El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-01-10
PICTURES
CRETANS OF
2O87 B. c.
Rev. James Baikie Describes
Wonderful Civilization of
Ancestors Of Europe.
WOMEN'S DRESS THEN
WAS TODAY'S STYLE

w Four 'isis' years s - ago. til.
women Of Crete were wearing
Partisan styles, with big hats, high
heeled shoes and tight laced corsetsi
the Cretans had built houses and meth
DDS Of sanitation that far surpassed
anything known in modern civilization
until the last so years. and they had
invented the written word, although
historians, until recent discoveries, had
conferred this distinction upon the
Phoenicians. who did not appear in
modern history until 1000 years later.
The man who has helped to cause a.
revision Of history by his archaeology
cal discoveries is Rev. James Baikie,
who, in a recent communication to Gil
bert II. GrOsVenOr, director of the Ma
HOnal Geographic society, of Washing
ton. uarrates the wonderful discoveries
that have been made in the island of
Crete, in the Aegean sea, coded to
Greece by Turkey at the conclusion of
the recent Balkan war The writer
even goes so far as to declare it posi-
bic that Crete was the actual stage
for events that have reached us in the
shape of the old Greek legends.
Discovers Palace of MinOs.
TT has. been in Crete that eXplora-
ton and discovery have led to the most
striking Illustrations Of many Of the
statements in the legends and tradi-
TONS and have made it practically GER
tain that much of what used to be con-
s1dered mere romantic fable represents,
with, of course, many embellishments
OF fancy. a good deal of historic fact"
writes Rev. Mr.. Baikie. He tells of the
discovery of the site of the great palace
of MinOs, at knossOs, in the labyrinth
of which rOamed the bloodthirsty
minOtaur-
LineaI Ancestors of Europe.
''The discovery which viii doubtless
prove to be OF greater importance than
any other was that of large numbers
of clay tablets incised with inscrip-
tons IN the unknown script Of the
MlnOans. One deposit contained tablets
written in hieroglyphic; but the rest
were in linear script, a highly deVel- 4
oped form, with regular divisions be-
tween the words and for elegance !
scarcely surpassed by any later form
of writing. The old Cretan tradition
that the PhOenicians did, not invent /
the letters Of the alphabet, but only /
changed those already existing, is {
amply justified for this seems to be /
precisely what they did. UnQuestiOn- (
ably It was great and important SER
vice which was thus rendered by them; /
but all the same, the beginning OF
European writing must be traced to
their predecessors the A1inOans and
the clay tablets Of KnOssos. Phaestos
cestOrs of Europe"
Describes WOmen,s Dress.
Rev Mr.. BaiIzie describes the dress
Of the women Of those times from the
miniature frescOes found in the pal
ace. as follows
Here were groups Of women Won
1erfully bedizened with costumes re-
sembling more closely the evening
dress of our day than the stately robes !
Of classic Greece, with their severe
lines In their very low necked dresses,
with puffed sleeves, excessively slender
waists and flOunced skirts and their
hair deliberately dressed and curled.
.ney were as far as possible removed /
from our ideas Of Ariadne and her
maids of honor, and might have stepped
put Of a modern fashion plate. If the 4
iress of the male pOpulace was sim
PIE, that Of the female was the reverse. |
An elaborate and tight fitting bodice /
'ut excessively low at the neck. COW |
RED, or affected to cover, the upper
'art Of the body, which is so WASH
wasted as to suggest universal tight {
aclnE- From the broad belt hung
,eiI shaped skirts. sometimes fIounced
nroughout their entire length. some
INES richly embroidered. In some ,
asses the skirt, below a small panier.
r apron, Is composed Of different col
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