The palaces of Crete and their builders . ruly worthy to be the tomb of a god. Kronos has conquered, forTime has destroyed the king of Olympus. In the Theogony of Hesiod (where the most ancient religious traditions of Hellasare best preserved), first there was chaos, then earth, and lovewho conquers every deity. Kronos, father of the gods, isgreater than all, for Time is like the river which surrounds theearth, which flowed before all things and will go on flowing for ^ Theogony, MYTHS AXD RE LI GI OX S OF CRETE 20 ? ever, bearing away on his immortal flood men and gods. Jupiterwas not
The palaces of Crete and their builders . ruly worthy to be the tomb of a god. Kronos has conquered, forTime has destroyed the king of Olympus. In the Theogony of Hesiod (where the most ancient religious traditions of Hellasare best preserved), first there was chaos, then earth, and lovewho conquers every deity. Kronos, father of the gods, isgreater than all, for Time is like the river which surrounds theearth, which flowed before all things and will go on flowing for ^ Theogony, MYTHS AXD RE LI GI OX S OF CRETE 20 ? ever, bearing away on his immortal flood men and gods. Jupiterwas not vet born when the Minoan culture flourished. Knowingcertainly of the supreme power who rules the world, men hadthen a higher ideal, and none thought of making a man of thispower. Anthropomorphic conception came later, and markedthe decadence of religious thought in the Greek mythology. The primitive religion of the Cretans probably differed littlefrom that ot the Romans, in which in remote times there was nopersonification of FIG. 90.—MOUNT JOUKTA FROM KXOSSOS. This cult has a practical tendency, and the forces and various aspects of nature are worshipped without abstract ideas ; re-ligious forms and conceptions follow the same historical process,which agrees with the psychical evolution of the peoples. Varrohas said that for a hundred and seventy years the Romansworshipped the gods without images. They were satisfied witha rock to indicate Jupiter, a spear for Mars, and fire as a symbolof Vesta. ? G. Wissowa, Religion unci Kultiis der Rocmcr, p. 20, Miinchen, 1902. 204 PALACES OF CRETE AND THEIR BUILDERS We are told that the Aryans brought with them to the landof Hellas the belief in a supreme god, a luminous god, Zeus, andthat this name is connected with the Sanscrit Djaus ; that in theIndo-Germanic languages there is the root di {dvv\ signifying toshine, and that the Aryan people brought us this god of know nothing about philology. But I do know that be
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