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)

M.M. II: EGYPTIAN MONUMENT AND RELATIONS 295

magnitude of the task almost of necessity implies the material co-opera- Colossal
tion of the Pharaonic power. The material itself was supplied by the vvork°f
limestone quarries of Mex and Dekhela on the neighbouring- mainland Evidence
coast. But the extraction and transport of the huge blocks, some of them tian Col-
over six tons in weight, could hardly have been effected without the super- tjo>°ra~
intendence of architects acquainted with such mighty works as the Pyramids
themselves.1 Special massiveness of construction was here no doubt
necessary to resist the force of the open sea, but the colossal scale of the
work surpasses anything that we know of the Minoan builders' craft.

The narrow strip of land where the quarries were situated, between the
sea and Lake Mariut, afforded a certain protection on the land side against a
sudden attack, but it is difficult to believe that the neighbouring island port
and arsenal could have come into existence or have long subsisted without
some very solid understanding with the rulers of Egypt. It has already
been remarked that as a seaport it was designed on such a scale that it must
have had the whole of Egypt in view, and it would therefore seem probable
that the Egyptian Government claimed a share in its actual control.

The lurther discovery of massive structures on the reefs and eyots Channels
West of Abu-Bakar, that guard the channels to the inner haven,2 shows that preach
it was defensively organized against possible attacks from the high sea. In g'uarded-
a certain sense the port of pre-Hellenic Pharos was based on the Egyptian
mainland. It must not be forgotten, however, that this mainland tract,
West of the Delta, was occupied by men of the older Nilotic race, who
here preserved to the last their Libyan speech and traditions.3 Their rowing
galleys, as we have seen, had already breasted the Nile in prehistoric days
and had not improbably ventured into open Mediterranean waters.

It is difficult in constructions like those of these Q-reat harbour works, Com-

• • ri o of

consisting mainly of huge rough-hewn blocks, to fix on characteristic details p*"^" °
definite enough to possess a comparative value. It has been noted above ments of

Ouays

that the Southern course of the harbour wall with its salients and returns with
suggests Minoan parallels. But the paving of this and other sections of the
quays as well as of the great breakwater certainly displays a great con-

1 M. Jondet, op. at., p. 72, remarks: 'lamasse quarries to the port of embarkation,

des materiaux mis en ceuvre est colossale 2 These are marked on M. Jondet's plan (op.

comme dans tous les edifices pharaoniques et cit., PI. Ill) as the Passe des Corvettes, the Passe

leur mise en place a presente des difhcultes de Boghaz, and the Grande Passe. For his

plus considerables que l'entassement des pierres more recent discoveries of the works on rhe

employees a la construction des grandes Pyra- rocks and islands W. of Abu-Bakar see R. Weill

mides.' He observes that in the first place (Lesports ante'helle'niques, &c, p. 7).

a road would have had to be built from the 3 Herodotus, ii. 18. Cf. pp. 17, 64, S3.

Middle
Minoan.