The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1901-02-23
A Prehistoric Palace.


WHICH Has IuEtdtcllCu uloiO bAdn OtfSC "
disturb the harmony of the great Powers.
Owing to its present low estate and to the
unsavory reputation of its inhabitants, due
in part, no doubt, to ST. Paul's severe
characterization sCretans are always liars,
evil beasts, idle gluttons' 1T is hard tc
realize that at the dawn of Greek history
Crete was great maritime power, extend
ing its sway over the islands and mainland
of the Aegean, and had developed Legal
system that afforded model even for the
lawgiver Lycurgus in preparing the Spartan
CODE
Crete occupies a strategic position in the
Mediterranean Situated at the base Of
the Aegean, about half way on the direct
route between Egypt and the Hellespont,
between Phenicia and the Pillars of Her
cules, it stood as stepping stone between
Greece proper and the two continents which
produced the worlds earliest civilizations.
Hence Oriental culture in its westward
march made its first Judgment in Crete Of
any Hellenic land. To Crete, therefore,
we must go for the origins Of European
civilization.
Crete is the scene of many of the sug-
gestiye incidents of Greek mythology, and
archaeology, through its discoveries, cor
roborates legend and conjecture and affords
the basis of fact in ascertaining the bistor-
ical One of the interesting results OF
modern research in the study of antiquity
is the realization that the fabulous heroes
of Greece had local habitation as well as
name, and that myth and legend have
been corroborated by actual remains in stu.
Thus the palace of Priam at Troy and the
home and tomb of Agamemnon at Mycen;e
have been revealed to modern eyes, and
some score Of years ago Dr. Schliemann,
the excavator Of these Homeric sites, an
nounced in a startling telegram to King
George of Greece that he had dislnterred
the body Of his ilustrious predecessor,
Agamemnon. These discoveries demon
strate that the manner of life portrayed in
the poems of Homer actually existed, and
though Hector be myth and Agamemnon
poets fancy, yet men like Hector and
Agamemnon once lived and moved and had
their being.
EPOCH MAKING DISCOVERIES.
The discoveries of DIR. Schliemann at
Troy and Mycene unveiled hitherto I'M
known civilization and enlarged the bounds
of history by the knowledge or a pre- Hell
lenic period known as the Mycennean age.
Now, the centre of archaeological interest
has been transferred to Crete, for on this
island recent discoveries have been made
which are epoch making in their results, as
thew furnish written documents and mate
rial remains dating back to the year 1000
B. c., and reveal pre-Mycen@sn period.
We have at hand, therefore, available for
study, records such as will supply the con-
Meeting links between the civilizations OF
Egypt and Assyria and that of Greece.
In the early Greek mythology there are
few stories better known than that OF King
Minos of Crete and his famous labyrinth,
built by the skillful hand of D@dalus, of
the cruel Minotaur demanding human sac
rifces, of the Athenian hero, Theseus, who
accompanied the devoted band Of youths
and maidens sent as tribute from Athens to
-Theseus, who won the love of the
Princess Ariadne, and, provided by her
with sword and clue, slew the monster,
found his way out of the entangling mazes
of the labyrinth and carried off the Princess
as his bride. After being lost to the world
for 5000 years this labyrinth of dire renown
has Welded its treasures to the pick-ax OF
the archeologist, and we can now know
the royal palace of King Minos as it mast
have been in the bright days of its splendor
and in the freshness and youth of its mon
uments.
For some years the site of ancient Cnos-
sus, about four miles south of the modern
Gambia, !'the city of Minos and Daedalus,
and s'the traditional site of early Cretan
civilization, has attracted the attention of
archaologists, but Turkish occupation and
the Greco Turkish War prohibited any at
temps at excavation. The new regime,
however, with Prince George of Greece as
High Commissioner of the Powers in Crete,
offered favorable opportunity, and in
April, 1900, Mr.. Arthur Evans and Mr..
d. g. Hogarth, two eminent English ar
cheologists, got concession from Prince
George to excavate the site of Cnossus, and
also that of the Cave Of Psychro, intimately
associated with the legends of the Cretan
Zeus They began at once the work OF
excavation. The extraordinary results
which rewarded their undertakings threw
into the shade all the archaeological cam
paigns of recent years in Hellenic lands,
and can be justly compared only with the
remarkable discoveries of DIR. Schliemann.
PREHISTORIC PALACE.
At Cnossus was uncovered prehistoric
palace, so rich in its relics of primitive
civilization that beside it the palaces of
Tiryns and Mycene sink into insigni6cance.
A brief summary of the results is thus given
by Mr.. Evans
cat but very slight depth below the
surface of the ground the spade has uncov
cred great courts and corridors, propylea,
a long succession of magazines, containing
gigantic stone jars that might have hidden
the forty thieves, and multiplicity of
chambers, pre-eminent among which is the
actual throne room and council chamber of
Homeric kings The throne itself, on
which (if so much faith be permitted to us)
Minos may have declared the law, is carved
out of alabaster, once brilliant with colored
designs, and relieved with curious tracery
and crocketed arcading, which is wholly
unique in ancient art and exhibits strange
anticipation of thirteenth century Gothic.
In the throne room, the western entrance
gallery and elsewhere partly still adhering
to the walls, partly in detached pieces on
the floor, was a series of fresco paintings,
excelling any known examples of the art
in Mycenean Greece. A beautiful life
size picture of youth, with an European
and almost classically Greek profile, gives
us the first real knowledge of the race wlro
produced this mysterious early civilization.
Other frescoes introduce us to lively and
hitherto unknown miniature style. repre-
senting among other subjects groups of
women engaged in animated conversation
in the courts and on the balconies of the
palace. The monuments of the sculptor
art are equally striking. 1t may be suffi-
Gent to mention here marble fountain in
the shape of lioness' head with enameled