444 ANNUAL EEPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1916. 



Minoan colonization in Cyprus. From this time onward eastern ele- 

 ments are more and more traceable in Cretan culture and are evi- 

 denced by such phenomena as the introduction of chariots — them- 

 selves perhaps more remotely of Aryan-Iranian derivation — and by 

 the occasional use of cylinder seals. 



Simultaneously with its eastern expansion, which affected the coast 

 of Phoenicia and Palestine as well as Cyprus, Minoan civilization 

 now took firm hold of mainland Greece, while traces of its direct 

 influence are found in the west Mediterranean basin — in Sicily, the 

 Balearic Islands, and Spain. At the time of the actual conquest 

 and during the immediately succeeding period the civilization that 

 appears at Mycenae and Tiryns, at Thebes and Orchomenos, and at 

 other centers of mainland Greece, though it seems to have brought 

 with it some already assimilated Anatolian elements, is still in the 

 broadest sense Minoan. It is only at a later stage that a more 

 provincial offshoot came into being to which the name Mycensean 

 can be properly applied. But it is clear that some vanguard at least 

 of the Aryan Greek immigrants came into contact with this high 

 Minoan culture at a time when it was still in its most flourishing 

 condition. The evidence of Homer itself is conclusive. Arms and 

 armor 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 

 masterpieces of Minoan craftsmen in the full vigor of their art; the 

 very episodes of epic combat receive their best illustration on the 

 signets of the great days of Mycense. Even the lyre to which the 

 minstrel sang was a Minoan invention. Or, if we turn to the side 

 of religion, the Greek temple seems to have sprung from a Minoan 

 hall, its earliest pediment schemes are adaptations from the Minoan 

 tympanum — such as we see in the Lion's Gate — the most archaic 

 figures of the Hellenic goddesses, like the Spartan Orthia, have the 

 attributes and attendant animals of the gi^eat Minoan mother. 



Some elements of the old culture were taken over on the soil of 

 Hellas. Others which had been crushed out in their old centers 

 survived in the more eastern shores and islands formerly dominated 

 by Minoan civilization, and were carried back by Phoenician or 

 Ionian intermediaries to their old homes. In spite of the over- 

 throw which about the twelfth century before our era fell on the old 

 Minoan dominion and the onrush of the new conquerors from the 

 north, much of the old tradition still survived to form the base for 

 the fabric of the later civilization of Greece. Once more, through 

 the darkness, the lighted torch was carried on, the first glimmering 

 flame of which had been painfully kindled by the old cave dwellers 

 in that earlier Paleolithic world. 



