The
representations of vessels painted on pre-dynastic Egyptian ware
show that the Neolithic Egyptians were familiar, to some extent,
with the building and the use of ships, and Professor Petrie supposes
that galleys such as those represented were the ships by means
of which the Egyptians and Cretans maintained their intercourse.
Mr. Hall, on the other hand, maintains that this is impossible,
and that the boats of the pre-dynastic ware are merely small
river-craft, totally unfitted for seafaring work.[*] In his 'Oldest
Civilization of Greece' he roundly asserts 'that these boats were
the ships which plied between Crete and Egypt some 4,000 years
B.C. Nothing can ever prove'; and he therefore believes that the
communication was kept up by way of Cyprus and the Palestinian
coast. But the evidence either way is of so extremely slight a
character, and the delineations in question are so rude, that it
might as well be said that nothing can ever prove that these boats
were _not_ the ships which plied between Crete and Egypt. It does
not seem obvious why the voyage between Crete and Egypt should be
impossible to navigators who could accomplish that between Crete
and Cyprus; and if communication were maintained by way of Cyprus,
it seems strange that that island should show practically no trace of
having been influenced by Minoan civilization until a comparatively
late date.
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