The palaces of Crete and their builders . mined the cists in the magazines of Knossos Ifound that some of them were lined with lead. This gave methe idea that these cists might have been used for the preparationof the purple dve. Sidon and Tyre certainly derived the purpleindustry from Crete or from some other isle of the ^^gean, forthe deposits of murex shells at Palaikastro, judging from thepottery found among the shells, must date at least as far back asthe middle Minoan period, at least two thousand years beforethe Christian Era. At that time the Phoenicians had not begunto trade in the Me
The palaces of Crete and their builders . mined the cists in the magazines of Knossos Ifound that some of them were lined with lead. This gave methe idea that these cists might have been used for the preparationof the purple dve. Sidon and Tyre certainly derived the purpleindustry from Crete or from some other isle of the ^^gean, forthe deposits of murex shells at Palaikastro, judging from thepottery found among the shells, must date at least as far back asthe middle Minoan period, at least two thousand years beforethe Christian Era. At that time the Phoenicians had not begunto trade in the Mediterranean. With the purple dye many gradations of colour wereprepared, shading from deep violet blue to blood red, and it wasa fast colour unaffected by washing or light. Sidon and Tyrehad perfected the art of dyeing, but we can no longer admit thatthe Phoenicians were the inventors of purple. According to Beloch ( Griechische Geschichte, i. 73), the intercourse otthe Phoenicians with Greece was not earlier than the eighth century FIG. 65.—LIBATION TABLE OF STEATITE FOUND AT PH^STOS. CHAPTER VII THE CRAFTSMEN I. * . IF it could be proved that Minos never existed it would stillbe true that a people Jived in Crete who held the dominionof the Mediterranean and built magnificent palaces. With thehelp of archaeology we can become acquainted with the socialstruggle and the life of the worker in remote ages. Even here,as ever, the humble who do everything have lett very slightindividual traces, and Cretan art appears as the sign of the powerof the few who could dominate the mass. I have studied the tombs of the poor in the Mycenaean age ; 1 have held in my hand their bones and skulls, the necklaces otstone beads and the humble vases which they placed in theirgraves, but among all the objects found in these tombs thosewhich most impressed me were the tools of a carpenter ofKnossos I (Fig. 66). His family had excavated the tomb withsuch care that that alone would test
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