'
These fine Court ladies were seated, or perhaps rather squatted,
according to the curious Minoan custom, in groups, conversing in
the courts and gardens, and on the balconies of a splendid building.
In the spaces beyond were groups of men, of the same reddish-brown
complexion as the Cup-bearer, wearing loin-cloths and footgear with
puttees halfway up the leg, their long black hair done up into a
crest on the crown of the head. In one group alone thirty men appear
close to a fortified post; in another, youths are hurling javelins
against a besieged city. 'The alternating succession of subjects
in these miniature frescoes suggests the contrasted episodes of
Achilles' shield. It may be that we have here parts of a continuous
historic piece; in any case these unique illustrations of great
crowds of men and women within the walls of towns and palaces supply
a new and striking commentary on the familiar passage of Homer
describing the ancient populousness of the Cretan cities.'[*] Only
the wonderful tomb paintings of ancient Egypt can excel these vivid
miniatures in bringing before us the life of a bygone civilization;
nothing else to approach them has come down from antiquity.
[Footnote *: _Monthly Review_, March, 1901, p. 126.]
The main entrance of the palace seemingly lay on the north side,
where the road from the harbour, three and a half miles distant, ran
up to the gates.
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