DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1117#0024
xxii THE PALACE OF MINOS, ETC.
of which as regards man)' current theories must be regarded as nothing
short of revolutionary. Amongst other features may be mentioned the
occurrence of the same name-groups.1 It was the same language and the
same race.
Of the spread of the earlier, as well as the later, Script of Knossos,
accompanied by other Late Minoan elements, in lands East of it, already
exemplified by the case of Cyprus, fresh evidence is here adduced. An
inscription, with characters of Class A, on a votive figurine of a ram from
Amisos, Eski Samsoun on the Pontic coast, fits in with occurrence on the
same site of Royal Hittite painted pottery presenting decorative motives
by a contemporary Minoan hand.2 The remarkable vaulted tombs con-
taining Late Minoan relics discovered by Professor Schaefer at Ras Shamra
on the North Syrian Coast are here shown to illustrate hitherto unique
details in the structure of the Royal Tomb of Isopata3 and its fellows, and
this phenomenon is supplemented by occurrence on a votive silver bowl of
a graffito inscription of the Linear Class B.4
In the Second Part of this Volume is also given a general account of the
concluding stage of the Palace at Knossos, to which the documents of the
advanced Script B belong.5 As seems to be implied by its collateral relation
to Class A, which it overlaps elsewhere, it is there regarded as marking the
entry on the scene of another dynasty. The new bureaucratic centralization
of which the tablets themselves give evidence is a natural accompaniment
of a more despotic rule. The Athenian traditions of Minos, the tyrant
and destroyer, may be thought to receive support from the devastation
which at this time interrupts the course of other Cretan communities. The
military parade of the ' Shield Fresco', made to adorn the successive flights
and galleries of the Grand Staircase about the beginning of this Era, is itself
undeniable, and the flourishing state of the Armoury is attested not only by
the ' sword-tablets', but by the repeated hoards of documents showing what
can only be regarded as war chariots and their equipments. But this
aggressive spirit, if so we may interpret it, was marked by real signs of an
artistic revival on conventional lines. The Room of the Throne—forming
part of a group of wholly,new structures—with its finely carved seat of
honour and the decorative friezes round with confronted Griffins, finds here
1 See Comparative Table, Fig. 734, p. 751. * See pp. 771-6.
2 See pp. 765-7 and accompanying illustra- ' Reproduced on p. 783.
tions. '" §§ "5 and 116.
of which as regards man)' current theories must be regarded as nothing
short of revolutionary. Amongst other features may be mentioned the
occurrence of the same name-groups.1 It was the same language and the
same race.
Of the spread of the earlier, as well as the later, Script of Knossos,
accompanied by other Late Minoan elements, in lands East of it, already
exemplified by the case of Cyprus, fresh evidence is here adduced. An
inscription, with characters of Class A, on a votive figurine of a ram from
Amisos, Eski Samsoun on the Pontic coast, fits in with occurrence on the
same site of Royal Hittite painted pottery presenting decorative motives
by a contemporary Minoan hand.2 The remarkable vaulted tombs con-
taining Late Minoan relics discovered by Professor Schaefer at Ras Shamra
on the North Syrian Coast are here shown to illustrate hitherto unique
details in the structure of the Royal Tomb of Isopata3 and its fellows, and
this phenomenon is supplemented by occurrence on a votive silver bowl of
a graffito inscription of the Linear Class B.4
In the Second Part of this Volume is also given a general account of the
concluding stage of the Palace at Knossos, to which the documents of the
advanced Script B belong.5 As seems to be implied by its collateral relation
to Class A, which it overlaps elsewhere, it is there regarded as marking the
entry on the scene of another dynasty. The new bureaucratic centralization
of which the tablets themselves give evidence is a natural accompaniment
of a more despotic rule. The Athenian traditions of Minos, the tyrant
and destroyer, may be thought to receive support from the devastation
which at this time interrupts the course of other Cretan communities. The
military parade of the ' Shield Fresco', made to adorn the successive flights
and galleries of the Grand Staircase about the beginning of this Era, is itself
undeniable, and the flourishing state of the Armoury is attested not only by
the ' sword-tablets', but by the repeated hoards of documents showing what
can only be regarded as war chariots and their equipments. But this
aggressive spirit, if so we may interpret it, was marked by real signs of an
artistic revival on conventional lines. The Room of the Throne—forming
part of a group of wholly,new structures—with its finely carved seat of
honour and the decorative friezes round with confronted Griffins, finds here
1 See Comparative Table, Fig. 734, p. 751. * See pp. 771-6.
2 See pp. 765-7 and accompanying illustra- ' Reproduced on p. 783.
tions. '" §§ "5 and 116.