Chapter II: MODERN CONFESSIONS OF FAITH.--The second great creed-making epoch of (5)

The leading characteristics of this mainland civilization are thus indistinguishable from the Minoan. The funeral rites are similar, and the religious representations show an identical form of worship. At the same time the local traditions and conditions differentiate the continental from the insular branch. In Crete, in the later period, when the rulers could trust to the "wooden walls" of the Minoan navy, there is no parallel for the massive fortifications that we see at Tiryns or Mycenae. The colder winter climate of mainland Greece dictated the use of fixed hearths, whereas in the Cretan palaces these seem to have been of a portable kind, and the different usage in this respect again reacted on the respective forms of the principal hall or "Megaron."

Minoan influences in N. Greece.

Minoan culture under its mainland aspect left its traces on the Acropolis at Athens,--a corroboration of the tradition which made the Athenians send their tribute children to Minos. Similar traces extend through a large part of northern Greece from Cephallenia and Leucadia to Thessaly, and are specially well marked at Iolcus (near mod. Volo), the legendary embarking place of the Argonauts. This circumstance deserves attention owing to the special connexion traditionally existing between the Minyans of Iolcus and those of Orchomenus, the point of all others on this side where the early Cretan influence seems most to have taken root. The Minoan remains at Orchomenus which are traceable to the latest period go far to substantiate the philological comparison between the name of Minyas, the traditional ancestor of this ancient race, and that of Minos.

Adriatic and Italian extension.

Still farther to the north-west a distinct Minoan influence is perceptible in the old Illyrian lands east of the Adriatic, and its traces reappear in the neighbourhood of Venice. It is well marked throughout southern Italy from Taranto to Naples. It was with Sicily, however, that the later history of Minos and his great craftsman Daedalus was in a special way connected by ancient tradition. Here, as in Crete, Daedalus executed great works like the temple of Eryx, and it was on Sicilian soil that Minos, engaged in a western campaign, was said to have met with a violent death at the hands of the native king Kokalos (Cocalus) and his daughters. His name is preserved in the Sicilian Minoa, and his tomb was pointed out in the neighbourhood of Agrigentum, with a shrine above dedicated to his native Aphrodite, the lady of the dove; and in this connexion it must be observed that the cult of Eryx perpetuates to much later times the characteristic features of the worship of the Cretan Nature goddess, as now revealed to us in the palace of Cnossus and elsewhere. These ancient indications of a Minoan connexion with Sicily have now received interesting confirmation in the numerous discoveries, principally due to the recent excavations of P. Orsi, of arms and painted vases of Late Minoan fabric in Bronze Age tombs of the provinces of Syracuse and Girgenti (Agrigentum) belonging to the late Bronze Age. Some of these objects, such as certain forms of swords and vases, seem to be of local fabric, but derived from originals going back to the beginning of the Late Minoan age.

Minoan crisis: c. 1400 B.C.

The abiding tradition of the Cretan aborigines, as preserved by Herodotus (vii. 171), ascribes the eventual settlement of the Greeks in Crete to a widespread desolation that had fallen on the central regions. It is certain that by the beginning of the 14th century B.C., when the signs of already decadent Minoan art are perceptible in the imported pottery found in the palace of Akhenaton at Tell el-Amarna, some heavy blows had fallen on the island power. Shortly before this date the palaces both of Cnossus and Phaestus had undergone a great destruction, and though during the ensuing period both these royal residences were partially reoccupied it was for the most part at any rate by poorer denizens, and their great days as palaces were over for ever. Elsewhere at Cnossus, in the smaller palace to the west, the royal villa and the town houses, we find the evidence of a similar catastrophe followed by an imperfect recovery, and the phenomenon meets us again at Palaikastro and other early settlements in the east of Crete. At the same time, to whatever cause this serious setback of Minoan civilization was owing, it would be very unsafe to infer as yet any large displacement of the original inhabitants by the invading swarms from the mainland or elsewhere. The evidence of a partial restoration of the domestic quarter of the palace of Cnossus tends to show a certain measure of dynastic continuity. There is evidence, moreover, that the script and with it the indigenous language did not die out during this period, and that therefore the days of Hellenic settlement at Cnossus were not yet. The recent exploration of a cemetery belonging to the close of the great palace period, and in a greater degree to the age succeeding the catastrophe, has now conclusively shown that there was no real break in the continuity of Minoan culture. This third Late Minoan period--the beginning of which may be fixed about 1400--is an age of stagnation and decline, but the point of departure continued to be the models supplied by the age that had preceded it. Art was still by no means extinct, and its forms and decorative elements are simply later derivatives of the great palace style. Not only the native form of writing, but the household arrangements, sepulchral usages, and religious rites remain substantially the same. The third Late Minoan age corresponds generally with the Late Mycenaean stage in the Aegean world (see AEGEAN CIVILIZATION). It is an age indeed in which the culture as a whole, though following a lower level, attains the greatest amount of uniformity. From Sicily and even the Spanish coast to the Troad, southern Asia Minor, Cyprus and Palestine,--from the Nile valley to the mouth of the Po, very similar forms were now diffused. Here and there, as in Cyprus, we watch the development of some local schools. How far Crete itself continued to preserve the hegemony which may reasonably be ascribed to it at an earlier age must remain doubtful. It is certain that towards the close of this third and concluding Late Minoan period in the island certain mainland types of swords and safety-pins make their appearance, which are symptomatic of the great invasion from that side that was now impending or had already begun.

_Principal Minoan Sites._

It will be convenient here to give a general view of the more important Minoan remains recently excavated on various Cretan sites.

_Cnossus._--The palace of Cnossus is on the hill of Kephala about 4 m.
inland from Candia. As a scene of human settlement this site is of
immense antiquity. The successive "Minoan" strata, which go well back
into the fourth millennium B.C., reach down to a depth of about 17 ft.
But below this again is a human deposit, from 20 to 26 ft. in
thickness, representing a long and gradual course of Neolithic or
Later Stone-Age development. Assuming that the lower strata were
formed at approximately the same rate as the upper, we have an
antiquity of from 12,000 to 14,000 years indicated for the first
Neolithic settlement on this spot. The hill itself, like a Tell of
Babylonia, is mainly formed of the debris of human settlements. The
palace was approached from the west by a paved Minoan Way
communicating with a considerable building on the opposite hill. This
road was flanked by magazines, some belonging to the royal armoury,
and abutted on a paved area with stepped seats on two sides (theatral
area). The palace itself approximately formed a square with a large
paved court in the centre. It had a N.S. orientation. The principal
entrance was to the north, but what appears to have been the royal
entrance opened on a paved court on the west side. This entrance
communicated with a corridor showing frescoes of a processional
character. The west side of the palace contained a series of 18
magazines with great store jars and cists and large hoards of clay
documents. A remarkable feature of this quarter is a small council
chamber with a gypsum throne of curiously Gothic aspect and lower
stone benches round. The walls of the throne room show frescoes with
sacred griffins confronting each other in a Nile landscape, and a
small bath chamber--perhaps of ritual use--is attached. This quarter
of the palace shows the double axe sign constantly repeated on its
walls and pillars, and remains of miniature wall-paintings showing
pillar shrines, in some cases with double axes stuck into the wooden
columns. Here too were found the repositories of an early shrine
containing exquisite faience figures and reliefs, including a snake
goddess--another aspect of the native divinity--and her votaries. The
central object of cult in this shrine was apparently a marble cross.
Near the north-west angle of the palace was a larger bath chamber, and
by the N. entrance were remains of great reliefs of bull-hunting
scenes in painted _gesso duro_. South of the central court were found
parts of a relief in the same material, showing a personage with a
fleur-de-lis crown and collar. The east wing of the palace was the
really residential part. Here was what seems to have been the basement
of a very large hall or "Megaron," approached directly from the
central court, and near this were found further reliefs, fresco
representations of scenes of the bull-ring with female as well as male
toreadors, and remains of a magnificent gaming-board of gold-plated
ivory with intarsia work of crystal plaques set on silver plates and
blue enamel (_cyanus_). The true domestic quarter lay to the south of
the great hall, and was approached from the central court by a
descending staircase, of which three flights and traces of a fourth
are preserved. This gives access to a whole series of halls and
private rooms (halls "of the Colonnades," "of the Double Axes,"
"Queen's Megaron" with bath-room attached and remains of the fish
fresco, "Treasury" with ivory figures and other objects of art),
together with extensive remains of an upper storey. The drainage
system here, including a water-closet, is of the most complete and
modern kind. Near this domestic quarter was found a small shrine of
the Double Axes, with cult objects and offertory vessels in their
places. The traces of an earlier "Middle Minoan" palace beneath the
later floor-levels are most visible on the east side, with splendid
ceramic remains. Here also are early magazines with huge store jars.
At the foot of the slope on this side, forming the eastern boundary of
the palace, are massive supporting walls and a bastion with descending
flights of steps, and a water-channel devised with extraordinary
hydraulic science (Evans, "Palace of Knossos," "Reports of Excavations
1900-1905," in _Annual of British School at Athens_, vi. sqq.; _Journ.
R.I.B.A._ (1902), pt. iv. For the palace pottery see D. Mackenzie,
_Journ. of Hellenic Studies_, xxiii.). The palace site occupies nearly
six acres. To the N.E. of it came to light a "royal villa" with
staircase, and a basilica-like hall (Evans, _B.S. Annual_, ix. 130
seq.). To the N.W. was a dependency containing an important hoard of
bronze vessels (ib. p. 112 sqq.). The building on the hill to the W.
approached by the Minoan paved way has the appearance of a smaller
palace (_B.S. Annual_, xii., 1906). Many remains of private houses
belonging to the prehistoric town have also come to light (Hogarth,
_B.S.A._ vi. [1900], p. 70 sqq.). A little N. of the town, at a spot
called Zafer Papoura, an extensive Late Minoan cemetery was excavated
in 1904 (Evans, _The Prehistoric Tombs of Knossus_, 1906), and on a
height about 2 m. N. of this, a royal tomb consisting of a square
chamber, which originally had a pointed vault of "Cyclopaean"
structure approached by a forehall or rock-cut passage. This
monumental work seems to date from the close of the Middle Minoan age,
but has been re-used for interments at successive periods (Evans,
_Archaeologia_, 1906, p. 136 sqq.). It is possibly the traditional
tomb of Idomeneus. (For later discoveries see further CNOSSUS.)

_Phaestus._--The acropolis of this historic city looks on the Libyan
Sea and commands the extensive plain of Messara. On the eastern hill
of the acropolis, excavations initiated by F. Halbherr on behalf of
the Italian Archaeological Mission and subsequently carried out by L.
Pernier have brought to light another Minoan palace, much resembling
on a somewhat smaller scale that of Cnossus. The plan here too was
roughly quadrangular with a central court, but owing to the erosion of
the hillside a good deal of the eastern quarter has disappeared. The
Phaestian palace belongs to two distinct periods, and the earlier or
"Middle Minoan" part is better preserved than at Cnossus. The west
court and entrance belonging to the earlier building show many
analogies with those of Cnossus, and the court was commanded to the
north by tiers of stone benches like those of the "theatral area" at
Cnossus on a larger scale. Magazines with fine painted store jars came
to light beneath the floor of the later "propylaeum." The most
imposing block of the later building is formed by a group of
structures rising from the terrace formed by the old west wall. A fine
paved corridor running east from this gives access to a line of the
later magazines, and through a columnar hall to the central court
beyond, while to the left of this a broad and stately flight of steps
leads up to a kind of entrance hall on an upper terrace. North of the
central court is a domestic quarter presenting analogies with that of
Cnossus, but throughout the later building there was a great dearth of
the frescoes and other remains such as invest the Cnossian palace with
so much interest. There are also few remaining traces here of upper
storeys. It is evident that in this case also the palace was overtaken
by a great catastrophe, followed by a partial reoccupation towards the
close of the Late Minoan age (L. Pernier, _Scavi della missione
italiana a Phaestos; Monumenti antichi_, xii. and xiv.).

About a kilometre distant from the palace of Phaestus near the village
of Kalyvia a Late Minoan cemetery was brought to light in 1901,
belonging to the same period as that of Cnossus (Savignoni, _Necropoli
di Phaestos_, 1905).

_Hagia Triada._--On a low hill crowned by a small church of the above
name, about 3 m. nearer the Libyan Sea than Phaestus, a small palace
or royal villa was discovered by Halbherr and excavated by the Italian
Mission. In its structure and general arrangements it bears a general
resemblance to the palace of Phaestus and Cnossus on a smaller scale.
The buildings themselves, with the usual halls, bath-rooms and
magazines, together with a shrine of the Mother Goddess, occupy two
sides of a rectangle, enclosing a court at a higher level approached
by flights of stairs. Repositories also came to light containing
treasure in the shape of bronze ingots. In contrast to the palace of
Phaestus, the contents of the royal villa proved exceptionally rich,
and derive a special interest from the fact that the catastrophe which
overwhelmed the building belongs to a somewhat earlier part of the
Late Minoan age than that which overwhelmed Cnossus and Phaestus. Clay
tablets were here found belonging to the earlier type of the linear
script (Class A), together with a great number of clay sealings with
religious and other devices and incised countermarks. Both the signet
types and the other objects of art here discovered display the fresh
naturalism that characterizes in a special way the first Late Minoan
period. A remarkable wall-painting depicts a cat creeping over
ivy-covered rocks and about to spring on a pheasant. The steatite
vases with reliefs are of great importance. One of these shows a
ritual procession, apparently of reapers singing and dancing to the
sound of a sistrum. On another a Minoan warrior prince appears before
his retainers. A tall funnel-shaped vase of this class, of which a
considerable part has been preserved, is divided into zones showing
bull-hunting scenes, wrestlers and pugilists in gladiatorial costume,
the whole executed in a most masterly manner. The small palace was
reconstructed at a later period, and at a somewhat higher level. To a
period contemporary with the concluding age of the Cnossian palace
must be referred a remarkable sarcophagus belonging to a neighbouring
cemetery. The chest is of limestone coated with stucco, adorned with
life-like paintings of offertory scenes in connexion with the sacred
Double Axes of Minoan cult. There have also come to light remains of a
great domed mortuary chamber of primitive construction containing
relics of the Early Minoan period (Halbherr, _Monumenti Antichi_,
xiii. (1903), p. 6 sqq., and _Memorie del instituto lombardo_, 1905;
Paribeni, _Lavori eseguiti della missione italiana nel Palazzo e nella
necropoli di Haghia Triada; Rendiconti_, &c., xi. and xii.; Savignoni,
_Il Vaso di Haghia Triada_).

_Palaikastro._--Near this village, lying on the easternmost coast of
Crete, the British School at Athens has excavated a section of a
considerable Minoan town. The buildings here show a stratification
analogous to that of the palace of Cnossus. The town was traversed by
a well-paved street with a stone sewer, and contained several
important private houses and a larger one which seems to have been a
small palace. Among the more interesting relics found were ivory
figures of Egyptian or strongly Egyptianizing fabric. On an adjacent
hill were the remains of what seems to have been in later times a
temple of the Dictaean Zeus, and from the occurrence of rich deposits
of Minoan vases and sacrificial remains at a lower level, the
religious tradition represented by the later temple seems to go back
to prehistoric times. On the neighbouring height of Petsofa, by a
rock-shelter, remains of another interesting shrine were brought to
light dating from the Middle Minoan period, and containing interesting
votive offerings of terra-cotta, many of them apparently relating to
cures or to the warding off of diseases (R. C. Bosanquet, _British
School Annual_, viii. 286 sqq., ix. 274 sqq.; R. M. Dawkins, ibid. ix.
290 sqq., x.; J. L. Myres, ibid. ix. 356 sqq.).

PLATE I.

(_By permission of Dr A. J. Evans._)

PLATE II.

(_By permission of Dr A. J. Evans._)

_Gournia._--Near this hamlet on the coast of the Gulf of Mirabello in
east Crete, the American archaeologist Miss Harriet Boyd has excavated
a great part of another Minoan town. It covers the sides of a long
hill, its main avenue being a winding roadway leading to a small
palace. It contained a shrine of the Cretan snake goddess, and was
rich in minor relics, chiefly in the shape of bronze implements and
pottery for household use. The bulk of the remains belong here, as at
Hagia Triada, to the beginning of the Late Minoan period, but there
are signs of reoccupation in the decadent Minoan age. The remains
supply detailed information as to the everyday life of a Cretan
country town about the middle of the second millennium B.C. (H. Boyd,
_Excavations at Gournia_).

_Zakro._--Near the lower hamlet of that name on the S.E. coast
important remains of a settlement contemporary with that of Gournia
were explored by D. G. Hogarth, consisting of houses and pits
containing painted pottery of exceptional beauty and a great variety
of seal impressions. The deep bay in which Zakro lies is a well-known
port of call for the fishing fleets on their way to the sponge grounds
of the Libyan coast, and doubtless stood in the same stead to the
Minoan shipping (D. G. Hogarth, _Annual of the British School_, vii.
121 sqq., and _Journ. of Hellenic Studies_, xxii. 76 sqq. and 333
sqq.).

_Dictaean Cave._--Near the village of Psychro on the Lassithi range,
answering to the western Dicte, opens a large cave, identified with
the legendary birthplace of the Cretan Zeus. This cavern also shared
with that of Ida the claim to have been that in which Minos,
Moses-like, received the law from Zeus. The exploration begun by the
Italian Mission under Halbherr and continued by Evans, who found here
the inscribed libation table (see above), was completed by Hogarth in
1900. Besides the great entrance hall of the cavern, which served as
the upper shrine, were descending vaults forming a lower sanctuary
going down deep into the bowels of the earth. Great quantities of
votive figures and objects of cult, such as the fetish double axes and
stone tables of offering, were found both above and below. In the
lower sanctuary the natural pillars of stalagmite had been used as
objects of worship, and bronze votive objects thrust into their
crevices (Halbherr, _Museo di antichita classica_, ii. pp. 906-910;
Evans, _Further Discoveries_, &c., p. 350 sqq., _Myc. Tree and Pillar
Cult_, p. 14 sqq.; Hogarth, "The Dictaean Cave," _Annual of British
School at Athens_, vi. 94 sqq.).

_Pseira and Mochlos._--On these two islets on the northern coast of E.
Crete, R. Seager, an American explorer, has found striking remains of
flourishing Minoan settlements. The contents of a series of tombs at
Mochlos throw an entirely new light on the civilization of the Early
Minoan age.

Third Late Minoan period.

The above summary gives, indeed, a very imperfect idea of the extent to which the remains of the great Minoan civilization are spread throughout the island. The "hundred cities" ascribed to Crete by Homer are in a fair way of becoming an ascertained reality. The great days of Crete lie thus beyond the historic period. The period of decline referred to above (Late Minoan III.), which begins about the beginning of the 14th century before our era, must, from the abundance of its remains, have been of considerable duration. As to the character of the invading elements that hastened its close, and the date of their incursions, contemporary Egyptian monuments afford the best clue. The Keftiu who represented Minoan culture in Egypt in the concluding period of the Cnossian palace (Late Minoan II.) cease to appear on Egyptian monuments towards the end of the XVIIIth Dynasty (c. 1350 B.C.), and their place is taken by the "Peoples of the Sea." The Achaeans, under the name _Akaiusha_, already appear among the piratical invaders of Egypt in the time of Rameses III. (c. 1200 B.C.) of the XXth Dynasty (see H. R. Hall, "Keftiu and the Peoples of the Sea," _Annual of British School at Athens_, viii. 157 sqq.).

Greek settlementsin Crete.

About the same time the evidences of imports of Late Minoan or "Mycenaean" fabrics in Egypt definitely cease. In the _Odyssey_ we already find the Achaeans together with Dorians settled in central Crete. In the extreme east and west of the island the aboriginal "Eteocretan" element, however, as represented respectively by the Praesians or Cydonians, still held its own, and inscriptions written in Greek characters show that the old language survived to the centuries immediately preceding the Christian era.

The dark ages.

The mainland invasions which produced these great ethnic changes in Crete are marked archaeologically by signs of widespread destruction and by a considerable break in the continuity of the insular civilization. New burial customs, notably the rite of cremation in place of the older corpse-burial, are introduced, and in many cases the earlier tombs were pillaged and re-used by new comers. The use of iron for arms and implements now finally triumphed over bronze. Northern forms of swords and safety-pins are now found in general use. A new geometrical style of decoration like that of contemporary Greece largely supplants the Minoan models. The civic foundations which belong to this period, and which include the greater part of the massive ruins of Goulas and Anavlachos in the province of Mirabello and of Hyrtakina in the west, affect more or less precipitous sites and show a greater tendency to fortification. The old system of writing now dies out, and it is not till some three centuries later that the new alphabetic forms are introduced from a Semitic source. The whole course of the older Cretan civilization is awhile interrupted, and is separated from the new by the true dark ages of Greece.

It is nevertheless certain that some of the old traditions were preserved by the remnants of the old population now reduced to a subject condition, and that these finally leavened the whole lump, so that once more--this time under a Hellenic guise--Crete was enabled to anticipate mainland Greece in nascent civilization. Already in 1883 A. Milchhofer (_Anfange der Kunst_) had called attention to certain remarkable examples of archaic Greek bronze-work, and the subsequent discovery of the votive bronzes in the cave of Zeus on Mount Ida, and notably the shields with their fine embossed designs, shows that by the 8th century B.C. Cretan technique in metal not only held its own beside imported Cypro-Phoenician work, but was distinctly ahead of that of the rest of Greece (Halbherr, _Bronzi del antro di Zeus Ideo_). The recent excavations by the British School on the site of the Dictaean temple at Palaikastro bear out this conclusion, and an archaic marble head of Apollo found at Eleutherna shows that classical tradition was not at fault in recording the existence of a very early school of Greek sculpture in the island, illustrated by the names of Dipoenos and Scyllis.

The Dorian dynasts in Crete seem in some sort to have claimed descent from Minos, and the Dorian legislators sought their sanction in the laws which Minos was said to have received from the hands of the Cretan Zeus. The great monument of Gortyna discovered by Halbherr and Fabricius (_Monumenti antichi_, iii.) is the most important monument of early law hitherto brought to light in any part of the Greek world.

Greek remains.

Among other Greek remains in the island may be mentioned, besides the great inscription, the archaic temple of the Pythian Apollo at Gortyna, a plain square building with a _pronaos_ added in later times, excavated by Halbherr, 1885 and 1887 (_Mon. Ant._ iii. 2 seqq.), the Hellenic bridge and the vast rock-cut reservoirs of Eleutherna, the city walls of Itanos, Aptera and Polyrrhenia, and at Phalasarna, the rock-cut throne of a divinity, the port, and the remains of a temple. The most interesting record, however, that has been preserved of later Hellenic civilization in the island is the coinage of the Cretan cities (J. N. Svoronos, _Numismatique de la Crete ancienne_; W. Wroth, _B. M. Coin Catalogue, Crete, &c._; P. Gardner, _The Types of Greek Coins_), which during the good period display a peculiarly picturesque artistic style distinct from that of the rest of the Greek world, and sometimes indicative of a revival of Minoan types. But in every case these artistic efforts were followed at short intervals by gross relapses into barbarism which reflect the anarchy of the political conditions.

Roman remains.

Under the _Pax Romana_, the Cretan cities again enjoyed a large measure of prosperity, illustrated by numerous edifices still existing at the time of the Venetian occupation. A good account of these is preserved in a MS. description of the island drawn up under the Venetians about 1538, and existing in the library of St Mark (published by Falkener, _Museum of Classical Antiquities_, ii. pp. 263-303). Very little of all this, however, has escaped the Turkish conquest and the ravages caused by the incessant insurrections of the last two centuries. The ruin-field of Gortyna still evokes something of the importance that it possessed in Imperial days, and at Lebena on the south coast are remains of a temple of Aesculapius and its dependencies which stood in connexion with this city. At Cnossus, save some blocks of the amphitheatre, the Roman monuments visible in Venetian times have almost wholly disappeared. Among the early Christian remains of the island far and away the most important is the church of St Titus at Gortyna, which perhaps dates from the Constantinian age.

LITERATURE.--See the authorities already quoted, for further details.
Previous to the extensive excavations referred to above, Crete had
been carefully examined and explored by Tournefort, Pococke, Olivier
and other travellers, e.g. Pashley (_Travels in Crete_, 2 vols.,
London, 1837) and Captain Spratt (_Travels and Researches in Crete_, 2
vols., London, 1865). A survey sufficiently accurate as regards the
maritime parts was also executed, under the orders of the British
admiralty, by Captain Graves and Captain (afterwards Admiral) Spratt.
Most that can be gathered from ancient authors concerning the
mythology and early history of the island is brought together by
Meursius (_Creta_, &c., in the 3rd vol. of his works) and Hoeck
(_Kreta_, 3 vols., Gottingen, 1823-1829), but the latter work was
published before the researches which have thrown so much light on the
topography and antiquities of the island. Much new material,
especially as to the western provinces of Crete, has been recently
collected by members of the Italian Archaeological Mission (_Monumenti
Antichi_, vol. vi. 154 seqq., ix. 286, 1899; xi. 286 seqq.). (A. J.
E.)

_History._

_Ancient._--Lying midway between three continents, Crete was from the earliest period a natural stepping-stone for the passage of early culture from Egypt and the East to mainland Greece. On all this the recent archaeological discoveries (see the section on ARCHAEOLOGY) have thrown great light, but the earliest written history of Crete, like that of most parts of continental Greece, is mixed up with mythology and fable to so great an extent as to render it difficult to arrive at any clear conclusions concerning it. The Cretans themselves claimed for their island to be the birthplace of Zeus, as well as the parent of all the other divinities usually worshipped in Greece as the Olympian deities. But passing from this region of pure mythology to the semi-mythic or heroic age, we find almost all the early legends and traditions of the island grouped around the name of Minos. According to the received tradition, Minos was a king of Cnossus in Crete; he was a son of Zeus, and enjoyed through life the privilege of habitual intercourse with his divine father. It was from this source that he derived the wisdom which enabled him to give to the Cretans the excellent system of laws and governments that earned for him the reputation of being the greatest legislator of antiquity. At the same time he was reported to have been the first monarch who established a naval power, and acquired what was termed by the Greeks the _Thalassocracy_, or dominion of the sea.

This last tradition, which was received as an undoubted fact both by Thucydides and Aristotle, has during the last few years received striking confirmation. The remarkable remains recently brought to light on Cretan soil tend to show that already some 2000 years before the Dorian conquest the island was exercising a dominant influence in the Aegean world. The great palaces now excavated at Cnossus and Phaestus, as well as the royal villa of Hagia Triada, exhibit the successive phases of a brilliant primitive civilization which had already attained mature development by the date of the XIIth Egyptian dynasty. To this civilization as a whole it is convenient to give the name "Minoan," and the name of Minos itself may be reasonably thought to cover a dynastic even more than a personal significance in much the same way as such historic terms as "Pharaoh" or "Caesar."

The archaeological evidence outside Crete points to the actual existence of Minoan plantations as far afield on one side as Sicily and on the other as the coast of Canaan. The historic tradition which identifies with the Cretans the principal element of the Philistine confederation, and places the tomb of Minos himself in western Sicily, thus receives remarkable confirmation. Industrial relations with Egypt are also marked by the occurrence of a series of finds of pottery and other objects of Minoan fabric among the remains of the XVIIIth, XIIth and even earlier dynasties, while the same seafaring enterprise brought Egyptian fabrics to Crete from the times of the first Pharaohs. Even in the Homeric poems, which belong to an age when the great Minoan civilization was already decadent, the Cretans appear as the only Greek people who attempted to compete with the Phoenicians as bold and adventurous navigators. In the Homeric age the population of Crete was of a very mixed character, and we are told in the _Odyssey_ (xix. 175) that besides the Eteocretes, who, as their name imports, must have been the original inhabitants, the island contained Achaeans, Pelasgians and Dorians. Subsequently the Dorian element became greatly strengthened by fresh immigrations from the Peloponnesus, and during the historical period all the principal cities of the island were either Dorian colonies, or had adopted the Dorian dialect and institutions. It is certain that at a very early period the Cretan cities were celebrated for their laws and system of government, and the most extensive monument of early Greek law is the great Gortyna inscription, discovered in 1884. The origin of the Cretan laws was of course attributed to Minos, but they had much in common with those of the other Dorian states, as well as with those of Lycurgus at Sparta, which were, indeed, according to one tradition, copied in great measure from those already existing in Crete.[2]

It is certain that whatever merits the Cretan laws may have possessed for the internal regulation of the different cities, they had the one glaring defect, that they made no provision for any federal bond or union among them, or for the government of the island as a whole. It was owing to the want of this that the Cretans scarcely figure in Greek history as a people, though the island, as observed by Aristotle, would seem from its natural position calculated to exercise a preponderating influence over Greek affairs. Thus they took no part either in the Persian or in the Peloponnesian War, or in any of the subsequent civil contests in which so many of the cities and islands of Greece were engaged. At the same time they were so far from enjoying tranquillity on this account that the few notices we find of them in history always represent them as engaged in local wars among one another; and Polybius tells us that the history of Crete was one continued series of civil wars, which were carried on with a bitter animosity exceeding all that was known in the rest of Greece.

In these domestic contests the three cities that generally took the lead, and claimed to exercise a kind of _hegemony_ or supremacy over the whole island, were Cnossus, Gortyna and Cydonia. But besides these three, there were many other independent cities, which, though they generally followed the lead of one or other of these more powerful rivals, enjoyed complete autonomy, and were able to shift at will from one alliance to another. Among the most important of these were--Lyttus or Lyctus, in the interior, south-east of Cnossus; Rhaucus, between Cnossus and Gortyna; Phaestus, in the plain of Messara, between Gortyna and the sea; Polyrrhenia, near the north-west angle of the island; Aptera, a few miles inland from the Bay of Suda; Eleutherna and Axus, on the northern slopes of Mount Ida; and Lappa, between the White Mountains and the sea. Phalasarna on the west coast, and Chersonesus on the north, seem to have been dependencies, and served as the ports of Polyrrhenia and Lyttus. Elyrus stood at the foot of the White Mountains just above the south coast. In the eastern portion of the island were Praesus in the interior, and Itanus on the coast, facing the east, while Hierapytna on the south coast was the only place of importance on the side facing Africa, and on this account rose under the Romans to be one of the principal cities of the island. (A. J. E.)

_Medieval to 19th Century._--Though it was continually torn by civil dissensions, the island maintained its independence of the various Macedonian monarchs by whom it was surrounded; but having incurred the enmity of Rome, first by an alliance with the great Mithradates, and afterwards by taking active part with their neighbours, the pirates of Cilicia, the Cretans were at length attacked by the Roman arms, and, after a resistance protracted for more than three years, were finally subdued by Q. Metellus, who earned by this success the surname of Creticus (67 B.C.). The island was now reduced to a Roman province, and subsequently united for administrative purposes with the district of Cyrenaica or the Pentapolis, on the opposite coast of Africa. This arrangement lasted till the time of Constantine, by whom Crete was incorporated in the prefecture of Illyria. It continued to form part of the Byzantine empire till the 9th century, when it fell into the hands of the Saracens (823). It then became a formidable nest of pirates and a great slave mart; it defied all the efforts of the Byzantine sovereigns to recover it till the year 960, when it was reconquered by Nicephorus Phocas. In the partition of the Greek empire after the capture of Constantinople by the Latins in 1204, Crete fell to the lot of Boniface, marquis of Montferrat, but was sold by him to the Venetians, and thus passed under the dominion of that great republic, to which it continued subject for more than four centuries.

Under the Venetian government Candia, a fortress originally built by the Saracens, and called by them "Khandax," became the seat of government, and not only rose to be the capital and chief city of the island, but actually gave name to it, so that it was called in the official language of Venice "the island of Candia," a designation which from thence passed into modern maps. The ancient name of Krete or Kriti was, however, always retained in use among the Greeks, and is gradually resuming its place in the usage of literary Europe. The government of Crete by the Venetian aristocracy was, like that of their other dependencies, very arbitrary and oppressive, and numerous insurrections were the consequence. Daru, in his history of Venice, mentions fourteen between the years 1207 and 1365, the most important being that of 1361-1364,--a revolt not of the natives against the rule of their Venetian masters, but of the Venetian colonists against the republic. But with all its defects their administration did much to promote the material prosperity of the country, and to encourage commerce and industry; and it is probable that the island was more prosperous than at any subsequent time. Their Venetian masters at least secured to the islanders external tranquillity, and it is singular that the Turks were content to leave them in undisturbed possession of this opulent and important island for nearly two centuries after the fall of Constantinople. The Cretans themselves, however, were eager for a change, and, disappointed in the hope of a Genoese occupation, were ready, as is stated in the report of a Venetian commissioner, to exchange the rule of the Venetians for that of the Turks, whom they fondly expected to find more lenient, or at any rate less energetic, masters. It was not till 1645 that the Turks made any serious attempt to effect the conquest of the island; but in that year they landed with an army of 50,000 men, and speedily reduced the important city of Canea. Retimo fell the following year, and in 1648 they laid siege to the capital city of Candia. This was the longest siege on record, having been protracted for more than twenty years; but in 1667 it was pressed with renewed vigour by the Turks under the grand vizier Ahmed Kuprili, and the city was at length compelled to surrender (September 1669). Its fall was followed by the submission of the whole island. Venice was allowed to retain possession of Grabusa, Suda and Spinalonga on the north, but in 1718 these three strongholds reverted to the Turks, and the island was finally lost to Venice.

From this time Crete continued subject to Ottoman rule without interruption till the outbreak of the Greek revolution. After the conquest a large part of the inhabitants embraced Mahommedanism, and thus secured to themselves the chief share in the administration of the island. But far from this having a favourable effect upon the condition of the population, the result was just the contrary, and according to R. Pashley (_Travels in Crete_, 1837) Crete was the worst governed province of the Turkish empire. In 1770 an abortive attempt at revolt, the hero of which was "Master" John, a Sphakiot chief, was repressed with great cruelty. The regular authorities sent from Constantinople were wholly unable to control the excesses of the janissaries, who exercised without restraint every kind of violence and oppression. In 1813 the ruthless severity of the governor-general, Haji Osman, who obtained the co-operation of the Christians, broke the power of the janissaries; but after Osman had fallen a victim to the suspicions of the sultan, Crete again came under their control. When in 1821 the revolution broke out in continental Greece, the Cretans, headed by the Sphakiots, after a massacre at Canea at once raised the standard of insurrection. They carried on hostilities with such success that they soon made themselves masters of the whole of the open country, and drove the Turks and Mussulman population to take refuge in the fortified cities. The sultan then invoked the assistance of Mehemet Ali, pasha of Egypt, who despatched 7000 Albanians to the island. Hostilities continued with no decisive result till 1824, when the arrival of further reinforcements enabled the Turkish commander to reduce the island to submission. In 1827 the battle of Navarino took place, and in 1830 (3rd of February) Greece was declared independent. The allied powers (France, England and Russia) decided, however, that Crete should not be included amongst the islands annexed to the newly-formed kingdom of Greece; but recognizing that some change was necessary, they obtained from the sultan Mahmud II. its cession to Egypt, which was confirmed by a firman of the 20th of December 1832. This change of masters brought some relief to the unfortunate Cretans, who at least exchanged the licence of local misrule for the oppression of an organized despotism; and the government of Mustafa Pasha, an Albanian like Mehemet Ali, the ruler of the island for a considerable period (1832-1852), was more enlightened and intelligent than that of most Turkish governors. He encouraged agriculture, improved the roads, introduced an Albanian police, and put down brigandage. The period of his administration has been called the "golden age" of Crete.

In 1840 Crete was again taken from Mehemet Ali, and replaced under the dominion of the Turks, but fortunately Mustafa still retained his governorship until he left for Constantinople to become grand vizier in 1852. Four years later an insurrection broke out, owing to the violation of the provisions of an imperial decree (February 1856), whereby liberty of conscience and equal rights and privileges with Mussulmans had been conferred upon Christians. The latter refused to lay down their arms until a firman was issued (July 1858), confirming the promised concessions. These promises being again repudiated, in 1864 the inhabitants held an assembly and a petition was drawn up for presentation at Constantinople by the governor. The sultan's reply was couched in the vaguest terms, and the Cretans were ordered to render unquestioning obedience to the authorities. After a period of great distress and cruel oppression, in 1866, on the demand for reforms being again refused, a general insurrection took place, which was only put down by great exertions on the part of the Porte. It was followed by the concession of additional privileges to the Christians of the island and of a kind of constitutional government and other reforms embodied in what is known as the "Organic Statute" of 1868. (J. H. F.)

Pact of Halepa.

Insurrection of 1896-97.

_Modern Constitutional._--Cretan constitutional history may be said to date from 1868, when, after the suppression of an insurrection which had extended over three years, the Turkish government consented to grant a certain measure of autonomy to the island. The privileges now accorded were embodied in what is known as the Organic Statute, an instrument which eventually obtained a somewhat wider importance, being proposed by Article XXIII. of the Berlin Treaty as a basis of reforms to be introduced in other parts of the Ottoman empire. Various privileges already acquired by the Christian population were confirmed; a general council, or representative body, was brought into existence, composed of deputies from every district in the island; mixed tribunals were introduced, together with a highly elaborate administrative system, under which all the more important functionaries, Christian and Mussulman, were provided with an assessor of the opposite creed. The new constitution, however, proved costly and unworkable, and failed to satisfy either section of the population. The Christians were ready for another outbreak, when, in 1878, the Greek government, finding Hellenic aspirations ignored by the treaty of San Stefano, gave the signal for agitation in the island. During the insurrection which followed, the usual barbarities were committed on both sides; the Christians betook themselves to the mountains, and the Mussulman peasants crowded into the fortified towns. Eventually the Cretan chiefs invoked the mediation of England, which Turkey, exhausted by her struggle with Russia, was ready to accept, and the convention known as the Pact of Halepa was drawn up in 1878 under the auspices of Mr Sandwith, the British consul, and Adossides Pasha, both of whom enjoyed the confidence of the Cretan population. The privileges conferred by the Organic Statute were confirmed; the cumbersome and extravagant judicial and administrative systems were maintained; the judges were declared independent of the executive, and an Assembly composed of forty-nine Christian and thirty-one Mussulman deputies took the place of the former general council. A parliamentary regime was thus inaugurated, and party warfare for a time took the place of the old religious antagonism, the Moslems attaching themselves to one or other of the political factions which now made their appearance among the Christians. The material interests of the island were neglected in the scramble for place and power; the finances fell into disorder, and the party which came off worst in the struggle systematically intrigued against the governor-general of the day and conspired with his enemies at Constantinople. A crisis came about in 1889, when the "Conservative" leaders, finding themselves in a minority in the chamber, took up arms and withdrew to the mountains. Though the outbreak was unconnected with the religious feud, the latent fanaticism of both creeds was soon aroused, and the island once more became a scene of pillage and devastation. Unlike the two preceding movements, the insurrection of 1889 resulted unfavourably for the Christians. The Porte, having induced the Greek government to persuade the insurgents not to oppose the occupation of several strategic posts, despatched a military governor to the island, proclaimed martial law, and issued a firman abrogating many important provisions of the Halepa Pact. The mode of election to the assembly was altered, the number of its members reduced, and the customs revenue, which had hitherto been shared with the island, was appropriated by the Turkish treasury. The firman was undoubtedly illegal, as it violated a convention possessing a quasi-international sanction, but the Christians were unable to resist, and the powers abstained from intervention. The elections held under the new system proved a failure, the Christians refusing to go to the polls, and for the next five years Crete was governed absolutely by a succession of Mahommedan Valis. The situation went from bad to worse, the deficit in the budget increased, the gendarmery, which received no pay, became insubordinate, and crime multiplied. In 1894 the Porte, at the instance of the powers, nominated a Christian, Karatheodory Pasha, to the governorship, and the Christians, mollified by the concession, agreed to take part in the assembly which soon afterwards was convoked; no steps, however, were taken to remedy the financial situation, which became the immediate cause of the disorders that followed. The refusal of the Porte to refund considerable sums which had been illegally diverted from the Cretan treasury or even to sanction a loan to meet immediate requirements caused no little exasperation in the island, which was increased by the recall of Karatheodory (March 1895). Before that event an Epitrope, or "Committee of Reform," had appeared in the mountains--the harbinger of the prolonged struggle which ended in the emancipation of Crete. The Epitrope was at first nothing more than a handful of discontented politicians who had failed to find places in the administration, but some slight reverses which it succeeded in inflicting on the Turkish troops brought thousands of armed Christians to its side, and in April 1896 it found itself strong enough to invest the important garrison town of Vamos. The Moslem peasantry now flocked to the fortified towns and civil war began. Serious disturbances broke out at Canea on the 24th of May, and were only quelled by the arrival of foreign warships. The foreign consuls intervened in the hope of bringing about a peaceful settlement, but the Sultan resolved on the employment of force, and an expedition despatched to Vamos effected the relief of that town with a loss of 200 men. The advance of a Turkish detachment through the western districts, where other garrisons were besieged, was marked by pillage and devastation, and 5000 Christian peasants took refuge on the desolate promontory of Spada, where they suffered extreme privations. These events, which produced much excitement in Greece, quickened the energies of the powers. An international blockade of the island was proposed by Austria but rejected by England. The ambassadors at Constantinople urged peaceful counsels on the Porte, and the Sultan, alarmed at this juncture by an Armenian outbreak, began to display a conciliatory disposition. The Pact of Halepa was restored, the troops were withdrawn from the interior, financial aid was promised to the island, a Christian governor-general was appointed, the assembly was summoned, and an imperial commissioner was despatched to negotiate an arrangement. The Christian leaders prepared a moderate scheme of reforms, based on the Halepa Pact, which, with a few exceptions, were approved by the powers and eventually sanctioned by the sultan.

Greek Intervention.

Decision of the powers.