The Minoan and Mycenaean element in Hellenic life / [Sir Arthur Evans].

  • Evans, Arthur, Sir, 1851-1941.
Date:
1914
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The Minoan and Mycenaean element in Hellenic life / [Sir Arthur Evans]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    HELLENIC LIFE.^ By Arthur J. E5vans. ^ [With 3 plates.] In his concluding address to this society our late president re- marked that he cared more for the products of the full maturity of the Greek spirit than for its immature struggles, and this preference for fruits over roots is likely to be shared by most classical scholars. The prehistoric civilization of the land which afterwards became Hellas might indeed seem far removed from the central interests of Greek culture, and it was only with considerable hesitation that I accepted, even for a while, the position in which the society has placed me. Yet I imagine that my presence in this chair is due to a feeling on its part that what may be called the embryological department has its place among our studies. Therefore I intend to take advantage of my position here to-day to say something in favor of roots, and even of germs. These are the days of origins, and what is true of the higher forms of animal life and functional activities is equally true of many of the vital principles that inspired the mature civilization of Greece—they can not be adequately studied without constant reference to their anterior stages of evolution. Such knowledge can alone supply the key to the root significance of many later phenomena, especially in the domain of art and religion. It alone can indicate the right direction along many paths of classical research. Amidst the labyrinth of conjecture we have here an Ariadne to supply the clue. And who, indeed, was Ariadne herself but the great goddess of Minoan Crete in her Greek adoptive foim qualified as the most holy? “ The chasm,” remarks Prof. Gardner, “ dividing prehistoric from historic Greece is growing wider and deeper.” ^ In some respects perhaps—but looking at the relations of the two as a whole I venture to believe that the scientific study of Greek civilization is becoming ^From the address of the president delivered to the Hellenic Society, June, 1912. Ueprlnted by permission from The Journal of Hellenic Studies, London, vol. .S2, pt. 2, 1912, pp. 277-297. *.T. H. S., xxxl (1911), p. lix.