Evening star., 1916-09-30
CRETE VERY CRADLE Of
ANCIENT GREEK CULTURE
Is Said to Have Given Far More to
That Nation Than N>se&~
Son, Venizelos.
National Geographic Bulletin Tells
of Recent Excavations on This
Historic Island.

Historic Island.
| Crete, the halfway house between
three continents" whose citizens are
reported to have revolted against the
pacific course of King Constantine, has
given far more to the Greek nation
than her native son, Venizelos, the for
mer premier, who for nearly two years
has been recurrently hailed as the
man Of the hour" while his country has
| been poised on the brink of the Euro
pean conflict, afraid to yield to his plea
to plunge forward, yet fearful lest, re-
| naming inert, she be ingulfed and left
without a rescuer when the victorious
| powers meet to parcel out the rewards
Of war
According to a war geography bulle-
tin of the National Geographic Society,
| this island is viewed by leading scien-
lists and archeologists as the very
cradle of ancient Greek culture.
ut was not the Phoenicians who in
vented the art of writing" says the
bulletin, but the Cretans who. under
the sway of their remarkable sea-
kings, antedated By. several hundred
)
nation which flourished on the shores
of Asia Minor. Recent excavations on
this island. the home of Minos, OF
Ariadne and of the horror-inspiring
closed evidences Of a civilization which
reached its apogee 1,400 years before
the birth of Christ and more than six
centuries before the First Olympiad,
the starting point of recorded Attic
history. Nor was Crete's civilization
which in any degree paled in compare
son with the grandeur of the Baby
lonian empire, the magnifcence Of an
saae mssxsa o the ap as aades
the early Pharaohs. 8tfrs
When the spade of the explorer un-
earthed the, ruins of the ancient capi-
site of the modern seaport of Gambia.
there were revealed to archaeelogists
treasures which had scarcely been
equaled since the secrets Of the buried
cities Of Pompeii and Herculaneum
Clay tablets bearing inscriptions in
linear form far more graceful than any
produced by the Phoenicians were
frescoes in brilliant colors depicting a
race OF men and women OF rare physi-
cal beauty and high mental accomplish
ments; pottery. bronzes. tools and gam
manship, elaborate decoration and ar
tistic development have hardly been
surpassed in the thfrty-five centuries
which stretch between that day and
this.
Partisan Style of Dress.
"One of the most astonishing discov-
cries made In the palace of Minos (the
name should probably be applied to a
dynasty, like the Pharaohs Of Egypt.
rather than to one king, as mythology
recites) was the style Of dress among
the women. Indeed, the artists who
executed the frescoes might have had
modern Parisiennes for their models.
Judged by the deco!ette gowns. the
rouged cheeks. the faring hats. the
high heels and the tightly corseted fig
ures.
| was a picture of the Cretan sport of
bull graphing. a pastime which was a
forerunner OF the trocadero combatS OF
twentieth century Spain. According to
graphing occupied the same place In
| Cretan social life that the arenic games
| and gladiatorial battles did in Rome
| centuries later. with the exception that
captive maidens as well as youths were
| trained for the hazardous sport of the
| island kings and patricians.
One fresco. which retains its original
| brilliant colors, shows two girls and a
| boy engaged in. the conflict. The boy
| has succeeded In seizing the horns OF
! the charging animal and has executed
q somersault over the beasts back. The
| first girl has also completed the daring
evolution, but the artist shows the sec
ond girl at the moment when she fs
| reaching out for the horns. and the
| spectator is left in doubt as to whether
she succeeds or is impaled on the dead
| ly points.
Discovery OF Gloomy Cells.
"A sinister discovery in connection
|
gloomy subterranean cells In which the
captured youths and maidens were con-
fined before the contests. Perhaps to
these cells and these bullfights is to be
traced the famous legend of the dis
patch to King Minos of seven Athenian
maidens and seven youths every ninth
wear. the human tribute being fed to
the half-man and half-bull known as
| the Minotaur. 1t is highly probable that
| the story of Theseus slaughter of the
Minotaur in the labyrinth had an ac-
tual historical basis. Certainly, only
with the aid Of an outsider, such as the
fabled Ariadne, could captive have
escaped from the dungeons in which
the Minoan rulers confined the unfortu-
mates condemned to furnish diversion
"unlike babylon. Nineveh. Assur and
many other cities tctira OF ain.'agiLy, Y Cretan
nI.,sr, the exact details Of which NAV
never be known. The only certainty
Cities Of the island Il that s,ra1y they were
rWsggeotton after the palaces had been
syNstematicaiiy N looted OF all their gold,
silver. bronze and other treasure. Az
to who the Invaders were, or how they
achieved their purpose even legend Is
silent" I,