DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.809#0026
Site of
Knossos:
not com-
manding.
Site suit-
able for
primitive
needs.
2 LATE NEOLITHIC HOUSES BENEATH CENTRAL COURT
cause of this brilliant development of early civilization is seen to be traceable
to the opening out of communications with the Nile Valley by means of
a very ancient transit route across the island from Knossos to the havens of
the Libyan Sea, surviving vestiges of which, at least in its later form, are
described below. Monumental evidence of the supreme importance of this
Southern route is now indeed before us in the dramatic emergence of the
foundation walls and pillars of a stately portico stepping up the slope to the
Palace on that side and approached on the opposite banks of the ravine by
a viaduct of truly Cyclopean build abutting on the bridge-head.
In considering the site of Knossos and the part it played in the early
history of the East Mediterranean basin we are continually struck with the
apparent inferiority of its position as compared with that of other great
centres in the same geographical region. Troy, with its Pergamon,
dominated its plain in the same way as the acropolis of Mycenae or the
Kadmeia of Thebes. So, too, in Crete itself, Phaestos, with its rival Palace,
looks down on the long plain of Mesara. But the Palace Sanctuary of
Knossos on its artificially flattened knoll is overlooked in every direction
by better points of vantage, including the height immediately West which
formed the citadel of the Greek and Roman City. It stands back, moreover,
from the river-mouth and harbour and it is only its uppermost terrace that
catches the merest glimpse of sea. To the visitor approaching the site by the
high road from Candia its remains come suddenly into view, cradled amidst
the surrounding hills (see Fig. 1).
The explanation is to be sought in the special circumstances of its
origin. In the case of so many other ancient centres of human habitation
the deliberate designs of warlike chiefs seem to have played a leading
part in the choice of position, and the town arose within the walls or
under the shadow of a fortified acropolis of native rulers. But the begin-
nings of Knossos were of a quite different order. It seems to have taken its
rise in remote antiquity simply because it was a spot suitable for the needs
of primitive man. So far, indeed, from starting as a hill stronghold it may
be said to a great extent to have formed its own hill. As has been shown
in an earlier Section of this work,1 the hill of Kephala on which the great
Palace afterwards rose is itself essentially a ' Tell' such as we find in Egypt
or the East, built up out of the debris and deposits formed by successive
stages of occupation going back without a break to the earliest Neolithic
phase of which we have any record in the Island. The residence of
' See vol. i, pp. 34, 35.
Knossos:
not com-
manding.
Site suit-
able for
primitive
needs.
2 LATE NEOLITHIC HOUSES BENEATH CENTRAL COURT
cause of this brilliant development of early civilization is seen to be traceable
to the opening out of communications with the Nile Valley by means of
a very ancient transit route across the island from Knossos to the havens of
the Libyan Sea, surviving vestiges of which, at least in its later form, are
described below. Monumental evidence of the supreme importance of this
Southern route is now indeed before us in the dramatic emergence of the
foundation walls and pillars of a stately portico stepping up the slope to the
Palace on that side and approached on the opposite banks of the ravine by
a viaduct of truly Cyclopean build abutting on the bridge-head.
In considering the site of Knossos and the part it played in the early
history of the East Mediterranean basin we are continually struck with the
apparent inferiority of its position as compared with that of other great
centres in the same geographical region. Troy, with its Pergamon,
dominated its plain in the same way as the acropolis of Mycenae or the
Kadmeia of Thebes. So, too, in Crete itself, Phaestos, with its rival Palace,
looks down on the long plain of Mesara. But the Palace Sanctuary of
Knossos on its artificially flattened knoll is overlooked in every direction
by better points of vantage, including the height immediately West which
formed the citadel of the Greek and Roman City. It stands back, moreover,
from the river-mouth and harbour and it is only its uppermost terrace that
catches the merest glimpse of sea. To the visitor approaching the site by the
high road from Candia its remains come suddenly into view, cradled amidst
the surrounding hills (see Fig. 1).
The explanation is to be sought in the special circumstances of its
origin. In the case of so many other ancient centres of human habitation
the deliberate designs of warlike chiefs seem to have played a leading
part in the choice of position, and the town arose within the walls or
under the shadow of a fortified acropolis of native rulers. But the begin-
nings of Knossos were of a quite different order. It seems to have taken its
rise in remote antiquity simply because it was a spot suitable for the needs
of primitive man. So far, indeed, from starting as a hill stronghold it may
be said to a great extent to have formed its own hill. As has been shown
in an earlier Section of this work,1 the hill of Kephala on which the great
Palace afterwards rose is itself essentially a ' Tell' such as we find in Egypt
or the East, built up out of the debris and deposits formed by successive
stages of occupation going back without a break to the earliest Neolithic
phase of which we have any record in the Island. The residence of
' See vol. i, pp. 34, 35.