CRETE

We have followed the fortunes of the excavations at Knossos in
considerable detail, not only as being the most important, but as
illustrating also in the fullest manner the legendary and religious
history of Crete. But they are very far from being the only important
investigations which have been carried on in the island, and it
may even be said that, had Knossos never been excavated, it would
still have been possible, from the results of the excavations made
at other sites, to deduce the conclusion which has been arrived at
as to the supreme position of Crete in the early AEgean civilization.

Both in the Iliad and the Odyssey Phaestos is mentioned along with
Knossos as one of the chief towns of Crete; and it is at and near
Phaestos that the most extensive and important remains of Minoan
culture have been discovered, apart from the work at Knossos. The
splendid valley of the Messara, on the southern side of the island,
is dominated towards its seaward end by three hills, rising in steps
one above the other, and on the lowest of the three, overlooking
the plain, stood the Palace of Phaestos, the second great seat of
the Minoan lords of Crete. As in the case of Knossos, a few blocks
of hewn stone, standing among the furrows of the cornfield which
occupied the site, were the only indications of the great structure
which had once crowned the hill, and it was the existence of these
which induced the Italian Archaeological Mission to attempt the
excavation. In April, 1900, the first reconnaissance of the ground
was made, with no very encouraging results. By September of the
same year the great palace had been discovered, though, of course,
the full revelation of its features was a matter of much longer
time. The work has been carried on by Professor Halbherr, Signor
Pernier, and others, concurrently with the excavations of Dr. Evans;
and the result has been the revelation of a palace, similar in many
respects to the House of Minos at Knossos, though on a somewhat
smaller scale, and characterized, like the Labyrinth, by distinct
periods of building. At Phaestos, indeed, the remains of the earlier
palace, consisting of the Theatral Area and West Court, with the
one-columned portico at its south end, are of earlier date than the
existing important architectural features at Knossos, belonging to
the period known as Middle Minoan II., the time when the beautiful
polychrome Kamares ware was in its glory, while the main s