ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND ETHNOLOGICAL RESEARCHES IN CRETE. 253 



known families in the cities, and recalling the Cretan fondness for giving 

 nicknames, attributed such names as Venetikos to this habit, the label- 

 ling of a native servant with the cognomen of his master's nationality. 

 Mr. Xanthoudides remarked to me that half the names in the Cretan 

 villages were Venetian, but that they meant nothing. The former part 

 of Mr. Xanthoudides' statement was not borne out by reference to the 

 voters' list, i.e., in the names of those over twenty-one years. In the 

 more favourable districts the percentage was 13. 



More important for us than these corrections is the consideration 

 that a Venetian name in Crete connotes very little Venetian blood. 

 Nearly nine generations have passed since the Venetians left the island, 

 and their blood must be very thin or bred out by this time, and, what is 

 important to note in this connexion, the national or racial consciousness 

 that would dictate a marriage of Venetian-named with Venetian-named is 

 lost. In the one village in Crete that bears the reputation of being a 

 Venetian colony, Axos, the people were ignorant that they bore Venetian 

 names, and resented the imputation — having, perhaps, a folk-memory 

 of those hard taskmasters, whom their forefathers hated more than the 

 Turks. Those who are sophisticated and well-read among the Venetian- 

 named, such as the local antiquary and justice of the peace at Vitzari, 

 in Amarion, a Siligardi by descent ; the scholarly Archimandrite Veneris ; 

 the prosperous merchant of Xidhas, Kandherakis, whose great desire to 

 have Lyttos excavated is now to be fulfilled ; or the most successful and 

 intelligent carpenter of Candia, Cornaro, can only point to some one far- 

 distant ancestor or to family tradition. Thus, while the years and 

 centuries have gone by, the blood has decreased, and only the names 

 have remained, or even increased with the increase of the population. 



But, to turn from general considerations, if we are to attribute, as 

 Dr. Duckworth does, the broadening of the head in Sitia to the Venetian 

 influence, we should expect to find that influence most active and more 

 apparent where the Venetian-named Cretans are thickest. This area 

 is the Deme of Anogeia, in which Axos, with some seven other villages, 

 is situate. Out of 175 names (borne by 992 voters, and representing a 

 population of 4,054), 41 (or 23i per cent.) are Venetian, and out of 69 

 measured by me in this deme, 24 (or 35 per cent.) are Venetian in name ; 

 an extraordinary average compared with 5-| per cent, for the rest of the 

 island. I may note here that the figures I shall quote for the eparchies 

 take account only of the names recognised as Venetian, and do not 

 include additions for doubtful names. How do these Venetian-named 

 individuals compare in cephalic index with the modern Venetians and 

 their neighbours'? The cephalic index of the people of Veneto-Emilia 

 (52,410, quoted by J. Deniker) is 86*1, of Dalmatians (30, by J. 

 Deniker) 87"0, of Albanians (20, by Pittard) 83"8. That of the Vene- 

 tian-named Cretans in their most populous region is 76" 7. This figure 

 needs no comment of mine. 



Let us turn to Sitia itself, where there are lOi per cent, of Venetian 

 names. This percentage is not extraordinary, being exceeded by four 

 other eparchies. The average cephalic index for 189 Sitians, including 

 Dr. Duckworth's figures, is 80'9, or nearly 81'0, to be accurate, that of 

 the Sitians bearing Venetian names is 81'3. This suggests the key 



1910. s 



