72 HOMER— POSITION OF FISHERMEN 



(according to Evans) ousts the Assyrian or Phoenician in favour 

 of a Cretan parentage. 



" It is clear that some vanguard of the Aryan Greek immi- 

 grants came into contact with this Minoan culture at a time 

 when it was still in its flourishing condition. The evidence of 

 Homer is conclusive. Arms and armour described in the 

 poems are those of the Minoan prime ; the fabled Shield of 

 Achilles, like that of Herakles described by Hesiod, with its 

 elaborate scenes and variegated metal work, reflects the master- 

 pieces of the Minoan craftsmen in the full vigour of their art. 

 Even the lyre to which the minstrel sang was a Minoan 

 invention." ^ 



The suggestion that both authorities are really in agreement 

 and that the influence at work may be traced back ultimately 

 to the early Assyrian, i.e. Sumerian, culture, even if Evans 

 holds " that the first quickening impulse came to Crete from 

 Egypt and not from the Oriental side," seems, on present data, 

 untenable. 



Till twenty years ago it was generally accepted that no 

 character of Homer ever sailed for recreation, or fished for 

 sport. They were far too near the primitive life to find any joy 

 in such pursuits. Men scarcely ever hunted or fished for 

 mere pleasure. These occupations were not pastimes ; they 

 were counted as hard labour. Hunting, fishing, and laying 

 snares for birds in Homer and even in the classical periods 

 had but one aim, food. 2 



The Poet expressly mentions the hardships {aXyea, Od., IX. 

 121) of hunters in traversing forest and mountains. Nowhere 

 does he give any indication of sport in hunting or fishing, 

 except perhaps in the case of the wild boar and in the delight 

 of Artemis " taking her pastime in the chase of boars and swift 

 deer," ^ where the word, naitiovmv, would seem surely to 

 indicate pleasure in sport. 



But the recent discovery at Tiryns of a fresco where two 



^ Presidential Address to the British Association, 191 6. 



* Eustathius (on II., V. 487) after stating that by the Homeric heroes fishing 

 and fowling were very rarely employed, continues Ovk fiaav vdpoBrjpai -nap' avroTs 

 ft jjiT) &pa (V AifKfj, 



' Od., VI. 102 ft. W. W. Merry ad loc. well compares Soph. El., 566 £f. 



