ring which Minos had thrown into the
sea, seems almost certainly to be a symbolic expression of the passing
over of the sea-power of the AEgean from the once-omnipotent Minoans
to the Achaeans and the other restless tribes who for generations
after the fall of Knossos held the dominion of the ocean, and were
the terror of all peaceful nations, and a menace to the existence
of even so great a power as Egypt. No one now dreams of hesitating
to accept the statements of Herodotus and Thucydides as to the
great sea-empire of Crete. Whoever the Minos to whom they allude
may have been--whether he was actually a single great historical
monarch who brought the glory of the kingdom to its culmination,
or whether the name was the title of a race of Kings, is a matter
of small moment. In either case the sea-power of Minoan Crete was a
reality which endured, not for one reign, but for many reigns; and
it is practically certain that, during a long period of history,
the whole sea-borne trade of Europe, Asia, and Africa, was in the
hands of these, the earliest lords of the ocean.

[Illustration XXXII: GOLDSMITHS' WORK FROM BEEHIVE TOMBS, PHAESTOS
(_p_. 216)

_G. Maraghiannis_]

The recollections of the fallen power that survived in the Greek
mind were chiefly those connected with the oppressive aspect of
the dominion which the Lord of Knossos exercised over the AEgean
area; but in Egypt there lingered for centuries a tradition which
did more justice to the glories of Minoan Crete. In the Timaeus,
Plato tells a story of how Solon went to Egypt, and was told by
a priest at Sais that long ago there had been a great island in
the western sea, where a wonderful central power held sway, not
only over the whole of its own land, but also over other islands
and parts of the continent. In an attempt at universal conquest,
this island State made war upon Greece and Egypt, but was defeated
by the Athenians, and overwhelmed by the sea as a punishment for its
sins, leaving only a range of mud-banks, dangerous to navigation,
to mark the place where it had been. In the Timaeus and Critias, Plato
describes with considerable detail the features of the island State,
and the details are such that he might almost have been describing
what the Egyptian priest who originally told the story was no doubt
endeavouring to describe--the actual port and Palace of Knossos,
with the life that went on there. 'The great harbour, for example,
with its shipping a