OEIGINS OF CIVILIZATION IN" EUROPE — EVANS. 441 



later survived in a classical guise and influenced all later religion. 

 Another interesting evidence of the underlying religious community 

 between Crete and Asia Minor is the diffusion in both areas of the 

 cult of the Double Axe. This divine symbol, indeed, or "Labrys," 

 became the special emblem of the palace sanctuary of Knossos itself, 

 which owes to it its traditional name of Labyrinth. I have already 

 called attention to the fact that the absorptive and disseminating 

 power of the Roman Empire brought the cult of a male form of the 

 divinity of the Double Axe to the Roman wall and to the actual site 

 on which Newcastle stands. 



The fact should never be left out of sight that the gifted indigenous 

 stock which in Crete eventually took to itself, on one hand and the 

 other, so many elements of exotic culture, was still deep-rooted in its 

 own. It had, moreover, the advantages of an insular people in tak- 

 ing what it wanted and no more. Thus, it was stimulated by for- 

 eign influences but never dominated by them, and there is nothing 

 here of the servility of Phoenician art. Much as it assimilated, it 

 never lost its independent tradition. 



It is interesting to note that the first quickening impulse came to 

 Crete from the Egj'ptian and not from the oriental side — the eastern 

 factor, indeed, is of comparatively late appearance. My own re- 

 searches have led me to the definite conclusion that cultural influ- 

 ences were already reaching Crete from beyond the Libyan Sea be- 

 fore the beginning of the Egyptian dynasties. These primitive 

 influences are attested, amongst other evidences, by the forms of stone 

 vessels, by the same esthetic tradition in the selection of materials 

 distinguished by their polychromy, by the appearance of certain 

 symbolic signs, and the subjects and shapes of seals which go back 

 to prototypes in use among the " old race " of the Nile Valley. The 

 impression of a very active agency, indeed, is so strong that the possi- 

 bility of some actual immigration into the island of the older Egyp- 

 tian element, due to the conquests of the first Pharaohs, can not be 

 excluded. 



The continuous influence of dynastic Egypt from its earliest period 

 onward is attested both by objects of import and their indigenous 

 imitations, and an actual monument of a middle empire Egyptian 

 was found in the Palace Court of Knossos. More surprising still 

 are the cumulative proofs of the reaction of this early Cretan civ- 

 ilization on Egypt itself, as seen not only in the introduction there of 

 such beautiful Minoan fabrics as the elegant polychrome bases but 

 in the actual impress observable on Egyptian art even on its religious 

 side. The Egyptian griffin is fitted with Minoan wings. So, too, on 

 the other side we see the symbols of Egyptian religion impressed 

 into the service of the Cretan nature goddess, who in certain respects 



