DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.809#0265
238
HARBOUR TOWN OF KNOSSOS
Lapi-
dary's
trial-
piece.
The
Piraeus of
Knossos.
Minoan
Remains
on Hill
of Try-
peti.
Haven at
River-
Mouth ;
Defective
Shelter
without.
Island of
Dia.
windmills, near which lay the important house remains described below.
Among specimens observed by me were limestone lamps, one with a fine
foliate border, such as is seen on contemporary bronzes, a part of a vase of
Spartan basalt {lapis Lacedaemonius), of which considerable stores were found
in the Late Minoan Palace, and an unfinished ' rhyton' in grey limestone.
A further light on the artistic industry of the harbour town is thrown
by a steatite object presenting incised circles with animal figures carved in
relief (Fig. 134).1 It seems probable that we have here the trial designs of
an engraver of seal-stones, which may also have served as models for an
apprentice. An alternative view would be that the recessed reliefs are intended
for actual moulds or for repousse disks. In any case, we have here a relic
derived from the workshop of some local craftsman. The harbour town of
Knossos reveals itself indeed as a flourishing manufacturing, industrial,
and artistic centre as well as a port, and must have stood to the inland City
in much the same relation as the Piraeus stands to modern Athens.
Many remains of the ancient settlement lie on and about the rocky hill
of Trypeti, so called from a sea-worn arch on the cliff face of the headland,
Minoan pottery being specially abundant on the flat area, of many acres' ex-
tent, that forms its summit. This is of all periods, but L. M. I a sherds may
be said to predominate. Besides rock-cut foundations, some of which may
be very early, we were able to explore part of the chamber of a house
containing M. M. II sherds. On the slope to the East are remains of more
important houses, perhaps as being nearer the haven at the river-mouth.
Beyond the stream the traces of Minoan habitation extend over the hill
above the little Church of Hagia Pelagia. On the promontory beyond,
Minoan sherds, mostly M. M. Ill and Late Minoan, are still fairly abundant,
including numerous fragments of large jars. But the general impression left
by exploration on that side was that the inhabitants were of a poorer class.
As a whole, in spite of the smaller as well as the larger river-mouth
and the greater expanse of sands for drawing up vessels that seems to have
existed when the whole land front was at a lower level, the natural con-
veniences of the place as a seaport were not such as would have led us to
expect such a flourishing community. The protection afforded by the head-
land to the East was not itself of great value, since the wind in this part of
Crete blows rarely from that quarter. On the other hand, the Western horn
of the bay gave but little shelter against the prevailing North-West gales.
There stretches indeed along the horizon to the North the island of Dia,
1 From a cast supplied me by Mr. Seager, who obtained it here in ' the Lapidaries' Quarter',
HARBOUR TOWN OF KNOSSOS
Lapi-
dary's
trial-
piece.
The
Piraeus of
Knossos.
Minoan
Remains
on Hill
of Try-
peti.
Haven at
River-
Mouth ;
Defective
Shelter
without.
Island of
Dia.
windmills, near which lay the important house remains described below.
Among specimens observed by me were limestone lamps, one with a fine
foliate border, such as is seen on contemporary bronzes, a part of a vase of
Spartan basalt {lapis Lacedaemonius), of which considerable stores were found
in the Late Minoan Palace, and an unfinished ' rhyton' in grey limestone.
A further light on the artistic industry of the harbour town is thrown
by a steatite object presenting incised circles with animal figures carved in
relief (Fig. 134).1 It seems probable that we have here the trial designs of
an engraver of seal-stones, which may also have served as models for an
apprentice. An alternative view would be that the recessed reliefs are intended
for actual moulds or for repousse disks. In any case, we have here a relic
derived from the workshop of some local craftsman. The harbour town of
Knossos reveals itself indeed as a flourishing manufacturing, industrial,
and artistic centre as well as a port, and must have stood to the inland City
in much the same relation as the Piraeus stands to modern Athens.
Many remains of the ancient settlement lie on and about the rocky hill
of Trypeti, so called from a sea-worn arch on the cliff face of the headland,
Minoan pottery being specially abundant on the flat area, of many acres' ex-
tent, that forms its summit. This is of all periods, but L. M. I a sherds may
be said to predominate. Besides rock-cut foundations, some of which may
be very early, we were able to explore part of the chamber of a house
containing M. M. II sherds. On the slope to the East are remains of more
important houses, perhaps as being nearer the haven at the river-mouth.
Beyond the stream the traces of Minoan habitation extend over the hill
above the little Church of Hagia Pelagia. On the promontory beyond,
Minoan sherds, mostly M. M. Ill and Late Minoan, are still fairly abundant,
including numerous fragments of large jars. But the general impression left
by exploration on that side was that the inhabitants were of a poorer class.
As a whole, in spite of the smaller as well as the larger river-mouth
and the greater expanse of sands for drawing up vessels that seems to have
existed when the whole land front was at a lower level, the natural con-
veniences of the place as a seaport were not such as would have led us to
expect such a flourishing community. The protection afforded by the head-
land to the East was not itself of great value, since the wind in this part of
Crete blows rarely from that quarter. On the other hand, the Western horn
of the bay gave but little shelter against the prevailing North-West gales.
There stretches indeed along the horizon to the North the island of Dia,
1 From a cast supplied me by Mr. Seager, who obtained it here in ' the Lapidaries' Quarter',