EUROPEAN DOMESTIC ANIMALS KELLER. 491 



111 Afoclilos, an ancient culture station on the Bay of Mirabella, 

 I found u])on the hd of a vessel made of black steatite the splendidly 

 carved figure of an erect-eared greyhound. Such greyhounds as were 

 bred in Egypt had evidently reached Crete 2000 years B. C. They 

 appeared then frequently upon ancient Cretan coins, such as those of 

 Kydonia. The greyhounds of Crete were famous in ancient days 

 and were exported in great numbers to the mainland of Greece. 



The same route was followed by the cat. That their original 

 home is to be found in the Nile Valley may be assumed. They 

 reached Crete during the later Minoic period, for we know of a 

 mural pamting belonging to the period of about 1500 B. C. which 

 comes from Phastos and represents the domestic cat quiiC well. 

 This animal also appears upon a Mycenic terra cotta from Gournia. 

 It arrived in Greece much later. 



Horses were obtained in Asia Minor. A picture from Knossos 

 represents their transportation by boat very graphically. In a similar 

 manner the ass must have reached C-rete and Greece from north 

 Africa. 



It can be shown with considerable certainty that the pigeon 

 reached Em*ope by way of C^rete. It is pictured at the time of JMinos, 

 and is associated with cultural rites. It probably reached Sicily from 

 Crete. 



An important domestic bird of Egypt, the Nile goose, was also 

 brought to Crete. Its picture occurs upon an earthenware cofTin, 

 excavated at Gortyna; but tnis bird disappeared there as in its old 

 home and was unable to reach the mainland of Europe. 



If we recall that ancient Crete, even during the Hero period, 

 and in the beginning of the earliest historic period, extended its 

 cultm*e over the Cyclades and even subjugated Athens and possessed 

 colonies in Asia Minor, then we will understand its bearing on the 

 distribution of the domesticated animal culture. The great peiiod 

 of Minos Island is past, for already at the conclusion of the Trojan 

 War a decline began, and its independence was lost to the Komaiis at 

 the beginning of the first century. But the domesticated animals 

 of that ancient i)oriod remained and persist as living relics even to the 

 present day. 



I have been taught by an examination of the domestic animals of 

 Crete as they exist to-day that the old peat cattle, the Cretan dogs, 

 and the goat-like peat sheep are living witnesses of that ancient 

 domestic animal migration whose ultimate goal was Europe. 



