DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.807#0043
i8
THE PALACE OF MINOS, ETC.
Under
Middle
Kingdom.
Hyksos
Relic at
Knossos.
Increased
Inter-
course
under
New Em-
pire.
Late
Minoan
Inter-
course
with
Egypt.
Eleventh Dynasty this transmarine influence,as illustrated by the 'button-seals'
and leg amulets, takes again a character perhaps best described as ' Egypto-
Libyan'.1 In the great clays of the 'Middle Kingdom' the purer Egyptian
element once more asserts itself,and countless Nilotic models,among which the
lotus and papyrus are very distinguishable, are henceforward assimilated by
Minoan art. The most striking record of this connexion is the diorite monu-
ment of User, found in the Central Court of the Knossian Palace in a stratum
belonoinsf to the Second Middle Minoan Period.- On the other hand, the
counterpart of the evidence from Cretan soil is seen in the beautiful poly-
chrome pottery of Middle Minoan fabric found at Kahun, Abydos, and else-
where, in association with remains of the Twelfth and the early part of the
Thirteenth Dynasty.3
An astonishing series of discoveries recently made beneath the present
sea-level off the former island of Pharos, at Alexandria, may place the rela-
tions of Ancient Egypt with the Minoan world in a wholly new light. The
moles and wharves and capacious basins have now been traced out of a vast
pre-Hellenic harbour, which rivals the Pyramids in its colossal construction.4
That the intercourse with the Nile Valley was not broken off during the
period of the Hyksos dominion is shown by the occurrence—again on the
Palace site of Knossos, in a deposit belonging to the earlier part of the
Third Middle Minoan Period—of the alabastron lid of King Khian.
It was, however, during the early part of the Late Minoan Age in Crete
and of the New Empire in Egypt that these inter-relations were most manifold
in their complexion. The correspondence of Egyptian and Minoan technique
in metal-work is often such that it is difficult to say on which side was the
borrowing. Types, too, are fused. The Egyptian griffin takes Minoan wings.
The reproduction of Nile scenes by Minoan artists is at times so accurate and
detailed as to convey the impression that guilds of Cretan craftsmen were
actually working at this time on Egyptian soil. The abundance there of im-
ported L.M. I vessels fits in, too, with a personal contact of another kind between
the Minoan world and the Nile Valley evidenced by the Egyptian representa-
tions of the People of the Isles of the Sea and their offerings. In the latest
Minoan epoch, when Crete itself had become largely isolated through the
decay of its sea-power, the commercial relations with the Nile Valley for the
most part passed into the hands of the Cypriote and Mycenaean branch, but
1 See below, p. 123. 3 See below, p. 267, Figs. 198,^, 199, a
2 See below, p. 288, Fig. 220. Theassocia- * These discoveries are due to M. Gaston
tions of the stratum in which this monument lay Jondet, Engineer in Chief of Egyptian Ports
are now thoroughly established (loc.cit. p. 287). and Lighthouses. See below, p. 292 seqq.
THE PALACE OF MINOS, ETC.
Under
Middle
Kingdom.
Hyksos
Relic at
Knossos.
Increased
Inter-
course
under
New Em-
pire.
Late
Minoan
Inter-
course
with
Egypt.
Eleventh Dynasty this transmarine influence,as illustrated by the 'button-seals'
and leg amulets, takes again a character perhaps best described as ' Egypto-
Libyan'.1 In the great clays of the 'Middle Kingdom' the purer Egyptian
element once more asserts itself,and countless Nilotic models,among which the
lotus and papyrus are very distinguishable, are henceforward assimilated by
Minoan art. The most striking record of this connexion is the diorite monu-
ment of User, found in the Central Court of the Knossian Palace in a stratum
belonoinsf to the Second Middle Minoan Period.- On the other hand, the
counterpart of the evidence from Cretan soil is seen in the beautiful poly-
chrome pottery of Middle Minoan fabric found at Kahun, Abydos, and else-
where, in association with remains of the Twelfth and the early part of the
Thirteenth Dynasty.3
An astonishing series of discoveries recently made beneath the present
sea-level off the former island of Pharos, at Alexandria, may place the rela-
tions of Ancient Egypt with the Minoan world in a wholly new light. The
moles and wharves and capacious basins have now been traced out of a vast
pre-Hellenic harbour, which rivals the Pyramids in its colossal construction.4
That the intercourse with the Nile Valley was not broken off during the
period of the Hyksos dominion is shown by the occurrence—again on the
Palace site of Knossos, in a deposit belonging to the earlier part of the
Third Middle Minoan Period—of the alabastron lid of King Khian.
It was, however, during the early part of the Late Minoan Age in Crete
and of the New Empire in Egypt that these inter-relations were most manifold
in their complexion. The correspondence of Egyptian and Minoan technique
in metal-work is often such that it is difficult to say on which side was the
borrowing. Types, too, are fused. The Egyptian griffin takes Minoan wings.
The reproduction of Nile scenes by Minoan artists is at times so accurate and
detailed as to convey the impression that guilds of Cretan craftsmen were
actually working at this time on Egyptian soil. The abundance there of im-
ported L.M. I vessels fits in, too, with a personal contact of another kind between
the Minoan world and the Nile Valley evidenced by the Egyptian representa-
tions of the People of the Isles of the Sea and their offerings. In the latest
Minoan epoch, when Crete itself had become largely isolated through the
decay of its sea-power, the commercial relations with the Nile Valley for the
most part passed into the hands of the Cypriote and Mycenaean branch, but
1 See below, p. 123. 3 See below, p. 267, Figs. 198,^, 199, a
2 See below, p. 288, Fig. 220. Theassocia- * These discoveries are due to M. Gaston
tions of the stratum in which this monument lay Jondet, Engineer in Chief of Egyptian Ports
are now thoroughly established (loc.cit. p. 287). and Lighthouses. See below, p. 292 seqq.