THE MINOAN AND MYCENAEAN ELEMENT IN 

 HELLENIC LIFE.i 



By Arthur J. Evans. 



[With 3 plates.] 



In his (!oncluding address to this society our late president re- 

 marked that he cared more for the products of the full maturity of 

 the Greek spirit than for its immature struggles, and this preference 

 for fruits over roots is likely to be shared by most classical scholars. 

 The prehistoric civilization of the land which afterwards became 

 Hellas might indeed seem far removed from the central interests of 

 Greek culture, and it was onlj?^ with considerable hesitation that I 

 accepted, even for a while, the position in which the society has placed 

 me. Yet I imagine that my presence in this chair is due to a feeling 

 on its part that what may be called the embryological department has 

 its place among our studies. 



Therefore I intend to take advantage of my position here to-day 

 to say something in favor of roots, and even of germs. These are 

 the days of origins, and what is true of the higher forms of animal 

 life and functional activities is equally true of many of the vital 

 principles that inspired the mature civilization of Greece — they can 

 not be adequately studied without constant reference to their anterior 

 stages of evolution. Such knowledge can alone supply the kej^ to the 

 root significance of many later phenomena, especially in the domain 

 of art and religion. It alone can indicate the right direction along 

 many paths of classical research. Amidst the labyrinth of conjecture 

 we have here an Ariadne to supply the clue. And who, indeed, was 

 Ariadne herself but the great goddess of Minoan Crete in her Greek 

 adoptive form qualified as the most holy? 



" The chasm," remarks Prof. Gardner, " dividing prehistoric from 

 historic Greece is growing wider and deeper."^ In some respects 

 perhaps — but looking at the relations of the two as a whole I venture 

 to believe that the scientific study of Greek civilization is becoming 



1 From the address of the president delivered to the Hellenic Society, June, 1912. 

 Reprinted by permission from The Journal of Hellenic Studies, London, vol. 32, pt. 2, 

 1912, pp. 277-297. 



2 J. H. S.. xxxi (1911), p. lix. 



617 



