It does not appear that the gold-silver
alloy--'electrum,' of which the Egyptians were so fond--was used
by the Minoans.
[Illustration XXIX: MINOAN POTTERY (_pp_ 198 & 204)
Reproduced from _The Journal of Hellenic Studies_, by permission
of the Council of the Hellenic Society]
Of the social life of the people in these prehistoric times we
know practically nothing. Only one inference, possibly precarious
enough, may be made from one of the features of the architecture of
Knossos. There is no attempt to seclude the life of the palace from
that of the town and country around it. On the contrary, the building
seems almost to have been arranged with the view of affording the
citizens of the Minoan Empire every facility for intercourse with
the royal household. The great West Court, with its portico and
its seats along the palace wall, suggests considerable freedom of
access for the populace to the immediate neighbourhood of royalty.
It is perhaps rather a large inference to conclude that 'the very
architecture of the Palaces of Knossos and Phaestos may testify to
the power of the democracy';[*] but at least the thoughtfulness
with which the comfort of the people visiting the palace was provided
for, and the general openness and lack of any jealous seclusion,
testified to by the whole style of the buildings, suggest that
the relations between the Kings of the House of Minos and their
subjects were much more human and pleasant than those obtaining
in most ancient kingdoms.
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