Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-01-10
SAYS CRETAN WOMEN
WORE PARIS STYLES
Rev. James Baikie Tells of Wonder
- full Discoveries on
Greek Isle.
Declares It Possible Uncovered Site
of Empire Was Actual Stage for
Legendary Events.

-Four thousand years ago the women of
Crete were wearing Partisan STYLES. with
big hats, -high-heeled shoes and tight
laced corssts; the Cretans had built
houses with methods of sanitation that
far surpassed anything known in modern
civilization until the last fifty years, and
they had invented the written word, al
though historians, until recent discover
les, had conferred this distinction upon
the Phoenicians, who did not appear in
modern history until thousand years
later. $50
All this is according to Rev. James
Baikie who. in a recent communication
to Gilbert Fl. Grosvenor. director OF the
National Geographic Society. narrates 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 II
possible that Crete was the actual stage
for events that have reached us In the
shape of the old Greek legends.
1T has been in Crete that explorat ton
and discovery have led to the most strik-
ing illustration of many of the state
nents in the legends and traditions and
have made 1t practically certain that
much of what used to be considered mere
romantic fable represents, with, OF
course many embellishments of fancy,
Rev Baikie He tells of the discovery of
the site Of the great palace of Minos, at
Knossos, in the labyrinth of which roam
ed the blood thirsty minotaur.
The discovery which will doubtless
prove to be of greater Importance than
any other" he adds. was that of large
numbers of clay tablets incised with in
scriptions IN the unknown script OF the
AIiuoans One deposit contained tablets
written in hieroglyphic: but the rest were
in linear script, a highly developed form.
with regular divisions between the words
and for elegance scarcely surpassed Dy
any later form of writing The old ere
tan 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 pre-
cisely what they did. unquestionably 1t
was great and important service which
was thus rendered by them. but, all the
same the beginnings of European writing
must be traced to their predecessors, the
Minoans and the clay tablets of Knossos,
Phaestos and Hagia Triada are the lineal
ancestors OF Europe"
Tight Lacing Suggested.
Rev Baikie describes the dress of the
women of those times from the miniature
frescoes found in the palace. as follows:
Here were groups of ladies wonder
fully bedizened with costumes resembling
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 pulled sleeves,
excessively slender waists and hounced
skirts, and their hair deliberately dressed
and curled. they were as far as possible
removed from our ideas OF Arladne ana
her maids of honor, and might have
stepped out of modern fashion plate.
simple. that of the female was the re-
verse. An elaborate and tight-fltting
bodice, cut excessively low at the neck.
covered, or effected to cover. the upper
part of the body, which is so wasp
wasted as to- suggest universal tight
laeing. From the broad belt hung down
bell-shaped skirts, sometimes fiounced
throughout their entire length sometimes
richly embroidered. In some cases the
skirt, below a small pannier or apron, is
composed of different-colored materials
combined in chequer pattern distantly
resembling tartan. One fresco represents
a curious and elaborate form Of dress.
consisting apparently Of wide trousers of
a light ground and most wonderfully
frilled and vandyked. Diaphanous ma
terial was sometimes used for part of the
covering Of the upper part of the body.
Hairdressing Elaborate.
''Hairdressing was very elaborate, and
above the wonderful erection Of curls and
r1ngletS which crowned their headS the
Minoan ladies wore hats of quite modern
type, and fairly comparable in size even
with those of the present day. A seal
from Mycenae, representing three ladies
adorned with accordion-plaited skirts,
shows that heels of fair height were
sometimes worn on the Shoes
Houses and palaces quite modern in ap-
pearance, with wonderful drainage sys-
TENS, (which it would be hard to match
in Europe until period as late as the
middle OF the nineteenth century of our
era: the Minoan kitchen, almost as
well equipped for its special functions as
the kitchen of the present day and the
carpenters tool kit, containing saws,
chisels for stone and for wood avis,
nails dies and axes, which resemble in
shape the tools of today so closely that
they furnish one of the strongest links
between the first great civilization of
Europe and our own" are described.
That the Minoan empire was over
whelIned by some horrible catastrophe
from which It never recovered, is shown
BY the condition of the ruins being un-
covered. Everywhere there are traces of
fire on the walls and sudden Interrupt
rion OF quiet and luxurious life, says Rev.
Baikie.