CI.ASSICAI, arche;oIvOGy 227 



under the protection of the Great Powers, and freed from the vexa- 

 tions and uncertainties of Turkish rule, not a few — among whom 

 Italians, English, and Americans were most prominent — were eager 

 to begin explorations and excavations there. Several Italians had 

 made themselves familiar with the island, and have dug at Gortyna, 

 Phsestus, and Agia Triada, near the southern coast. At Gortj'na, a 

 town mentioned by Homer as " well walled," was found eighteen 

 years ago the longest law code which has come down to us from 

 ancient times — from about the middle of the fifth century B. C. — of 

 particular interest because of the recognized high reputation in an- 

 tiquity of the Cretan laws. This was one of the sites on which our 

 Institution hoped to make excavations ten years ago ; but archeolog- 

 ical exploration is not easy at this point even now, because of a water- 

 course and mills which involve vested rights. At Phaestus the 

 Italians have found the remains of a magnificent palace of the same 

 period as that at Cnossus — not so extensive, but rather better pre- 

 served and of equally impressive proportions. Agia Triada lies only 

 about 3 miles from Phsestus. The excavations there are not com- 

 pleted, but the ruins seem to be those of a nobleman's residence 

 rather than of a palace, in the English sense. Twenty five years ago 

 certain discoveries seemed to indicate the site of the old palace of 

 Minos at Cnossus, 4 or 5 miles from Candia, on the northern side of 

 the island. Dr. Schliemann at one time nearly completed arrange- 

 ments for the purchase of the land and the conduct of excavations, 

 but some new difficulty arose and the negotiations were broken off ; 

 but as soon as the new gov^ernment was established at Crete, Mr. 

 Arthur Evans — a distinguished son of a distinguished father and 

 the keeper of the Ashmolean Museum — who had long been waiting 

 for this opportunity, with much patience and ingenuity in meeting 

 difficulties and in overcoming them, purchased this land on his own 

 account, and has there made the most brilliant archeological discov- 

 eries of the last twenty years. Since the final destruction of the 

 palace, perhaps 300 years B. C, its site has been uninhabited and 

 even untilled, so that in places the ruins were hidden by no more 

 than a foot's depth of earth. 



Miss Boyd began her excavations in Crete at Kavusi, on the north- 

 ern shore, in the name of the American School of Athens, with^'part 

 of the stipend received by her as fellow of that school. During the 

 last two seasons she has dug at Gurnia, not very far from her former 

 site, receiving her principal support from the "American Exploration 

 Society," but using also her own limited means. She has found the 



