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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIV-. No. 1135 



pearance of certain symbolic signs, and the 

 subjects of shapes and seals which go back 

 to prototypes in use among the "Old 

 Eace" of the Nile Valley. The impression 

 of a very active agency indeed is so strong 

 that the possibility of some actual immi- 

 gration into the island of the older Egyp- 

 tian element, due to the conquests of the 

 first Pharaohs, can not be excluded. 



The continuous influence of Dynastic 

 Egypt from its earliest period onwards is 

 attested both by objects of import and their 

 indigenous imitations, and an actual monu- 

 ment of a middle empire Egyptian was 

 found in the Palace Court at Knossos. 

 More surprising still are the cumulative 

 proofs of the reaction of this early Cretan 

 civilization on Egypt itself, as seen not only 

 in the introduction there of such beautiful 

 Minoan fabrics as the elegant polychrome 

 vases, but in the actual impress observable 

 on Egyptian art even on its religious side. 

 The Egyptian griffin is fitted with Minoan 

 wings. So, too, on the other side we see the 

 symbols of Egyptian religion impressed 

 into the service of the Cretan Nature God- 

 dess, who in certain respects was partly as- 

 similated with Hathor, the Egyptian Cow- 

 Goddess of the Underworld. 



My own most recent investigations have 

 more and more brought home to me the all- 

 pervading community between Minoan 

 Crete and the land of the Pharaohs. 

 When we realize the great indebtedness of 

 the succeeding classical culture of Greece 

 to its Minoan predecessor the full signifi- 

 cance of this conclusion will be understood. 

 Ancient Egypt itself can no longer be re- 

 garded as something apart . from general 

 human history. Its influences are seen to 

 lie about the very cradle of our own civili- 

 zation. 



The high early culture, the equal rival 

 of that of Egypt and Babylonia, which thus 

 began to take its rise in Crete in the fourth 

 millennium before our era, flourished for 



some two thousand years, eventually domi- 

 nating the iEgean and a large part of the 

 Mediterranean basin. To the civilization, 

 as a whole, I ventured, from the name of 

 the legendary king and law-giver of Crete, 

 to apply the name of ' ' Minoan, ' ' which has 

 received general acceptance; and it has 

 been possible now to divide its course into 

 three ages — Early, Middle and Late, an- 

 swering roughly to the successive Egyptian 

 kingdoms, and each in turn with a triple 

 subdivision. 



It is difficiut indeed in a few words to do 

 adequate justice to this earliest of Euro- 

 pean civilizations. Its achievements are too 

 manifold. The many-storeyed palaces of 

 the Minoan priest-kings in their great days, 

 by their ingenious planning, their success- 

 ful combination of the useful with the 

 beautiful and stately, and, last but not 

 least, by their scientific sanitary arrange- 

 ments, far outdid the similar works, on 

 however vast a scale, of Egyptian or Baby- 

 lonian builders. What is more, the same 

 skilful and commodious construction re- 

 curs in a whole series of private mansions 

 and smaller dwellings throughout the is- 

 land. Outside "broad Knossos" itself, 

 flourishing towns sprang up far and wide 

 on the country sides. New and refined 

 crafts were developed, some of them, like 

 that of the inlaid metal-work, unsurpassed 

 in any age or country. Artistic skill, of 

 course, reached its acme in the great pal- 

 aces themselves, the corridors, landings and 

 porticoes of which were decked with wall 

 paintings and high reliefs, showing in the 

 treatment of animal life not only an extra- 

 ordinary grasp of nature, but a grandiose 

 power of composition such as the world 

 had never seen before. Such were the 

 great bull-grappling reliefs of the Sea Gate 

 at Knossos and the agonistic scenes of the 

 great palace hall. 



The modernness of much of the life here 

 revealed to us is astonishing. The elabora- 



