DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1021#0412
358 * THE MYCENAEAN AGE
from the East bringing- "Mycenaean" vessels to the Pha-
raohs, it simply shows that Mycenaean culture was reacting
on the older civilizations toward the sunrise. Starting out
from the shores and islands of Greece, the creators of that
culture were presently able to compete with the more pre-
cocious East, not only in arms, but in arts and industries as
well. Their handiwork soon came to rival that of Sidon
and Egypt, and the monuments upon the Nile prove no-
thing more than that the products of Mycenaean art not
only found their way to distant marts but were counted fit-
ting gifts even for an Oriental despot. Its lustrous painted
vases, notably, were in demand on three continents: we
find them at Troy, in Caria, Cyprus, Egypt,1 and even in
Sicily.
This competition with the East was the logical outcome
of Mycenaean progress, as that progress itself was in the
order of nature. Only on the assumption that the primitive
Greeks were destitute of the germs of self-development can
we deny to them the possibility of attaining in the course
of ages to the high level of the culture known to us as My-
cenaean. Nor were they the only European people of their
time in this forward movement. Their kinsmen in the
West had already entered the Bronze Age and some of them
were producing metal-work not a little like that of Mycenae.
And yet they were assuredly no better endowed, while they
were much less favorably situated: they dwelt far from the
sea and yet farther from the ancient centres of culture,
which Mycenae had (comparatively speaking) at her doors.
In fact, it was through Hellas — in part, at least — that
farther Europe communicated with the East, and it was at
Mycenaean hands that she received from the East many of
1 For example, the splendid Marseilles vase recently published by Furt-
wangler {Arch. Anzeiger, 1893, p. 9).
from the East bringing- "Mycenaean" vessels to the Pha-
raohs, it simply shows that Mycenaean culture was reacting
on the older civilizations toward the sunrise. Starting out
from the shores and islands of Greece, the creators of that
culture were presently able to compete with the more pre-
cocious East, not only in arms, but in arts and industries as
well. Their handiwork soon came to rival that of Sidon
and Egypt, and the monuments upon the Nile prove no-
thing more than that the products of Mycenaean art not
only found their way to distant marts but were counted fit-
ting gifts even for an Oriental despot. Its lustrous painted
vases, notably, were in demand on three continents: we
find them at Troy, in Caria, Cyprus, Egypt,1 and even in
Sicily.
This competition with the East was the logical outcome
of Mycenaean progress, as that progress itself was in the
order of nature. Only on the assumption that the primitive
Greeks were destitute of the germs of self-development can
we deny to them the possibility of attaining in the course
of ages to the high level of the culture known to us as My-
cenaean. Nor were they the only European people of their
time in this forward movement. Their kinsmen in the
West had already entered the Bronze Age and some of them
were producing metal-work not a little like that of Mycenae.
And yet they were assuredly no better endowed, while they
were much less favorably situated: they dwelt far from the
sea and yet farther from the ancient centres of culture,
which Mycenae had (comparatively speaking) at her doors.
In fact, it was through Hellas — in part, at least — that
farther Europe communicated with the East, and it was at
Mycenaean hands that she received from the East many of
1 For example, the splendid Marseilles vase recently published by Furt-
wangler {Arch. Anzeiger, 1893, p. 9).