one of
a year's duration, or perhaps, more probably, one of a complete
month. The supreme part which the sea played in the life of the
Cretans is shown unmistakably by the fact that practically every
Minoan site of importance is on the coast, or within easy reach of
it, while the innate national delight in all the wonderful creatures
of the marine world is seen in the constant use of their forms as
motives in decorative work. No designs are so common on Minoan
pottery as those derived from the sea; the octopus, the murex, the
nautilus, the coral, and various forms of algae, occur continually,
and are utilized with great skill, while such pictures as the Dolphin
Fresco (Plate X. 1) show the fascination which marine life had
upon the Minoan mind, and the care with which it was observed.
That commerce was thoroughly organized and attended to with that
careful precision which seems to have been characteristic of the
race is seen from the Zakro excavations, where Mr. Hogarth found
500 seal impressions in the house of a single merchant. Trade must
have been very far removed indeed from primitive conditions when
merchants were so careful about the security of their bales of
goods.

[Illustration XXVIII: SARCOPHAGUS FROM HAGIA TRIADA (_p_. 127)

_G. Maraghiannis_]

So far as the evidence goes, the Minoan Empire does not appear
to have been a specially warlike one. No doubt there was a good
deal of fighting in its history, as was the case with all ancient
empires. But the insular position of Crete, and the predominance
which the Minoan navy established on the sea, saved the island
Empire from the necessity of becoming a great military power, and
the absence of the spirit of militarism is reflected in the national
art. While an Assyrian palace would have been decorated from end to
end with pictures of barbarous bloodshed and plunder, while even
the milder Egyptians would have adorned their walls with records
of the conquests of their Pharaohs, the Kings of the House of Minos
turned to other and more gentle scenes for the decoration of their
homes. Flower-gatherers and dancing-girls, harvest festivals and
religious processions, appealed to their minds far more than the
endless and monotonous succession of horrors with which the Mesopotamian
monarchs delighted to disfigure their walls; and even the dangers
of the bull-ring, as seen on the Knossian frescoes, are mild and
gentle when compared with the abominations where Teumman