By night the scene
in the palace would be even more picturesque. Greatstone lamps,
standing on tall bases, and each bearing several wicks on the margin
of its broad bowl of oil, flared in the rooms and corridors, lighting
up the brightly coloured walls, and sending many-tinted reflections
dancing from the bronze and copper vases and urns which decorated
the passages and the landings of the stairways; while through the
breadths of light and shadow moved in an always changing stream
of colour the gaily dressed figures of the Minoan Court.
Even at this exceedingly early stage of human progress, the various
branches of industry had become fairly separated and specialized,
more so, perhaps, than in the Homeric period, and a considerable
variety of tools was employed in the various crafts. The carpenter
was evidently a highly skilled craftsman, and the tools which have
survived show the variety of work which he undertook. At Knossos a
carefully hewn tomb held, along with the body of the dead artificer,
specimens of the tools of his trade--a bronze saw, adze, and chisel.
'A whole carpenter's kit lay concealed in a cranny of a Gournia
house, left behind in the owner's hurried flight when the town was
attacked and burned. He used saws long and short, heavy chisels
for stone and light for wood, awls, nails, files, and axes much
battered by use; and, what is very important to note, they resemble
in shape the tools of to-day so closely that they furnish one of
the strongest links between the first great civilization of Europe
and our own.
Pages:
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247