Ancient Knossos

M., J. L.

doi:10.1038/123824a0

Books Received
Published: 01 June 1929

Ancient Knossos

J. L. M.

Nature volume 123, pages 824–827 (1929)Cite this article

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Abstract

IT is now nearly thirty years since the political liberation of Crete from Turkish rule made excavation possible on the site of ancient Knossos; and the knoll then called Kephála had been recognised, some ten years earlier still, as concealing a pre-Hellenic building, one or two chambers of which—part of the famous ‘palace magazines’ were indeed partially opened by a Cretan gentleman who had been appropriately christened Minos. Almost without intermission since 1900—except in the War years—and under the single direction of Sir Arthur Evans, the dissection, and latterly also the reconstruction, of a ‘Palace of Minos’ has gone on, with ever-widening scope outside the palace-area, and ever-growing wealth of experience suggesting re-examination of structures and substructures already recognised and cleared.

The Palace of Minos: a Comparative Account of the Successive Stages of the Early Cretan Civilisation as illustrated by the Discoveries at Knossos.

By Sir Arthur Evans. Vol. 2, Part 1: Fresh Lights on Origins and External Relations; the Restoration in Town and Palace after Seismic Catastrophe towards close of M.M. III., and the Beginnings of the New Era. Pp. xxii + 390 + 10 plates. Vol. 2, Part 2: Town-houses in Knossos of the New Era and restored West Palace Section, with its State Approach. Pp. xiv + 391-844 + 18 plates. (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1928.) 147s. net.