ntime only a supposition, and not
susceptible of absolute proof; but the constant recurrence of the
nine-year period is, at least, very striking, and it is worth
remembering that a custom precisely similar to that suggested has
existed in connection with several ancient monarchies, and, indeed,
survives to the present day. In the ancient Ethiopian kingdom the
King was obliged to slay himself when commanded to do so by the
priests. A similar custom prevailed in Babylonia and among the
ancient Prussians, while several modern African tribes slay their
King when the first sign of age or infirmity begins to show itself
in him. Professor Flinders Petrie has shown[*] that the greatest of
the Egyptian feasts, the 'Sed' Festival, was a ceremonial survival
of a time when the Pharaoh, the Priest-King and representative of
God on earth, was slain at fixed intervals. The object in all such
cases is manifestly to secure that the incarnation of divinity shall
always be in the prime of his vigour, and shall never know decay.
It is impossible, no doubt, to say that such a feature belonged to
the Minoan religious polity; the evidence is not such as to admit
of certainty, yet it is not unlikely that in a custom similar to
this lies the interpretation of the main features of the Minotaur
legend.

[Footnote *: 'Researches in Sinai,' pp. 181-185.]

Such, then, was the Empire of the Minoan Sea-Kings as it has been
revealed to us by the excavations and researches of the last ten
years. Apart from the actual information gained of this great race,
which must henceforward be regarded as one of the originating sources
of Greek civilization and learning, and therefore, to a great extent,
of all European culture, perhaps the most striking and interesting
result that has been attained is the remarkable confirmation given to
the broad outlines of those traditions about Crete which have survived
in the legends and in the narratives of the Greek historians. The
fable of the Minotaur is now seen to be no mere wild and monstrous
imagining, but a reflection, vague and grotesque as seen through
the mist of centuries, of customs which did actually exist in the
palace life of Knossos, and were very probably parts of the religious
practice of the country. The slaying of the Minotaur by the Athenian
Theseus may well be an echo of the conquest of the Minoan Empire by
the mainland tribes. The story which makes Theseus bring up from
the Palace of Amphitrite the