DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1066#0074
CRETE, FORERUNNER OF GREECE
they might enjoy a sense of space and freedom
even in retirement, art brought nature within
their walls. A fresco bordering the eastern light-
well depicted fishes playing in the sea; their
swift movements are indicated by showers of
sparkling drops flung across the disturbed water.
A fragment of fresco from the other light-shaft
gives a hint of forest life—a bird of gorgeous
plumage amid luxuriant verdure. Dr. Evans
has pointed out that Romans of the Empire
favoured a similar use of painting, whereby panels
decorated with out-of-door scenes gave to an
interior the illusion of perspective. Mention has
already been made of the fresco of the Dancing
Girls which covered the north wall of the Queen's
Megaron. Their costume is gay and quaint—an
open, tight - sleeved bodice over a diaphanous
chemise and a somewhat scant skirt. In a line
they moved, with tresses flying, joining out-
stretched hands, and following no doubt some
ancient mode, in which there seems to have been
more action than Cretan women would approve
to-day. Dr. Evans suggests that figures such as
this surviving on the palace walls, even in their
ruined state, may lie at the root of the Homeric
passage describing the most famous work of
Daedalus' art at Knossos—the ' Chores of Ariadne.'
Near the north-west corner of the room, a door
opens into a bath. There is not the usual descent
of two or three steps to the level of the cemented
floor, but this is the only departure from the
normal type. The other characteristic features
are all present: a portion of the room, about two-
thirds of it, reserved for the bath itself, has a
they might enjoy a sense of space and freedom
even in retirement, art brought nature within
their walls. A fresco bordering the eastern light-
well depicted fishes playing in the sea; their
swift movements are indicated by showers of
sparkling drops flung across the disturbed water.
A fragment of fresco from the other light-shaft
gives a hint of forest life—a bird of gorgeous
plumage amid luxuriant verdure. Dr. Evans
has pointed out that Romans of the Empire
favoured a similar use of painting, whereby panels
decorated with out-of-door scenes gave to an
interior the illusion of perspective. Mention has
already been made of the fresco of the Dancing
Girls which covered the north wall of the Queen's
Megaron. Their costume is gay and quaint—an
open, tight - sleeved bodice over a diaphanous
chemise and a somewhat scant skirt. In a line
they moved, with tresses flying, joining out-
stretched hands, and following no doubt some
ancient mode, in which there seems to have been
more action than Cretan women would approve
to-day. Dr. Evans suggests that figures such as
this surviving on the palace walls, even in their
ruined state, may lie at the root of the Homeric
passage describing the most famous work of
Daedalus' art at Knossos—the ' Chores of Ariadne.'
Near the north-west corner of the room, a door
opens into a bath. There is not the usual descent
of two or three steps to the level of the cemented
floor, but this is the only departure from the
normal type. The other characteristic features
are all present: a portion of the room, about two-
thirds of it, reserved for the bath itself, has a