DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7525#0095
The Prehistoric Tombs of Knossos.
483
§ 3. Comparative Note on a Chamber-Tomb at Milatos.
Interesting comparisons with the chamber-tombs of Zafer Papoura are
supplied by that of Milatos, already referred to as having been explored by me
in 1899. The objects found in this tomb show that it belongs to a somewhat later
date than the latest interments of the Knossian Cemetery, and as neither the tomb
itself nor its contents, with the exception of a painted ossuary, have as yet been
published, a summary account of this discovery will be found useful in the present-
connexion.
The modern village of Milatos lies on the north coast of Crete, about 25 miles
east of Candia and of the site of Knossos. It derives special interest from the fact
that it still preserves, under its Doric form, the name of the Cretan Miletos, the
mother city of the more famous civic foundation on what was later the Ionian
Coast.11 That it had itself some importance at a very early date may also be
gathered from its mention in the Homeric Catalogue.b
A little south-west of the village rises what was probably the Acropolis hill of
ancient Milatos, still crowned by the remains of a Venetian stronghold known as
Kasteli. An earlier discovery of a chamber-tomb had been made on the east side
of this hill, containing the painted clay sarcophagus in the form of a bath described
by Orsi in 1890.c The western face of the hill-top where the present find was
made was formed by a low cliff running above the upper margin of a vine-clad
terrace, and it was while working here in his vineyard that the peasant owner
broke a small hole into the side of a vault. Finding that it was a tomb, the
proprietor of the vineyard obligingly sent word to me of the discovery, and mean-
while closed the opening.
On my arrival this aperture was reopened, and I descended into the sepulchral
chamber, the interior of which showed an absolutely intact arrangement. The
infiltrations of the soil had been slight, and only covered the lower parts of some
of the vases, which stood in groups on the floor, while the two clay chests
containing the bones stood against the walls regularly disposed in their original
positions like parts of the furniture of a room.
a Strabo xii. 8 (5), and xiv. 1 (6), who cites Ephorus. Sarpedon was said to have led the Cretan
colonists.
b Iliad, ii. 647.
c Time funebri Cretesi (Mon. Ant. 1890), 10, 11, and Tav. ii. 1 and 2.
483
§ 3. Comparative Note on a Chamber-Tomb at Milatos.
Interesting comparisons with the chamber-tombs of Zafer Papoura are
supplied by that of Milatos, already referred to as having been explored by me
in 1899. The objects found in this tomb show that it belongs to a somewhat later
date than the latest interments of the Knossian Cemetery, and as neither the tomb
itself nor its contents, with the exception of a painted ossuary, have as yet been
published, a summary account of this discovery will be found useful in the present-
connexion.
The modern village of Milatos lies on the north coast of Crete, about 25 miles
east of Candia and of the site of Knossos. It derives special interest from the fact
that it still preserves, under its Doric form, the name of the Cretan Miletos, the
mother city of the more famous civic foundation on what was later the Ionian
Coast.11 That it had itself some importance at a very early date may also be
gathered from its mention in the Homeric Catalogue.b
A little south-west of the village rises what was probably the Acropolis hill of
ancient Milatos, still crowned by the remains of a Venetian stronghold known as
Kasteli. An earlier discovery of a chamber-tomb had been made on the east side
of this hill, containing the painted clay sarcophagus in the form of a bath described
by Orsi in 1890.c The western face of the hill-top where the present find was
made was formed by a low cliff running above the upper margin of a vine-clad
terrace, and it was while working here in his vineyard that the peasant owner
broke a small hole into the side of a vault. Finding that it was a tomb, the
proprietor of the vineyard obligingly sent word to me of the discovery, and mean-
while closed the opening.
On my arrival this aperture was reopened, and I descended into the sepulchral
chamber, the interior of which showed an absolutely intact arrangement. The
infiltrations of the soil had been slight, and only covered the lower parts of some
of the vases, which stood in groups on the floor, while the two clay chests
containing the bones stood against the walls regularly disposed in their original
positions like parts of the furniture of a room.
a Strabo xii. 8 (5), and xiv. 1 (6), who cites Ephorus. Sarpedon was said to have led the Cretan
colonists.
b Iliad, ii. 647.
c Time funebri Cretesi (Mon. Ant. 1890), 10, 11, and Tav. ii. 1 and 2.