MINOAN AND MYCENAEAN ELEMENT — EVANS. 629 



pointed out ? They largely postulate a state of things which on the 

 mainland of Greece existed only in the great days of Mycenae. 



In other words, many of the diflQ.culties with which we have to 

 deal are removed if we accept the view that a considerable element in 

 the Homeric poems represents the materials of an earlier Minoan 

 epic taken over into Greek. The molding of such inherited materials 

 into the new language and the adapting of them to the glories of the 

 new race was no doubt a gradual process, though we may still regard 

 the work in its final form as bearing the stamp of individual genius. 

 To take a comparison from another field, the arch of Constantine is 

 still a fine architectural monument, though its dignity be largely due 

 to the harmonious incorporation of earlier sculptures. Not less does 

 Homer personify for us a great literary achievement, though the 

 materials that have been brought together belong to more than one 

 age. There is nothing profane in the idea that actual translation, 

 perhaps of a very literal kind, from an older Minoan epic to the 

 new Achaean, played a considerable part in this assimilative process. 

 The seven-stringed lyre itself was an heirloom from the older race. 

 Is it, then, unreasonable to believe that the lays by which it was 

 accompanied were inspired from the same quarter? 



And here we are brought up before an aspect of Minoan art which 

 may well stand in relation to the contemporary oral or literary com- 

 positions covering part of the Homeric ground. The Homeric aspect 

 of some of its masterpieces has indeed been so often observed as to 

 have become a commonplace. In some cases parts of pictorial scenes 

 are preserved, such as primitive bards delight to describe in connec- 

 tion with works of art. The fragment of the silver vase with the 

 siege scene from Mycenae affords a well-known instance of this. 

 A similar topic is discernible in the shield of Achilles, but in this 

 case a still nearer parallel is supplied by the combat on the shield 

 of Herakles, described by Hesiod. Here the coincidence of subject 

 extends even to particular details, such as the women on the towers 

 shouting with shrill voices and tearing their cheeks and the old men 

 assembled outside the gates,^ holding out their hands in fear for 

 their children fighting before the walls. The dramatic moment, the 

 fate of battle still hanging in the balance — so alien to oriental art— is 

 equally brought out by the Mycenaean relief and by the epic descrip- 

 tion of the scene on the shield, and the parallelism is of special value, 

 since it may be said to present itself in pari materia — artistic compo- 

 sition on metal work. 



So too at Knossos there came to light parts of a mosaic composi- 

 tion formed of faience plaques, and belonging to the latter part of the 

 middle Minoan age. Parts of the composition, of which we have a 



^'Atrnli-, vv. 237 seqq. Cf. Tsuntas, 'E<i>. 'An-, 1891, pp. 20, 21, and Uwiiixu, p. 94 (Tsuntas and Manatt, 

 Myc. Age, pp. 214, 215). 



