DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.809#0085
TRANSIT ROAD FROM KNOSSOS ACROSS CRETE 61
stages of this intercourse, we are struck in the case of Knossos with the
same unique phenomenon. Whereas in other districts of Central and Clearest
Eastern Crete the evidences of this Nilotic connexion are, except as [jonSat
regards certain minor relics, of an indirect kind, it is at Knossos and at Knossos.
Knossos alone, though lying on the North coast of the Island and
geographically most removed from Egypt, that we meet with a whole
series of objects of first-rate artistic and historic importance directly .
imported from the Nile Valley.
The causes which made this Egyptian connexion possible for the Natural
great Minoan centre on the Northern coast must be ultimately sought, as fr0m
already noted, in the physical configuration of this central sector of Crete. ^"°i!gOS
As the ancient harbour of Knossos and of the modern Candia is approached Central
. , Crete.
from the sea its characteristic aspect becomes clearly visible. The
mountainous backbone of the island, which reaches its highest level in the
snowy ridge of Ida (8,060 feet) on the West, is here seen to dip down to a
comparatively low watershed of undulating ranges, in the centre of which,
immediately behind the Minoan site, the peak of Juktas attains a minor height.
East of this again at an almost equidistant point the dorsal ridge again
attains the considerable elevation of about 7,000 feet in the Lasithi range.
It was not for nothing that Knossos lay in this ' windy gap ' of the Island,
for here were the most natural crossing points of the broad central region
between the Northern and Southern coast-land that brought the Aegean
port into connexion with the rich plain of Mesara and the adjoining havens
of the Libyan Sea.
The monumental foundations of what eventually proved to be a stepped Monu-
portico ascending the Southern slope at Knossos, brought out by the recent features
supplementary excavations, had for the first time emphasized the impor- o£S. aj>-
tance of the line of approach to the Palace on that side. The dramatic recent
revelations of 1924 further disclosed the existence of a colossal viaduct coveries.
abutting on the edge of the torrent bed below, and forming part of the
terminal section of an important Minoan roadway.
These remains and those of the ' Caravanserai' by the road-head, with
which they were connected, will receive separate treatment in the succeed-
ing Sections, but the sure indications thus supplied of a great transit route Explora-
across the centre of the Island, starting from the principal seat of its Priest- transit
Kings, made it necessary to undertake a series of exploratory expeditions. JJj"^n
The result of these researches, carried out by me at intervals, for the most part built way.
during the years 1923, 1924, has been to discover the traces of a Minoan built
way that traversed the low ranges of this central sector to the borders of the
stages of this intercourse, we are struck in the case of Knossos with the
same unique phenomenon. Whereas in other districts of Central and Clearest
Eastern Crete the evidences of this Nilotic connexion are, except as [jonSat
regards certain minor relics, of an indirect kind, it is at Knossos and at Knossos.
Knossos alone, though lying on the North coast of the Island and
geographically most removed from Egypt, that we meet with a whole
series of objects of first-rate artistic and historic importance directly .
imported from the Nile Valley.
The causes which made this Egyptian connexion possible for the Natural
great Minoan centre on the Northern coast must be ultimately sought, as fr0m
already noted, in the physical configuration of this central sector of Crete. ^"°i!gOS
As the ancient harbour of Knossos and of the modern Candia is approached Central
. , Crete.
from the sea its characteristic aspect becomes clearly visible. The
mountainous backbone of the island, which reaches its highest level in the
snowy ridge of Ida (8,060 feet) on the West, is here seen to dip down to a
comparatively low watershed of undulating ranges, in the centre of which,
immediately behind the Minoan site, the peak of Juktas attains a minor height.
East of this again at an almost equidistant point the dorsal ridge again
attains the considerable elevation of about 7,000 feet in the Lasithi range.
It was not for nothing that Knossos lay in this ' windy gap ' of the Island,
for here were the most natural crossing points of the broad central region
between the Northern and Southern coast-land that brought the Aegean
port into connexion with the rich plain of Mesara and the adjoining havens
of the Libyan Sea.
The monumental foundations of what eventually proved to be a stepped Monu-
portico ascending the Southern slope at Knossos, brought out by the recent features
supplementary excavations, had for the first time emphasized the impor- o£S. aj>-
tance of the line of approach to the Palace on that side. The dramatic recent
revelations of 1924 further disclosed the existence of a colossal viaduct coveries.
abutting on the edge of the torrent bed below, and forming part of the
terminal section of an important Minoan roadway.
These remains and those of the ' Caravanserai' by the road-head, with
which they were connected, will receive separate treatment in the succeed-
ing Sections, but the sure indications thus supplied of a great transit route Explora-
across the centre of the Island, starting from the principal seat of its Priest- transit
Kings, made it necessary to undertake a series of exploratory expeditions. JJj"^n
The result of these researches, carried out by me at intervals, for the most part built way.
during the years 1923, 1924, has been to discover the traces of a Minoan built
way that traversed the low ranges of this central sector to the borders of the