Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-12-16
The Outline of History-By H. G. Wells

These early Cretans were of race akin
to the Iberians of Spain and western
Europe and the dark whites of Asia Minor
and north Africa, and their language is un-
known. This race lived not only in Crete,
but in Cyprus, Greece, Asia Minor Sicily
and south Italy. 1t was a civilized people
for long years before the fair Nordic Greeks
spread southwark through Macedonia.
At Cnossos, in Crete, there have been
found the most astonishin ruins and re-
mains, and Cnossos, therefore, is apt to
overshadow the rest of these settlements in
peoples imaginations, but it is we'll to bear
in mind that though Cnossos was no doubt
chief city of this Aegean civilization, these
| "Aegeans" had in the fullness of their time
many cities and wide range.
Possibly, all that we know of them now
are but the vestiges of the far more extern
| sive heliolithic Neolithic civilization which
is now submerged under the waters of the
Mediterranean.
Ruins Older Than Egypt
At Cnossos there are Neolithic remains
as old or older than any of the pre-dynastic
| remains of Egypt The Bronze Age began
! there have been vases found by Flinders
Petrie in Egypt and referred by him to
the Ist Dynasty, which he declared to be
importations from Crete.
Stone vessels have been found in Crete
of forms characteristic of the WITH (pyra-
J
no doubt that there was a vigorous trade
between Crete and Egypt in the time of
| the XIIth Dynasty. This continued until
about 1000 B. c. It is clear that this
island civilization arising upon the soil of
Crete is at least as old as the Egyptian,
and that it was already launched upon the
sea as early as 1000 B. G.
The great days OF Crete were not so
early as this. 1t was only about $500
B. c. that the island appears to have been
unified under one ruler. Then began an
age of peace and prosperity unexampled in
the history of the ancient world
Secure from invasion, living in a delight
ful climate, trading with every civilized
community in the world, the Cretans were
free to develop all the arts and amenities of
life. This Cnossos was not so much of A
town as the vast palace of the king and
MS people. 1t was not even fortified
The kings, it would seem. were called
Mlnos always, as the kings of Egypt were
all called Pharaoh; the king of Cnossos
figures in the early legends of the Greeks
as King Minos, who lived in the Labyrinth
and kept there a horrible monster, half
man. half bull, the Minotaur, to feed which
he levied tribute of youths and maidens
from the Athenians. Those stories are a
part of Greek literature, and have ALWAYS
been known, but it is only in the last few
decades that the excavations at Cnossos
have revealed how close these legends were
to the reality.
All Modern COnveniences
The Cretan labyrinth was a building as
stately, complex and luxurious as any in
the ancient world Among other details we
find water-pipes bathrooms, and the like
conveniences, such as have hitherto been
regarded the latest refinements of mod
ern life. The pottery, the textile manufac-
turers, the sculpture and painting of these
people, their gem and ivory work, their
metal and inside work, is as admirable as
any that mankind has produced. They
were much given to festivals and shows,
and, in particular, they addicted to
bullfights and gymnastic entertainments.
Their female costume became astonish-
ingly modern" in style; their women wore
corsets and flounced dresses. They had
system of writing which has not yet been.
deciphered.