DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.809#0101
76
TRANSIT ROAD FROM KNOSSOS
Minoan
road ap-
proach-
ing H.
Thomas.
Road
remains,
&c, near
Panasos.
blue faience, f, is of special interest as attesting the survival of the elongated
prism type of earlier seal-stones. The gold ring has lost its setting, but
shows the way in which the hoop was attached. It is of the usual Late
Minoan type, here, like the other jewels, dated to L. M. I a.
Nothing could better illustrate the old connexions between Crete
and the Nile Valley than this little hoard of objects found beside the ancient
transit route. We see Egyptian trinkets of the early New Kingdom
actually on their way, and find at the same time a reminiscence of a much
more remote connexion with Egypt before the dynasties. Pyrgos itself, on
a headland commanding the entrance of a defile, which takes its name
apparently from some Byzantine fort, may well have been the station of
a Minoan phrourion. Farther on, where the winding path ascends the
upper gorge of the stream amidst still surviving remnants of ilex forest,
it makes its way for the most part between terrace walls of the old road, the
remains of which, as it approaches H. Thomas, show five or six roughly
horizontal courses of large blocksx (Fig. 35). The ' village-town' of
H. Thomas—one of the most finely situated in the island—is perched on
the edge of a declivity about 1,800 feet above sea-level, with fine out-
looks towards the ridge of Juktas and, in paler outline, the mountains of
Lasithi. It contains a bit of late Greek masonry, and is surrounded by the
fine rock-cut facades of tombs of the same period, while in a rocky glen on
its S.E. border a recess hewn in the cliff bears a dedication to Demeter
and Kore. But superficial traces of Minoan occupation are here wanting,
though about half an hour farther to the S.E., beyond the village of Megalo
Vrysi, distinct traces of the Minoan Way come again into view on the gentle
swell of the tableland leading to the upper part of the long village of
H. Varvara.
Here the old route meets the modern high road across the Island that
runs from Candia, by a wholly different route, up the Xeropotamos Valley, and
thence past Hagious Deka—the site of Gortyna. At H. Varvara a modern
mule-track branches off to the West, passing through a series of villages, and
following the only practicable passage round the Southern shoulder of Ida to the
districts beyond. The first village on this side, reached by a steep descent from
the edge of the watershed, bears the typically pre-Hellenic name of Panasos,
and here, by the old track leading out of the village to the West, I had
noticed during an early visit two Minoan column-bases built into a wall,
now destroyed. Above this village, on the opposite side of the glen to
1 One measured by me was 1.30 m. long by 0.75 m. high: another 95 cm. by 65 cm. in height.
TRANSIT ROAD FROM KNOSSOS
Minoan
road ap-
proach-
ing H.
Thomas.
Road
remains,
&c, near
Panasos.
blue faience, f, is of special interest as attesting the survival of the elongated
prism type of earlier seal-stones. The gold ring has lost its setting, but
shows the way in which the hoop was attached. It is of the usual Late
Minoan type, here, like the other jewels, dated to L. M. I a.
Nothing could better illustrate the old connexions between Crete
and the Nile Valley than this little hoard of objects found beside the ancient
transit route. We see Egyptian trinkets of the early New Kingdom
actually on their way, and find at the same time a reminiscence of a much
more remote connexion with Egypt before the dynasties. Pyrgos itself, on
a headland commanding the entrance of a defile, which takes its name
apparently from some Byzantine fort, may well have been the station of
a Minoan phrourion. Farther on, where the winding path ascends the
upper gorge of the stream amidst still surviving remnants of ilex forest,
it makes its way for the most part between terrace walls of the old road, the
remains of which, as it approaches H. Thomas, show five or six roughly
horizontal courses of large blocksx (Fig. 35). The ' village-town' of
H. Thomas—one of the most finely situated in the island—is perched on
the edge of a declivity about 1,800 feet above sea-level, with fine out-
looks towards the ridge of Juktas and, in paler outline, the mountains of
Lasithi. It contains a bit of late Greek masonry, and is surrounded by the
fine rock-cut facades of tombs of the same period, while in a rocky glen on
its S.E. border a recess hewn in the cliff bears a dedication to Demeter
and Kore. But superficial traces of Minoan occupation are here wanting,
though about half an hour farther to the S.E., beyond the village of Megalo
Vrysi, distinct traces of the Minoan Way come again into view on the gentle
swell of the tableland leading to the upper part of the long village of
H. Varvara.
Here the old route meets the modern high road across the Island that
runs from Candia, by a wholly different route, up the Xeropotamos Valley, and
thence past Hagious Deka—the site of Gortyna. At H. Varvara a modern
mule-track branches off to the West, passing through a series of villages, and
following the only practicable passage round the Southern shoulder of Ida to the
districts beyond. The first village on this side, reached by a steep descent from
the edge of the watershed, bears the typically pre-Hellenic name of Panasos,
and here, by the old track leading out of the village to the West, I had
noticed during an early visit two Minoan column-bases built into a wall,
now destroyed. Above this village, on the opposite side of the glen to
1 One measured by me was 1.30 m. long by 0.75 m. high: another 95 cm. by 65 cm. in height.