of the great cities of the world, and Crete the most powerful island, enjoying a pre-eminent central position in the Aegean with links to the north and to the south.
Yet history cannot be side-stepped – what goes up must come down. Gradually the thalassocratia of Minos degenerated, lost its absolute sway, and finally surrendered its supremacy to the more powerful mainland states. About 1400 BC , the centre of political power shifted to Mycenae. Evans dates it from the destruction of what he has called ‘The Last Palace’; subsequent palaces were never to equal this one in size and splendour, and after it was destroyed all new buildings were small and meaner. This is partly because Knossos had also been the administrative centre of a highly complex and developed system of military government on the Spartan pattern. The great inscription found at Gortyna makes no bones about the slave culture it defines and delimits; citizens are divided into full citizens, serfs, and slaves. In 1400 BC all the palaces in Crete were destroyed simultaneously which makes it reasonable to surmise that enemy action rather than an earthquake was the cause. This is not Evans’s view, however; we will discuss that later. Whatever the cause, the land was over-run, and Mycenae took over the political and commercial contacts with Egypt and the Middle East that had once been the prerogative of the Cretans.
Of course, it is not possible to simplify, since so many unknown factors pop up at every turn of the road. It is perhaps wiser simply to tread the quiet precincts of Knossos and catch a glimpse of Mount Juktas centred between the so-called ‘Horns of Consecration’. The question of Evans’s restoration will inevitably arise; I personally find it insipid and in poor taste. But then Evans was trying to illustrate the relative position of things, and this purpose is fulfilled. The treasures in the littlemuseum, however, are a better guide to the spiritual temper of these faraway Minoan people, who sometimes make one think of China and sometimes of Polynesia. Bright, fresh and pristine are the little faces from the frescoes or from vase decorations . Candour and a smiling self-possession seem to be the characteristics of these people, but of course they guard their secrets very well. The snake goddess with her snake cult is an example; was it a cult? Snakes that are not venomous (which is true of those on Crete) are easy to play with. The Provençal couleuvres – grass-snakes sometimes two metres long – provide the same sort of fun without developing into a cult. At every harvest time the newspaper has pictures of people snake-teasing ; but they let them go without harming them. And the snakes in the garrigues of the Midi are positively cheeky. The situation may well have been similar in ancient Crete, with no question of snake-playing being a religious rite.
If the Minotaur, the labyrinth, and the double axe are symbols , they are harder to interpret. Is it fair to suppose that the Minotaur symbolizes some great event – perhaps the arrival of men from far away – who brought with them a terrifying and puissant animal which had never been seen before: a bull? (Imagine the terror of seeing one’s first bull!) And then a bull-culture , bull-obsession displaced whatever had been the native pastoral cults? It is not too far-fetched if one remembers the superstitious horror combined with delight that our grandfathers felt on sight of the first devil-car, and recognizes to what a degree the invention of the petrol-engine has changed and is gradually strangling our whole culture. This is an obsession if ever there was one; and soon the tourist organizations of all Mediterranean countries will be forced to print and issue a map of all the marvellous beaches ruined by oil slicks.
To return to the labyrinth; is it relevant that the famous double axe was called labrys , and that the name of the labyrinthwas derived from it? Earlier folklorists, such
Yet history cannot be side-stepped – what goes up must come down. Gradually the thalassocratia of Minos degenerated, lost its absolute sway, and finally surrendered its supremacy to the more powerful mainland states. About 1400 BC , the centre of political power shifted to Mycenae. Evans dates it from the destruction of what he has called ‘The Last Palace’; subsequent palaces were never to equal this one in size and splendour, and after it was destroyed all new buildings were small and meaner. This is partly because Knossos had also been the administrative centre of a highly complex and developed system of military government on the Spartan pattern. The great inscription found at Gortyna makes no bones about the slave culture it defines and delimits; citizens are divided into full citizens, serfs, and slaves. In 1400 BC all the palaces in Crete were destroyed simultaneously which makes it reasonable to surmise that enemy action rather than an earthquake was the cause. This is not Evans’s view, however; we will discuss that later. Whatever the cause, the land was over-run, and Mycenae took over the political and commercial contacts with Egypt and the Middle East that had once been the prerogative of the Cretans.
Of course, it is not possible to simplify, since so many unknown factors pop up at every turn of the road. It is perhaps wiser simply to tread the quiet precincts of Knossos and catch a glimpse of Mount Juktas centred between the so-called ‘Horns of Consecration’. The question of Evans’s restoration will inevitably arise; I personally find it insipid and in poor taste. But then Evans was trying to illustrate the relative position of things, and this purpose is fulfilled. The treasures in the littlemuseum, however, are a better guide to the spiritual temper of these faraway Minoan people, who sometimes make one think of China and sometimes of Polynesia. Bright, fresh and pristine are the little faces from the frescoes or from vase decorations . Candour and a smiling self-possession seem to be the characteristics of these people, but of course they guard their secrets very well. The snake goddess with her snake cult is an example; was it a cult? Snakes that are not venomous (which is true of those on Crete) are easy to play with. The Provençal couleuvres – grass-snakes sometimes two metres long – provide the same sort of fun without developing into a cult. At every harvest time the newspaper has pictures of people snake-teasing ; but they let them go without harming them. And the snakes in the garrigues of the Midi are positively cheeky. The situation may well have been similar in ancient Crete, with no question of snake-playing being a religious rite.
If the Minotaur, the labyrinth, and the double axe are symbols , they are harder to interpret. Is it fair to suppose that the Minotaur symbolizes some great event – perhaps the arrival of men from far away – who brought with them a terrifying and puissant animal which had never been seen before: a bull? (Imagine the terror of seeing one’s first bull!) And then a bull-culture , bull-obsession displaced whatever had been the native pastoral cults? It is not too far-fetched if one remembers the superstitious horror combined with delight that our grandfathers felt on sight of the first devil-car, and recognizes to what a degree the invention of the petrol-engine has changed and is gradually strangling our whole culture. This is an obsession if ever there was one; and soon the tourist organizations of all Mediterranean countries will be forced to print and issue a map of all the marvellous beaches ruined by oil slicks.
To return to the labyrinth; is it relevant that the famous double axe was called labrys , and that the name of the labyrinthwas derived from it? Earlier folklorists, such
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