(' the Twelfth Dynasty. It further appears that these wares overlapped the Thirteenth. Thir-
But between the well-defined Knossian stratum containing pottery of the Middle teenth Minoan polychrome style and the Late Minoan deposits of ascertained connexions asfjes. going back to the beginning of the Eighteenth Dynasty, or approximately 1580 li. c., Qnly M. there are only remains of a single phase of culture, the 'Third Middle Minoan '. This M.lllbe- Age of transition is itself marked by successive phases, but it seems unreasonable and K! "^ to extend it over more than four or five generations. teenth
This rough estimate would bring the close of M. M. II and, with it, of the early part of the Thirteenth Dynasty to a date approaching 1700 D. c. Such an approximate term agrees, in fact, very well with Meyer's dating for the Twelfth Dynasty. When the alternative to this is to raise the Sothic dating by 1461 years, and to attribute therefore a duration of something like a millennium and a half to the Third Middle Minoan Period, it can hardly be doubted on which side the greater probability lies.
For the earlier dynasties I have taken the higher margin allowed by Dr. Meyer.
1 ' Monuments et histoire de la p^riode com- (Classical Revieu', xiv, 1900, p. 148; cf. Hall, prise entre la fin de la XII6 Dynastic et ia loc. tit.) makes the seventh year of Senusert restauration The"baine \Journ. Asiatiqiie, Rec. either 1978 or 1945 B.C., that is from about des Me'moires 79/4-77. 70 to somewhat over too years earlier than
2 The independent calculation of T. Nicklin the date given by Borchardt and Meyer.
§ 1. THE NEOLITHIC STAGE IN CRETE
Minoan Culture in Crete evolved out of Neolithic ; Caves and Rock- Shelters ; ' But and Ben ' divellings ; Deep Section at Knossos ; Evidences of High Antiquity ; ' Lower ', ' Middle ', and ' Upper ' Neolilhic ; Typical products of 'Middle Neolithic' phase; Inlaid pottery ; Steatopygous Clay Images; Ancestors of Stone types ; Evolution of extended Figures; Aegean and Anatolian families related — wide Oriental range ; Prototypes of Mother Goddess ; Stone Implements ; Chrysocolla stud; Primitive Commerce.
'Minoan' THE ' Minoan ' culture of Crete as defined in the present work has
outgrowth its starting-point in the transitional Age during which the use of stone
lithic. for implements and weapons was beginning to be supplemented by that
of copper. But this Chalcolithic phase, more specially referred to in the
succeeding Section as ' Early Minoan I ', was itself to a large extent the out-
growth of the Later Stone or Neolithic Age that had preceded it. It
is, indeed, in many of its aspects still ' Sub-Neolithic', nor can any true idea
be gained of the rise of Minoan civilization without some realization of this
ruder antecedent stage, though the full materials for the study are still to seek.
Materials Neolithic remains, however, are numerous and scattered over a large
for Neo- par(; of Crete, including objects derived from caves, rock-shelters, isolated
phase houses, and settlements. A cave, the earlier contents of which belong to this
adequate. Period, was explored by Professor Bosanquet at Skalaes near Praesos in
But re- An extensive Neolithic station at Magasa near Palaikastro has been described by Professor Dawkins,2 which abounded in stone implements, the ' celts '
spread in being in many cases of the thick stumpy kind usual in Aegean deposits. In connexion with this station was a rock-shelter and by it the remains of a house, consisting of a single course of undressed limestone blocks and in- teresting as showing a fairly rectangular outline. It is of the ' but and ben '
dwellings, kind, with a small entrance chamber and a larger one within/1 Inside it,
1 B. S. A. viii, p. 235. with some mixed finds on the adjoining plateau
• P. S. A. xi, p. 260 seqq., and PI. VIII. which he calls ' Campignian ', meaning by
3 Dawkins, op. cit., p. 263, Fig. 2 ; cf this ill-chosen name proto-Neolithic. But
Mackenzie, B. S. A., xiv, p. 360 seqq. and SOme of these, e.g. the obsidian borers,
p. 368. The excavated house-floors found by resemble those from Magasa, others, like the
Monsieur I Franchet at Trypiti, E. of Candia cores and corresponding flakes, belong to
(Rev. Anthropologique, 1914, p. 294 seqq., and the Bronze Age of Crete and Melos (cf.
Nouv. Arch, des Missions sdentifiques, t. xx. Phylakopi, PI. XXXVIII. 19-28). Bosanquet,
f. i. 1917), contained no evidence of date, and /. H. S. xxxviii, pp. 203, 204, has shown the
belong to a type still in use in Crete and the amenability of M. Franchet's conclusions re-
Aegean islands. M. Franchet connects them garding these remains.
NEOLITHIC STACK: THE 'TKLL' OF KNOSSOS
ORIGINAL SURFACE OF GROUND
4 __— =-rL^^TT- .-
~ » . _ •
33
^ :
|
* -« |
|
|
. . ' |
' 1 '. |
|
» |
1 |
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• • t • |
, • ' ' |
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. . . •• |
.ATE, i |
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• • , , |
— — / * • |
~ F - - .ffe
I
r i i
•'_• / . ' ' PWEMENT OF1 WEST COURT
INOANS STRATUM
STRATUM BELONGING TO EARLY MIHOAH^j, LEVEL, EARLY MlNOAN I ®
'/
LDIIIHICv/vy/l
r r /V / I < / J, /
Fin. 4. SECTION 01 Uisi COURT AT KNOSSOS. J>
34
THE PALACE OF MINOS, ETC.
Palace Site of Knossos a. Neo- lithic ' Tell '.
Section under West Court.
Chrono- logical Specula- tions.
besides some potsherds, were found nineteen stone axes and obsidian points with an obtuse base analogous to the class of flint Neolithic borers. Such worked obsidian flakes were common on the site, and show that there was already a commercial connexion with Melos. The pottery found was of a fairly advanced Neolithic fabric.
Neolithic debris have occurred beneath the Minoan buildings at Knossos, Phaestos, and other Cretan sites. At Phaestos the Neolithic deposits beneath the Palace seem to have been considerable l though their depth is as yet not ascertained. But the mass of Neolithic material under- lying the Palace site at Knossos far exceeds in depth and volume that of any known European locality. The Hill of Kephala is, in fact, a ' Tell' resembling the great mounds of Chaldaea, Palestine, or Egypt, made up by layer after layer of earlier settlements going back in this case to remote prehistoric times. Some idea of the relative depth of this Neolithic deposit may be gathered from the West Court Section, given in Fig. 4.2
It will be seen that whereas the Minoan and all later strata taken together occupy 5-33 metres,3 or about 19 feet of the section, the Neolithic deposit extends below this for a depth of 6-43 metres, or about 23! feet — in a neighbouring pit 8 metres, or 26| feet — to the virgin rock.
The best fixed datum here as regards the Minoan strata is afforded by the pavement of the West Court which belongs to the close of the Middle Minoan Age, in other words to a date approximating to 1600 B.C.4 The beginning of the Early Minoan Age has been tentatively set down above as 3400 n. c. which gives an interval of 1,800 years for 2-82 metres of deposit. If we might assume an equal rate of accumulation for the 8 metres of Neolithic deposit we should require for it a space of over 5,100 years. It maj' be objected that the wattle and daub constructions of Neolithic times might favour a higher rate of accumulation, and that some allowance should be made on this score. It must still be remembered, however, that down to
1 See A. Mosso, Ceramica neolitica di Phaestos, Man. Ant., xix (1908), p. 141 seqq. But the deposits examined by him were mixed Neolithic and Early Minoan. This fact vitiates his conclusions as to the depth of the Neolithic stratum.
* B. School Annual, x (1904), p. 19, Fig. 7, and see p. 18 seqq. The pottery of this Section was examined by Dr. Mackenzie.
* The lowest of these strata, however,
33 centimetres in thickness, is best described as 'Sub-Neolithic'.
4 In some chronological speculations set forth by me in 1904 on the basis of this section (£. School Annual, x, p. 25), I took the present surface of the ground as a datum, which is less satisfactory. I also used Lepsius' dating of the First Egyptian Dynasty 3892 B. c. as a provisional basis for the beginning of E. M. I, which entails a higher dating for the Neolithic Age
NEOLITHIC STAGE: THE 'TELL' OF KNOSSOS 35
the latest Minoan Age, besides hewn stone, rubble materials, unburnt bricks, Vastanti- and, in the case of smaller dwellings such as we have to deal with in this area,
roofs of reeds and clay were still largely in use. Very considerable accumula- Neolithic tions must therefore still be taken into account, and the population on the ment. Tell itself was probably denser than in more primitive times. It is doubtful therefore if any deduction be necessary, but even taking off 10 per cent, from the sum of years arrived at above for the duration of the Neolithic settlement on the site of Knossos, it would yet amount to about 4,600 years Its beginnings would go back to 8000 B.C. and it would thus have a total antiquity approaching 10,000 years. Such speculations, however, can have only a relative value.
Unfortunately, although the amount of miscellaneous Neolithic materials niflS- brought out by the Knossos excavations has been considerable, the exact ^ay'^V" data have hitherto been mainly forthcoming from two or three exploratory (-"i«*ifi- pits. The reason of this is the fact that in a large part of the Palace area a good deal of the Neolithic deposit was partly levelled away when the build- ing was constructed for the Central Court and surrounding structures. On the Eastern slope again there has been a good deal of denudation. It has been only possible to obtain comparative observations of the contents of metre- levels where the excavation of the Neolithic deposit was carried clown to the virgin soil, which in the Palace area could only exceptionally be the case. But Earliest the information supplied by the test-pits where it has been possible to sound ofKuossos the full extent of the deposit is very consistent in its results, and by the aid of * "^' d this a great deal of the scattered material can be placed in its proper context.
It is clear that the Neolithic settlement of Knossos does not itself by any means represent the earliest stage of that culture. In the lowest stratum the implements are ground and polished and the pottery is generally of a fairly advanced quality with a good burnished surface.
Setting aside what maybe called the ' Proto-Neolithic ' element which is Lower. here absent, the Later Stone Age deposits of Knossos illustrate three ^dle' principal stages of evolution. The strata may thus as a whole be divided Upper. into the ' Lower', ' Middle ', and ' Upper Neolithic ' of Knossos.1
The Lower Neolithic comprises approximately the first two and a half
1 The results of Dr. Mackenzie's careful north of the Central Court. The deposit here
examination of the Neolithic pottery from the reaches in places a thickness of 7 metres above
test-pit in the West Court are given by the virgin rock. The specimens from succes-
him in his paper on the ' Pottery of Knossos ' sive half-metre levels are kept separate. They
(J.H.S., xxiii, 1903, p. 158 seqq.). The are preserved in the 'Reference Museum*
general results have been corroborated by my formed on the site. recent cuttings into the Neolithic strata to the
D 2
THE PALACE OF MINOS, ETC.
Lower Neolithic of Knossos.
Middle Neolithic: Incised Ware.
White (and red) Inlays.
Surviving Tradition: Outside Crete.
Rippled Ware.
metres above the soft virgin rock.1 The pottery in this layer, as through- out the Neolithic phase, is hand-made and of imperfectly sifted clay, though the surface is already more or less burnished. The vessels are generally wide-mouthed with a flattening at bottom. The pottery is distinguished from that of the stratum above by its brownish surface as contrasted with the blacker tint of a good deal of the Middle Neolithic. The main negative distinction of this early class, however, is the comparative absence of incised ware.
The practice of incised decoration (see Fig. 8 below) is the special characteristic of the ' Middle Neolithic ' phase which, if we take this feature as a guide, may be said to begin by a very gradual transition in the second half of the third metre. In this and the following metre of deposit the actual amount of incised fragments is still however rare, amounting only to from two to three per cent.2 Up to the fifth metre the ornament is still pro- duced by simple incision, but, about this level, the new process of filling in the incised or punctuated patterns with a white chalky material first makes its appearance.3 In rare cases, moreover, a ferruginous red material is used in place of this. The occurrence of this white and red pigment in incised geometric decoration coupled with the black ground characteristic of this Neolithic stage naturally suggests that we have here the prototype of the early polychrome class of painted pottery which first makes its appearance at the close of the Early Minoan Age. But as a matter of fact this Neolithic tradition was in Crete itself interrupted by a long interval of time. The connexion probably exists, but it is supplied by the more conservative tradition of the Central Aegean islanders, and punctuated and incised pat- terns with white inlaying material re-entered Crete in the wake of strong Cycladic influences about the close of the Early Minoan Age.4 These patterns were taken over at the beginning of the Middle Minoan Period on the early polychrome vessels with similar geometrical designs.
Together with this inlaid decoration, the more uniform black ground of the pottery, and the brighter burnishing, a new feature now makes itself apparent. This is the rippling of the surface of the- vessel (Fig. 5),
1 Taking the West Court test-pit as the standard. The deposit in that under the Third West Magazine was originally deeper. As pointed out by Dr. Mackenzie (pp. at., p. 161) ' the formation of deposit was more rapid and accordingly greater in quantity, especially in the best Neolithic Period, at the centre of the Knossos hill than towards the periphery '.
8 Mackenzie, op. a'/., p. 159.
3 'In the fifth metre of the test-pit of the Third Magazine, out of 524 fragments 18 happened to be incised and of these almost all showed the incisions filled with a kind of white chalk ' (Mackenzie, loc. fit.)
* I called attention to this curious pheno- menon in />'. School Annual, x, p. 23 ; cf. p. 115 below.
NEOLITHIC STAGE: THE 'TELL' OF KNOSSOS 37
probably by means of a blunt bone instrument, from the rim downwards. On the vessel being afterwards polished the greatest possible amount of glitter was thus obtained.
The remains of vessels from the Neolithic stratum were, as a rule, too fragmentary for restoration. A few more perfectly preserved examples, mainly illustrating its Middle phase, are, however, given in Fig. (>, but some of the com- monest types of which we have evidence, such as the open bowls with slightly flattened base and the clay ladles, are not there represented. On the other hand, Fig. 0, 2, 9 with the fully developed handles and the fragment of the bowl with the 'bridged' spout (8) — the forerunner of a long Minoan series — may belong to the latest Neolithic stage.
The miniature cup-like forms (Nos. 4, 5, 6, 7) and the small cylin- drical vessel (10) recall an interesting discover) made by Professor Mosso in a Neolithic deposit at Phaestos.1 In this, together with a clay female image of the ' squatting ' class de- scribed below,2 were remains of shallow clay bowls, too small for ordi- nary use, one with two holes for suspension, and amongst pectuncultis shells found with them, a specimen artificially flattened below. It seems probable that these objects had served a votive purpose in connexion with the little image, and the religious character of the deposit was con- firmed by the association with the
other relics of a large lump of magnetic iron ; a mineral apparently not native to Crete.3 In later times, as will be shown below, sea-shells formed a regular part of the equipment of Minoan shrines.4
More or less rectangular clay 'trays' with partitions (n,a, b, c] are typical products of the 'Middle Neolithic' Age. Sometimes, as their fragments show, they were provided with short legs. Some characteristic ex- amples of these fabrics, as illustrated mainly by its most flourishing phase in the
Illustra- tive Types ofVessels.
Votive Objects.
Votive Neolithic Deposit at I'haes- tos.
FIG. 5. Rii'i'i.KD WARE (NKOLITHIC) (| f.).
1 Mon. Ant., xix, 1908, p. 151 seqq. 1'iL,'. 12, 6 a, and Fig. 13, 3, and cf. p. 47.
' See Mosso, op. «'/., pp. 153, 154. and note, i. ' See below, p. 51 7 seqq.
THE PALACE OF MINOS. ETC.
Evolu- tion of Handles.
Upper Neolithic.
Begin- nings of painted Decora- tion.
Sub- Neolithic Phase.
prolonged 'Middle Neolithic' Period will be found in the accompanying Figures.
Typical Neolithic handles will be seen in Fig. 7. The ' wishing bone type, Nos. i, 3, 5, 6, may have been derived from the use of a forked withy or osier sprig with its two flexible ends tied round a wooden bowl. We find it, indeed, in an atrophied form on certain Early Minoan chalices that retain in their decoration a reminiscence of the wood-work graining.1 This type of handle finds parallels and derivatives in Cyprus, the Troad, and Northern Greece.2 The apex of the fork where it leaves its undivided stem forms the handle In 8^-14 we trace the evolution of the broad vertical handle from a mere perforated knob (8 a, 8 b, 9). On the other hand, Figs. 7, n and 8, n below show that by the period of the incised wares the fully developed ' strap handle ' was already in existence.
The Upper Neolithic phase merges rapidly into what may be called the ' Sub-Neolithic' and must be regarded as of short duration. It is a period of decadence from the point of view of the old Neolithic technique and of transition to new methods.
Thus, as we approach the seventh metre, the incised and rippled decora- tion of the flourishing Neolithic epoch shows a tendency to die out and soon practically disappears. By the time the seventh metre is reached the hand- burnished ware that is still found is quite plain, in this respect resembling that of the lowest stratum. On the other hand, the majority of sherds show the beginnings of a new method of painted decoration by means of an at first almost lustreless black glaze slip. This is of a darkish colour, and there are at times faint traces of white geometric patterns in imitation of the inlaid chalk decoration of the preceding Neolithic period.3 Finally, as the borders of what may best be termed the Sub-Neolithic phase are reached, the interior of the pottery is no longer of the traditional grey tone, but takes a paler and, at times, a ruddier tint, showing that the processes of baking were now ' more advanced, and heralding the advent of the potter's oven '. The Sub-Neolithic fabrics that succeed merge in turn, by an imperceptible transition, into those of the First Early Minoan Period, with which for convenience' sake they are here grouped. There is no real break between the latest Stone Age of Crete and the ' Chalcolithic ' phase or earliest Age of Metals.
' See below, pp. 59, 60, and Fig. 19.
2 Interesting parallels to this class of handle may be found in the Early Metal Age wares of Thessaly (Wace and Thompson, Pre- historic Thessaly, pp. 185, 186, Fig. 134; Lianokladhi Stratum III : with Minyan ware) and of Macedonia (H. Schmidt, Keramik der
makedonischen Tumuli. Z.f. Eihn., 1905, p. 98). Varieties of the allied form of handle with a mere perforation (Fig. 7, 7) occur both in Thessaly and Macedonia and in the earliest stratum of Troy (H. Schmidt, op. cif., p. 99).
:i Mackenzie, op. cit. p. 162.
NEOLITHIC STAGE: THE 'TELL1 <>1 KNOSSOS 39
II. a.
IMC,. 6. NEOLITHIC POTTERY, KNOSSOS ($<-.).
THE PALACE OF MINOS, ETC.
FIG. 7. NEOLITHIC HANDLES, KNOSSOS. 1-7. 'WISHING HONK' TYPE AND DERIVATIONS. 8-H. EVOLUTION OF VERTICAL HANDLE FROM PERFORATED Kxon (§<-.).
NEOLITHIC ST.\<;E: THK 'TELL' OF KNOSSOS 41
12
1 ic. 8. MIDDLE NEOLITHIC INCISED AND PUNCTUATED DECORATION. WITH CHALK INLAY, KNOSSOS (%f.).
42 THE PALACE OF MINOS, ETC.
Till Neolithic graves are discovered it will be impossible to give anything like a complete series of ceramic forms. Here it is impossible to give more than a very summary idea of this Cretan Neolithic culture. InlaidDe- In Fig. 8 are given some examples of the incised and punctuated in-
coration. jajcj ciecoratjon of the 'Middle Neolithic' style. The patterns are mostly of a simple geometrical class, some of them, like the chequer motive, 4, -„ of obviously textile origin. But specimens like those reproduced in Fig. 9 Plant show early attempts to imitate plant forms. Fig. 9, a, b apparently re- presents branches. Such delineations have a special interest in view of the important place occupied by plant motives in later Minoan times. In these rude beginnings we may see a remote anticipation of the perfection of naturalistic design that produced the saffron-flowers and lilies.
the exquisitely drawn grasses and fern- like foliage that illustrate the acme of Minoan art.
Clay spools and other small inde- terminate objects shown on Fig. 10 also at times bear similar incised or punc- tuated decoration. Nos. 2 «, b, and 3 a,
b, c, d seem to be spools for winding FIG. 9. INCISKD PLANT MOTIVES. , ,.T , ,-. r *"
thread, No. i (a, o) may be part ot a
handle. The sub-oval object No. 4 (a, b, c\ on the other hand, almost looks &c. like a small clay 'tablet', and on side, b, a figure appears resembling
the ' mountain ' sign of the later hieroglyphic script. There seems no reason, however, to attach importance to such analogies. Even had such a clay nodule come to light in a Neolithic deposit nearer the old Chaldaean border, chronological discrepancies would surely have been fatal to any attempt to regard it as a primitive imitation of an inscribed tablet.
Whorls The °lay sP'ndle whorls (Fig. 10, 5-9), which occur in great abundance.
are either plain or merely distinguished by lines or notches. None of the more elaborately decorated class characteristic of the early strata of Hissarlik are here found. The Hissarlik finds, indeed, are of distinctly later date.
Bone im- Bone implements abound in the Neolithic deposit and many of these,
plements. , .
such as the shuttles and needles, have to do with weaving and textile in- dustries. Some of the pointed instruments found may have been used for making the incised and punctuated decoration on the pottery. Others with a broad flat edge may have served for smoothing the surface. Punches, perhaps for leather, and scoops are also frequent.
NEOLITHIC STAGE: THE 'TELL' OE KNOSSOS 4,
FIG. 10. CI.AY SPOOLS, WHORLS, &c., MIDDLE NEOLITHIC, KNOSSOS (| r.).
Of special interest are the small clay figures in the round — many of them with the characteristic incised decoration— representing animals, birds. and human forms. Fig. 11, i a, b, c is a bird with slightly opening wings and apparently a fan-shaped tail, suggesting a dove. Considering how intimately
44
THE PALACE OF MINOS. ETC.
4. a.
5.
FIG. 11. CI.AY BIRDS AND ANIMALS, MIDDLE NEOLITHIC, KNOSSOS (§<•.)•
Birds and the cult of the Dove is associated in subsequent Periods with the Minoan Goddess, this figure may well have stood in some religious connexion. The little clay ox, 4 a, 6, evidently the indigenous short-horned va'riety — the Bos Creticus of Boyd Dawkins — also recalls the abundance of such figures in Minoan votive deposits. No. 3 is probably the head of a goat, and 5 that
NEOLITHIC STAGE: THE 'TELL' OF KNOSSOS 45
of a hound. More uncertain is the prot^me 2 a, 6, which appears to have belonged to the rim of a vessel.
Some fragmentary remains of male figures have been found, and the Human rude rectangular image, Fig. 12, 5 seems to be of this sex, but the bulk of the clay figures in human shape are female. They are of two main types. One is flat and broad, Fig. 12, i a, b, f, and seems to be ot rare occurrence. The Steato- other, Fig. 12, 2. 3, 6 ancl Fig. 13, i A, B below, is much more frequent and late Kwnaie Neolithic specimens occur of green steatite. This type is short and stumpy lmases- and shows an extraordinary development of the rump, which is often even more prominent than that of modern Bushman women. This exaggeration, however, may be partly due to very widespread primitive notions as to the adipose character of feminine beauty. Such figurines are found throughout a large part of the Mediterranean and Aegean basin and South-Eastern Europe, and have an undefined extension still farther East. Striking examples are supplied by the prehistoric Egyptian clay figures of this class from Naqada and the monstrously obese seated Their images of clay ancl stone found in the Megalithic sanctuaries of Malta, bution. Steatopygous figurines recur in a series of Neolithic stations extending from Thessaly l and Bosnia to Thrace, and north of the Danube * to Roumania, Southern Russia, and the Polish Caves.3 Obese female figures in stone and in a squatting attitude, of sub-Neolithic date, occur in Mainland Greece. But, as we shall see, the nearest parallel to the present series comes from the Anatolian side. It may be that some distant connexion will ulti- mately be established between this Neolithic family and the still earlier images of the Aurignacian Age with the organs of maternity so prominently shown, — of which the 'Venus of Brassempouy ', and that of Willendorf in Lower Austria, stand as classical examples.
The Neolithic Cretan images of this class seem to belong to two main Two main
T . .. • • i i i L Neolithic
varieties. In the one case the figure appears squatting with the legs bent types, under the body (cf. Figs. 12, 2, 13, 3). In the other (Fig. 13, i, 5), we may recognize a sitting attitude, with knees up and both feet drawn together in front. The squatting attitude, which is a simple modification of the other, finds
1 Tsuntas, Ilpo'io-ropi/cai 'AicpoTroAtw, &c. PI. Urgeschichte der bildenden Kunst in Europa
32; Wace and Thompson, Preh. Thessaly, (1898), see esp. p. 206 seqq., and Pis. III-V,
232 seqq. and passim. But many of these and my own independent study, Hagios Onu-
clay figures seem to be later than the Aegean phrios Deposit, &c. : Suppl. to Cretan Picto-
Neolithic. graphs, &c , Quaritch, 1895, p. 124 seqq.
3 For a general view of the distribution of * G. Ossowsky, Fouilles de la Caverne de
these primitive 'idols', see S. Reinach, La Sculp- Wierzchowska-Gbrna (Antigua, 1887, p. 32
tureen Europe avant les influences grteo-romaines seqq., and PI. VIII, 4). (Anthropologie, 1894 and 1895), M. Hoernes,
»*» f
-
IMG. 12. NEOLITHIC CI.AY IDOLS, KNOSSOS (f c.).
NEOLITHIC STAGE: THE 'TELL' OE KNOSSOS 47
an interesting analogy in the case of an early black clay figure with incised Seated
decoration from Adalia, the ancient Attalia, on the Pamphylian coast.1 In ciay* the front view of this figure, reproduced in Eig. 13, 17, the two feet, one of them ^ema'e slightly obliterated, are seen meeting in front and implying thus a squatting posture. This point of similarity to the Cretan type is, moreover, enhanced by the position of the arms and hands which are laid over the breasts. It is evident, indeed, that the Adalia figurine is of a more advanced fabric.2 In this case the head with its delineation of the hair and features shows marked points of approximation to the well known 'owl-faced' images of Hissarlik, arguing also an approximation in date.
In the case of the Knossian figurines, the head is generally broken off, and where preserved is a mere protuberance as in Fig. 12, i and 4. In the succeeding Period, as we shall see, features begin to appear.
There can be little doubt that the other type of image of flatter mould Broad, with the rounded body below and cruciform upper section (Eig. 13, 2) has variety. the same origin as the steatopygous class and was also intended to indicate a crouched or sitting attitude. In this case, however, the steatopygy is rendered, as so often in similar cases, by means of the expanded contour. The two side sections in the lower part of this figure seem to answer to the shortened legs of the crouching type, as seen in Fig. 13, i. This is further brought out by the existence of a sub-Neolithic marble type, sketched in Fig. 13, 5, in which the same attitude is suggested.
It is, in fact, in relation to the later widely disseminated family of stone Clay types that these crouchingNeolithicfigureshavethe greatest interest. A glance Crouched at the diagrammatic Fig. 13 will at once brint; home these affiliations. The '''yp*5
Ancestors
two marble figurines from Amorgos, Nos. 10 and n, the first of which of Stone betrays a certain parallelism with the Cretan sub-Neolithic form, 5, show that the well-known fiddle-shaped forms of the Cyclades 3 go back to Neolithic
1 J.L. Myres, .4«//6. Inst. Journ., xxx(i90o) vanced fabric, see T. E. Peet, I 'niv. of Liverpool p. 251 seqq., and PI. XIV. The back view Annals of Archaeology and Anthropology, vol. ii, of the image presents the peculiarity of showing, p. 145 seqq., and Pis. XXVI, XXVII.
on its left flank, the sole of a foot. This may " I pointed out the value of the clay Neolithic
be regarded as a reduplicated representation image (Fig. 12, i = 13, j),as supplying the proto-
of the foot seen in the front on this side, type of the ' fiddle-shaped ' forms, in a com-
Professor Myres, however, thinks that the munication to the Anthropological Section of
partial obliteration of the right foot in front the British Association (see Man, 1902, No.
was done intentionally, and the sole put in 146). It confirmed a conjecture already made
behind on the other flank as a substitute. by Prof. J. L. Myres, loc. cit., that ' the violin-
2 For other specimens of ' idols ' from near shaped type of marble figure, may very likely Adaliaofwell-cookedyellowishclayandmoread- represent a squatting type'.
48
THE PALACE OF MINOS, ETC.
NEOLITHIC STAGE: THE 'TELL' OE KNOSSOS 49
prototypes in clay of this class, the existence of which may eventually be Clay
ascertained in other parts of the Aegean area. Very remarkable squat- Type"1"
ting figures of alabaster, preserving in their front aspect a curious parallel to Ancestors
these Cycladic fiddle-shaped types, have been recently discovered in Bronze shaped
Age ' Kurgans' of the Caucasus (Fig. 13, n 6),1 No. n is to be regarded as a truncated offshoot of the same family. This last-mentioned type, more- over, is also included in the Trojan group (Nos. 13, 14, 15) where, however, we find a tendency (No. 15) to reproduce the owl-shaped features of the Adalia figurine (No. 17). The heavily formed limestone ' idol ' (No. 16) from the site of Sykeon (Sarilar)2 carries these parallels into Galatia.
Interesting, too, is the recent discovery of a limestone figurine of kindred Mesopo- type (No. 18), at Serrin on the Mesopotamian bank of the Middle Euphrates.3 ^mian The 'idol' itself, with its eyed physiognomy, fits on to the Anatolian 'Idol'. group and suggests derivation from a squatting type parallel with that from Adalia. Stone figures of a closely related form extend, however, as far afield as the South-Eastern shores of the Caspian. A specimen executed in a flesh-coloured stone with the breasts clearly modelled (Fig. 13, 19) in fact occurred in the rich early treasure found in 1841 in a mound near Asterabad,4 together with a copper spear-head of a Sumerian type that goes back at least to the middle of the Third Millennium B.C.
In view of these phenomena, there can be little doubt of the original prevalence of the squatting or seated type throughout this wide Aegean and West Asiatic region. The female clay images from the Neolithic deposit at Knossos, of which remains of at least a score have now been found, are all of this kind, and the single example of a flatter form (Fig. 13, 2) is itself only a transitional version of the same class.
1 N. I. Veselovsky, Izvjestiya Imp. Arch, as ' Middle Hittite ', i. e. not earlier than
Komm., Petrograd, 1910, pp. 3, 4, and Pis. I, <r. 1750 B.C. Unfortunately, however, the
II. From Kuban. evidence as to the tomb-group is by no means
" J. W. Crowfoot, Explorations in Galatia clear.
as Halyin. /. H. S., xix (1899), p. 34, * Archaeoiogia, xxx (1844), p. 248 seqq.,
Fig. i. PI. XVI, 5. The spear-head (Fig. 10) with its
* The objects are now in the Ashmolean characteristic tang, represents the same general
Museum, and have been published by Mr. type as that attributed to King Sharru-Gi of
C.L.\\roo]\ey(Z.iv.AnH.ofArcA.,v}, PI. XXIV). Kish (f. 2 700 ?). Heuzey, Die. en Chalde"e,
They were said to have formed part of an PI. V, ter, N. i ; cf. King, Sumer and Acfad.,
interment and to have been found in company p. 229, Fig. 58. Rostovtzeff, The Sumerian
with two bronze implements, a tanged dagger Treasure of Astrabad. Journal of Egyptian
and an elongated flat ' celt ' marked with Archaeology, Vol. VI, p. 4 seqq. twelve dots and classified by Mr. Woolley I E
THE PALACE OF MINOS, ETC.
Evolu- tion of Extended Types of Stone Figures.
Clay
Proto- types of Extended Stone Figures.
Transi- tional Forms.
Yet, as \ve shall see, in the succeeding Age both in Anatolia and Crete, and notably in the Cyclades, more or less extended figures become the prevalent type. How is this divergence from the Neolithic prototypes such as we see them at Knossos to be explained?
Unquestionably, full-length clay types of adipose female figurines appear in the Neolithic strata of mainland Greece, as for instance at Sesklo.1 But we have to bear in mind that the ' Neolithic' phase in Thessaly and other mainland regions considerably overlaps the Early Metal Age of the Aegean. Moreover, it is wholly unreasonable to suppose that Neolithic types from that side could have exercised a formative influence in Lycia and Pamphylia, where, as we shall see, extended figures parallel with the Aegean class make their appearance at a time contemporary with the Early Minoan.
The influence of early extended types to the North or East need not be excluded, but the actual genesis of these Aegean types may be traced in such intermediate forms as that shown in Fig. 13, 4. This is clearly related to the crouched or seated figures (Fig. 13, i A, i B), but the legs from the knee down are better indicated. From this to the stone ' idols ' with legs of stumpy dimensions it is only a step. As a matter of fact, moreover, it will be found that, even in the more advanced Cycladic specimens of the extended class, traces of a more contracted posture are often visible.
The transition from the seated to the more or less extended posture of the stone examples is illustrated by Nos. 6-9, 20 of Fig. 13. Two of these female images were' recently discovered near Iflatun Bunar on the borders of Lycia and Pamphylia.2 No. 6, of limestone, presenting an exceptionally adipose contour, shows the legs rounded off in front and trun- cated below in the profile view. No. 7, of serpentine, is marked by a greater flattening out of the body, its steatopygous character being indicated by the greater widening of the flanks. This feature is carried still further in an analogous type, No. 3, found near Gortyna.3 It consists of black and red breccia of a kind much used by the Cretan lapidaries of the Early Minoan Age,
viov KOL
Tsuntas, Al npourropucai 'AxpoiroAcis At/xr;- Xov, PI. 32, and p. 283 seqq. The resemblance between Fig. 1 2, 2, ?, and 6, and the limestone figure from Iflatun Bunar (Fig. 13, 6) is striking. For other examples of steatopygous clay figurines of Neolithic date in a more or less extended position, see Wace and Thompson, Prehistoric T/iessafy, p. 1 23, Fig. 7 1 />, p. 126, Fig. 75 /, p. 127, Fig 76 / (Tsangli), p. 147, Fig. 91 b (Tsani Maghula).
2 These were obtained by Mr. H. A. Ormerod at a site called Chukur Kend in 1911, and were presented by him to the Ashmolean Museum. See B. S. A, xix, p. 48, Fig. i.
3 This figure was obtained by me in 1896 but I could not discover the exact deposit in which it had lain. The head, which seems to have been of stumpy dimensions, is partly broken away.
NEOLITHIC STAGE: THE 'TELL' OF KNOSSOS 51
to the First Period of which the figure may approximately be ascribed. The marble figure from Knossos, No. 9, is one of a class representing a somewhat featureless offshoot of the preceding type.
The above evidence points to the existence already in the Neolithic Helaied Age, both on the Aegean and Anatolian side, of related families of squatting ancPAna- or seated female figures formed of clay and of obese or steatopygous pro- I?'1*1?.. t portions. The appearance of one of the stone offshoots of this family as far East as the Middle Euphrates is a phenomenon of the greatest interest in con- nexion with the diffusion of a parallel group of female figures through a wide Semitic region to the ancient Sumeria and even to the seats of the Anau culture in Southern Turkestan,1 though from an early date, the Semitic The types took on a specially sensuous character. In the latter case the earliest -j-"*
evidence points to an extended posture, but as no data are forthcoming as Mother
. . . , , ,, ,. , . ^ i . . . i. Goddess,
primitive as those of Neolithic Crete this impression may be eventually
modified. Among the earliest known examples of this oriental class are the clay figures, identified with the Babylonian Mother Goddess, found at Nippur and dated about 2700 B. c.2 These suggest the nude figures that make their appearance on early Chaldaean cylinders and stand in a possible connexion with the legend of the Goddess Ishtar, who, to procure the Waters of Life for her 'wounded Thammuz ', descended, mother-naked, to the Nether World. '
That the later Syrian or Cypriote types of the oriental ' Mother Western Goddess ' may have eventually reacted on the Aegean and Anatolian Anal°g'es- province is highly probable. But there is no question of the early Neolithic forms of Mainland Greece and the Balkan regions having been affected from that quarter, and the same is true of such Early Minoan stone types as the ^yide above. We have to do with parallel phenomena, the operation of which is tjnUOus traceable throughout a geographically continuous region extending from the ^fxpeans'|°" Aegean, and the Adriatic, to the Persian Gulf and even beyond the Caspian, lei Forms.
To what cause was ultimately due the sympathy in ideas that gave birth to these parallel families of prehistoric images throughout this vast conter-
1 Pumpelly, Explorations in Eastern Tur- images are the predecessors of a long series, kestan (Second Mission), vol. i, PI. 46, Figs, repeated under an increasingly sensuous as- 9-17. The clay figures found in the Kurgans pect. Neo-Babylonian examples were found of Anau are of a fairly advanced sensuous by Koldewey in the Temple of Borsippa. character. They are associated with painted * These nude figures are in any case con- sherds parallel with those of the Second Period nected with Istar's double, the Goddess Sala of Elam. (Nikolsky, Rev. Arch,, 1891, p. 41, and cf.
2 Hilprecht, Explorations in Bible Lands, Dr. G. Contenau, La De'esse nue babyloniennc I9°3> P- 342 and Plate opposite. With these (1914)1 P- 115 seqq.).
was a male figure, identified with Bel. These
E 2
THE PALACE OF MINOS, ETC.
Neolithic Proto- types of Minoan Mother Goddess.
Survival of Primi- tive Type.
Corre- spon- dence of Archaeo- logical and
Linguistic Con-
minous area, remains an enigma. Was it possibly a remote inheritance from Late Palaeolithic times? In any case it can hardly be a mere coincidence that all these various provinces of ancient culture— the Aegean, the Anatolian, the Syrian, Cypriote, Mesopotamian, and Elamite— where the habit'prevailed of forming these Mother idols, whether extended or seated, were the later scenes of the cult, under varying names and attributes, of a series of Great Goddesses who often combined the ideas of motherhood and vir- ginity. In Crete itself it is impossible to dis- sociate these primitive images from those that appear in the shrines and sanctuaries of the Great Minoan Goddess.
Some of these in- deed are fashionably robed, in accordance with the exigencies of a civilized and some- what superfine age. Others, however, still stand out in all their archaic crudity and nakedness. Thus a rude female image from the Shrine of the Double Axes at Knossos (Fig. 14, a, 6) — half-seated, in a manner that points to
a slightly extended derivative of the ' crouched ' type (Fig. 13, [ A) — not only reproduces the traditional gesture of the arms upon the breasts, but is decorated by means of incisions bearing traces of chalky inlay — itself a survival of the Neolithic practice.
Enough will have been said to show the special value of the clay figures from the Stone Age deposits of Knossos in determining the place of the Cretan Neolithic culture. These figures, for which a far higher antiquity may be claimed than for the most ancient clay images of Nippur,
FIG. 14. IMAGE FROM SHRINE OF DOUBLE AXES, KNOSSOS (L. M. Ill) (£ c).
15 a. NKOUTHIC STONK IMIM.KMKNTS, Ksossos (| f.).
54
THE PALACE OE MINOS, ETC.
Neolithic Stone Imple- ments in Crete.
Range of
Stone
Maces.
Chryso-
colla
stud.
and which precede in date the class of stone figures, are seen to have collateral relationships far to the East of the Aegean.
At the same time, the indications thus supplied of conformity in custom and belief entirely coincide with the linguistic evidence which brings what seems to have been the predominant element in the aboriginal population of Crete into near relationship with the Carians and their kin.
Similar affinities are also shown by certain forms of stone implements. Typical examples of Neolithic implements from the site of Knossos are given in Fig. 15 a.1 The stones principally used are greenstone, serpentine, diorite, jadeite, and especially for the smaller implements, such as chisels or adzes (Fig. 15 a, 4, 5), haematite. Obsidian was used for knives and arrow- heads, and the abundance of cores of this material shows that it was worked on the spot. The ' celts ' are of two main types. One (No. i) is thick and heavy, with the butt end much roughened to facilitate hafting. The other (Nos. 2, 3) is shorter and broader. The most distinctive of the stone im- plements, however, are the maces (Nos. 6, 7, 8), generally found in a broken condition. In some cases the early biconical form of boring is well-marked (No. 6) and contrasts with the tubular drilling of later Minoan times. The finding of stone maces among the Neolithic implements is of special interest as a link of connexion with the Anatolian side. Stone maces, which in Greece proper make their appearance about the beginning of the Age of Metals,2 seem to have had a much earlier history on the side of Asia Minor. Their use was also characteristic of early Chaldaea, and they recur in pre- historic and proto-dynastic Egypt.
The stone maces seem to be more characteristic of the later Neolithic phase in Crete,3 and it is possible that in this case the usage may have gradually infiltrated from the Asianic side.
A discovery made in 1913 at a depth of 5-75 metres beneath the northern border of the Central Court at Knossos shows that the taste for brilliant and exceptional materials so characteristic of Early Minoan times was already rife among the Neolithic inhabitants. Here, in close association with a serpentine celt and with black hand-polished pottery, some of it inlaid,
1 The materials of the specimens on Fig. }5a are as follows : i. greenstone ; 2, 3. serpentine ; 4, 5. haematite ; 6. black and white breccia ; 7. black stone with white quartzite veins; 8.
greenstone.
I SUntas, A[ Ilpo'io-TOpi/cai 'AxpoTroAeis AI/XTJ- vi'ou KOI 2cWAov, pp. 322, 323.
3 Stone maces continued in use during the Early Metal Age in Crete, the later examples
being characterized by their straight perfora- tion, due to the use of the tubular drill. That they continued at least in occasional use in Crete down to Late Minoan times is shown by the occurrence of a fine, faceted specimen in the Mace-bearer's tomb at Isopata. See Tomb of the Double Axes, &~-f., Quarhch, 1914, p. 18, Fig- ^S-
NEOLITHIC STAGE: THE 'TELL' OF KNOSSOS 55
was found what appears to have been a large stud of a brilliant greenish blue colour, somewhat mottled (Fig. 15 b). The appearance of the stone at first suggested the employment of callais, a kind of turquoise used for beads and pendants by the Late Stone and Early Metal Age population of Western Europe. The material, however, in this case proved to be a copper silicate,1 or chrysocolla, and may have been derived from some Cretan locality. A frag- ment belonging to the Last Palace Period, of what appears to have been an imitation of an anodon shell, seems in fact to be of the same material.
Fir,. 15/i. CHRYSOCOLLA STUD FROM MIDDLE NEOLITHIC DEPOSIT, KNOSSOS.
(2 and 3 are restored.)
The very extended relations of the Neolithic Aegean culture are well illustrated by the ramifications of the early trade routes. In Professor Petrie's opinion, the emery used by the inhabitants of the Nile Valley for cutting and polishing their stone beads and other objects in the Late Pre- historic Period2 was brought from the Aegean region. The obsidian of Melos had already found its way into Egypt in even more remote prehistoric times, and Crete was a natural stage in the course of the whole of this commerce. Melian obsidian seems also to have already found its way into Italy.* But the drift of primitive commerce had a wider range. A still more striking illustration of the remote derivation of ornamental objects of Mediterranean usage in Neolithic times is seen in the occurrence among the .Stone Age deposits in a Ligurian Cave and, in an early Fondo di Capanna of the Reggiano, of shells like the Mitra olcacea 4 and Meleagrina margaritifera or ' mother-of-pearl ' shell,"' whose nearest habitat is at present the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean.
' P. Strobel, Bull. J'atetn., iii (1877), p. 56. The fragment found in a Kondo di Capanna at Rivaltella seems to have been used as a polisher. Issel and Strobel regard these discoveries as evidence that the early inhabi- tants who possessed these reiics had emigrated from the Eastern Mediterranean regions. Hut the drift of early commerce may be thought a sufficient explanation.
Evid- ences of
Karly Neolithic inter- course in Mediter- ranean.
Emery and
Obsidian Trade.
Shell Com- merce.
1 Professor Bowman, of the Mineralogical Department of the Oxford University Museum, kindly examined the specimen.
2 e. g. at Naqada where blocks of emery were found (Petrie, Naqada and fial/as, p. 45).
3 See T. E. Peet, The Stone and Jlronze Ages in Italy, p. 150.
4 A. Issel, Bull. J'aletn., xiii (1887), pp. 173, 174. Five specimens were found in the A rone Candida Cave.
THE EARLY MINOAN AGE
Transi-
Aspectsof E. M. I.
Sub-
Neolithic
Phase.
Potter's
§ 2. EARLY MINOAN I; WITH SUB-NEOLITHIC (E.M.I)
Sub-Neolithic phase ; Incipient use of potter s oven • / 'olive Deposit at Mocklos ; Clay Horns of Consecration ; Pedestalled bowls ; Sepulchral Cave of Pyrgos, N.E. of Knossos ; Tall Chalices- atrophied 'Wishing-bone' handles; Burnished decoration — imitations of ivoodivork graining; Com- parisons with Arkalokhori Chalice — E. M. Ill ; Pedestalled bowls and suspension pots ; Trojan and Cycladic parallels ; Early painted ware ; Incipient use of lustrous paint ; Further evolution of figurines ; Egyptian Stone Vases of Pre-dynastic and Proto-dynastic types found at Knossos ; Was there a Settlement from Nile Valley ? Copper implements known — Chalco- • lit hie phase ; ' Egyplo-Libyan ' seal types — monstrous forms — Evolution of Minotaur; Rectangular Houses ; Ossuary ' t/ioloi' ; Chronological clues supplied by Egyptian evidence.
THE earliest stage of what is here defined as the Minoan culture of Crete is seen in a stratum which at Knossos and elsewhere is immediately super- posed on the Neolithic. The phase here illustrated is of a broadly transi- tional nature and must be taken to cover a considerable interval of time. Provisionally, at least, it has been found convenient to include within it the
'Sub-Neolithic' phase, which in many of its products is hardly distincniish-
., .. . _ ' . . ... i .
able trom the Upper JNeohthic. On the other hand, it will be seen that its
more advanced stage corresponds with the First Settlement at Troy. Now, too, we also obtain distinct evidence of connexions with the Nile Valley in late prehistoric times and of an intensive pre-dynastic influence.
The principal finds of the better preserved pottery of the present Period are from the caves and rock-shelters, at various sites, used both for dwellings and interments, and the earlier objects from the ossuary tholoi of Messara. The votive deposit of Mochlos will be described below, and a new and very important source is the Sepulchral Cave of Pyrgos, at Nirou Khani, N.E. of Knossos.
^'ie Pottery is hand-made, generally with a reddish core produced by the greater amount of firing due to the incipient use of the potter's oven. During the early part of this Period many Neolithic ceramic types survive ; the polish of these, however, is inferior to the best Neolithic.
In Fig. 16 are given a series of clay objects brought to light by Mr- Seager T in an early stratum beneath Tomb V— of E. M. II or E. M. Ill
' I am indebted to Mr. Seager for the all hand-made and of coarse fabric. No in-
photograph of these objects. The vessels cised ware occurred. Parts of a painted vase
found were ' of red and black clay, sometimes of the early geometrical, dark on light style
burnished, more often not '. The vases were were found.
KARLY MINOAN I (WITH SUB-NEOLITHIC) 57
dale — at Mochlos, and which is almost certainly to be regarded as a votive deposit.1 The pottery here found must be referred to a comparatively early stage of the present Period and is best described as ' Sub-Neolithic '. At Voti the same time the discovery in the shallow bowl of Fig. 1C, d, of a fragment i>epositat of copper, perhaps part of a knife, shows that the use of metal was already be- ginning. The First Early Minoan Period may be described as ' Chalcolithic '. In addition to heaps of plain pots and cups, usual in the votive deposits of Minoan Crete, there was here found a red clay object with a horned projection rising at each end, Fig. 16, c, of quite exceptional interest from the religious point of view. There is great probability in Mr. Seager's view * that we have
Fid. 1C). POTTKRY FROM EARLY VOTIVE DEPOSIT, MOCHI.OS (|).
in this horned object the precursor of the ' Horns of Consecration ', generally • formed of clay with a plaster coating, that mark the later Minoan sane- of clay. tuaries.3 In the succeeding Period the miniature votive form of the sacred Double Axe. their principal cult object, was already in existence. The ritual elements of Minoan cult can thus be traced back to the borders of the Neolithic Age.
Clay ladles with handles of varying lengths — abundant at Knossos among Ladies the Neolithic forms — are well represented in this deposit (Fig. 16, a, 6) ; these K. M. I ladles, however, are of reddish clay often covered with a red wash. Another Neolithic type, the plain handleless cup of hemispherical form, is also common (Fig. 16, /), as well as others with a flat bottom (/', ^). 'I he
1 Seager, Mochlos, pp. 92, 93, and Fig. 48, Nos. 29-42. - Op. tit., p. 93. ' See Vol. II.
and Cups.
58 THE PALACE OF MINOS, ETC.
cups now, however, begin to present a pedestal (Fig. 17) and thus supply the prototypes of a long series of Minoan cups belonging to the four succeeding Periods. In the same way Fig. 16, d, showing a kind of pan or shallow bowl on a cylindrical stem, like the later ' fruit stands' of the Middle Minoan Age. Fig. 1 6, e shows one of the clay rings for the support of round-bottomed pots. Later on these coalesce with the bottom of the vessel and supply its base.
A very interesting type common to this 'Sub-Neolithic' stratum at Knossos consists of a bowl-shaped receptacle supported on a hollow base in the form of a truncated cone (Fig. 17). These vessels, which have a black
FIG. 17. SUB-NEOLITHIC PEDESTALLED BOWLS, KNOSSOS (Restored) (^f)-
FIG. 18 i, 2,3. E. M. VESSELS FROM CAYI 0) MIAMI-.
The Sub- Neolithic Pedes- talled Howls. Parallels from Abydos (Dyn. 1).
hand-polished surface, present the closest parallelism with certain pots ' indis- tinguishable in colour, burnish, and general appearance' found with the First Dynasty remains at Abydos.1 The clay of these is not Cretan, but it is possible that the resemblance indicates an approximate contemporaneity.*
Shallow basins on hollow stems expanding below are also found. These seem to be the prototypes of the ' frtiit-stands ' so prevalent in the early part of the Middle Minoan Age. In one of these belonging to the votive deposit of Mochlos was found a piece of copper.3
The carinated two-handled bowl (Fig. 18, i) from the cave of Miamu, explored by Professor Taramelli,4 is of special interest from its early Troadic affinities. The square-mouthed pot of the 'two-storied' class (Fig. 18, 2) from the same cave suggests, on the other hand, comparisons with similar types
1 Petrie, Abydos II, p. 24 ; cf. Knossos, 113, 137; 65. 7, 8, 23; 67 and 68. Report (1904), pp. 23, 24, and Fig. 8, A. 3 Seager, op. tit., p. 93.
• Cf. for Spain A. H. et I.. Siret, Les Premiers 4 American Journal of Archaeology, i (1897),
Ages du Metal, Planche 20. 99, 103, 106 ; 55. p. 287 seqq. Cf. pp. 302, 303, Figs. 13, 14, '5-
P. 59
EARLY MINOAN I (WITH SUB-NEOLITHIC) 59
found in the Neolithic deposits of Ligurian Grottoes.1 In Fig. 18, 3 is shown a suspension vessel with incised decoration. E-like marks are incised on another fragment : they are of decorative origin, and not signs of a script.
At Pyrgos, on a headland about seven miles N.E. of Knossos .Sepul- recent blasting operations on the new Coast road revealed an extensive cav* of
Cave containing hundreds of interments covering the whole of the Early : Minoan Age and of great importance from the evidence it supplies of the N.K. of survival of Neolithic traditions.2 Close to this, at a spot known as Nirou Khani, there had also been discovered a Sanctuary building of Late Minoan date replete with cult objects connected with the worship of the Double Axe.3
Among the most characteristic vessels brought to light were tall ( chalices (Fig. 19, A, H) clearly evolved from the Sub-Neolithic pedestalled burnished bowls or goblets illustrated above in Fig. 17, and of the same reddish t-^T section, due to the baking, but which from their finer fabric and shapelier form may be referred to the most advanced phase of the present Period. Fragmentary specimens of similar chalices had also occurred in Early Minoan I deposits of the site of Knossos,4 and it will be seen that the black burnished decoration that they present on the dull, dark grey surface slip is itself an inheritance from Late Neolithic times. A curious feature of B is the horned rudimentary prominence with a vertical perforation— apparently the degeneration of a ' wishing-bone ' handle. On the other hand Atrophied the rim of A is crinkled in a manner very suggestive of imitations of metal boi|g'' vases. The fine texture also suggests metallic influences, which towards the handle. close of this Period may certainly be taken into account.
The decoration, in both cases divided into panels and zones, is, as will J be seen, very elaborate, but its interest centres in the elongated curvilinear wood- motives of the upper zone of A. A comparison with the imitations of wood- grainjng. work graining in painted plaster, both Minoan and Egyptian, can leave little doubt as to the source of these decorative motives, and this conclusion is con- so°'" ^'^ firmed by their reappearance, with a clearer definition of the knots and concen- Arkalo- tric rings, on the inner margin of a vessel found in an E. M. 1 1 1 association in chalice the Cave of Arkalokhori, near Lyktos5 (Fig. 19 B), of similar, but even finer '
1 e. g. Arturo Issel, Liguria Geologita e * Excavated by Dr. Xanthudides. see below, Preistorica (Atlas, PI. XXVIII, 13). p. 436, Fig. 313, p. 437.
2 The remains have been explored by the 4 Other specimens occurred in the lowest Ephor General, Dr. S. Xanthudides (now pub- stratum at Vasiliki. Seager, Exeat's, at Vasilik'i, lished, 'Apx. AeA.T. 1918, p. 136 seqq.), thanks 1904, p. 6, Fig. 2 ; Goitrnia, PI. XII. 12 and to whose kindness I am able to reproduce the p. 50. Mr. Seager now agrees with me in specimens in Fig. 19. The latest painted referring this stratum to E. M. I.
sherds here found are E. M. Ill and clay * J. Hat/idakis, B. S. A , xix, p. 35seo.q- and cofrins begin to appear. Fig. 3. Some M. M. I a pottery was also found.
6o
THE PALACE OF MINOS, ETC.
Evolu- tion of E.M. chalices from wooden bowls.
Revival of incised and punc- tuated \Yare : , 'Collared' vessels.
Suspen- sion pots.