[*]
[Footnote *: _Cf_. Dr. Mackenzie, _Annual of the British School
at Athens_, vol. xiii., pp. 424, 425.]
In such circumstances there would be no sudden eclipse of the ancient
culture. Modified slightly, if at all, by the influx of what, after
all, was a kindred element, it would persist, as the evidence shows
it persisted, until it perished of natural decay. Even when the
Achaeans, and, later still, the Dorians, followed in the wake of the
Mycenaean immigrants, though their advent brought, as we have seen,
important changes in customs and in art motives, the ancient native
culture remained the fundamental element of the newer civilization.
It has been pointed out by Mr. Hogarth that the Geometric vases
of the early Iron Age in Crete exhibit in their decoration merely
stylized Minoan motives, while 'the shields and other bronzes of the
Idaean Cave, the latest of which come down probably to the ninth
or even the eighth century, are artistic descendants of Minoan
masterpieces modified by some element of uncouthness which was
probably of Northern origin.'[*]
[Footnote *: _Fortnightly Review_, October, 1908, p. 602.]
Thus in slow decay, after the great catastrophe, passed away the
great civilization of the Minoan Empire. Not all of the tribes
which had owned the dominion of the House of Minos were content,
however, to remain as subjects to the mainland conquerors.
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