DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.807#0334
300
THE PALACE OF MINOS, ETC.
pared, which constantly recurs amidst the latest debris of the earlier Palaces
on both sites. The latest ceramic remains found on the lower floors in the
region of the Magazines and elsewhere at Phaestos, and those accumulated
in the circular, walled 'rubbish-pit' in connexion with the earlier West Court
there, are in many cases indistinguishable from those from the Loom-Weight
Deposit at Knossos, from the Early Magazines, and from the analogous
stratum recently explored in the great halls of the Domestic Quarter and
along the West border of the Central Court. They equally correspond with
the pottery found in the early walled rubbish-pit which was partly covered
by the later structures of the ' Theatral Area'.
We have, in fact, abundant evidence of a contemporary disaster which
befell both the great Palatial centres of Minoan Crete at the close of
the Second Middle Minoan Period.
Date of It will be seen that the date of this catastrophe, as indicated by the
strophe evidence from Kahun, followed shortly on the close of the first, brilliant period
synchro- Qf tile Thirteenth Dynasty. It thus synchronizes with the break-up of the
nizes with _ J t J J 1
Break-up unity of the Egyptian kingdom, of which advantage was to be shortly taken
Egyptian by the roving Sheikhs of the Eastern Desert to overrun the Delta. It is
Kingdom. clear that both the internal disruption of Egypt and the ensuing Hyksos
encroachments must have put an end for a while to the intimate relations
B.e§m"r between Crete and the Nile Valley. On the other hand, there is no
nmg ot ...
Hyksos warrant for invoking any direct agency from the Hyksos side to account for
o-oach- tne contemporary destruction that fell on the early Cretan Palaces and the
ments m overthrow of what we may perhaps call the old regime in the island.1 The
earlier Hyksos invasions were in fact rather in the nature of piece-meal
and irregular settlements under numerous small chiefs than of organized
Destruc- conquest, and their power was that of the desert, not of the sea. But the
MJVI. II tide which the breaking of the Pharaonic clam let loose may well have had
Palaces reactions on the Mediterranean side about which we have no information,
perhaps
Symptom and the disaster that befell Minoan Crete at this time may be ultimately
Move- shown to stand in connexion with wider historic movements which also
ment. affected the neighbouring Anatolian coastlands.
1 Dr. Eduard Meyer (Geschichte des Alter- destruction in the Palaces, on the other hand,
turns, i2, p. 716) brings the destruction of the is of earlier date, when Hyksos settlements in
Minoan Palaces into connexion with Hyksos the Delta were only, at most, in an incipient
conquests, and hints that the discovery of the stage and there can be no question of a con-
alabaster lid of King Khyan may be an indica- quest of Crete. The Khyan relic is rather an
tion of actual Hyksos dominion in the island. indication of a new peaceful relationship with
But the lid (seep. 4io,seqq.) belongs to the re-united Egypt,
penultimate epoch of M. M. III. The great
THE PALACE OF MINOS, ETC.
pared, which constantly recurs amidst the latest debris of the earlier Palaces
on both sites. The latest ceramic remains found on the lower floors in the
region of the Magazines and elsewhere at Phaestos, and those accumulated
in the circular, walled 'rubbish-pit' in connexion with the earlier West Court
there, are in many cases indistinguishable from those from the Loom-Weight
Deposit at Knossos, from the Early Magazines, and from the analogous
stratum recently explored in the great halls of the Domestic Quarter and
along the West border of the Central Court. They equally correspond with
the pottery found in the early walled rubbish-pit which was partly covered
by the later structures of the ' Theatral Area'.
We have, in fact, abundant evidence of a contemporary disaster which
befell both the great Palatial centres of Minoan Crete at the close of
the Second Middle Minoan Period.
Date of It will be seen that the date of this catastrophe, as indicated by the
strophe evidence from Kahun, followed shortly on the close of the first, brilliant period
synchro- Qf tile Thirteenth Dynasty. It thus synchronizes with the break-up of the
nizes with _ J t J J 1
Break-up unity of the Egyptian kingdom, of which advantage was to be shortly taken
Egyptian by the roving Sheikhs of the Eastern Desert to overrun the Delta. It is
Kingdom. clear that both the internal disruption of Egypt and the ensuing Hyksos
encroachments must have put an end for a while to the intimate relations
B.e§m"r between Crete and the Nile Valley. On the other hand, there is no
nmg ot ...
Hyksos warrant for invoking any direct agency from the Hyksos side to account for
o-oach- tne contemporary destruction that fell on the early Cretan Palaces and the
ments m overthrow of what we may perhaps call the old regime in the island.1 The
earlier Hyksos invasions were in fact rather in the nature of piece-meal
and irregular settlements under numerous small chiefs than of organized
Destruc- conquest, and their power was that of the desert, not of the sea. But the
MJVI. II tide which the breaking of the Pharaonic clam let loose may well have had
Palaces reactions on the Mediterranean side about which we have no information,
perhaps
Symptom and the disaster that befell Minoan Crete at this time may be ultimately
Move- shown to stand in connexion with wider historic movements which also
ment. affected the neighbouring Anatolian coastlands.
1 Dr. Eduard Meyer (Geschichte des Alter- destruction in the Palaces, on the other hand,
turns, i2, p. 716) brings the destruction of the is of earlier date, when Hyksos settlements in
Minoan Palaces into connexion with Hyksos the Delta were only, at most, in an incipient
conquests, and hints that the discovery of the stage and there can be no question of a con-
alabaster lid of King Khyan may be an indica- quest of Crete. The Khyan relic is rather an
tion of actual Hyksos dominion in the island. indication of a new peaceful relationship with
But the lid (seep. 4io,seqq.) belongs to the re-united Egypt,
penultimate epoch of M. M. III. The great