

ARCHAEOLOGY. 



27 



Egyptian. Mr. Evans hence infers that the par- 

 ticular chamber of the palace in which the tablets 

 bearing pictographs were discovered contained rec- 



PICTOGRAPHIC AND LINEAR SIGNS ON A THREE-SIDED 

 CRESCENT "LABEL," CNOSSUS, CRETE. 



ords of tribute or other matters from districts 

 which probably stood in a subject relation to the 

 city of Minos. 



The building in which the excavations were 

 made is described by Mr. Evans as being of vast 

 extent, before which the palaces of Mycenae, Ti- 

 ryns, and other similar structures shrink into com- 

 parative insignificance. The entrance is ap- 

 proached from a paved court on the eastern side, 

 and, flanked by two columns, leads into a large 

 antechamber furnished with stone benches. Hence 

 the visitor passes into an apartment which has 

 been given the name of " the council chamber of 

 Minos." Against the wall on the right stands a 

 throne of gypsum, having a low seat and a tall, 

 curiously carved back, which still shows traces of 

 painting. Along the walls on either side are con- 

 tinuous stone benches; on the opposite side, pro- 

 tected by a high parapet to which seats are also 

 attached, is an oblong rectangular depression, con- 

 structed with finely compacted slabs and evidently 

 intended to contain water, but without visible out- 

 let. It is approached by descending steps. The 

 walls of the council chamber are ornamented with 

 frescoes, still sufficiently preserved to enable land- 

 scapes, flowing water, and flowering plants to be 

 distinguished. On either side of a door leading 

 into a smaller apartment are two griffins, seated 

 on baskets and apparently engaged in hatching. 

 In another part of the building is a long corridor, 

 on each side of which are a series of frescoes repre- 

 senting male and female figures arrayed in rich 

 costumes, of most of which only the lower parts 

 of the bodies have been preserved; but one piece, 

 which had fallen, showed the figures of two men 

 to above the waist, draped in lor^g flowing man- 

 tles. On the left side, the central figure is a lady 

 distinguished from the rest by her wide flounces. 

 In another room were found parts of a fresco in 

 a new miniature style, showing groups of elabo- 

 rately dressed young women, seated and engaged 

 in animated conversation. A figure that has at- 

 tracted especial notice is that of a youth putting 

 ' crocuslike flowers in an ornamental vase. 



The royal magazines or storerooms are ap- 

 proached by a long corridor which leads to a suc- 

 cession of 12 apartments. Some of these contained 



rows of oil vases 5 feet high, some highly ornate 

 and furnished with numerous small handles. Be- 

 neath the floor of several of the chambers and pas- 

 sages are receptacles of closely fitted stonework, 

 one above the other. 



Mr. W. J. Stillmann suggested in 1881 that this 

 building, of which a wall of Cyclopean masonry 

 was the only vestige then visible, was probably 

 the Labyrinth. This view is confirmed not only 

 by some of the features of arrangements, but also 

 by the numerous figures of the double axe, \d&pvs, 

 recurring often in different parts. The figure cor- 

 responds to one of the epithets of Zeus, and is 

 found in both the linear and the pictographic 

 inscriptions as a significant character. The re- 

 mains of the life-size figure of a bull of painted 

 ijenso duro, of which the head is perfect, discov- 

 ered in the later days of the work of excavation, 

 suggest an allusion to the bull of Europa, or to 

 the one associated with the name of Pasiphse, 

 whose progeny, the Minotaur, dwelt in the Laby- 

 rinth. 



The sculpture and painting in this palace are 

 characterized by Mr. Evans as of a higher level 

 than those at Mycenae or Tiryns. " For monu- 

 ments of the Mycenaean painting, indeed, the pal- 

 ace of Cnossus stands almost alone. On many of 

 the walls the frescoes are found still adhering, 

 almost as brilliant as when they were executed, 

 and we have here a new revelation of ancient 

 painting. Quite new in ancient art are certain 

 miniature groups of ladies fashionably dressed 

 in somewhat decollete attire, seated in animated 

 conversation, apparently in the courts and bal- 

 conies of the palace itself." In the decorative 

 designs and the fabulous animals griffins and 

 sphinxes the influence of Egyptian models of the 

 eighteenth dynasty is evident, but these foreign 

 elements are adapted in an independent manner. 

 Of more special interest are processions of youths 

 bearing various vases, which Mr. Evans regards 

 as having a singular general resemblance to the 

 procession of the tribute-bearing Keft chieftains 

 on the tomb of Rekmara at Thebes, which dates 

 from the first half of the fifteenth century B. c. 

 The Kefts of the Egyptian monuments are ac- 

 cepted as representing the Mycenaean race of the 

 ^Sgean isles and coast lands. " On the Cnossian 

 wall painting we see them in their home." The 

 upper part of one of these Cnossian figures is of 

 the highest anthropological interest as presenting 

 for the first time a careful naturalistic portrait 

 of a Mycenasan man. The profile is of a pure 

 European character, almost classically Greek. The 

 type of head represented is essentially that of the 

 race which through all the changes of Cretan his- 

 tory still remains predominant in the island. 



A new and striking piece of evidence of inter- 

 course between Crete and the Egyptian middle 

 kingdom was found in the palace in the form of 

 a diorite figure with hieroglyphic inscriptions. 

 Its good style and material have been recognized 

 by Egyptologists as indicating a work of the 

 twelfth, or at most of the thirteenth, dynasty. 

 " In other words, the latest date to which it can 

 be safely referred hardly conies down to 2000 n. c. 

 Wo have here, therefore, a valuable indication for 

 the approximate chronology of the earlier elements 

 of the palace of Cnossus itself, which in any case 

 go back of the period to Avhich the remains of 

 Mycenre have given a name." 



Mr. Evans, in order to avoid confusion of periods, 

 purposely did not go below the Mycenaean de- 

 posits: but Mr. TX C. Hogarth, digging at another 

 spot, found a whole scries of early painted pot- 

 tery, many of the pieces showing artistic designs 

 of lilies, tulips, and other flowers, with shapes in 



