DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.807#0037
THE PALACE OP MINOS, ETC.
The
Dorian
Inter-
polation
in the
Odyssey.
Marble answers to 1462-1 b. c.1 It is well within the limits of the last
Palace Period at Knossos. A Mainland 'Mycenaean' reaction becomes,
indeed, perceptible shortly after that date, but there was certainly no room
either for Achaeans or Dorians in the island. In view, indeed, of the
essential continuity of the concluding phase of Minoan culture 2 it is highly
improbable that Greek elements had any foothold in the island even at
the later date, 1294-3, in which the name of Minos again occurs in the
Chronicle '•'—this time in connexion with Theseus.
This endeavour to annex Minos and to thrust back Achaean or Dorian
dominion in Crete into the glorious days of Minoan history is indeed
only part and parcel of a process of which many other traces are perceptible.
A striking illustration of this process is supplied by an interpolation in
the Odyssey only recently exposed by Professor Beloch,4 but which, when
once attention has been called to it, must command general recognition. This
is nothing less than the famous passage 5 which has so long supplied the
charter for the pre-Homeric occupation of Crete by Achaeans, Dorians, and
' divine Pelasgians ' in company with the old inhabitants. The poet is speak-
ing of the traditional populousness of the island, so well brought home to us
by the crowded scenes of the Knossian frescoes :—
Iv 8' dvd pomoi
iroWol diretpecTLOL, kcu ivvrjKOVTa 770X1765'
TTjcri 8' iv\ Kvoxtos, jxeydXrj tt6\.ls' ev6a re Mlvcos
ivvicopos /SacrtXeve Atos /xeydkov oapLcrrrjs.
The interpolator—regardless of the order of composition or even of the most
obvious grammatical requirements—has broken into the sentence ' Ninety-
Cities and among them Knosos ' to insert a briel summary of the later ethno-
graphy of the island—including an allusion to the three. Dorian tribes !
If we may accept the view that the name ot Minos, in its origin that of
a divinity or deified hero, was borne, like that of Attis, by a succession
of priest-kings, it goes far to explain the generalized use in which we already
find the word ' Minoan' in classical times.0 In the present connexion the
use of this term to designate the early civilization of Crete has much to
1 This is the date given by F. Jacoby,
Chronicoii Parium (1904), p. 6. J. Flach,
Chron. Par., p. 6, makes it 1423-2.
2 See Vol. II.
3 F. Jacoby, op. at., p. 8 (Flach, op. ci/.,
'1259-8').
4 Origini Cretesi: Ausonia, iv (1910),
pp. 220, 221.
5 Od. xix. 175-7 :
aW't] S'aXXojv yXCocrcra /xe/xiy/xeV/]' iv /xe^'A^atoc',
iv §' 'Ereo/cp^Te? /xeyaX^ropes, iv Se KvSwi/e?,
Acoptees re tptYaiVces, Slot re IleAacryot.
fl Already in Od. xvii. 523, where the 'stranger'
is described as Kpijrr] vaLerdow, oOl MiVwos yei'os
i<TTLv, the ' race of Minos ' seems to be equi-
valent to the old Cretan stock in this generic
sense.
The
Dorian
Inter-
polation
in the
Odyssey.
Marble answers to 1462-1 b. c.1 It is well within the limits of the last
Palace Period at Knossos. A Mainland 'Mycenaean' reaction becomes,
indeed, perceptible shortly after that date, but there was certainly no room
either for Achaeans or Dorians in the island. In view, indeed, of the
essential continuity of the concluding phase of Minoan culture 2 it is highly
improbable that Greek elements had any foothold in the island even at
the later date, 1294-3, in which the name of Minos again occurs in the
Chronicle '•'—this time in connexion with Theseus.
This endeavour to annex Minos and to thrust back Achaean or Dorian
dominion in Crete into the glorious days of Minoan history is indeed
only part and parcel of a process of which many other traces are perceptible.
A striking illustration of this process is supplied by an interpolation in
the Odyssey only recently exposed by Professor Beloch,4 but which, when
once attention has been called to it, must command general recognition. This
is nothing less than the famous passage 5 which has so long supplied the
charter for the pre-Homeric occupation of Crete by Achaeans, Dorians, and
' divine Pelasgians ' in company with the old inhabitants. The poet is speak-
ing of the traditional populousness of the island, so well brought home to us
by the crowded scenes of the Knossian frescoes :—
Iv 8' dvd pomoi
iroWol diretpecTLOL, kcu ivvrjKOVTa 770X1765'
TTjcri 8' iv\ Kvoxtos, jxeydXrj tt6\.ls' ev6a re Mlvcos
ivvicopos /SacrtXeve Atos /xeydkov oapLcrrrjs.
The interpolator—regardless of the order of composition or even of the most
obvious grammatical requirements—has broken into the sentence ' Ninety-
Cities and among them Knosos ' to insert a briel summary of the later ethno-
graphy of the island—including an allusion to the three. Dorian tribes !
If we may accept the view that the name ot Minos, in its origin that of
a divinity or deified hero, was borne, like that of Attis, by a succession
of priest-kings, it goes far to explain the generalized use in which we already
find the word ' Minoan' in classical times.0 In the present connexion the
use of this term to designate the early civilization of Crete has much to
1 This is the date given by F. Jacoby,
Chronicoii Parium (1904), p. 6. J. Flach,
Chron. Par., p. 6, makes it 1423-2.
2 See Vol. II.
3 F. Jacoby, op. at., p. 8 (Flach, op. ci/.,
'1259-8').
4 Origini Cretesi: Ausonia, iv (1910),
pp. 220, 221.
5 Od. xix. 175-7 :
aW't] S'aXXojv yXCocrcra /xe/xiy/xeV/]' iv /xe^'A^atoc',
iv §' 'Ereo/cp^Te? /xeyaX^ropes, iv Se KvSwi/e?,
Acoptees re tptYaiVces, Slot re IleAacryot.
fl Already in Od. xvii. 523, where the 'stranger'
is described as Kpijrr] vaLerdow, oOl MiVwos yei'os
i<TTLv, the ' race of Minos ' seems to be equi-
valent to the old Cretan stock in this generic
sense.