The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-08-11

"'aN NbS pow
was inspired by al actual work OF art.
The palace OF knosses and that OF Phestos
ION the south central coast Of Crete). with
their splendid art and their triumphs OF
mechanical science. are in a similar way
the direct prototypes Of the Palace and the
Gardens Of Alkinoos and the golden auto
mata OF the smithy OF Heph@stus.
Prof. Burrows does not discuss At any
length the suggestions Of DR.. Drerup that
the origin OF the Odyssey In to be sought
for in Crete, but he admits that the atten-
ton Of students Of that poem has been
unduly concentrated on Ithaca, Leukas
and Corcyra, while the numerous references
in the Odyssey to the topography Of Crete
have been neglected. Our author thinks
that the P~hsacians. who are described
as mariners. artists. ~feasters and dancers.
are surely the Minoans OF Crete. II seems
TO him. too. that in one passage in the sew
enth book the secret is let out. Alkinoos
is telling Odysseus that the Pheacians
will take him home. even IL his home be fur
Their than Eubpa, the -furthest place In the
world" where they moe o Rhadaman-
thus. Prof. Burrows points out that this
would be a bad comparison il the point OF
view as is ordinarily held ,is that Of Corcyra;
on the contrary, the comparison would he
. good one IL this viewpoint be that OF Crete.
Was not Rhadamanthus moreover, the twin
brother OF Minoe2 What would he be doing
in Corcyra? Prof. Burrows adds that such
descriptions "a the Palace Of Alkinoos and
the Shield OF Achilles take us pack to the
periods distinguished as Late Minoan |. and
II. Whether or no their glories were put
into verse by the Minoans themselves he
does not pretend TO say, but he feels assured
thai the first Greek poems they inspired
were sun by men who had heard OF them
"a living realities, even If they had not
themselves seen them; men who had walked
the palaces, perhaps. IL not a. their masters.
at least as meroenaries or freebooters. As
to whether or no these singers were them
selves of the same race or language as the
men whose deeds they chronicled there is
no extant evidence.
The Late Minoan Ill. is a long period and
marks the successive stages OF a gradually
decaying culture. Indeed. the great lesson
that Cretan discoveries have taught us In
that the art OF what used TO be called the
good or mature Myc@nean type il not on
the upward grade. soon to be arrested by
a catastrophe, but we'll on the downward
grade, with its catastrophe behind IL. In
the later phases Of the Late Minoan Ill.
period the Bronze Age shades OF into the
Iron, and the tombs OF eastern Crete FIX
hibit strange in and out combination char
scteristic OF transition. The inference
drawn from these combinations, as we'll as
the cremation graves OF Salsmis, will doubt
less depend largely on a students theory OF
the origin and composition of the Homeric
poems. Those who believe that the poems
were the work of a single poet who created
them once for all at a given moment OF
culture will probably claim these strange
combinations in their support. Our au-
thor grants that they make it conceivable
that a given singer living at the close OF
the Bronze Age may have had the exact
archaeological equations that are demanded
by the Homeric moment Of culture" pre-
sented to hin as the sum total Of his indi-
vidual experience. Prof. Burrows admits
also hat support may be drawn by those
who assert the unity OF the poems from
the views on cremation lately put forward
by DR.. D0rpfeld. The latter sees that the
view that the Acheans invariably burned
their dead. although it is the obvious deduc-
ton from the Homeric poems. raises seri-
GUS difficulties. Ii not only distinguishes
them more sharply than would be expected
from the earlier inhabitants OF the Egean,
who, whether in Crete or Mycene or else
where. seem to have always buried their
dead, but il seems TO conflict with the evil
dence of classical Greece. DR.. Dorpfeld's
suggestion is that the dead were always
buried in Minoan, Homeric and classical
times, but for hygienic reasons their bodies
would be either embalmed or .s~corched be-
fore burial. The scorching might in some
cases go as far as complete burning, but this
would seldom be the Ease unless . man died
abroad and wished to be Inferred at home.
Even then the important thing would be
the collecting OF the bones after burning and
the commitment Of them to the earth al
home, "a ia shown by Homer's account OF
the funeral rites OF Patroclos. The OBJ
lection to this theory is that at present there
il practically no direct evidence to uphold
il. II it is true there ought to be traces OF |
-scorching' in every interment OF Minoan
and classical times. Yet in the many hum
dreds OF such graves that ave been opened |
there il nothing OF the kind.
What vas the relation OF Crete to the /,
East? This question is considered in the
ninth chapter of the book before US. On
the whole Prof. Burrows seems inclined |
TO accept the theory embodied in the phrase
er Oriente lar. which is the motto of a school
OF German a~rcheologists who nave lone
to interpret for us the ancient civili-
zation of Babylonia. The truth OF the
sphorism has already been justified for
Greece as we'll as for Jew ish history.
Our author il convinced that the idea
Of the wooden horse by means of
which the Greeks succeeded in entering
Troy was taken from the tall siege engine
the Assyrians. in which the top platform
around On a revolving pivot. like an
animals head and neck. above the level
of the wall. Hence the -leaping" of the
wall and the setting down Of the armed
brood within the city. 1t is also a fact
that from the Tel-el-Amarna letters we
learn OF the free intercourse that existed