428 THE PALACE OF MINOS. 



it possible that a people so advanced in other respects — standing in 

 such intimate relations with Egypt and the Syrian lands where some 

 form of writing had been an almost immemorial possession — should 

 have been absolutely wanting in this most essential element of civili- 

 zation? I could not believe it. Once more one's thoughts turned to 

 the land of Minos, and the question irresistibly suggested itself — was 

 that earl}' heritage of tixed laws compatible with a complete ignorance 

 of the art of writing? An abiding tradition of the Cretans themselves, 

 preserved by Diodoros, shows that they were better informed. The 

 Phoenicians, thev said, had not invented letters; the}' had simply 

 changed their forms ; in other words, they had only improved <;n an 

 existing system. 



It is now seven years since a piece of evidence came into my hands 

 which went far to show that long before the daj^s of the introduction 

 of the Phoenician alphabet, as adopted by the later Greeks, the Cretans 

 were, in fact, possessed of a system of writing. While hunting out 

 ancient engraved stones at Athens I came upon some three and four 

 sided seals showing on each of their faces groups of hieroglyphic and 

 linear signs distinct from the Egyptian and Hittite, but evidently rep- 

 resenting some form of script. On inquiry I learned that these seals 

 had been found in Crete. A clue was in my hands, and, like Theseus, 

 I resolved to follow it, if possible to the inmost recesses of the laby- 

 rinth. That the^source and center of the great Mycenaean civilization 

 remained to be unearthed on Cretan soil I had never doubted, but the 

 prospect now opened of finally discovering its written records. 



From 1894 onward I undertook a series of campaigns of exploration 

 chiefly in central and eastern Crete. In all directions fresh evidence 

 continually came to light — Cyclopean ruins of cities and strongholds, 

 beehive tombs, vases, votive bronzes, exquisitely engraved gems — 

 amply demonstrating that in fact the great days of that " island story " 

 lay far behind the historic period. From the Mycensean sites of Crete 

 I obtained a whole series of inscribed seals, such as I had first noticed 

 at Athens, showing the existence of an entire system of hieroglyphic 

 or quasi pictorial writing, with here and there signs of the coexistence 

 of more linear forms. From the great cave of Mount Dicta — the birth- 

 place of Zeus — the votive deposits of which have now been thoi'oughly 

 explored by Mr. Hogarth, I procured a stone libation table inscribed 

 with a dedication of several characters in the early Cretan script. But 

 for more exhaustive excavation my eyes were fixed on some ruined 

 walls, the great gypsum blocks of which were engraved with curious 

 symbolic characters, that crowned the southern slope of a hill known 

 as Kephala, overlooking the ancient site of Knossos, the city of Minos. 

 They were evidently part of a large prehistoric building. Might one 

 not uncover here the palace of King Minos — perhaps even the myste- 

 rious labyrinth itself? 



