Hawes, Charles H.; Hawes, Harriet B.: Crete, the forerunner of Greece (London, 1909)

X
LETTERS AND RELIGION

A SURVEY of Minoan art should naturally be
followed by some reference to the literature
and religion of the period. But of literature
nothing can be said so long as the tablets remain
undecipherable. There is grave doubt lest they
contain nothing more than inventories and other
records of a strictly practical character, but it
would be premature to despair of something better.
Any day a bi-lingual inscription may be found in
Egypt, Palestine, or Asia Minor which will give us
the key we require. Many scholars are hard at
work on the problem of the Minoan Script, and
await with eagerness Dr. Evans' forthcoming
publication of the Knossian material.

We give a brief outline of the development of
Minoan writing as it is generally known to
archaeologists.1

In Early Minoan times, side by side with a class
of seal-stones that bear decorative designs of
Egyptian origin, there developed a purely local
system of crude picture signs cut on three-sided

1 The greater part of this chapter is taken from the contribu-
tions of Mrs. Williams to Gournia, pp. 51-55.