CHAPTER XII

THE ZENITH OF MINOAN CIVILIZATION

I. T H E CHRONOLOGY OF T H E LATE PALACE PERIOD (<:. 1700-1380 B.C.) T H E palaces at Cnossus and at Phaestus were destroyed time and time again, but on each occasion they rose more splendid than before, bearing witness to the resilience and optimism of the inhabitants. Any traces of defensive building disappeared at an early date, which shows that the catastrophes were due not to enemy attacks but to natural causes. After an earthquake about 1700 B.C. the palaces were rebuilt, but this in itself is not an indication of the end of a period. Indeed a similar catastrophe occurred about 1575 B.C. at Cnossus, and it was at this point that Evans placed the division between Middle Minoan and Late Minoan, thereby coinciding with a general historical break which occurred with the expulsion of the Hyksos from Egypt, the beginning of the Eighteenth Dynasty and the New Kingdom in Egypt. It is tempting to assign the seventeenth century in Crete to the preceding phase, but this gives a distorted picture. It is vital to understanding of the Early Palace Period to realize that during it the Minoans made their own decisive entry into the circle of the civilized world. Their rise had been based on their isolation and their ships, and they had become a seapower by contemporary standards. The eastern states had then no interest in disputing the position of Crete, and the Aegean world from which she had emerged was as yet no match for her. Danger could threaten her now only from the sea. Crete therefore had no reason to be afraid of Egypt, especially when there were Asiatic overlords in Egypt, but she was forced to turn her attention to her Aegean neighbours. In reality once Minoan civilization had become consolidated, its history depended less on relations with Egypt and the Near East than on those with the Aegean, and its situation became more complicated. For the rise of Crete brought about the first contacts between the highly developed civilizations of the East and the peoples of the Greek mainland, which in their turn led to one of the most
[$57]

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558 THE Z E N I T H OF MINOAN C I V I L I Z A T I O N important developments in the history of the ancient world. The beginning of the new era is therefore marked by a change in Crete and in her external relations. This came about not between M.M. Ill and L.M. I as Evans suggested but between M.M. II and M.M. Ill, when the zenith of Minoan civilization began about 1700 B.C. and lasted throughout the Late Palace Period. The sub-divisions of the Late Palace Period are based on the considerations of the stratigraphy and the typology, especially of pottery, at Cnossus. The end of the M.M. Ill group is marked by a layer of destruction. Characteristic closed deposits which lay below it are the 'Temple Repositories' and the 'Magazine of Lily Vases'. As finds from the tomb of the Queen Mother Ahhotpe (15601550 B.C.) at Thebes in Upper Egypt show connexions with early L.M.I, the destruction layer is to be dated about 1570 B.C. A similar layer occurs in the later course of L.M. I, and it can be assigned to the years about 1500 B.C. mainly through affinities with representations of the Keftiu on the walls of Egyptian private tombs. The layer seems to be linked with an eruption of the volcano of Thera (Santorin).1 The so-called Palace style of pottery was developed as a new form from L.M. I b pottery at Cnossus, and vases of this style were found in a tomb near the seaport of Cnossus (today Katsaba) in association with an Egyptian alabaster vessel which bore the name of Tuthmosis III (15041450 B.C.).2 The Palace style which lasted until the final destruction of Cnossus probably began therefore about the middle of the century. The mainland pottery (L.H. IIIa2), which was found at El-Amarna and is to be dated about 1370 B.C., was already different from the mainland styles which had been associated with the Palace style of Cnossus and with contemporary parallels in Minoan pottery. Thus the catastrophe which befell the Minoan palaces is dated some time after 1400 B.C. The designation L.M. II can, strictly speaking, be valid only for one kind of pottery at Cnossus. As the change in ceramic style there is accompanied by other radical changes, it is still useful to consider the period between say 1475 B.C. and 1380 B.C. as the last phase in the history of the Palace period (see pp. 579 f.).
1

*i. 2.

1,1.

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Jtcfipect Tteotrvt
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Metres F i g . 7 . P l a n o f the P a l a c e a t C n o s s u s . ( F r o m J . D . S . P e n d l e b u r y , Handbook to the Palace of Minos, plan 9.)

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THE Z E N I T H OF MINOAN C I V I L I Z A T I O N

559

II. THE EVIDENCE OF THE MONUMENTS Our knowledge of the period is based almost entirely upon evidence provided by the monuments, and among them the palaces give the most obvious indication of changes in the development of Crete and in her external relations. See Map 1 on p. 142 above. At Cnossus the state rooms and the living rooms received their final form about 1700 B.C.1 Only the general features of the state rooms are known, because being situated above the basement they were destroyed and left only a few remains. The royal apartments lay on the east side of the central court (Domestic Quarter). Here rubble from neolithic dwellings which had formed a slope was removed so that two storeys with the same ground plan could be constructed on the edge of the court but at a lower level. At least two more storeys were built on top of them, and a stairwell opened onto a pillared court with several storeys above ground level.2 The main room below was a pillared hall, three of its walls opening through a row of pillars onto vestibules with colonnades, in front of which there are light-wells. A short, twisting corridor led into a similarly arranged, smaller and more intimate suite of rooms, grouped round a bedroom. It contained a latrine with a water flushing system, and it was linked with the upper storeys by two flights of backstairs.3 Characteristic of the high technical level of the whole building is an ingenious drainage system, which is a further development of what had originated in the Early Palace Period. The rain water was brought down from the roof through clay pipes, and pipes and channels laid under the floor took care of its discharge. What is striking is not only the domestic luxury, with which the palaces of Egypt and the Near East have nothing comparable, but also the feeling for a generous and adventurous use of space, the charms of which are enhanced by a carefully planned alternation of light and shade. There are similar groups of rooms at Phaestus, Mallia and Hagia Triada, where a dominant feature is the use of colonnades in the courts and the halls of entry.4 At the small palace of Hagia Triada there are towering hills on the south and east and a magnificent panorama over land and sea on the north and west. Consequently the buildings were not arranged round a central court, but two wings, at right angles to one another, enclosed a court which lay behind them and faced the hillside. The architects of the period endeavoured to relate the outside to the inside of the palace in such a way that space was used effectively
1

See Fig. 7.

See Plate 111 (&).

See Fig. 8.

* See Figs. 9 - 1 1 .

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560 THE ZENITH OF MINOAN CIVILIZATION

Metres Fig. 8. Plan of the domestic quarter and adjoining halls at Cnossus. (From Annual of the British School at Athens vm (1901/2), 56,fig.29.)

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THE EVIDENCE OF THE MONUMENTS

561

--.-.

...T

Fig. 9. Plan of the Palace at Phaestus. (From J. W. Graham, Palaces of Crete,fig.4.)

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562 THE ZENITH OF MINOAN CIVILIZATION

10

South Entry

Fig. 10. Plan of the Palace at Mallia. (From S. Marinatos and M. Hirmer,
Kreta und das Mykenische Hellas, p. 88,fig.14.)

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THE EVIDENCE OF THE MONUMENTS

563

0 5 10

20

30

40 50

Reception Rooms

Fig. 11. Plan of the Palace at Hagia Triada. (L. Pernier, Festos, 1, ij,fig.8.)

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564 THE Z E N I T H OF MINOAN C I V I L I Z A T I O N

10 5 0

10 20 30

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Fig. 12. Plan of the town of Gournia. (Harriet A. Boyd, Gournia, plan.)

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T H E EVIDENCE OF T H E MONUMENTS 565 and artistically.1 Direct entrances to the court became rare. In the elevation the twisting flights of stairs corresponded with the twisting corridors which led within from outside. So visitors to the palace were led by a circuitous route to the reception room of the prince or to his living room, and they were conducted out again by a route of the same kind. As a group of rooms was held together by the pillared hall, so the whole palace was held together by the court.2 In consequence the architects had an interest in the opening towards the outer world, and in this respect they differed from the contemporary architects of Egypt and the East. At Cnossus the main entrance from the south, which was used by visitors from the Messara or Egypt, lay at the southwest corner of the palace, whence a corridor ran east and then bent north, to lead into the central court. On the outside of the entrance there was the 'stepped portico' which extended down to the point where it met the road from the south.3 The portico descended with two bends to a ravine over which it was carried on a massive viaduct, the arches being built on the system known as the 'false vault'.4 On the other side of the ravine, opposite the centre of the south front of the palace, there stood a small building which the excavators called the caravanserai. It was arranged in such a way that it gave a vivid impression of the size and splendour of the palace before the visitor entered it. In the same way the architects were concerned with the view outwards, and they used the arrangement of colonnades and porticos for this purpose so that the eye could range over the landscape. There are examples at Phaestus and Hagia Triada (Figs. 9 and 11), but not at Cnossus and Mallia, where too little survives of the upper storeys. The downward-tapering columns of Minoan art are a very important feature of such openings in the walls of the palace. Sometimes architectural features were employed in the facade which were unrelated to what lay behind; for example the small tripartite shrine on the west side of the central court at Cnossus5 and the so-called propylon in the west facade at Phaestus. The name propylon is misleading because there is nothing inside corresponding with the flight of steps and the wide opening with its mighty central column. Instead, narrow doors lead into rooms of humble character and to backstairs. Even the light shaft has no genuine function; for it served only to provide a light background to the porch and to people stepping forth from it. Religious
1 3 6

See Figs. 7 - 1 1 . See Plate 113. See Plate n\{a).

See Figs. 7, 9, 10. * See Plate 112 (J>).

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566 T H E Z E N I T H OF MINOAN C I V I L I Z A T I O N ceremonies were therefore enacted on the landing above the flight of steps, and the spectators presumably stood in the west court. There has been a deeply rooted belief that there was no real organization of space in Minoan architecture, but this does not do justice to the combination of refined and primitive features in the palaces. Above all it does not take into consideration the skilful composition and co-ordination, in which the outlying parts depend on the centre. This is a salient quality of other departments of Minoan art too. Therefore an understanding of Minoan architecture in this regard affects not only the history of art but also the historical picture. In this period the arrangement and connexion of the peripheral parts with the central court underwent a richer development, and achieved a more individual character than in the Early Palace Period. Thus finally Minoan art gained its full stature. There can be no doubt that it reflects a corresponding development in state and society. The palaces were surrounded by aristocratic private houses. They are best known from excavations at Cnossus and Mallia. Most magnificent of all is the 'Little Palace', about 200 m. west of the great palace of Cnossus, which is supposed to have been the palace of the Crown Prince or something similar. The architectural features of the palaces are repeated in more modest proportionspillared halls, porticos, peristyles, light shafts, pillared crypts, bathrooms, stairwells, etc. We know also a number of country mansions of the same type. At Tylissus there is a small group; others have been discovered at Achladia, Amnisus, Apodulu, Arkhanes, Korakies, Niru Khani, Sklavokampos, Vathypetros and Kato Zakro. The catastrophe in L.M. Ilia put an end to them all. Small towns of this period have been excavated at Gournia1 and Palaikastro and on the little island of Pseira in the Gulf of Mirabello. At Gournia small houses, sharing outer walls, were crowded together along narrow paved streets or stepped lanes.2 The houses had a rather high foundation of undressed stone cemented with earth, and the upper parts of the walls were usually of sun-dried brick with a timber framework. The rooms were grouped in several storeys round a tiny inner court resembling a light-shaft. We can picture the outside appearance of the houses with the help of the little faience plaques from Cnossus, which are known as the 'Town Mosaic' and belong probably to the earlier period. We can see the lavish and decorative use of beams, the projections, the shapes of windows and doors and
1

See Fig. 12.

See Plate

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T H E EVIDENCE OF T H E MONUMENTS 567 a lantern-like superstructure above the light shaft. These little towns were peopled by agricultural workers, artisans, fishermen and sailors, and there is no reason to assume any considerable social differences among them. In Gournia there is an assembly place and on one side of it a small palace for the governor. Only one royal grave has been discovered, the 'Temple Tomb' south of Cnossus, built in the sixteenth century B.C.1 Its burial room is constructed with an antechamber in the slope of a hill. A paved forecourt with a small hall opposite the entrance and an upper storey with a terrace over the antechamber and the dromos were evidently used for the cult of the dead. The rock chambers of Mavro Spilio, which face the palace of Cnossus from the eastern slope of the Kairatos ravine, probably contained the burials of the aristocratic families who lived in the private houses. The chamber tomb at Isopata between Cnossus and the sea, where the keel vault was formed by projecting layers of stone, was built at the earliest about 1500 B.C. for a prince or a high official. The existence of an intermediate link between the beehive-shaped tholoi of the Messara and the later domed tombs of the mainland has been found at Cnossus (Kephala Hill). It is probably to be dated to the sixteenth century B.C.2 Cnossus is rich in frescoes. At Hagia Triada there is a small room painted in a masterly way, and frescoes have also been found at Amnisus and at Tylissus. There are practically none at Phaestus and Mallia. Contemporary Egyptian examples are not known, and the frescoes at Acana derive from Cretan models of the seventeenth century B.C. In general, however, Egypt and the Orient supplied the models for the art of painted frescoes. Even the earliest Minoan examples are not inferior in technique and form to the later ones. It is possible, however, to trace a stylistic development3 from the stage of the Amnisus frescoes or of the Cnossian 'Saffron Gatherer' through the examples from the socalled fresco house at Cnossus and from Hagia Triada to the Cnossian 'Campstool Fresco'4 and 'Toreador Fresco' which already form a transition to the stage of L.M. II. 5 The cult performances and the court ceremonial which were carried out in the palaces are illustrated on the walls. Thus the processions of lifesized bearers of gifts in the corridors are a Minoan version of an Egyptian theme.6 The painted stucco relief of the 'Prince with the Feather Crown', the fragments of the 'Ladies in Blue', who are probably spectators at a public function, the 'Jewel Fresco', the
1 4

See Plate 115 (a). 11, 5.

2 s

11, 3. See Plate 115(3).

3 6

11, 6. See Plates 112(0) and n6(<z).

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568 T H E Z E N I T H OF MINOAN C I V I L I Z A T I O N 'Campstool Fresco' and those with a Cretan officer leading a troop of black soldiers may be mentioned here. There are bullgames on a large scale and on a small scale. The miniature frescoes too show cult practices.1 A keen effort is made to reproduce crowds of people, a subject which art does not attempt again until the Roman imperial period. The decorative rows of plants and flowers on the walls develop into prospects giving the illusion of a view over the park scenery which lies beyond the walls of the room. Birds, cats, apes and deer animate the scene. Human figures are rare. The painted alcove at Hagia Triada is of this kind.2 Sea-scapes with dolphins, flying-fish and octopuses are similar in outlook. The most beautiful one, from the hand of a Cretan master, has been found at Phylakopi in Melos. It is hardly a matter of chance that, except for one doubtful case, there are no remains of life-sized statues. The monumental character of the architecture too is restricted not so much by a preference for small rooms as by a desire for open spaces and freedom of movement in the whole. Modelled figures of men and animals are small, and Minoan cult still knows nothing of image worship. In this period too we mostly find votive offerings or utensils and their parts. Skill in portraying natural form and movement in this medium does not lag behind that shown in the frescoes. The faience figures from the Temple Repositories which are usually described as goddesses represent priestesses.3 The Cretan prayer gesture with the right hand raised to the brow is often seen in bronze statuettes of men and women. Vaulting over the back of a charging bull is represented by groups of ivory and bronze figurines, in which the boldness of the modelling corresponds with that of the actual movement. Libation vessels of stone and terracotta appear in the form of bulls or heads of cattle and lions. The figured relief which is used on a large scale in painted stucco for wall decoration is employed also for the embellishment of vessels of gold, silver, serpentine, steatite, ivory and faience. These supply us with innumerable pieces of information about the life of the Minoans. For instance, funnel-shaped libation vessels show us a procession of agricultural workers, bull-games, boxing matches and peak sanctuaries. A beaker found at Hagia Triada portrays foreigners, perhaps ambassadors, standing before a high-ranking Minoan.4 Fragments from Cnossus represent a youth picking flowers in a shrine. The capture of wild bulls and the peaceful existence of a herd of cattle which are portrayed on two golden
1 3

See Plate 117(4). See Plate 117 (a).

See Plate n6(i). * See Plate 118 {a).

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T H E EVIDENCE OF T H E MONUMENTS 569 cups from the domed tomb at Vaphio on the Greek mainland, are the work of a Cretan master, and they rank among the most significant achievements in the whole of Minoan art. All these vessels originated in the late sixteenth and early fifteenth century B.C. (L.M. I). The painted vases of the first period of the later palaces are linked stylistically with the fresco-painting and with the gemcutting of the period M.M. Ill b. The naturalistic achievement of the lilies and the crocuses on the finest examples reaches the same level. The use of white paint on a dark ground which was taken over from the preceding phase, and the subsequent addition of yellow or red paint ceased about the middle of the sixteenth century B.C. Late Minoan pottery was marked by the application of dark paint to a light ground, and it continued to use the glaze paint of the preceding epochs and supplementary white paint for details, a technique which lasted longer in East Crete than elsewhere. In the earlier stage which extended up to the destruction of the palaces about 1500 B.C, that is in L.M. la, floral patterns were most in use and the wavy tendril occurred for the first time a decorative motif which came later to Greece probably through the exchange of tapestries and assumed an extraordinary importance in western art. The Doric capital too is due to Minoan art. We know for certain that it was modelled by Greek architects of the seventh century B.C. upon examples which survived from the Bronze Age. In the later stage of L.M. I the floral motifs were joined by motifs from the fauna and flora of the sea: octopus, nautilus, triton shell, star-fish, fish, seaweed, coral.1 The shapes of the vessels are as expressive as the painting, and they help us to classify the plain utility ware. Slender forms were preferred with elegant rising curves and wide-spreading at the top. The first stirrup-jars were evolved at this time. They were more slender in their proportions and less standardized than they became later. Towards the end of L.M. Ib the representations became conventional and less vigorous, especially in painting. The latest wares of L.M. Ib were produced until the destruction of the palaces and perhaps even for some time afterwards. In Cnossus from about 1475 B.C. they are contemporary with the 'Palace Style', which is marked by a new hardening of the natural forms and a more positive emphasis upon the decorative aspect. The pottery of the Palace Style is directly derived from the class of L.M. Ib pottery which drew its decorative motifs from the sea.2 But in it a more monumental effect was achieved,
1

See Plate 118 {/>).

See Plates 118 (<r), 119 {a) and (t>).

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570 THE Z E N I T H OF MINOAN C I V I L I Z A T I O N for instance in the large three-handled amphorae, and there was a remarkable agreement with the contemporary products of the mainland which adhered to the Minoan traditions (L.H. II). The art of gem-cutting reached its classical phase in L.M. I. The gem-cutters of the Ancient East and of later Greek art fell far short of the Minoan artist in his combination of technical mastery, wealth of imagination, inventive genius, skill in composition and feeling for miniature. The invention of the picture in the sense of an artistic unit, which had been the great and truly European achievement of the Early Palace Period, now found its full development in an unequalled wealth and skill of representation. Gem-cutting is the most characteristic form of Minoan art, as sculpture is of Greek art.1 Three large finds of sealings enable us to classify the seals of this period. The 150 or so impressions from the Temple Repositories at Cnossus were deposited as early as about 1570 B.C.2 The finds from Hagia Triada (about 290 impressions) and from Zakro (about 230)3 belong to the following period (L.M. I) but include impressions closely connected with the preceding period.4 We depend upon thesefindsfor the dating of the original stones and for the relationship between Minoan products and mainland imitations and the independent products of the mainland which were now emerging.5 The Shaft Graves of the citadel at Mycenae contained not only Minoan pieces but also pieces that were definitely mainland in origin and others that occupied a middle position and had probably been made by Cretan lapidaries on the mainland. The relationship was the same almost 100 years later in the seals from the domed tomb at Vaphio, where the buried prince wore a bracelet consisting of twenty-eight seal-stones strung together and twelve others were found. Clay impressions which are connected with finds of tablets of Linear Script B and which may themselves have characters of this script scratched on them were found at Cnossus and belonged to the last decades of the Palace's history. Stylistically they are of the same type as the original seals, and it is worth noting that this group of seals has the same hardening of style and monumental character as the Palace Style vases.6 Features which are common to seals from the warrior graves at Cnossus and to those from Vaphio help us to establish a chronological basis; for the warrior graves belong to the L.M. II level.7 The evolution of the amulet as a special glyptic type has now been completed; for there is a class of stones which can be under1 4

See Plates I2o(rf) and (&). 11, 4, 50.

2 5

11, 4, 41. 3 See Plate I2o(c). 11, 1. 11, 4, 56.

m, 9.

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T H E EVIDENCE OF THE MONUMENTS 571 stood only as amulets, and impressions from them no longer occur. Among the forms of seal the signet disappears, and the lentoid is by far the most frequent. There are also masterpieces in the form of flat cylinders and amygdaloids. Steatite is only used for modest pieces. Agate, amethyst, chalcedony, cornelian, jasper, rock-crystal and similar stones are used. Their precious nature heightens the charm of the pictures. The highest level of achievement is marked by a group of golden rings, worn as pendants, each with a convex oval surface, and this group is often used with good reason to illustrate the best of Minoan production. Research has been concerned above all with the subject matter of the picture which represents cults, games and fighting, but many which portray demonic beings, animals or plants are in no way inferior to them. Study of the seals tends to raise questions which concern the history of art and religion. But it can also provide important information on the social and economic life of the times. We are, however, still handicapped by the large number of them and by their scattered publication. III. THE HISTORICAL CONCLUSIONS Our ideas about the Minoan state and especially the Minoan monarchy of this epoch are at the best vague. The only certain fact is that the development of a centralized system with a prince at its head continues. One may conjecture that the prince was also a priest, but the conjecture cannot be substantiated. This may seem surprising in view of the abundance of Minoan pictures, but the character of Minoan religion is such that portraits of the kings were not necessary, whereas they were in Egypt and the Near East. The ecstatic religion of the Minoans was not concerned to confer immortality on the king himself by means of his portrait, as was done in Egypt, nor to magnify his connexions with the gods, as was done in the Near East. The peculiarity of Minoan pictures lies in the ability to conjure up an appearance of life, a vision, and not in an attempt to recreate existence.1 This quality marks a fundamental difference between the character of the Minoans and that of the Orient, so that it is possible to understand the absence or at least the unobtrusiveness of the king in monuments of art. It has already been inferred from the sources of the Early Palace Period that the king exercised his government with the support of a nobility (p. 161). It is hardly fortuitous that clear
1

111, 17, 423 ff.

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572 T H E Z E N I T H OF MINOAN C I V I L I Z A T I O N traces of this class have been found outside the palaces as well as within them during the Early Palace Period; for in the round tombs of the Messara we see the resting-place of the aristocratic landowning families. In the Late Palace Period they have largely changed into a court nobility. Their luxurious dwellings are grouped round the palace both at Cnossus and at Mallia. To them too belong the chamber tombs of Mavro Spilio and Hagios Elias on the east slope of the Kairatos ravine which faces the palace of Cnossus, and of Hagios Ioannes and Gipsades to the north and the south of it. We must imagine that the noble lords also resided in the villas scattered up and down the country, for example at Tylissus and Vathypetros (p. 566). We have, however, no means of judging whether they exercised their power in the name of the king or as free lords possessing free estates and owing only certain services to the court. The relationship between city and palace at Gournia may be taken as typical. In fact the lords of these small palaces can have discharged their duties only in the name of the king. A great deal about the forms in which they did so will probably be discovered if Linear Script A is deciphered. The highly developed system of seals indicated, as we have seen, the existence of a noble class in the Early Palace Period. Its magnificence and the variety of shapes and motifs in the Late Palace Period not only bear witness generally to the creative spirit, imagination and enthusiastic nature of the Minoans, but they also convey an impression of the self-consciousness, the enjoyment of life and the passionate nature of the ruling class. Representatives of this nobility, within which there were no doubt wide differences, are to be seen in many pictures, for example in the 'Prince with the Feather Crown', the 'Cup-bearer', the figures of the Procession Fresco, the Keftiu of the Egyptian tomb paintings1 and the long-haired youth with a staff on the serpentine beaker from Hagia Triada.2 The 'Ladies in Blue', the ladies of the 'Campstool Fresco' with the famous 'Petite Parisienne', those on the miniature frescoes and the figures on a stucco relief from Pseira may be mentioned as representing their feminine counterparts. The fact that the ladies play an important role in the pictures is characteristic of Minoan life in general. In accordance with the pre-eminent position of the mother-goddess they appear in cult scenes, and we learn from the miniature frescoes that, when they were spectators at public functions, they were separate from the men and occupied privileged positions. The acrobatic feats which are performed by women as well as by men in the bull-games are
1

See Plate 116 (*).

See Plate 118 (a).

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THE H I S T O R I C A L CONCLUSIONS 573 most remarkable. It has even been suggested that Minoan society as a whole had a matriarchal basis, but there is no clear proof that this was so. The small towns also yield some evidence for the existence of a middle class whose economic standards were modest. We cannot say how far members of this class participated in agriculture and seafaring, but they certainly carried on handicrafts, especially those of an artistic kind. The small clay tablets of a later period on the mainland indicate a wide variety of handicrafts, and this variety may have been taken over from Minoan Crete. Members of the middle classes may also figure in the crowds of spectators on the miniature frescoes. The procession on a steatite rhyton from Hagia Triada probably gives us an insight into the life of the serfs. They are going to the olive harvest. Agriculture and building in particular suggest that plentiful supplies of slave labour were available. This outline of state and society has so far been based on the monuments. The documents in Linear Script B, which can be read since the decipherment by Michael Ventris in 1953, begin only in the course of the fifteenth century, and they show that the Greeks of the mainland had taken over the control of Cnossus, the only place in the island where the tablets have been found; for the tablets are in their language, an early form of Greek. The similarity of these tablets to the small mainland tablets which are dated to the late thirteenth century has given rise to doubts whether the excavators made a correct record of their stratigraphy,1 and it has even been conjectured that the tablets originate from the period after the destruction of the palaces, that is from the so-called reoccupation phase. This conjecture and the far-reaching historical conclusions to be drawn from it have not stood up to further archaeological investigation. The connexions with the seal impressions which have been mentioned (p. 570) and the clarification of the stratigraphical findings make it certain that most of the small tablets belong to the destruction level. The fact that there are also some later ones, especially from the Little Palace, which are to be dated to L.M. Ilia, is important enough but does not fundamentally alter either the archaeological or the historical picture.2 The information provided by these
$111, 2. On the other hand 111, 21. in, 11. L. R. Palmer, Mycenaeans and Minoans (London, 1961), a book which is intended for a wide circle of readers, has summarized his archaeological grounds for the late date to which he attributes the Linear B tablets. See now in, 20 where he puts forward his reasons again and J. Boardman maintains the contrary view.
2 1

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574 T H E Z E N I T H OF MINOAN C I V I L I Z A T I O N L.M. II and L.M. Ilia documents for the form of government and social relations cannot be projected backwards without some reservations, because they come after a clear historical break. The same is true of what they have to say about religious cult. But the highly developed forms of administration and economy were of course taken over substantially by the new lords. In this connexion the small clay tablets can supply welcome information as a supplement to the monuments. A system of archives and government offices, which was necessary for any thorough organization of administration, had already been developed together with Linear Script A in the old palaces. This system was extended in the later palaces and remains of archives have been preserved in the finds of seal impressions from Hagia Triada and Zakro. The written documents themselves have perished, because they consisted of perishable material, papyrus or palm leaves.1 Traces of the lacing have been preserved on the clay of the sealings. Inscriptions on some terracotta vases show that ink too was used for writing. The small clay tablets that have been preserved served administrative and economic ends only. Those with Linear Script A come from various sites. Those with Linear Script B are much more numerous, although they are found only at Cnossus. The excavators were able to see that the tablets had once been collected together and stored in chests or baskets. The records, and the tablets on which they were inscribed, were probably destroyed at intervals, when the matters with which they were concerned had been settled, and we may therefore say that the tablets which have been found refer fairly precisely to the time when the palaces were destroyed. There are, for example, records of deliveries going into the palace and of goods redirected to an outside destination. It is essentially a primitive economy arranged to suit trade by barter. No standard of value such as money was used. Accounts were kept too for the domains of the palace, for their administrators and for the obligations of the latter. The herdssheep, goats, cattle, pigswere checked by people who are mentioned individually. At the same time the prescribed deliveries to the court and the losses discovered during the checking were also listed. One separate group was made up of entries concerning receipts of grain, oil or spices and their issue. Slave workers, men or women, the latter sometimes with children, are mentioned. There were also lists of vessels and textiles. Reasons why the contents of the 1 " is-

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T H E HISTORICAL CONCLUSIONS 575 armouries played an important partswords, lances, bows, arrows, cuirasses, chariots and chariot parts being listedare to be found in the situation of the fifteenth century to which the documents belong (p. 580). Among the workshops which functioned inside the palaces the excavations have revealed potteries and the workshops of lapidaries as well as weaving-rooms. There will have been many more besides. If we add to this what is known about Minoan foreign trade during the period (p. 577), then we can see how far the palaces, apart from their function as seats of government and administration and apart from their religious significance, were important as economic centres. Not only was the storing of agricultural and industrial products organized in them but also their commercial exploitation to a large extent.1 The importance attached to commerce may indicate a fundamental difference of the Minoan palace in its organization from its Near Eastern and Egyptian counterparts. Even the size and the number of the storerooms in Crete are symptomatic, and so is the fact that they are grouped together in the basement. At Mari, Ugarit, Beycesultan and El-Amarna they are unobtrusive in comparison. A commercial purpose also was served by the highways with bridges and watch-houses which were constructed at the latest in the Late Palace Period. There is a remarkable lack of interest in pictures of battles and of warriors generally. Finds of weapons are rare in Cretan tombs before the L.M.II level, whereas they are common on the Mycenaean mainland. The introduction of the horse into the island in the middle part of the Late Palace Period (L.M. la), when it also appeared on the mainland, brought with it new methods of warfare and new arms. The small shield, curved at the top but otherwise rectangular, which still occurred on seals of the Temple Repositories, was replaced by the figure-of-eight tower shield, which was a Minoan invention; it presupposes that the warrior carrying it was brought to the battlefield by chariot. At the same time the boar's tusk helmet with cheek protector and plume came into use, and the sword blade was refined and lengthened to form a rapier. The finest pieces from the Shaft Graves of Mycenae are rightly considered to be Cretan products. Cuirasses, consisting of buff-coats overlaid with bronze plates, are known from ideograms on the small clay tablets. A nearly complete specimen was recently found during the excavation of a mainland tomb of L.H. Ilb/IIIa. All this formed a set of
1

m, 1.

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576 T H E Z E N I T H OF MINOAN C I V I L I Z A T I O N equipment for aristocratic warriors, as was later the case in the Iliad. Clearly in the course of the sixteenth century B.C. the feeling of absolute security in the island was shaken, and the nobility drew the logical conclusions. In the Late Palace Period Minoan religion, which originally had no cult images, underwent a change and became strongly influenced by the Oriental representations of gods.1 Even so there were still no cult images, and there were no idols until after the destruction of the palaces. The belief in a divine epiphany which was induced by ecstatic ritesdancing, sacrifice, prayer appeared in a richer form, as pictures on seals and frescoes bear witness. In this connexion the importance of the bull sacrifice is indicated by the double axe,2 the most frequent cult symbol in this world of monuments. The 'Horns of Consecration' too are probably to be connected with the sacrificial victim. The mother goddess was differently represented. She appeared naked or clothed, with lions, griffins, birds or snakes accompanying her, and she sometimes carried a large shield. A male partner joined her. The inspiration and the prototypes of this are found in Syria and Asia Minor. The scene of the epiphany was usually a sacred tree or a shrine-facade, such as has been identified in the course of excavations at Cnossus and Vathypetros. The epiphany of course sheds light in a concentrated form on the religious nature of the whole palace and emphasizes its sacred character. In addition we learn from the pictures that the priestess too could appear in the costume and role of the goddess and that processions took place in which the goddess or the god was carried in a litter. Great fans of peacock feathers were used on these occasions. The assumption that in these cases priestess and queen were identical can hardly be avoided. The question may then also be raised whether something similar does not obtain for the king. For the cult of the dead we possess invaluable evidence in the set of pictures on the painted limestone sarcophagus from Hagia Triada, which was made about the time of the final destruction of the palaces.3 If it is studied in conjunction with the other monuments of the cult of the dead, it gives us reason to believe that the dead were thought to depart to a happy world, an Elysium,4 and that attempts were made to evoke them by means of cult practices and to secure their temporary reappearance. All this was different from the religion of the Achaeans on the mainland which led on to Greek religion. Nevertheless if the deeper levels of Greek beliefs are examined, features can be found
1

m, 17.

111, 5.

S e e Plate 1 2 1 .

* 111, 14.

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T H E HISTORICAL CONCLUSIONS 577 which may be incomprehensible without this Minoan background. They are of an ancient Aegean and pre-Greek kind but already in the Late Palace Period they represent the result of a rich development. As we depend upon archaeological material for any view of foreign relations, we must look first for trading connexions. In the relationship with Egypt the change which took place during this period was made apparent. At first exchange between Crete and Egypt was at least as intensive as previously, as we see from the lid with the cartouche of the Hyksos king Khyan from about 1600 B.C, the objects found in the tomb of Queen Ahhotpe from the first half of the sixteenth century B.C, the large number of Egyptian motifs in Minoan art, especially in the fresco painting, and the representations of Keftiu which begin early in the fifteenth century B.C., as well as the Egyptian scarabs and alabaster vases of the fifteenth century B.C. found in Crete. It is therefore all the more surprising that only two L.M. I painted vases from Egypt are known (a jug in Marseilles, an alabastron from Sedment), whereas a long list could be compiled of L.H. I and II pottery from the mainland found in Egypt.1 Indeed L.M. II ware has not been found in Egypt at all. Thus in this area the mainland Achaeans outstripped the Minoans in the competitive struggle even before the destruction of the palaces. In Syria and Cyprus there are strikingly few Aegean imports during this period.2 A stirrup-jar at Minet el-Beidha and a stone lamp at Acana are isolated cases. There is, however, evidence of an intensive exchange in other areas. Reference has already been made (p. 575) to the introduction of the horse into Crete, to Minoan influence in the fresco painting of Acana and to Anatolian and Syrian influences on Minoan religion. One Syrian piece imported into Crete is a steatite sphinx, found at Hagia Triada.3 To this must be added the growth of so-called Mitannian art from the fifteenth century B.C. onwards, which was strongly influenced by Aegean forms.4 The L.M. II motifs which occur in it cannot have come by the roundabout route via the Mycenaean mainland, and direct relations may be assumed. It should also be remembered that the form of keel-vaulted tomb which is known from Ras Shamra exerted an influence on Crete in the fifteenth century B.C. (Isopata). It came, however, to the mainland too, as is shown by grave Rho in grave circle B at Mycenae.
1

111,

22.

2 3

Though the name 'Kuprios' is read on some Linear B tablets. 4 11, 2, 134 f. Nr. 300 (Hittite). 111, 16.

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578 THE Z E N I T H OF MINOAN C I V I L I Z A T I O N Connexions with the interior of Anatolia, where the Hittite empire arose at the end of the period, are hardly discernible. Some features of the Minoan cult may have come from here. The clay disk from Phaestus which was found with M.M. Ill b pottery and which is covered with an otherwise unknown hieroglyphic script probably had its origin in Asia Minor. The ships on it show that it came from a coastal region. In Crete from L.M. I onwards a relatively large number of copper ingots have been found in the form of plates with four concave sides.1 A hoard of eighteen has been discovered at Hagia Triada.2 The shape which is suitable for tying them together was no doubt determined by the needs of transport; it is not an imitation of an ox-hide as was at first thought. More than sixty such ingots are known from various sites. They mark the route taken in the Mediterranean area during the second half of the second millennium by the copper extracted in Cyprus. That Crete at least in the sixteenth century B.C. took part in this trade is a fact which emerges from the finds of ingots on the island and from their connexion with what the Minoans carry on the Egyptian pictures of Keftiu. As they differ in weight they cannot have served for payment. They represent only the form in which the unworked copper was transported. That western Mediterranean trade was dominated by the Mycenaean mainlanders at the end of the sixteenth century B.C. is demonstrated by the finds of L.H. I and II pottery in the Lipari Isles. Minoan imports went with them at first (in L.M. I) but they soon ceased.3 Vessels of liparite stone (p. 163) were made in the Late Palace Period as well, and they confirm the existence of these connexions. For bringing copper and tin into the Aegean area this route seems to have been of only secondary importance. What later antiquity had to say about the connexions of King Minos with Sicily may contain a kernel of historical fact.4 The tradition is, however, of a mythological character and has not yet been confirmed by archaeology. Aegean imports into Sicily are unknown before the fourteenth centuryB.c. (L.H.Ilia). Within the Aegean area Minoan settlements on Thera and Melos (at Phylakopi) are attested as early as the beginning of the Late Palace Period, and at Miletus5 and Rhodes (at Trianda)6 for the second half of the sixteenth century B.C. This goes beyond anything in the Early Palace Period, but of course it can only be taken as an expression of a flourishing trade, not as proof of any political organization of this area under the leadership of Crete.
1

111, 4, 6. * 111, 7-

2 6

See Plate 122(4). i" 23-

3 8

m, 3. m 8> 17-

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T H E HISTORICAL CONCLUSIONS 579 In Miletus, as in the Lipari Isles and Egypt, ceramic imports from the mainland replaced Cretan ones in the fifteenth century
B.C.

The shift of forces is apparent in the developments which took place on the Greek mainland during this period. Minoan pottery was imported at various places and it was imitated locally. In general an increasing Minoanization in all branches of artistic handicraft showed itself more and more clearly. This has frequently been noticed, and it demands an explanation. Schliemann's finds in the Shaft Graves of the citadel of Mycenae, beginning within the level of M.M. Ill and ending in L.M. la, made it necessary to draw a distinction between native and imported Minoan products. A third group should be added, namely objects made by Minoan craftsmen on the mainland (p. 570). The graves of grave circle B discovered in 1951, which begin earlier (probably as early as the seventeenth century B.C.) and overlap in time with the early parts of the later group, contain fewer Minoan imports. On the other hand even before the end of the sixteenth century B.C. the Minoan tholos, of which there had already been some older examples on the mainland, became the rule for the royal burials. To this may be added the similarity of L.M. II and L.H. II pottery. As the former develops from L.M. I b, the latter must be seen as the product of Cretan potters who went over to the mainland. That these influences were reciprocal can be seen from the so-called Ephyraean goblets. This mainland shape was taken over by the L.M. II workshops, but the decoration of goblets made on the mainland came from Crete. Earlier scholars,' following the lead of Evans, tended to see in this state of affairs the effects of Minoan overlordship on the mainland. Now the opposite opinion has triumphed: Creta captaferum victorem cepit. For the discussion was settled by the decipherment of Linear Script B and by the discovery that the language of the script was an early form of Greek. But how are we to explain the change of control in Crete within the fifteenth century B.C. ? An important penultimate level of destruction has been observed round about the turn of the sixteenth to the fifteenth century B.C. (p. 558). It was caused by an earthquake and was followed by reconstruction. The new features which characterized the next phase were numerous at Cnossus, whereas there was a standstill elsewhere and even a decline in pottery. The palace style of the Cnossian vases was accompanied by a new, monumental and firm style in wall painting. The Griffin Fresco1 in
1

See Plate 122 (a).

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580 T H E Z E N I T H OF MINOAN C I V I L I Z A T I O N the small throne room on the west edge of the central court is an example.1 Later in date are some paintings from a house near the palace of Hagia Triada, and these come from the same workshop as those of the famous limestone sarcophagus. A certain degree of stiffening is noticeable, and gem engraving undergoes the same change in style (p. 570). Some 'warrior graves' at Cnossus, which differ from the customary forms of Minoan burial, were abundantly provided with weapons: swords, daggers, lances, arrow-heads, helmets and cuirasses.2 In the shaping of the hilt attachment, the sword form shows a characteristic change with important consequences. Further, weapons and warchariots are mentioned very frequently on the small clay tablets, and even helmets occur on the painted vases of L.M. II. From this interest in weapons it has been inferred that people were beginning to prepare themselves for danger even before the turn of the century (p. 576). At the same time there is no evidence of such a change outside Cnossus, and the ruling position of mainland Greeks at Cnossus is shown above all by the tablets. We must assume that peaceful relations between Crete and the mainland lasted throughout the seventeenth and sixteenth centuries B.C. (p. 164) in spite of the cultural advance and the growing strength of the Helladic powers. The wealth in gold which is apparent in the Shaft Graves at Mycenae cannot be explained as the result of looting in Crete, unless there is a clear reflexion of such looting in the Minoan palaces. We have explained already (p. 579) that Minoan overlordship on the mainland cannot be assumed either. The silver rhyton from the fourth Shaft Grave of the citadel of Mycenae, which tells of an overseas enterprise and which is probably a Minoan work of art, must therefore be related to events which had nothing to do with a conflict between Minoans and mainlanders, but which resulted from collaboration between the two peoples in operations somewhere on the coasts of the Aegean Sea. We may then ask whether the Mycenaean lords acquired their gold in the course of such enterprises; we may prefer to suppose that subsidies were paid to them by the Minoans. The peaceful transfer of power in Crete from the Minoans to the Mycenaeans is difficult to explain. Since all other hypotheses do violence to the archaeological evidence in one way or another, we may be justified in suggesting that a passive renunciation of power was in accord with Minoan character, just as the skill of the Mycenaeans in usurping the position of
1 2

in, 21. 111, 9, 10.

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T H E HISTORICAL CONCLUSIONS 581 their Minoan predecessors in the overseas markets was typical of their energy and thrust. In the present state of our knowledge, any further step would be speculative and it is unwise to make any assertion on the reasons for thefinalcatastrophe about 1380 B.C. It may be supposed that after the earthquake of about 1500 B.C. the Mycenaeans turned to account the confusion which must have followed, and it is possible to see in the catastrophe a century later some evidence for a revolt against the new lords or for a quarrel among them. But these are mere possibilities. The only certainty is that the palaces lay in ruins after 1380 B.C. Any political and administrative centres in Crete were thereafter of a very limited and subordinate kind (p. 573). The centre of historical activity in the Mediterranean area was no longer in Crete but in Hellas throughout the remaining centuries of the Late Bronze Age.

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