DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7519#0302
Chapter V
A SURVEY OF THE MINOAN CIVILIZATION
THE RISE and fall of the Minoan civilization has been
sketched in the previous pages, but of necessity many general
topics have been omitted.
Racially, as far as the limited data go, the inhabitants of Physical
Crete remained unchanged from the earliest times down to the ^jtheCre"an"
end of the Bronze Age at least. The skeletons of Agios Niko-
laos differ in no way from those of Milatos. Thus it is clear
that any invasion must have been by people of an identical
stock, a conclusion in which the steady progress in arts and
crafts would incline us to believe.
The Minoans were long-headed and such few skulls of a
brachycephalic type as have been found may either be mere
freaks of nature or those of actual foreigners resident in the
island. In stature they were short, shorter on an average than
the Cretan of the present day. Increase in height, however,
with the passage of centuries is a phenomenon which appears
almost universally. It cannot be said to be due to any influx
of invaders, who, while responsible for shortening the skull,
were certainly no taller than the aboriginal inhabitants. The
present-day Cretan has, indeed, much of the Minoan in him,
for the Minoan stock, like the Egyptian, was evidently one which
readily absorbed new elements. All over the island to-day
you see the wasp waists, no longer artificially restricted but
still emphasized by the long silk girdle, the slim hips, the high
square shoulders and the long legs. Many a village boy
might be the direct descendant of the Cup-Bearer or the
Priest King, and who can deny the possibility that he may be ?
Minoan, too, is the sense of style which your modern Cretan
has above all other Greeks. His very dress, the baggy breeches
(j}Qa%a), the headcloth (fxavQOfiavdt?ii or aaoixt), the belt
{xaqafioXovai), can all be paralleled in Minoan times. The
Zouave jacket (iaeit&vi) seems to have been confined to the
women, but the well-cut riding-boots of white, red, or black
267
A SURVEY OF THE MINOAN CIVILIZATION
THE RISE and fall of the Minoan civilization has been
sketched in the previous pages, but of necessity many general
topics have been omitted.
Racially, as far as the limited data go, the inhabitants of Physical
Crete remained unchanged from the earliest times down to the ^jtheCre"an"
end of the Bronze Age at least. The skeletons of Agios Niko-
laos differ in no way from those of Milatos. Thus it is clear
that any invasion must have been by people of an identical
stock, a conclusion in which the steady progress in arts and
crafts would incline us to believe.
The Minoans were long-headed and such few skulls of a
brachycephalic type as have been found may either be mere
freaks of nature or those of actual foreigners resident in the
island. In stature they were short, shorter on an average than
the Cretan of the present day. Increase in height, however,
with the passage of centuries is a phenomenon which appears
almost universally. It cannot be said to be due to any influx
of invaders, who, while responsible for shortening the skull,
were certainly no taller than the aboriginal inhabitants. The
present-day Cretan has, indeed, much of the Minoan in him,
for the Minoan stock, like the Egyptian, was evidently one which
readily absorbed new elements. All over the island to-day
you see the wasp waists, no longer artificially restricted but
still emphasized by the long silk girdle, the slim hips, the high
square shoulders and the long legs. Many a village boy
might be the direct descendant of the Cup-Bearer or the
Priest King, and who can deny the possibility that he may be ?
Minoan, too, is the sense of style which your modern Cretan
has above all other Greeks. His very dress, the baggy breeches
(j}Qa%a), the headcloth (fxavQOfiavdt?ii or aaoixt), the belt
{xaqafioXovai), can all be paralleled in Minoan times. The
Zouave jacket (iaeit&vi) seems to have been confined to the
women, but the well-cut riding-boots of white, red, or black
267