31 



DISC.OVKHY 



witli small hands and feet, with a dark complexion and 

 with dark eyes and black curly hair. 



According to Professor J. L. Myres in his Dawn oj 

 History,^ the north-west quadrant of the Old World 

 resolved itself racially into three belts, which were 

 determined by geographical conditions. In the north 

 were the pure white-skinned " Boreal " men of the 

 Haltic basin ; next came the sallow " Alpine " type ; 

 then the red-skinned " Mediterranean " man. The 

 third was an intruder from the South, not far enough 

 south for him to be a negro, but probably from the 

 northern shores of Africa. His intrusion " formed 

 part of a much larger convergence of animals and 

 plants from the south and south-east into the colder, 

 moister regions which have been released since the 

 Ice Age closed." The limit of the movement seems to 

 have been fixed by the shores of the mainland, because 

 the lungs and constitution of the people concerned 

 were unable to endure any further cold. 



The establishment of the existence of the Mediter- 

 ranean race has had, among other results, that of 

 making it no longer possible, as was invariably the 

 practice before Crete was excavated, of ascribing all 

 obscure factors in the beginnings of Greece to a 

 Phoenician origin. We now know, for instance, that 

 the art of writing came from Crete, Phoenicia being 

 the medium. We know now that Phoenicia was merely 

 a late centre of the general ^Egean civilisation, and 

 was specifically called by the name because it was 

 the best-known branch of the "red-skinned" race; 

 for " Phoenikes " literally means " Red-skins," and 

 in Homer Phoenix himself is a King of Crete and 

 grandfather of Minos. 



The Minoan people, then, formed part of the Medi- 

 terranean race. Their dress was much simpler than 

 that of the classical Greeks. The men wore a short 

 pair of drawers or a loin-cloth, the upper part of the 

 body being bare as in the cup-bearer picture (January 

 Discovery), a style emanating, as did the men 

 themselves, from the warm lands south of the Medi- 

 terranean. Egyptian fresco-paintings reveal an almost 

 exact analogy of type in the clothing and appearance 

 of the Egyptians. Those who have a keen eye for 

 the persistence of type may perhaps be interested to 

 compare some of the forms of loin-cloth, as depicted 

 on seal stones, with the brakais, or baggy breeches, 

 still worn in Crete. Elders and officials apparently 

 wore the added dignity of flowing cloaks. High- 

 topped boots — again suggestive of those worn to-day 

 — were in general use. Men wore their hair long as 

 did the women, plaited and coiled up on the top of 

 the head, thereby forming the only headdress that 

 was used. 



Minoan war-equipment was severely limited. Their 

 ' Pp. 39 et seq. Williams & Norgate, 19 12. 



only weapons were a long sword and a dagger, the 

 latter of which is shown by pictures of clay figurines 

 to have been carried inside the belt at the front. 

 Their only armour of defence was a big shield of leather 

 and a leather conical helmet. The shield was framed 

 in a metal band, but had no handle or central boss ; 

 it was big enough to cover the body from head to 

 foot, and it could be bent so as to protect both sides. 

 It is represented in certain pictures in a curious 8-shape, 

 pinched-in in the middle. The origin of this may 

 have been that it was the practice to sling it over the 

 left shoulder suspended by a strap, and for this purpose 

 the figure-of-eight shape may have been convenient. 



Horses apparently were used both in war and in 

 hunting, although we have no pictures of them 

 being ridden. The available evidence shows them 

 only in the shafts of two-wheeled chariots. This 

 accords well with Professor Sir William Ridgeway's 

 observation (made far back in the eighties of last 

 century) that in Homer the horse was driven only, 

 and no bigger than our donkey. There is reason for 

 thinking that the horses were imported, and imagina- 

 tive people have recognised evidence of this in the 

 fact that a seal stone has been found which shows a 

 horse on board ship. Whether intentionally or merely 

 from crudity of draughtsmanship, one is left in little 

 doubt as to what mostly occupied the artist's mind 

 when he fashioned this stone, for the horse covers 

 three-quarters of the ship's length, and towers high 

 above it, while the crew stand as high as the horse's 

 knees.- 



The women are readily distinguishable from the 

 men in Cretan pictures by reason of their white skin, 

 suggestive of a more secluded indoor life. They wore 

 large shady hats, close-fitting, puffed-sleeved blouses, 

 cut very low in front, and projecting upwards into a 

 sort of peak at the back of the neck. They wore 

 wide-flounced, richly-embroidered skirts like crino- 

 lines, and had belts like the men's. A French scholar, 

 on first seeing some of the pictures representing 

 Minoan women, was so taken by surprise that he 

 exclaimed : " Mais ce sont des Parisiennes ! " 



Minoan women enjoyed a far more " advanced " 

 status than did other primitive women. In the art 

 of their day they are represented as appearing in 

 public and unveiled ; they took part in the bull- 

 fighting at Knossos, and their apartments in the 

 palace were marked out by their special luxury. The 

 greatest glory for an Athenian woman of a later age 

 was to be " as little mentioned as possible among men." 

 Not so for the women of Crete. There may be signifi- 

 cance in the fact that the Lycians of Asia Minor, who 



2 On the fascinating subject of the histon,- of the horse, the 

 reader should consult Sir \V. Ridgeway's Origin of the Thorough- 

 bred Horse (Cambridge University Press. 1905). 



