The San Francisco call., 1897-03-10
HOME OF THE GODS.
It Is in Crete That the Old Greek
Still Survives.
Chicapo Times-Herald


Were old Jupiter as powerful as he was in
the days before the new gods came and drove
him from his seat on high Olympus there
would be no doubt as to the result OF the war
in Crete. For it was in Crete the god of gods
was born and raised, and it was in Crete he
was entombed when the night passed away and
the thunderbolts slipped from his dying
hands, red no longer, into the hands of other
and newer deities. What Mecca is to the Mo-
hammedan, Benares to the HindoO, and Jeru-
salem to the Christian, that would be Crete to
the believer Of the Greek religion; and so 1t is
now, in a way, to the modern scholar who
lives in the beauties OF Greek mythos, fable
and story. There is not spot on the face of
the broad earth that is so crowded with
memories of Paganism Beautiful as is Crete.
We are all of us familiar with the stories of a
religion that has given to the poets of all ages
their best inspiration. But how many of US
remember our humanities so well as to be able
to give local ha bitation to the gods and god
desses, the heroes and the half 1mmortals
with which the poetry OF the ages is ell
HANGED?
Fancy that when Lycurgus was modern,
when Homer was late-comer, when julius
Cesar was the newest man upon earth, Crete
was ancientl The immortal gods were truly
Immortal 1t that word may be applied TO any
thing, even by way of figure OF speech So
long as letters live, so long will The gods sur
vive. And crete gave 10 the world It's greatest
patriot Cretan, fighting for liberty, scorning
the rule OF the Turk, looking toward Greece
Tor aid and comfort, instlnctively rebell1ng
a. alnst the domination of such q man as Abdul
Hamid. has the sympathy OF every man who
has heard the legends OF the island and for
wnom the Greek gods are more than mere
reference. True, the Cretan of To-day does not
realize Lis splendid heritage. But that he has
the spirit of his ancient fathers, that the blood
which coursed in the veins OF the Cretans who
fought and conquered Troy still flows in his
own veins, are facts beyond all controversy.
With small men tai effort we can reconstruct
the ancient Crete and launch curse Ives back
into the stream of time when 1t was flowing
past the gorgeous temples of Jupiter, then
great and living god, with his millions OF
Worshipers; when Minerva and Venus and
Baccnus and Juno and Priapus ruled the
those were the days of the glory of Crete. In
Ovid's time Crete was decadent-even dead,
and DBtalus and Icarus, Thesus aud Ariadne,
the sirens OF the Minotaur, were as much ira
dltlon rs they are to-day. Let US glance at
Crete and its association with the myths. Many
places claimed the birth of Jupiter, but the
most ancient seems to credit Crete. Hesiod
countenances the story that the great Jupiter
was born in Crete. Rhea. his mother, gave
Dlrtn to him in O cavern near the site OF
Gnossus, afterward the seat OF the empire OF
the strong King Minos. The Melian ny mphs
received him in their arms He was rocked in
cradle of gold by Adrastea. He was fed on
ambrosia ana on nectar brought by an eagle
that drew 1t from one OF the rocks OF old Ida.
And time was when the Cretans showed with
pride the cavern in W hich the infant Jove was
born and the very platform upon the side OF
the great mountain in which he gamboied In
play with the rybantes, TO say nothing OF
the tomb In which the poor immortal's bones
were placed when he died.
70 Crete we go for the story of Dedalus and