ph of
Western civilization came the recognition of the possibility of
continuous progress.

Another great distinction in the development of European civilization
was the recognition of humanity. In ancient times humanitarian spirit
appeared not in the heart of man nor in the philosophy of government.
Even the old tribal government was for the few. The national
government was for selected citizens only. Specific gods, a special
religion, the privilege of rights and duties were available to a few,
while all others were deprived of them. This invoked a selfishness in
practical life and developed a selfish system even among the leaders of
ancient culture. The broad principle of the rights of an individual
because he was human was not taken into serious consideration even
among the more thoughtful. If he was friendly to the recognized god he
was permitted to exist. If he was an enemy, he was to be crushed. On
the other hand, the triumph of Western civilization is the recognition
of the value of a human being and his right to engage in all human
associations {207} for which he is fitted. While the Greeks came into
contact with the older civilizations of Egypt and Asia, and were
influenced by their thought and custom, they brought a vigorous new
life which gradually dominated and mastered the Oriental influences.
They had sufficient vigor and independence to break with tradition,
wherever it seemed necessary to accomplish their purpose of life.

_The Aegean Culture Preceded the Coming of the Greeks_.--Spreading over
the islands of the Aegean Sea was a pre-Greek civilization known as
Minoan. Its highest centre of development was in the Island of Crete,
whose principal city was Cnossos. Whence these people came and what
their ethnological classification are still unsettled.[1] They had a
number of centres of development, which varied somewhat in type of
culture. They were a dark-haired people, who probably came from Africa
or Asia Minor, settling in Crete about 5,000 years B.C. It is thought
by some that the Etruscans of Italy were of Aegean origin. Prior to
the Minoans there existed a Neolithic culture throughout the islands of
Greece.

In the great city of Cnossos, which was sacked and burned about the
fourteenth century B.C., were found ruins which show a culture of
relatively high degree. By the excavations in Crete at this point a
stratum of earth twenty feet thick was discovered, in which were found
evi