254 PREHISTORIC PETTICOATS 



for a tight ring-like girdle which greatly compresses the 

 waist and emphasises the broad hips. The little statue is 

 about ten inches high, and was found by Sir Arthur Evans 

 at Knossos, the ancient buried city, the capital of Crete, in 

 the Later Palace. Its date is that of the close of the 

 Minoan period, namely 1600 B.C. The two figures in 

 Plate XI are copied from frescoes representing acrobatic 

 women from the bull-ring, also from the Later Palace at 

 Knossos, and are a couple of centuries later in date. 

 Religious ceremonies in connection with the worship of the 

 bull (whence the fable of the minotaur) were practised in 

 Knossos, and possibly there was a kind of baiting of 

 bulls and jumping over and away from the infuriated 

 animals such as may be seen at this day in the South of 

 France and in Portugal. Possibly the employment of 

 girls in this sport gave rise to the story of the maiden 

 tribute from Athens to be sacrificed to the Cretan minotaur. 

 The drawings are remarkable for the pose — that of the 

 left-hand figure resembling an attitude assumed in boxing, 

 whilst the dress — a kind of maillot or " tights " — is 

 gripped round the waist by a firm ring (like a table- 

 napkin ring), the compression of which is no doubt 

 exaggerated. This fresco and many others of extra- 

 ordinary interest, as well as much beautiful pottery and 

 the whole of the plan of the city, its public buldings, 

 granaries, library and sewers at several successive ages 

 (the remains lying in layers one over the other), were 

 discovered and described by Sir Arthur Evans, who is 

 still at work on the wonderful history and art of these 

 prehistoric Cretans, from whom the Mycenaeans of the 

 mainland of Greece were an offshoot. 



The point to which I chiefly desire to call attention is that 

 this Cretan people practised compression of the waist, and 

 so^have a certain point of agreement with the prehistoric 

 race of Lerida represented in Figs. 29 and 30 and with 



