Evans, Arthur J.: The Palace of Minos: a comparative account of the successive stages of the early Cretan civilization as illustred by the discoveries at Knossos (Band 1): The Neolithic and Early and Middle Minoan Ages (London, 1921)

6

THE PALACE OF MINOS, ETC.

Anatolian
character
of

' Minos',
' Knos-
sos', &c.

Religious
con-
nexions
of Crete
and

Anatolia.

' Labrys 1
and La-
byrinth .

names of the Carians and their kin.1 The name Kvojs is thrice connected
with the Korykian Cave and Temple of the priestly dynasts of Olbe in
Cilicia.2 TctXtos the ' bronze-man ' of Minos and fabled guardian of Crete
bears a name of the same family. The name of Mlvcos itself recurs as an
element in Minassos, a Pisiclian town,:! whose later bishops may well have
perpetuated a much earlier religious tradition. The name of Daedalos
is found again in that of the town of Daedala (ra AouSaXa) on the borders
of Caria and Lykia, where was his reputed tomb.

The most ancient features in the Cretan religion find, in fact, their
closest analogies on the Anatolian side, where was another Ida and another
Dikte. There too we recognize under manifold appellations the same Great
Mother with a male satellite who may stand to her in various relationships—
a tradition which survived in Crete, in Rhea and the infant Zeus. There
too we see the same cymbal-clashing Corybantic train with names like
Panamoros, showing how deeply rooted was this idea in the old Asianic
stock. In both areas attendant animals, as different in their nature as lions
and cloves, are attributed to the Goddess. Finally, the most sacred emblem
of the aniconic cult of Crete, the double axe, is equally on the Anatolian
side a central object of cult, and its Lydian name labrys has suggested
a key not only to the title of the Carian Zeus, Labraundos, but to that of the
Labyrinth,4 here identified with the palace sanctuary of Knossos. Through-
out a wide Anatolian region very early religious traditions were taken over
by peoples of more than one stock. It is also evident that more than one
of the linguistic elements, which in that region often overlie one another, has
left its mark in the early place-names of Crete. The Phrygian element,
though it may be relatively late, clearly has its place in the island.

How far there was a true ethnic relationship between Crete and the
neighbouring Anatolian regions is not so well ascertained. The evidence of

1 Fick, Vorgriechische Ortsnamen (1905),
pp. 26, 27 ; Kretschmer, Einleitnng in die
Geschichte der griechischen Sprache, p. 357.
Among names of this class are Carian XIo-kws,
'EKttTo'/xi'ojs (Lykian E/v-aTo/xras, Akatamna^,
Lykaonian Kar^w?. Cilician Kvws, Mw<s,
1IA.W5, &c.

2 E. L. - Hicks, Inscriptions from Western
Cilicia (J. H. S., xii), pp. 230, 231, 254, 255.
The name occurs both on a tomb near the
Korykian Cave and on a stone of the N. anta
of the temple above it. There would even
seem to have been an Anatolian Knossos.
(Cf. Ramsay, J. H. S., 1912, p. ijo.)

'' Its site, still known as Minasun, was dis-
covered by Prof. Sterrett. It is also 1 \ nown
from coins with the alliance inscription—
MINAIIEHN KAI KONANEHN 0M0-
NOIA. For the comparison with Mms cf.
Fick, op. cit., p. 27.

4 Kretschmer, op. at., p. 104 and A. Fick,
op. cit., p. 6 seqq. Arkwright, on the other
hand (Lycian and Phrygian Names, J. H. S.,
1918, p. 45 seqq.) does not admit the -nd-nth
equation. Conway, B. S. A., viii. p. 154 seqq.,
while accepting the equation, regards the
-nth names in Crete and the Peloponnese as
1 Phrygo-Cretan '.