Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1901-09-19

which, lying now in featureless val
ley, conveys no immediate impression
OF maSnifcence. One must study its
cracked and faded fragments of fres-
co, and look narrowly into the work
of its reliefs and stone vases, to re-
alize why it claims to rival Mycenae
In interest. The house must be re-
constructed from its furniture, rather
than the furniture from the house.
The ordinary visitor, not a special
ISL, VIII. therefore, prefer the ruin at
Phaestos, on the south of the island.
the full revelation of which has Ger
tainly been the sensational the past
spring. When Prof. Halbherr an
nounced in 1900 that he had begun
upon lesser Knossos no one expect
ed that he and his Italian colleagues
were to find in the event a palace
more uniform, complete and imposing.
What they have now laid bare stands
alone in Crete as a spectacle Even
those fresh from the Mycenae walls
and the treasury of Atreus. or even
| y
the broad staircases and majestic
courts of Phaestos, all on so intelli-
gible plan and preserved TO a point
which excites without overtaxing i'm
agInation. The ruin covers a prom
! ontory of rock. Far below the great
est of Cretan plains stretches to Mt
Dicte in the blue distance. Ida hangs
! right over teh site and through a gan
! IN the screen to the west show the
SHOWS of Sphakia, all three high
masses of the Cretan relief being Wis
| ible from this one point In so superb
a setting it is the more pity Phaestos
| should be so difficult of attainment. It
may, indeed. be reached in an hour
from the sea, but it is from the
stormy, harborless Libyan sea. 4
steamer that had landed its passeu-
gers in the sunrise calm at Dybaki
would often be unable to re-embark
them at noon. One must ride, there.
fore from Gambia, making a three.
days expedition, which will include
also Gortyna; but the days are Ions
and the paths are rough
The palace of Phaestos is contained
in a vast rectangle, obvious at first
sight. There had been an earlier
structure. but the building now re-
vealed is of the character and period
that of the acme of the Mycenaean
age in Crete The visitor, approach
ing from the north, sees from a ter
race a ruin below distinguished into
three main quarters. On his left a
broad stairway descends to a spa
cious paved court containing an altar
and tiers of stone seats, built up
against the rock, evidently to hold an
assembly. Thanking this on the east
and raised high above it is the main
building, entered by truly majestic
flight of steps, extending the full
width of the fine pillared hall at their
head. But the entrance from without
is from the opposite side, where a
second and larger paved court
stretches to the brink of the precipice.
Thence is admittance not only to the
pillared vestibuIe and main hall, but
to a double rank of galleries, and a
maze of small chambers to southwark,
which form the third quarter This
great court, round which the walls
and doors are admirably preserved,
vies with the region on the west,
where the two main stairways meet
as the best point of view on the site
To one standing in it, the uses of the
various blocks about it are manifest
Here were the living and sleeping
rooms of men, there of women. Their
common hall of assembly occupies
half another side; the store galleries
for the produce of the plain fill the
other half. In the chambers to the
south they bathed, worshipped and
lodged their retainers and their
beasts
All this is constructed or an excel
lent limestone, which has retained its
sharp and square outlines, while tho
Knossian gypsums have crumbled
and collapsed. The general impress
sion, therefore, is the more convinc
ing. But in details, the inferiority of
Phaestos is unquestionabIe. The
elaborate frescoes, the scuIptured
frieZes and the delicate plaster relief
of KnOssos were never here. Phaes-
tOs was provincial. 1t could command
good stone and good masons. but not
the materials or the men for the more
subtle crafts The noble shell was
decorated only in the Tudest manner
and its ruin is not comparable 70 that
OF AlOSGO5 as a museum of art On
its plastered walls appear none but
conventional patterns of a primitive
sort; the only sculptured thing of any
note yet found is a fragment of shell
the clay vases are interesting, but of
common ware, and fine stone vases
have not come to light at all; trinkets
in the precious metals or stones have
not been found and two small tablets
make a poor show beside the i'm
mense clay library Of Knossos. In
deed, all the smaller finds are con
spicuously wanting. For example,
clay impressions of lost signet intag-
lios, most valuable class of which
Knossos has yielded to Mr.. Evans
scores of admirable examples, and
zakro some hundreds to me. remain
unrepresented among the italian dis
coveries.-D. G. Hogarth in the Lon.
don Times
Nine tailors make man" grew out
- IL