re feet, as
against the 2,000 odd square feet of the Hall of the Double Axes.
The Central Court, 150 feet long by 70 broad, is a fine paved
quadrangle, but has not the impressiveness of the Central Court
at Knossos, with its area of about 20,000 square feet.

On the whole, the two palaces wonderfully resemble each other in
the general ideas that determine their structure, though, of course,
there are many variations in detail. But, as contrasted with the
sister palace, the stately building at Phaestos has exhibited a
most extraordinary dearth of the objects of art which formed so
great a part of the treasures of Knossos. Apart from the Kamares
vases and one graceful flower fresco, little of importance has
been found. The comparative absence of metal-work at Knossos can
be explained by the greed of the plunderers who sacked the palace;
but Phaestos is almost barren, not of metal-work alone. All the
more interesting, therefore, was the discovery, made in 1908, of
the largest inscribed clay tablet which has yet been found on any
Minoan site. This was a disc of terra-cotta, 6.67 inches in diameter,
and covered on both sides with an inscription which coils round
from the centre outwards. 'It is by far the largest hieroglyphic
inscription yet discovered in Crete. It contains some 241 signs
and 61 sign groups, and it exhibits the remarkable peculiarity
that every sign has been separately impressed on the clay while
in a soft state by a stamp or punch. It is, in fact, a printed
inscription.'[*] One of the hieroglyphs, frequently repeated, is
the representation of the head of a warrior wearing a feathered
headdress which remarkably resembles the crested helmets of the
Pulosathu, or Philistines, on the reliefs of Ramses III. at Medinet
Habu. From his analysis of the various signs Dr. Evans has concluded
that the inscription is not Cretan, but may represent a script,
perhaps Lycian, in use in the coast-lands of Asia Minor. No
interpretation of the writing can yet be given, but Dr. Evans has
pointed out evidences of a metrical arrangement among the signs,
and has suggested that the inscription may conceivably be a hymn
in honour of the Anatolian Great Mother, a goddess who corresponded
to the Nature Goddess worshipped in Minoan Crete, whose traditions
have survived under the titles of Rhea, Britomartis, Aphrodite
Ariadne, and Artemis Dictynna. The pottery in connection with which
it was found dates it to at least 1600, perhaps to