THE WONDERS OF ANCIENT CRETE 29 



was associated with cruelty. The sport of the Cretans 

 was not nearly so cruel as that of the Romans, or 

 even of the modern Spaniards ; to say nothing of the 

 fact that bull-baiting was common in every town of 

 England little more than a hundred years ago. The 

 Cretan sport, to judge by the frescoes and statuettes, 

 consisted mainly in avoiding the bull by vaulting over 

 it when it rushed. 



The frescoes on the palace walls, many of which 

 are beautifully preserved, fully bear out this estimate 

 of the ancient Cretans. Men and women of the most 

 pleasant and graceful forms, magnificently clothed, 

 still smile at us from the walls, and in many respects 

 look astonishingly modern. The women have low- 

 necked bodices and richly flounced skirts reaching to 

 the ground ; and both men and women seem to have 

 worn something in the nature of " corsets." At all 

 events, the "wasp-waist" is the ordinary type. 

 " Why, they are Parisians," a Frenchman exclaimed 

 in astonishment, when he was taken to see these 

 pictures, which were, he was told, at least 3,500 years 

 old. They do at least suggest the free and joyous life 

 of Provence in the days of the troubadours. Dancing 

 girls in semi-transparent drapery and beautifully- 

 formed youths with silver girdles, bearing gold- 

 mounted silver cups, appear on other frescoes. An 

 elaborate gaming-board, made of ivory, gold, rock 

 crystal, and enamel, and apparently used for some- 

 thing like draughts or chess, was found in one place ; 

 and the cups and vases of gold and silver and faience 

 display artistic skill of the highest order. 



These palaces and the ruins of a royal villa give us 

 an ample picture of court life. No scholar has yet 

 been able to decipher the language of this ancient 



