Arthur J. Evans, John H. Freese, James D.Bourchier and Walter A. Phillips

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Already in 1883 A. Milchhöfer (Anfänge 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 indignation of the Christians increased, a state of insecurity prevailed, and the Moslem peasants refused to return to their homes. A new factor now became apparent in Cretan politics. Since the outbreak in May 1896 the Greek government had loyally co-operated with the powers in their efforts for the pacification of the island, but towards the close of the year a secret society known as the Ethniké Hetaeria began to arrogate to itself the direction of Greek foreign policy. ”

“ 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. ”

“ It appears certain from the associations in which they are found at Cnossus, that these Minoan bull sports formed part of a religious ceremony. Actual figures of a monster with a bull’s head and man’s body occurred on seals of Minoan fabric found on this and other Cretan sites.
It is abundantly evident that whatever mythic element may have been interwoven with the old traditions of the spot, they have a solid substratum of reality. With such remains before us it is no longer sufficient to relegate Minos to the regions of sun-myths. ”

“ The later phase, which follows on the destruction of the Cnossian palace, and corresponds with the diffused Mycenaean style of mainland Greece and elsewhere, is already partly decadent. Late Minoan art in its finest aspect is best illustrated by the animated ivory figures, wall paintings, and gesso duro reliefs at Cnossus, by the painted stucco designs at Hagia Triada, and the steatite vases found on the same site with zones in reliefs exhibiting life-like scenes of warriors, toreadors, gladiators, wrestlers and pugilists, and of a festal throng perhaps representing a kind of “harvest home.” ”

“ 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. ”

“ A parliamentary régime 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. ”

“ The high commissioner is irresponsible, but his decrees, except in certain specified cases, must be countersigned by a member of his council. He convokes, prorogues and dissolves the chamber, sanctions laws, exercises the right of pardon in case of political offences, represents the island in its foreign relations and is chief of its military forces. The chamber (βουλή) , which is elected in the proportion of one deputy to every 5000 inhabitants, meets annually for a session of two months. New elections are held every two years. ”

“ 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 ceiling of that of Orchomenos, and the painted vases and gold cups from the Vaphio tomb by Sparta, with their marvellous reliefs showing scenes of bull-hunting, represent the late palace style at Cnossus in its final development.
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. ”

“ The orange and lemon groves have also suffered considerably, but new varieties of the orange tree are now being introduced, and an impulse will be given to the export trade in this fruit by the removal of the restriction on its importation into Greece. Agriculture is still in a primitive condition; notwithstanding the fertility of the arable land the supply of cereals is far below the requirements of the population. A great portion of the central plain of Monofatsi, the principal grain-producing district, is lying fallow owing to the exodus of the Moslem peasantry. ”

“ 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 Greek settlements
in Crete. “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 Epitropé 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Owing to the existence of a strong Mussulman minority among its inhabitants, the warlike character of the natives, and the mountainous configuration of the country, which enabled a portion of the Christian population to maintain itself in a state of partial independence, the island has constantly been the scene of prolonged and sanguinary struggles in which the numerical superiority of the Christians was counterbalanced by the aid rendered to the Moslems by the Ottoman troops. ”

“ Pears, apples, quinces, mulberries and other fruit-trees flourish, as well as vines; the Cretan wines, however, no longer enjoy the reputation which they possessed in the time of the Venetians. Tobacco and cotton succeed well in the plains and low grounds, though not at present cultivated to any great extent.
Animals.—Of the wild animals of Crete, the wild goat or agrimi (Capra aegagrus) alone need be mentioned; it is still found in considerable numbers on the higher summits of Psiloriti and the White Mountains. ”

“ On the 4th of September 1896 the assembly formally accepted the new constitution and declared its gratitude to the powers for their intervention. The Moslem leaders acquiesced in the arrangement, which the powers undertook to guarantee, and, notwithstanding some symptoms of discontent at Candia, there was every reason to hope that the island was now entering upon a period of tranquillity. It soon became evident, however, that the Porte was endeavouring to obstruct the execution of the new reforms. ”

“ Wolves also are not found in the island, though common in Greece and Asia Minor. The native breed of mules is remarkably fine.
Population.—The population of Crete under the Venetians was estimated at about 250,000. After the Turkish conquest it greatly diminished, but afterwards gradually rose, till it was supposed to have attained to about 260,000, of whom about half were Mahommedans, at the time of the outbreak of the Greek revolution in 1821. ”

“ A commission appointed by the powers to report on the administrative and financial situation drew up a series of recommendations in January 1906, and a constituent assembly for the revision of the constitution met at Canea in the following June. On the 25th of July the powers announced a series of reforms, including the reorganization of the gendarmerie and militia under Greek officers, as a preliminary to the eventual withdrawal of the international troops, and the extension to Crete of the system of financial control established in Greece. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The northern coast-line is much indented. On the W. two narrow mountainous promontories, the western terminating in Cape Grabusa or Busa (ancient Corycus) , the eastern in Cape Spada, shut in the Bay of Kisamos; beyond the Bay of Canea, to the E., the rocky peninsula of Akrotiri shelters the magnificent natural harbour of Suda (81/2 sq. m.) , the only completely protected anchorage for large vessels which the island affords. Farther E. are the bays of Candia and Malea, the deep Mirabello Bay and the Bay of Sitia. ”

“ The salary of the high commissioner was reduced in 1907 to 100,000 drachmae.
Improved communications are much needed for the transport of agricultural produce, but the state of the treasury does not admit of more than a nominal expenditure on road-making and other public works. On these the average yearly expenditure between 1898 and 1905 was £13,404. The prosperity of the island depends on the development of agriculture, the acquirement of industrious habits by the people, and the abandonment of political agitation. ”