Evans, Arthur J.: The Palace of Minos: a comparative account of the successive stages of the early Cretan civilization as illustred by the discoveries at Knossos (Band 3): The great transitional age in the northern and eastern sections of the Palace (London, 1930)

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LINKS WITH EPIC TRADITION

Cretan
Minia-
ture Art
supplies
link

between
early
Egypt
and epic
tradition.

with the naive dramatic force visible in the earlier reliefs of the Tomb of
Anta. Looked at, indeed, from this point of view, the siege scene on the
' rhyton ' is but a link in a long chain. In the other direction the anticipation
of the imagery of Greek epic is clearly discernible. Once more, indeed, we
see Minoan Crete serving as a medium through which, when Classical Greece
was still undreamed of, traditional methods of expression taken over from
the more ancient civilization of the Nile Valley first reached our Continent.
But considered in regard to its particular composition and details, the scene
thus recorded in small relief must before all things be regarded as an
actual document illustrating some critical episode of Minoan colonial history—
a document possibly taken over from a painted record on the walls. The
glimpses of parallel scenes, imperfect though they are, supplied by the
fragments of frescoes in the Miniature style, were no doubt in the same way
based on episodes of actual occurrence.

Fig. 59. Fragment of Steatite ' Rhyton ' from
N.E. Angle of Palace Site, Knossos. Archer,

APPARENTLY DISEMBARKING FROM A BOAT (a HORI-
ZONTAL Border of which appears) and mounting
Rocks of Conventional, Scale-shaped Outline.