30 



ARCHEOLOGY. (GRECIAN CRETAN.) 



Climbing a winding staircase leading from this 

 church toward the south, the explorer reaches, on 

 a lofty eminence, the palace of Caligula, the north- 

 ernmost projection of the palaces of the Caesars, 

 which appears to have become a papal palace 

 under Pope John. These discoveries go far to 

 confirm De Rossi's theory of a general dedication 

 of pagan edifices in this region, or a supplanting 

 of them, by Christian structures. 



Grecian. In a critical discussion of certain 

 Greek masterpieces recently discovered, Dr. 

 Charles Waldstein pronounces a bronze Hermes 

 which was found in the sea off Cerigo to be a 

 work of Praxiteles or his school; a wrestler m 

 marble, of the same find, to be strikingly like a 

 Parthenon metope now destroyed, but known 

 through a drawing by Jacques Carrey, in work- 

 manship of the Rhodian or Pergamene schools and 

 Lysippan in type; a bronze statue found near 

 Pompeii which was at first regarded as an original 

 by Polyclitos to belong rather to the archeistic 

 revival of Pasiteles; while he characterizes the 

 charioteer which was excavated at Delphi and the 

 Hermes from Cerigo as " the finest ancient Greek 

 bronzes in existence." 



Cretan. In the continued exploration of the 

 ruins at Cnossus by Mr. Arthur J. Evans during 

 the season of 1900-1901 the palace proved to be 

 far more extensive than he had supposed. In 

 the eastern quarter, tliree flights of stone stairs, 

 one below the other, had been discovered, leading 

 down to a columnar hall with walls rising about 

 twenty feet. The staircase was flanked above and 

 below by a breastwork showing the sockets of the 

 original wooden columns, so that with this double 

 tier of colonnades the hall (which seems to have 

 been partly hypethral) must have presented 

 somewhat the appearance of an Italian Renais- 

 sance palace. Even at Pompeii no such stair- 

 cases one over the other had yet been brought to 

 light. Among the individual finds were a mag- 

 nificent draught-board of ivory plated with gold; 

 crystal plaques backed by silver and blue enamel; 

 and the lid of an alabastron finely engraved with 

 the name and divine titles of Khyan, the Hyk- 

 sos king, whose monuments are rare in Egypt 

 itself. Other objects suggested connection with 

 Arabia and Babylonia. A further store of in- 

 scribed tablets was found, as well as additional 

 wall-paintings, besides fragments of human fig- 

 uii- in painted stucco relief. The modeling of 

 the limbs and muscles and the minute delineation 

 of the veins in these figures seemed to Mr. Evans 

 more in keeping with the spirit of the Italian 

 Renaissance than with classical antiquity. One 

 male head wore a crown having a succession of 

 fleur-de-lis, with an upright one in the center. 



The tradition that Crete had a hundred cities 

 is regarded by Mr. D. G. Hogarth, in view of the 

 discoveries that have recently been made, as prov- 

 ing not altogether vain. Remains of primitive 

 settlements, too considerable to have been mere 

 villages, are coming to light, he says, at far more 

 point! of the Cretan coast than bear a name in 

 classical atlases. There are half a dozen such in 

 a part only of the eastern half isle. So far as 

 searched at present, these towns show little or 

 no sign of having continued into the historic 

 period. Their civilization was blotted out with 

 the Mycenaean domination. The succeeding 

 la-* if n-mains is found for the most part 

 higher up inland, on difficult heights or in remote 

 " The coastal plains were secure no 

 longer. An age of seafaring and communication 

 between ancient seats of luxurious life had given 

 way to one of local and jejune development. But 

 why and how we may only guess." 



While Cnossus is and must always be the 

 chief center of archeological and artistic inter- 

 est in Crete, it has suffered so greatly by spolia- 

 tion that its remains exist in an imperfect and 

 dilapidated state, so the practised eye of the sci- 

 entific student is necessary to convey an adequate 

 comprehension of their meaning; while there are 

 other Turns in more retired parts of the island 

 which, although originally less sumptuous and 

 elaborate, having escaped the destruction which 

 has fallen upon the ancient capital, give more 

 edification to the ordinary visitor. Such a site is 

 described by Mr. D. C. Hogarth as having been 

 explored by him at Phaestos, on the south side of 

 the island, where the ruin covers a promontory of 

 the rock. The palace is contained in a large rect- 

 angle, very plainly to be made out, and although 

 taking the place of an earlier structure, is defined 

 as being of one character and period " that of 

 the acme of the Mycenaean age in Greece." 

 Seen from a terrace on the northern approach, 

 the ruin is distinguished into three main quarters. 

 On the left, a broad stairway descends to a spa- 

 cious paved court containing an altar and tiers 

 of stone seats built up against the rock, as if to 

 hold an assembly. The main building flanks this 

 court on the east, and, being raised high above 

 it, is entered by a flight of steps described as " truly 

 majestic," and extending the full width of the pil- 

 lared hall at their head. The entrance without is 

 on the opposite side, where a second and larger 

 paved court extends to the brink of the precipice. 

 From this court entrance is given to the pil- 

 lared vestibule and main hall, and also to a 

 double rank of galleries and a maze of small 

 chambers to southward which form the third 

 quarter. The walls and doors of this great court 

 are well preserved, and a comprehensive view of 

 the various blocks is easily obtained, suggesting 

 their uses. "Here were the living and sleeping 

 rooms of men, there of women. Their common 

 hall of assembly occupies half of another side ; the 

 store galleries for the produce of the plain fill 

 the other half. In the chambers to the south they 

 bathed, worshiped, and lodged their retainers and 

 their beasts." The structures were made of an ex- 

 cellent limestone, which has retained its sharp 

 and square outlines, while the gypsums of Cnos- 

 sus have crumbled, so that they give a more con- 

 vincing general impression; but Phaestos is far 

 inferior in details to Cnossus. " The elaborate 

 friezes, the sculptured frescoes, and the delicate 

 plaster relief of Cnossus were never here. . . . 

 The noble shell was decorated only in the rudest 

 manner." The objects found are of inferior inter- 

 est; and of the things which give the relics of 

 Cnossus such rare importance, none have been 

 found. 



Explorations have been made in the eastern 

 end of the island, in hope of discovering re- 

 mains of the Eteocretans. A second inscription, 

 in a non-Greek language but Greek script, has 

 been found at Phaestos, containing more words 

 than the former one, broken and imperfect; but 

 nothing has come to light in the primitive script. 



Excavations at Gorynia, on the Gulf of Mira- 

 bello, under the direction of an American lady, 

 Miss Harriet A. Boyd, of the American School at 

 Athens, have laid bare what Mr. Hogarth speaks 

 of as the most perfect example yet discovered of 

 a small Mycenaean town, uncontaminated with 

 later remains. Two narrow and tortuous paved 

 streets have been laid bare, here and there ascend- 

 ing by flights of steps, on both sides of which 

 houses of stone with party walls of brick are pre- 

 served to a considerable height. These two streets 

 converge toward a large building of fine masonry, 



