See E. G. Hirsch, _Jewish Encyclopaedia_, iv. 350. (I. A.)_Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Coucy-le-Château" to "Crocodile" Volume 7, Slice 6

CRESCENT (Lat. _crescens_, growing), originally the waxing moon, hence a

name applied to the shape of the moon in its first quarter. The crescent

is employed as a charge in heraldry, with its horns vertical; when they

are turned to the dexter side of the shield, it is called increscent,

when to the sinister, decrescent. A crescent is used as a difference to

denote the second son of a house; thus the earls of Harrington place a

crescent upon a crescent, as descending from the second son of a second

son. An order of the crescent was instituted by Charles I. of Naples and

Sicily in 1268, and revived by Rene of Anjou in 1464. A Turkish order or

decoration of the crescent was instituted by Sultan Selim III. in 1799,

in memory of the diamond crescent which he had presented to Nelson after

the battle of the Nile, and which Nelson wore on his coat as if it were

an order.

The crescent is the military and religious symbol of the Ottoman Turks.

According to the story told by Hesychius of Miletus, during the siege of

Byzantium by Philip of Macedon the moon suddenly appeared, the dogs

began to bark and aroused the inhabitants, who were thus enabled to

frustrate the enemy's scheme of undermining the walls. The grateful

Byzantines erected a statue to "torch-bearing" Hecate, and adopted the

lunar crescent as the badge of the city. It is generally supposed that

it was in turn adopted by the Turks after the capture of Constantinople

in 1453, either as a badge of triumph, or to commemorate a partial

eclipse of the moon on the night of the final attack. In reality, it

seems to have been used by them long before that event. Ala ud-din, the

Seljuk sultan of Iconium (1245-1254), and Ertoghrul, his lieutenant and

the founder of the Ottoman branch of the Turkish race, assumed it as a

device, and it appeared on the standard of the janissaries of Sultan

Orkhan (1326-1360). Since the new moon is associated with special acts

of devotion in Turkey--where, as in England, there is a popular

superstition that it is unlucky to see it through glass--it may

originally have been adopted in consequence of its religious

significance. According to Professor Ridgeway, however, the Turkish

crescent, like that seen on modern horse-trappings, has nothing to do

with the new moon, but is the result of the base-to-base conjunction of

two claw or tusk amulets, an example of which has been brought to light

during the excavations of the site of the temple of Artemis Orthia at

Sparta (see _Athenaeum_, March 21, 1908). There is nothing distinctively

Turkish in the combination of crescent and star which appears on the

Turkish national standard; the latter is shown by coins and inscriptions

to have been an ancient Illyrian symbol, and is of course common in

knightly and decorative orders. It is doubtful whether any opposition

between crescent and cross, as symbols of Islam and Christianity, was

ever intended by the Turks; and it is an historical error to attribute

the crescent to the Saracens of crusading times or the Moors in Spain.

Crescent is also the name of a Turkish musical instrument. In

architecture, a crescent is a street following the arc of a circle; the

name in this sense was first used in the Royal Crescent at Bath.

CRESCIMBENI, GIOVANNI MARIO (1663-1728), Italian critic and poet, was

born at Macerata in 1663. Having been educated by a French priest at

Rome, he entered the Jesuits' college of his native town, where he

produced a tragedy on the story of Darius, and versified the

_Pharsalia_. In 1679 he received the degree of doctor of laws, and in

1680 he removed again to Rome. The study of Filicaja and Leonico having

convinced him that he and all his contemporaries were working in a wrong

direction, he resolved to attempt a general reform. In 1690, in

conjunction with fourteen others, he founded the celebrated academy of

the Arcadians, and began the contest against false taste and its

adherents. The academy was most successful; branch societies were opened

in all the principal cities of Italy; and the influence of Marini,

opposed by the simplicity and elegance of such models as Costanzo, soon

died away. Crescimbeni officiated as secretary to the Arcadians for

thirty-eight years. In 1705 he was made canon of Santa Maria; in 1715 he

obtained the chief curacy attached to the same church; and about two

months before he died (1728) he was admitted a member of the order of

Jesus.

His principal work is the _Istoria della volgar poesia_ (Rome, 1698),

an estimate of all the poets of Italy, past and contemporary, which

may yet be consulted with advantage. The most important of his

numerous other publications are the _Commentarij_ (5 vols., Rome,

1702-1711), and _La Bellezza della volgar poezia_ (Rome, 1700).

CRESILAS, a Cretan sculptor of Cydonia. He was a contemporary of

Pheidias, and one of the sculptors who vied in producing statues of

amazons at Ephesus (see GREEK ART) about 450 B.C. As his amazon was

wounded (_volnerata_; Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ xxxiv. 75), we may safely

identify it with the figure, of which several copies are extant, who is

carefully removing her blood-stained garment from a wound under the

right breast. Another work of Cresilas of which copies survive is the

portrait of Pericles, the earliest Greek portrait which has been with

certainty identified, and which fully confirms the statement of ancient

critics that Cresilas was an artist who idealized and added nobility to

men of noble type. An extant portrait of Anacreon is also derived from

Cresilas.

CRESOLS or METHYL PHENOLS, C7H8O or C6H4.CH3.OH. The three isomeric

cresols are found in the tar obtained in the destructive distillation of

coal, beech-wood and pine. The crude cresol obtained from tar cannot be

separated into its different constituents by fractional distillation,

since the boiling points of the three isomers are very close together.

The pure substances are best obtained by fusion of the corresponding

toluene sulphonic acids with potash.

Ortho-cresol, CH3(1).C6H4.OH(2), occurs as sulphate in the urine of the

horse. It may be prepared by fusion of ortho-toluene sulphonic acid with

potash; by the action of phosphorus pentoxide on carvacrol; or by the

action of zinc chloride on camphor. It is a crystalline solid, which

melts at 30 deg. C. and boils at 190.8 deg. C. Fusion with alkalis

converts it into salicylic acid.

Meta-cresol, CH3(1).C6H4.OH(3), is formed when thymol

(para-isopropyl-meta-cresol) is heated with phosphorus pentoxide.

Propylene is liberated during the reaction, and the phosphoric acid

ester of meta-cresol which is formed is then fused with potash. It can

also be prepared by distilling meta-oxyuvitic acid with lime, or by the

action of air on boiling toluene in the presence of aluminium chloride

(C. Friedel and J. M. Crafts, _Ann. Chim. Phys._, 1888 [6], 14, p. 436).

It solidifies in a freezing mixture, on the addition of a crystal of

phenol, and then melts at 3 deg.-4 deg. C. It boils at 202 deg..8 C. Its

aqueous solution is coloured bluish-violet by ferric chloride.

Para-cresol, CH3(1).C6H4.OH(4), occurs as sulphate in the urine of the

horse. It is also found in horse's liver, being one of the putrefaction

products of tyrosine. It may be prepared by the fusion of para-toluene

sulphonic acid with potash; by the action of nitrous acid on

para-toluidine; or by heating para-oxyphenyl acetic acid with lime. It

crystallizes in prisms which melt at 36 deg. C. and boil at 201 deg..8

C. It is soluble in water, and the aqueous solution gives a blue

coloration with ferric chloride. When treated with hydrochloric acid and

potassium chlorate, no chlorinated quinones are obtained (M. S.

Southworth, _Ann._ (1873), 168, p. 271), a behaviour which distinguishes

it from ortho- and meta-cresol.

On the composition of commercial cresylic acid see A. H. Allen, _Jour.

Soc. Chem. Industry_ (1890), 9, p. 141. See also CREOSOTE.

CRESPI, DANIELE (1590-1630), Italian historical painter, was born near

Milan, and studied under Giovanni Battista Crespi and Giulio Procaccini.

He was an excellent colourist; his drawing was correct and vigorous, and

he grouped his compositions with much ability. His best work, a series

of pictures from the life of Saint Bruno, is in the monastery of the

Carthusians at Milan. Among the most famous of his paintings is a

"Stoning of St Stephen" at Brera, and there are several excellent

examples of his work in the city of his birth and at Pavia.

CRESPI, GIOVANNI BATTISTA (1557-1663), called Il Cerano, Italian

painter, sculptor, and architect, was born at Cerano in the Milanese. He

was a scholar of considerable attainments, and held a position of

dignity in his native city. He was head of the Milanese Academy founded

by Cardinal Frederigo Borromeo, and he was the teacher of Guercino. He

is most famous as a painter; and, though his figures are neither natural

nor graceful, his colouring is good, and his designs full of ideal

beauty.

CRESPI, GIUSEPPE MARIA (1665-1747), Italian painter, called "Lo

Spagnuolo" from his fondness for rich apparel, was born at Bologna, and

was trained under Angelo Toni, Domenico Canuti and Carlo Cignani. He

then went through a course of copying from Correggio and Barocci; this

he followed up with a journey to Venice for the sake of Titian and Paul

Veronese; and late in life he proclaimed himself a follower of Guercino

and Pietro da Cortona. He was a good colourist and a facile executant,

and was wont to employ the camera obscura with great success in the

treatment of light and shadow; but he was careless and unconscientious.

He was a clever portrait-painter and a brilliant caricaturist; and his

etchings after Rembrandt and Salvator are in some demand. His greatest

work, a "Massacre of the Innocents," is at Bologna; but the Dresden

gallery possesses twelve examples of him, among which is his celebrated

series of the Seven Sacraments.

CRESS, in botany. "Garden Cress" (_Lepidium sativum_) is an annual plant

(nat. ord. Cruciferae), known as a cultivated plant at the present day

in Europe, North Africa, western Asia and India, but its origin is

obscure. Alphonse de Candolle (_L'Origine des plantes cultivees_) says

its cultivation must date from ancient times and be widely diffused, for

very different names for it exist in the Arab, Persian, Albanian,

Hindustani and Bengali tongues. He considered the plant to be of Persian

origin, whence it may have spread after the Sanskrit epoch (there is no

Sanskrit name for it) into the gardens of India, Syria, Greece and North

Africa. It is used in salads, the young plants being cut and eaten while

still in the seed-leaf, forming, along with plants of the white mustard

in the same stage of growth, what is commonly called "small salad." The

seeds should be sown thickly broadcast or in rows in succession every

ten or fourteen days, according to the demand. The sowings may be made

in the open ground from March till October, the earliest under

hand-glasses, and the summer ones in a cool moist situation, where water

from trees, shrubs, walls, &c., cannot fall on or near them. The grit

thrown up by falling water pierces the tender tissues of the cress, and

cannot be thoroughly removed by washing. During winter they must be

raised on a slight hotbed, or in shallow boxes or pans placed in any of

the glass-houses where there is a temperature of 60 deg. or 65 deg..

Cress is subject to the attack of a fungus (_Pythium debaryanum_) if

kept too close and moist. The pest very quickly infects a whole sowing.

There is no cure for it; preventive measures should therefore be taken

by keeping the sowings fairly dry and well ventilated. The seed should

be sown on new soil, and should not be covered.

The "Golden" or "Australian" cress is a dwarf, yellowish-green,

mild-flavoured sort, which is cut and eaten when a little more advanced

in growth but while still young and tender. It should be sown at

intervals of a month from March onwards, the autumn sowing, for winter

and spring use, being made in a sheltered situation.

The "curled" or "Normandy" cress is a very hardy sort, of good flavour.

In this, which is allowed to grow like parsley, the leaves are picked

for use while young; and, being finely cut and curled, they are well

adapted for garnishing. It should be sown thinly, in drills, in good

soil in the open borders, in March, April and May, and for winter and

spring use at the foot of a south wall early in September, and about the

middle of October.

_Water-cress._--"Water-cress" (_Nasturtium officinale_) is a member of

the same natural order, and a native of Great Britain. Although now so

largely used, it does not appear to have been cultivated in England

prior to the 19th century, though in Germany, especially near Erfurt, it

had been grown long previously. Its flavour is due to an essential oil

containing sulphur. Water-cress is largely cultivated in shallow

ditches, prepared in wet, low-lying meadows, means being provided for

flooding the ditches at will. Where the amount of water available is

limited, the ditches are arranged at successively higher levels, so as

to allow of the volume admitted to the upper ditch being passed

successively to the others. The ditches are usually puddled with clay,

which is covered to the depth of 9 to 12 in. with well-manured soil.

A stock of plants may be raised in two ways--by cuttings, and by seeds.

If a stock is to be raised from cuttings, the desired quantity of young

shoots is gathered--those sold in bunches for salad serve the purpose

well--and reduced where necessary to about 3 in. in length, the basal

and frequently rooted portion being rejected. They are dibbled thickly

into one of the ditches, and only enough water admitted to just cover

the soil. If the start is made in late spring, the cuttings will be

rooted in a week. They are allowed to remain for another week or two,

and are then taken up and dropped about 9 in. apart into the other

ditches, which have been slightly flooded to receive them. There is no

need to plant them--the young roots will very soon be securely anchored.

The volume of water is increased as the plants grow. If raised from

seed, the seed-bed is prepared as for cuttings, and seed sown either in

drills or broadcast. No flooding is done until the seedlings are up.

Water is then admitted, the level being raised as the plants grow. When

5 or 6 in. high, they are taken up and dropped into their permanent

quarters precisely like those raised from cuttings.

Cultivated as above described, the plants afford frequent cuttings of

large clean cress of excellent flavour for market purposes. Sooner or

later growth will become less vigorous and flowering shoots will be

produced. This will be accompanied by a pronounced deterioration of the

remaining vegetative shoots. These signs will be interpreted by the

grower to mean that his plants, as a market crop, are worn out. He will

therefore take steps to repeat the routine of culture above described.

In the winter the ditches are flooded to protect the cress from frost.

The best-flavoured water-cress is produced in the pure water of running

streams over chalk or gravel soil. Should the water be contaminated by

sewage or other undesirable matter, the plants not only absorb some of

the impurities but also serve to anchor much of the solid particles

washed as scum among them. This is extremely difficult to dislodge by

washing, and renders the cress a source of danger as food.

Water-cress for domestic use may be raised as a kitchen-garden crop if

frequently watered overhead. Beds to afford cress during the summer

should be made in broad trenches on a border facing north. It may also

be raised in pots or pans stood in saucers of water and frequently

watered overhead.

In recent years in America attention has been paid to the injury done to

water-cress beds by the "water-cress sow-bug" (_Mancasellus

brachyurus_), and the "water-cress leaf-beetle" (_Phaedon aeruginosa_).

Another species of _Phaedon_ is known in England as "blue beetle" or

"mustard beetle," and is a pest also of mustard, cabbage and kohlrabi

(see F. H. Chittenden, in _Bulletin_ 66, part ii. of Bureau of

Entomology, United States Department of Agriculture, 1907).

The name "nasturtium" is applied in gardens, but incorrectly, to species

of _Tropaeolum_.

CRESSENT, CHARLES (1685-1768), French furniture-maker, sculptor and

_fondeur-ciseleur_. As the second son of Francois Cressent, _sculpteur

du roi_, and grandson of Charles Cressent, a furniture-maker of Amiens,

who also became a sculptor, he inherited the tastes and aptitudes which

were likely to make a finished designer and craftsman. Even more

important perhaps was the fact that he was a pupil of Andre Charles

Boulle. Trained in such surroundings, it is not surprising that he

should have reached a degree of achievement which has to a great extent

justified the claim that he was the best decorative artist of the 18th

century. Cressent's distinction is closely connected with the regency,

but his earlier work had affinities with the school of Boulle, while his

later pieces were full of originality. He was an artist in the widest

sense of the word. He not only designed and made furniture, but created

the magnificent gilded enrichments which are so characteristic of his

work. He was likewise a sculptor, and among his plastic work is known to

have been a bronze bust of Louis, duc d'Orleans, the son of the regent,

for whom Cressent had made one of the finest examples of French

furniture of the 18th century--the famous _medaillier_ now in the

Bibliotheque Nationale. Cressent's bronze mounts were executed with a

sharpness of finish and a grace and vigour of outline which were hardly

excelled by his great contemporary Jacques Caffieri. His female figures

placed at the corners of tables are indeed among the most delicious

achievements of the great days of the French metal worker. Much of

Cressent's work survives, and can be identified; the Louvre and the

Wallace collection are especially rich in it, and his commode at

Hertford House with gilt handles representing Chinese dragons is perhaps

the most elaborate piece he ever produced. The work of identification is

rendered comparatively easy in his case by the fact that he published

catalogues of three sales of his work. These catalogues are highly

characteristic of the man, who shared in no small degree the personal

_bravoura_ of Cellini, and could sometimes execute almost as well. He

did not hesitate to describe himself as the author of "a clock worthy to

be placed in the very finest cabinets," "the most distinguished

bronzes," or pieces of "the most elegant form adorned with bronzes of

extra richness." He worked much in marqueterie, both in tortoiseshell

and in brilliant coloured woods. He was indeed an artist to whom colour

appealed with especial force. The very type and exemplar of the

"feeling" of the regency, he is worthy to have given his own name to

some of the fashions which he deduced from it.

CRESSWELL, SIR CRESSWELL (1794-1863), English judge, was a descendant of

an old Northumberland family, and was born at Newcastle in 1794. He was

educated at the Charterhouse and at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He

graduated B.A. in 1814, and M.A. four years later. Having chosen the

profession of the law he studied at the Middle Temple, and was called to

the bar in 1819. He joined the northern circuit, and was not long in

earning a distinguished position among his professional brethren. In

1837 he entered parliament as Conservative member for Liverpool, and he

soon gained a reputation as an acute and learned debater on all

constitutional questions. In January 1842 he was made a judge of the

court of common pleas, being knighted at the same time; and this post he

occupied for sixteen years. When the new court for probate, divorce and

matrimonial causes was established (1858), Sir Cresswell Cresswell was

requested by the Liberal government to become its first judge and

undertake the arduous task of its organization. Although he had already

earned a right to retire, and possessed large private wealth, he

accepted this new task, and during the rest of his life devoted himself

to it most assiduously and conscientiously, with complete satisfaction

to the public. In one case only, out of the very large number on which

he pronounced judgment, was his decision reversed. His death was sudden.

By a fall from his horse on the 11th of July 1863 his knee-cap was

injured. He was recovering from this when on the 29th of the same month

he died of disease of the heart.

See Foss's _Lives of the Judges_; E. Manson, _Builders of our Law_

(1904).

CRESSY, HUGH PAULINUS DE (c. 1605-1674), English Benedictine monk, whose

religious name was Serenus, was born at Wakefield, Yorkshire, about

1605. He went to Oxford at the age of fourteen, and in 1626 became a

fellow of Merton College. Having taken orders, he rose to the dignity of

dean of Leighlin, Ireland, and canon of Windsor. He also acted as

chaplain to Lord Wentworth, afterwards the celebrated earl of Strafford.

For some time he travelled abroad as tutor to Lord Falmouth, and in

1646, during a visit to Rome, joined the Roman Catholic Church. In the

following year he published his _Exomologesis_ (Paris, 1647), or account

of his conversion, which was highly valued by Roman Catholics as an

answer to William Chillingworth's attacks. Cressy entered the

Benedictine Order in 1649, and for four years resided at Somerset House

as chaplain to Catherine of Braganza, wife of Charles II. He died at

West Grinstead on the 10th of August 1674. Cressy's chief work, _The

Church History of Brittanny or England, from the beginning of

Christianity to the Norman Conquest_ (1st vol. only published, Rouen,

1668), gives an exhaustive account of the foundation of monasteries

during the Saxon heptarchy, and asserts that they followed the

Benedictine rule, differing in this respect from many historians. The

work was much criticized by Lord Clarendon, but defended by Antony a

Wood in his _Athenae Oxoniensis_, who supports Cressy's statement that

it was compiled from original MSS. and from the _Annales Ecclesiae

Britannicae_ of Michael Alford, _Dugdale's Monasticon_, and the _Decem

Scriptores Historiae Anglicanae_. The second part of the history, which

has never been printed, was discovered at Douai in 1856. To Roman

Catholics Cressy's name is familiar as the editor of Walter Hilton's

_Scale of Perfection_ (London, 1659); of Father A. Baker's _Sancta

Sophia_ (2 vols., Douai, 1657); and of Juliana of Norwich's _Sixteen

Revelations on the Love of God_ (1670). These books, which would have

been lost but for Cressy's zeal, have been frequently reprinted, and

have been favourably regarded by a section of the Anglican Church.

For a complete list of Cressy's works see J. Gillow's _Bibl. Dict. of

Eng. Catholics_, vol. i.

CREST, a town of south-eastern France, in the department of Drome, on

the right bank of the Drome, 20 m. S.S.E. of Valence by rail. Pop.

(1906) town, 3971; commune, 5660. It carries on silk-worm breeding,

silk-spinning, and the manufacture of woollens, paper, leather and

cement. There is trade in truffles. On the rock which commands the town

stands a huge keep, the sole survival of a castle (12th century) to

which Crest was indebted for its importance in the middle ages and the

Religious Wars. The rest of the castle was destroyed in the first half

of the 17th century, after which the keep was used as a state prison.

Crest ranked for a time as the capital of the duchy of Valentinois, and

in that capacity belonged before the Revolution to the prince of Monaco.

The communal charter, graven on stone and dating from the 12th century,

is preserved in the public archives. Ten miles south-east of Crest lies

the picturesque Forest of Saon.

CREST (Lat. _crista_, a plume or tuft), the "comb" on an animal's head,

and so any feathery tuft or excrescence, the "cone" of a helmet (by

transference, the helmet itself), and the top or summit of anything. In

heraldry (q.v.) a crest is a device, originally borne as a cognizance on

a knight's helmet, placed on a wreath above helmet and shield in

armorial bearings, and used separately on a seal or on articles of

property.

_Cresting_, in architecture, is an ornamental finish in the wall or

ridge of a building, which is common on the continent of Europe. An

example occurs at Exeter cathedral, the ridge of which is ornamented

with a range of small _fleurs-de-lis_ in lead.

CRESTON, a city and the county-seat of Union county, Iowa, U.S.A., about

60 m. S.W. of Des Moines, at the crossing of the main line and two

branches of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railway. Pop. (1890) 7200;

(1900) 7752; (1905, state census) 8382 (753 foreign-born); (1910) 6924.

The city is on the crest of the divide between the Mississippi and the

Missouri basins at an altitude of about 1310 ft.--whence its name. It is

situated in a fine farming and stock-raising region, for which it is a

shipping point. The site was chosen in 1869 by the Burlington & Missouri

River Railroad Company (subsequently merged in the Chicago, Burlington &

Quincy Railroad Company) for the location of its shops. Creston was

incorporated as a town in 1869, and was chartered as a city in 1871.

CRESWICK, THOMAS (1811-1869), English landscape-painter, was born at

Sheffield, and educated at Hazelwood, near Birmingham. At Birmingham he

first began to paint. His earliest appearance as an exhibitor was in

1827, at the Society of British Artists in London; in the ensuing year

he sent to the Royal Academy the two pictures named "Llyn Gwynant,

Morning," and "Carnarvon Castle." About the same time he settled in

London; and in 1836 he took a house in Bayswater. He soon attracted some

attention as a landscape-painter, and had a career of uniform and

encouraging, though not signal success. In 1842 he was elected an

associate, and in 1850 a full member of the Royal Academy, which, for

several years before his death, numbered hardly any other full members

representing this branch of art. In his early practice he set an

example, then too much needed, of diligent study of nature out of doors,

painting on the spot all the substantial part of several of his

pictures. English and Welsh streams may be said to have formed his

favourite subjects, and generally British rural scenery, mostly under

its cheerful, calm and pleasurable aspects, in open daylight. This he

rendered with elegant and equable skill, colour rather grey in tint,

especially in his later years, and more than average technical

accomplishment; his works have little to excite, but would, in most

conditions of public taste, retain their power to attract. Creswick was

industrious and extremely prolific; he produced, besides a steady

outpouring of paintings, numerous illustrations for books. He was

personally genial--a dark, bulky man, somewhat heavy and graceless in

aspect in his later years. He died at his house in Bayswater, Linden

Grove, on the 28th of December 1869, after a few years of declining

health. Among his principal works may be named "England" (1847); "Home

by the Sands, and a Squally Day" (1848); "Passing Showers" (1849); "The

Wind on Shore, a First Glimpse of the Sea, and Old Trees" (1850); "A

Mountain Lake, Moonrise" (1852); "Changeable Weather" (1865); also the

"London Road, a Hundred Years ago"; "The Weald of Kent"; the "Valley

Mill" (a Cornish subject); a "Shady Glen"; the "Windings of a River";

the "Shade of the Beech Trees"; the "Course of the Greta"; the "Wharfe";

"Glendalough," and other Irish subjects, 1836 to 1840; the "Forest

Farm." Frith for figures, and Ansdell for animals, occasionally worked

in collaboration with Creswick.

In 1873 T. O. Barlow, the engraver, published a catalogue of

Creswick's works.

CRESWICK, a borough of Talbot county, Victoria, Australia. 85-1/2 m. by

rail N.W. of Melbourne. Pop. (1901) 3060. It is the centre of a mining,

pastoral and agricultural district. Gold is found both in alluvial and

quartz formations, the quartz being especially rich. The surrounding

country is fertile and well-timbered, and there is a government

plantation and nursery in connexion with the forests department.

CRETACEOUS SYSTEM, in geology, the group of stratified rocks which

normally occupy a position above the Jurassic system and below the

oldest Tertiary deposits; therefore it is in this system that the

closing records of the great Mesozoic era are to be found. The name

furnishes an excellent illustration of the inconvenience of employing a

local lithological feature in the descriptive title of a wide-ranging

rock-system. The white chalk (Lat. _creta_), which gives its name to the

system, was first studied in the Anglo-Parisian basin, where it takes a

prominent place; but even in this limited area there is a considerable

thickness and variety of rocks which are not chalky, and the Cretaceous

system as a whole contains a remarkable diversity of types of sediment.

_Classification._--The earlier subdivisions of the Cretaceous rocks were

founded upon the uncertain ground of similarity in lithological

characters, assisted by observed stratigraphical sequence. This method

yielded poor results even in a circumscribed area like Great Britain,

and it breaks down utterly when applied to the correlation of rocks of

similar age in Europe and elsewhere. Study of the fossils, however, has

elicited the fact that certain forms characterize certain "zones," which

are preceded and succeeded by other zones each bearing a peculiar

species or distinctive assemblage of species. By these means the

Cretaceous rocks of the world have now been correlated zone with zone,

with a degree of exactitude proportional to the palaeontological

information gained in the several areas of occurrence.

The Cretaceous system falls naturally into two divisions, an upper and a

lower, in all but a few limited regions. In the table on page 288 the

names of the principal stages are enumerated; these are capable of

world-wide application. The sub-stages are of more local value, and too

much importance must not be attached to them for the correlation of

distant deposits. The general table is designed to show the relative

position in the system of some of the more important and better-known

formations; but it must be remembered that the Cretaceous rocks of

Europe can now be classified in considerable detail by their fossils,

the most accurate group for this purpose being the cephalopods. The

smaller table was compiled by T. C. Chamberlin and R. D. Salisbury to

show the main subdivisions of the North American Cretaceous rocks. The

correlation of the minor subdivisions of Europe and America are only

approximate.

[Illustration: Distribution of Cretaceous Rocks]

_Relation of the Cretaceous Strata to the Systems above and below._--In

central and northern Europe the boundary between the Cretaceous and

Tertiary strata is sharply defined by a fairly general unconformity,

except in the Danian and Montian beds, where there is a certain

commingling of Tertiary with Cretaceous fossils. The relations with the

underlying Jurassic rocks are not so clearly defined, partly because the

earliest Cretaceous rocks are obscured by too great a thickness of

younger strata, and partly because the lowest observable rocks of the

system are not the oldest, but are higher members of the system that

have overlapped on to much older rocks. However, in the south of

England, in the Alpine area, and in part of N.W. Germany the passage

from Jurassic to Cretaceous is so gradual that there is some divergence

of opinion as to the best position for the line of separation. In the

Alpine region this passage is formed by marine beds, in the other two by

brackish-water deposits. In a like manner the Potomac beds of N. America

grade downwards into the Jurassic; while in the Laramie formation an

upward passage is observed into the Eocene deposits. There is a very

general unconformity and break between the Lower and Upper Cretaceous;

this has led Chamberlin and Salisbury to suggest that the Lower

Cretaceous should be regarded as a separate period with the title

"Comanchean."

_Physiographical Conditions and Types of Deposit._--With the opening of

the Cretaceous in Europe there commenced a period of marine

transgression; in the central and western European region this took

place from the S. towards the N., slow at first and local in effect, but

becoming more decided at the beginning of the upper division. During the

earlier portion of the period, S. England, Belgium and Hanover were

covered by a great series of estuarine sands and clays, termed the

Wealden formation (q.v.), the delta of a large river or rivers flowing

probably from the N.W. Meanwhile, in the rest of Europe alternations of

marine and estuarine deposits were being laid down; but over the Alpine

region lay the open sea, where there flourished coral reefs and great

banks of clam-like molluscs. The sea gradually encroached upon the

estuarine Wealden area, and at the time of the Aptian deposits uniform

marine conditions prevailed from western Europe through Russia into

Asia. This extension of the sea is illustrated in England by the overlap

of the Gault over the Lower Greens and on to the older rocks, and by

similar occurrences in N. France and Germany.

Almost throughout the Upper Cretaceous period the marine invasion

continued, varied here and there by slight movements in the opposite

sense which did not, however, interfere with the quiet general advance

of the sea. This marine extension made itself felt over the old central

plateau of France, the N. of Great Britain, the Spanish peninsula, the

Armorican peninsula, and also in the Bavarian Jura and Bohemia; it

affected the northern part of Africa and East Africa; in N. America the

sea spread over the entire length of the Rocky Mountain region; and in

Brazil, eastern Asia and western Australia, Upper Cretaceous deposits

are found resting directly upon much older rocks. Indeed, at this time

there happened one of the greatest changes in the distribution of land

and water that have been recorded in geological history.

We have seen that in early Cretaceous times marine limestones were being

formed in southern Europe, while estuarine sands and muds were being

laid down in the Anglo-German delta, and that beds of intermediate

character were being made in parts of N. France and Germany. During

later Cretaceous times this striking difference between the northern and

southern facies was maintained, notwithstanding the fact that the later

deposits were of marine origin in both regions. In the northern region

the gradual deepening and accompanying extension of the sea caused the

sandy deposits to become finer grained in N.W. Europe. The sandy beds

and clays then gave way to marly deposits, and in these early stages

glauconitic grains are very characteristically present both in the sand

and in the marls. In their turn these marly deposits in the

Anglo-Parisian basin were succeeded gradually and somewhat

intermittently by the purer, soft limestone of the chalk sea, and by

limestones, similar in character, in N. France, extra-Alpine Germany, S.

Scandinavia, Denmark and Russia. Meanwhile, the S. European deposits

maintained the characters already indicated; limestones (not chalk)

prevailed, except in certain Alpine and Carpathian tracts where detrital

sandstones were being laid down.

The great difference between the lithological characters of the northern

and southern deposits is accompanied by an equally striking difference

between their respective organic contents. In the north, the genera

_Inoceramus_ and _Belemnitella_ are particularly abundant. In the south,

the remarkable, large, clam-like, aberrant pelecypods, the

_Hippuritidae_, _Rudistes_, _Caprotina_, &c., attained an extraordinary

development; they form great lenticular banks, like the clam banks of

warm seas, or like our modern oyster-beds; they appear in successive

species in the different stages of the Cretaceous system of the south,

and can be used for marking palaeontological horizons as the cephalopods

are used elsewhere. Certain genera of ammonites, _Haploceras_,

_Lytoceras_, _Phylloceras_, rare in the north, are common in the south;

and the southern facies is further characterized by the peculiar group

of swollen belemnites (_Dumontia_), by the gasteropods _Actionella_,

_Nerinea_, &c., and by reef-building corals. The southern facies is far

more widespread and typical of the period than is the chalk; it not only

covers all southern Europe, but spreads eastwards far into Asia and

round the Mediterranean basin into Africa. It is found again in Texas,

Alabama, Mexico, the West Indies and Colombia; though limestones of the

chalk type are found in Texas, New Zealand, and locally in one or two

other places. The marine deposits are organically formed limestones, in

which foraminifera and large bivalve mollusca play a leading part, marls

and sandstones; dolomite and oolitic and pisolitic limestones are also

known.

+-----------+--------------------------------+---------------------+-----------------------+

| +--------------+-----------------+ Britain. | other parts of Europe.|

+-----------+--------------+-----------------+---------------------+-----------------------+

| | | | | |

| | | | | |

| |Turonian. | | | | \

| | | | | | |

| | | +---------------------+ Tourtia of Mons, &c. | of

+-----------+--------------+-----------------| Selbornian. +-----------------------+ Southern

| | | | Gault and Upper | | and

| | |Hauterivian. | and | |

| | | | | |

+-----------+--------------+-----------------+---------------------+-----------------------+

+-----------+--------------------------------------------------:-------------------------------------+

| | Upper Cretaceous. : Lower Cretaceous. |

+-----------+--------------------------------------------------:-------------------------------------+

| | Aptychenkalk in E. Alps ... Cretaceous Flysch... : ... Cretaceous Flysch ... |

| | Biancone of S. Alps. : Carpathian and Vienna Sandstones, |

| Alpine | : Gosau formation of E. Alps. |

| Region. | : Seewan beds of N. Alps. |

| | : Scaglia of S. Alps. |

+-----------+--------------------------------------------------:-------------------------------------+

| Africa. | Nubian Sandstone of ... : ... N. Africa and Syria. |

| | Uitenhage Beds S. Africa. : Pondoland Beds S. Africa. |

+-----------+--------------------------------------------------:-------------------------------------+

| India. | Oomia and Utatur Group. : Arialoor Beds (Deccan Trap). |

+-----------+--------------------------------------------------:-------------------------------------+

|Australia. | Rolling Down Formation. : Desert Sandstone. |

+-----------+--------------------------------------------------:-------------------------------------+

| New | Thick conglomeratic Series with Bitumous coals. : Waipara Beds and Limestones, Chalk, |

| Zealand. | : with Flints, Marls and Greensand. |

+-----------+--------------------------------------------------:-------------------------------------+

|S. America.| Puegiredon Series. Belgrano ... : ... Series. San Martin Series. |

+-----------+--------------------------------------------------:-------------------------------------+

| Japan. | Torinosa Limestone and Ryoseki Series. : Izumi Sandstone and Hokkaido Series.|

+-----------+--------------------------------------------------:-------------------------------------+

|Greenland. | Kome Group. : Atani Group. Patoot Group (part). |

+-----------+--------------------------------------------------:-------------------------------------+

_Note to Tables._

Montian from Mons in Belgium.

Danian " Denmark = _Garumnien_ of Leymerie.

Aturian " Adour.

Maestrichtian " Maestricht.

Campanian " Champagne.

Emscherian " Emscher river in Westphalia.

Santonian " Saintonge.

Coniacian " Cognac.

Senonian " Sens in department of Yonne.

Turonian " Touraine.

Angoumian " Angoumois.

Ligerian " the Loire.

Cenomanian " Le Mans (Cenomanum).

Carentonian " Charente.

Rothomagian " Rouen (_Rothomagus_).

Albian " dept. of Aube.

Selbornian " Selborne in Hampshire.

Aptian " Apt in Vaucluse.

Gargasian " Gargas near Apt.

Bedoulian " la Bedoule (Var) = _Rhodanien_ of Renevie

Barremian " Barreme in Basses Alpes.

Hauterivian " Hauterive on Lake of Neuchatel.

Valangian " Chateau de Valangin near Neuchatel.

Neocomian " Neuchatel (_Neocomum_).

Berriasian " Berrias (_Ardeche_) near Besseges.

Urgonian " Orgon near Arles.

The Cretaceous seas were probably comparatively shallow; this was

certainly the case where the deposits are sandy, and in the regions

occupied by the hippuritic fauna. Much discussion has taken place as to

the depth of the chalk sea. Stress has been laid upon the resemblance of

this deposit to the modern deep-sea globigerina-ooze; but on the whole

the evidence is in favour of moderate depth, perhaps not more than 1000

fathoms; the freedom of the deposit from detrital matter being regarded

as due to the low elevation of the surrounding land, and the main lines

of drainage being in other directions. Sandy and shore deposits are

common throughout the system in every region. Besides the Weald, there

were great lacustrine and terrestrial deposits in N. America (the

Potomac, Kootenay, Morrison, Dakota and Laramie formations) as well as

in N. Spain, and in parts of Germany, &c. The general distribution of

land and sea is indicated in the map.

_Earth Movements and Vulcanicity._--During the greater part of the

Cretaceous period crustal movements had been small and local in effect,

but towards the close a series of great deformative movements was

inaugurated and continued into the next period. These movements make it

possible to discriminate between the Cretaceous and Tertiary rocks,

because the conditions of sedimentation were profoundly modified by

them, and in most parts of the world there resulted a distinct break in

the sequence of fossil remains. Great tracts of our modern continental

land areas gradually emerged, and several mountainous tracts began to be

elevated, such as the Appalachians, parts of the Cordilleras, and the

Rocky Mountains, and their northern continuation, and indeed the greater

part of the western N. American continent was intensely affected; the

uplifting was associated with extensive faulting. Volcanic activity was

in abeyance in Europe and in much of Asia, but in America there were

many eruptions and intrusions of igneous rock towards the close of the

period. Diabases and peridotites had been formed during the Lower

Cretaceous in the San Luis Obispo region. Great masses of ash and

conglomerate occur in the Crow's Nest Pass in Canada; porphyries and

porphyritic tuffs of later Cretaceous age are important in the Andes;

while similar rocks are found in the Lower Cretaceous of New Zealand. It

is, however, in the Deccan lava flows of India that we find eruptions on

a scale more vast than any that have been recorded either before or

since. These outpourings of lava cover 200,000 sq. m. and are from 4000

to 6000 ft. thick. They lie upon an eroded Cenomanian surface and are to

some extent interbedded with Upper Cretaceous sediments.

+-----------+---------------+------------+----------------+--------------------+---------------+-------------+

+-----------+---------------+------------+----------------+--------------------+---------------+-------------+

| | | | ...... | ...... | (possibly Eocene).| Not | |

| | | | | | &c. | differentiated| |

| | +---------------+------------+----------------+--------------------+---------------+-------------+

| | +---------------+------------+----------------|--------------------+ +-------------+

| | | ...... | ...... | Woodbine. | | | Albian. |

| |...............|............|................|....................|...............|.............|

| | | | | | | | |

| \ | 2. Arundel | | | | | |

+-----------+---------------+------------+----------------+--------------------+---------------+-------------+

_Economic Products of Cretaceous Rocks._--Coal is one of the most

important products of the rocks of this system. The principal Cretaceous

coal-bearing area is in the western interior of N. America, where an

enormous amount of coal--mostly lignitic, but in places converted into

anthracite--lies in the rocks at the foot of the Rocky Mountains; most

of this is of Laramie age. Similar beds occur locally in Montana. Coal

seams of Lower Cretaceous age are found in the Black Hills (S. Dakota),

Alaska, Greenland, and in New Zealand; and the "Upper Quader" of

Lowenberg in Silesia also contains coal seams. Coals also occur in the

brackish and fresh-water deposits of Carinthia, Dalmatia and Istria,

while unimportant lignitic beds are known in many other regions. The

Fort Pierre beds are oil-bearing at Boulder, Colorado; and the Trinity

formation bears asphalt and bitumen. Important clay deposits are worked

in the Raritan formation of New Jersey, &c., and pottery clays are found

in the Lowenberg district in Germany. The Washita beds yield the

well-known hone stone. Great beds of gypsum exist in the Cretaceous

rocks of S. America. Near Salzburg a variety of the hippuritic limestone

is quarried for marble. Lithographic stone occurs in the Pyrenees. The

economic products peculiar to the chalk are mentioned in the article

CHALK. Beds of iron ore are found in the Lower Cretaceous of Germany and

England.

_The Life of the Cretaceous Period._--The fossils from the Cretaceous

series comprise marine, fresh-water and terrestrial animals and plants.

Foremost in interest and importance is the appearance in the Lower

Potomac (Lower Cretaceous) of eastern and central N. America of the

earliest representatives of angiospermous dicotyledons, and undoubted

monocotyledons, the progenitors of our modern flowering plants. The

angiosperms spread outward from the Atlantic coast region of N. America,

and first appeared in Europe in the Aptian of Portugal; towards the

close of the Lower Cretaceous period they occupied parts of Greenland,

the remaining land areas of N. America, and were steadily advancing in

every quarter of the globe. At first the Jurassic plants, the Cycads,

ferns and conifers, lived on and were the dominant plant forms.

Gradually, however, they took a subordinate place, and by the close of

the Cretaceous period the angiosperms had gained the upper hand. The

earliest of these fossil angiosperms is not in a true sense a primitive

form, and no records of such types have yet been discovered. Some of the

early forms of the Lower Cretaceous are distinctly similar to modern

genera, such as _Ficus_, _Sassafras_ and _Aralia_; others bore leaves

closely resembling our elm, maple, willow, oak, eucalyptus, &c. Before

the close of the period many other representatives of living genera had

appeared, beech, walnut, tamarisk, plane, laurel (_Laurus_), cinnamon,

ivy, ilex, viburnum, buckthorn, breadfruit, oleander and others; there

were also junipers, thujas, pines and sequoias and monocotyledons such

as _Potamogeton_ and _Arundo_. This flora was widely spread and uniform;

there was great similarity between that of Europe and N. America, and in

parts of the United States (Virginia and Maryland) the plants were very

like those in Greenland. The general aspect of the flora was

sub-tropical; the eucalyptus and other plants then common in Europe and

N. America are now confined to the southern hemisphere.

The marine fauna comprised foraminifera which must have swarmed in the

Chalk and some of the limestone seas; their shells have formed great

thickness of rock. Common forms are the genera _Alveolina_,

_Cristellaria_, _Rotalia_, _Textularia_, _Orbitolina_, _Globigerina_.

Radiolarians were doubtless abundant, but their remains are rare.

Sponges with calcareous (_Peronidilla_, _Barroisia_) and siliceous

skeletons (_Siphonia_, _Coeloptychium_, _Ventriculites_) were very

numerous in certain of the Cretaceous waters. Corals were comparatively

rare, _Trochosmilia_, _Parasmilia_, _Holocystis_ being typical genera;

reefs were formed in the Maestricht beds of Denmark and Faxoe, in the

Neocomian and Turonian of France, in the Turonian of the Alps and

Pyrenees, and also in the Gosau beds and in the Utatur group of India.

Sea-urchins were a conspicuous feature, and many nearly allied forms are

still living; _Cidaris_, _Micraster_, _Discoidea_ are examples. Crinoids

were represented by _Marsupites_, _Uintacrinus_ and _Bourgueticrinus_;

starfish (_Calliderma_ and _Pentagonaster_) were not uncommon. Polyzoa

were abundant; brachiopods were fairly common, though subordinate to the

pelecypods; they were mostly rhynchonellids and terebratulids, which

lived side by side with the ancient forms, like _Crania_ and _Discina_.

The bivalve mollusca were very important during this period,

_Inoceramus_, _Ostrea_, _Spondylus_, _Gervillia_, _Exogyra_, _Pecten_,

_Trigonia_ being particularly abundant in the northern seas, while in

the southern waters the remarkable _Hippurites_, _Radiolites_,

_Caprotina_, _Caprina_, _Monopleura_ and _Requienia_ prevailed.

Gasteropods were well represented and included many modern genera.

Cephalopods were important as a group, but the ammonites, so vigorous in

the foregoing period, were declining and were assuming curious

degenerate forms, often with a tendency to uncoil the shell;

_Baculites_, _Hoplites_, _Turrilites_, _Ptychoceras_, _Hamites_ are some

of the typical genera, while _Belemnites_ and _Belemnitella_ were

abundant in the northern seas.

The vertebrate fauna of the Cretaceous period differed in many features

from that of the present day; mammals appear to have been only poorly

represented by puny forms, related to Triassic and Jurassic types; they

were mainly marsupials (_Batodon_, _Cimolestes_) with a few

monotreme-like forms; carnivores, rodents and ungulates were still

unknown. As in Jurassic times, reptiles were the dominant forms, and not

a few genera lived on from the former period into the Cretaceous; but,

on the whole, the reptilian assemblage was no longer so varied, and most

of the distinctive mesozoic types had passed away before the close of

this period. Dinosaurs were represented by herbivorous and carnivorous

genera as in the Jurassic period, but the latter were less abundant than

before. The _Iguanodon_ of the Sussex-Weald and Bernissart in Belgium is

perhaps the best-known genus; but there were many others, their remains

being particularly abundant and well-preserved in the Cretaceous

deposits of N. America. _Titanosaurus_, _Acanthopholis_, _Megalosaurus_

and _Hypsilophodon_ may be mentioned, some of these being of great size,

while _Diclonius_ was a curious duck-billed creature; but most

remarkable in appearance must have been the horned Dinosaurs, _Ceratops_

and _Triceratops_, gross, unwieldy creatures, 25 to 30 ft. long, whose

huge heads were grotesquely armed with horns and bony frills.

Coincident, perhaps, with the widespread extension of the sea was the

development of aquatic habits and structures suitable thereto amongst

all the reptilian groups including also the birds. The foremost place

was undoubtedly taken by the pythonomorphs or sea-serpents, including

_Mosasaurus_ and many others; these were enormously elongated creatures,

reaching up to 75 ft., with swimming flappers and powerful swimming

tails, and they lived a predatory life in the open sea. Ichthyosaurians

soon disappeared from Cretaceous waters; but the plesiosaurians

(_Cimoliosaurus_ and others) reached their maximum development in this

period. The remarkable flying lizards, pterosaurs, likewise attained

their great development and then passed away; they ranged in size from

that of a pigeon to creatures with a wing-spread of 25 ft.; notable

genera are _Pteranodon_, _Ornithocheirus_, _Nyctiosaurus_. Ordinary

lizard-like forms were represented by _Coniosaurus_, _Dolichosaurus_,

&c.; and true crocodiles, _Goniopholis_, _Suchosaurus_, appeared in this

period, and continued to approximate to modern genera. The earliest

known river turtles are found in the Belly River deposits of Canada;

marine turtles also made their first appearance and were widely

represented, some of them, _Archelon_ and _Protostega_, being of great

size. True snakes appeared later in the period.

The birds, as far as existing evidence goes, were aquatic; some, like

_Ichthyornis_, were built for powerful flight; others, like

_Hesperornis_, were flightless. _Enaliornis_ is a form well known from

the Cambridge Greensand. They were toothed birds having structural

affinities with the Dinosaurs and Pterodactyles.

Fish remains of this period show that a marked change was taking place;

teleosteans (with bony internal skeleton) were taking a more prominent

place, and although ganoids were still represented (_Macropoma_,

_Lepidotus_, _Amiopris_, &c.) they had quite ceased to be the dominant

types before the close of Cretaceous times. Sharks and rays were of the

modern types, though distinct in species. Amongst the early forms of

Cretaceous teleosteans may be mentioned _Elopopsis_, _Ichthyodectes_,

_Diplomystus_ (herring), _Haplopteryx_ and _Urenchelys_ (eel).

For further information see the articles CHALK; GREENSAND; WEALDEN.

Sir A. Geikie's _Text-book of Geology_, vol. ii. (4th ed., 1903),

contains in addition to a full general account of the system very full

references to the literature.

CRETE (Gr. [Greek: Krete]; Turk. _Kirid_, Ital. _Candia_), after Sicily,

Sardinia and Cyprus the largest island in the Mediterranean, situated

between 34 deg. 50' and 35 deg. 40' N. lat. and between 23 deg. 30' and

26 deg. 20' E. long. Its north-eastern extremity, Cape Sidero, is

distant about 110 m. from Cape Krio in Asia Minor, the interval being

partly filled by the islands of Carpathos and Rhodes; its north-western,

Cape Grabusa, is within 60 m. of Cape Malea in the Morea. Crete thus

forms the natural limit between the Mediterranean and the Archipelago.

The island is of elongated form; its length from E. to W. is 160 m., its

breadth from N. to S. varies from 35 to 7-1/2 m., its area is 3330 sq.

m. The northern coast-line is much indented. On the W. two narrow

mountainous promontories, the western terminating in Cape Grabusa or

Busa (ancient Corycus), the eastern in Cape Spada, shut in the Bay of

Kisamos; beyond the Bay of Canea, to the E., the rocky peninsula of

Akrotiri shelters the magnificent natural harbour of Suda (8-1/2 sq.

m.), the only completely protected anchorage for large vessels which the

island affords. Farther E. are the bays of Candia and Malea, the deep

Mirabello Bay and the Bay of Sitia. The south coast is less broken, and

possesses no natural harbours, the mountains in many parts rising almost

like a wall from the sea; in the centre is Cape Lithinos, the

southernmost point of the island, partly sheltering the Bay of Messara

on the W. Immediately to the E. of Cape Lithinos is the small bay of

Kali Limenes or Fair Havens, where the ship conveying St Paul took

refuge (Acts xxvii. 8). Of the islands in the neighbourhood of the

Cretan coast the largest is Gavdo (ancient Clauda, Acts xxvii. 16),

about 25 m. from the south coast at Sphakia, in the middle ages the see

of a bishop. On the N. side the small island of Dia, or Standia, about 8

m. from Candia, offers a convenient shelter against northerly gales.

Three small islands on the northern coast--Grabusa at the N.W.

extremity, Suda, at the entrance to Suda harbour, and Spinalonga, in

Mirabello Bay--remained for some time in the possession of Venice after

the conquest of Crete by the Turks. Grabusa, long regarded as an

impregnable fortress, was surrendered in 1692, Suda (where the flags of

Turkey and the four protecting powers are now hoisted) and Spinalonga in

1715.

[Illustration: Map of Crete]

_Natural Features._--The greater part of the island is occupied by

ranges of mountains which form four principal groups. In the western

portion rises the massive range of the White Mountains (_Aspra Vouna_),

directly overhanging the southern coast with spurs projecting towards

the W. and N.W. (highest summit, Hagios Theodoros, 7882 ft.). In the

centre is the smaller, almost detached mass of Psiloriti ([Greek:

Hypsiloreition], ancient Ida), culminating in Stavros (8193 ft.), the

highest summit in the island. To the E. are the Lassithi mountains with

Aphenti Christos (7165 ft.), and farther E. the mountains of Sitia with

Aphenti Kavousi (4850 ft.). The Kophino mountains (3888 ft.) separate

the central plain of Messara from the southern coast. The isolated peak

of Iuktas (about 2700 ft.), nearly due S. of Candia, was regarded with

veneration in antiquity as the burial-place of Zeus. The principal

groups are for the greater part of the year covered with snow, which

remains in the deeper clefts throughout the summer; the intervals

between them are filled by connecting chains which sometimes reach the

height of 3000 ft. The largest plain is that of Monofatsi and Messara, a

fertile tract extending between Mt. Psiloriti and the Kophino range,

about 37 m. in length and 10 m. in breadth. The smaller plain, or rather

slope, adjoining Canea and the valley of Alikianu, through which the

Platanos (ancient Iardanos) flows, are of great beauty and fertility. A

peculiar feature is presented by the level upland basins which furnish

abundant pasturage during the summer months; the more remarkable are the

Omalo in the White Mountains (about 4000 ft.) drained by subterranean

outlets ([Greek: katabothra]), Nida ([Greek: eis ten Idan]) in Psiloriti

(between 5000 and 6000 ft.), and the Lassithi plain (about 3000 ft.), a

more extensive area, on which are several villages. Another remarkable

characteristic is found in the deep narrow ravines ([Greek: pharangia]),

bordered by precipitous cliffs, which traverse the mountainous

districts; into some of these the daylight scarcely penetrates. Numerous

large caves exist in the mountains; among the most remarkable are the

famous Idaean cave in Psiloriti, the caves of Melidoni, in Mylopotamo,

and Sarchu, in Malevisi, which sheltered hundreds of refugees after the

insurrection of 1866, and the Dictaean cave in Lassithi, the birth-place

of Zeus. The so-called Labyrinth, near the ruins of Gortyna, was a

subterranean quarry from which the city was built. The principal rivers

are the Metropoli Potamos and the Anapothiari, which drain the plain of

Monofatsi and enter the southern sea E. and W. respectively of the

Kophino range; the Platanos, which flows northwards from the White

Mountains into the Bay of Canea; and the Mylopotamo (ancient Oaxes)

flowing northwards from Psiloriti to the sea E. of Retimo.

_Geology._[1]--The metamorphic rocks of western Crete form a series

some 9000 to 10,000 ft. in thickness, of very varied composition. They

include gypsum, dolomite, conglomerates, phyllites, and a basic series

of eruptive rocks (gabbros, peridotites, serpentines). Glaucophane

rocks are widely spread. In the centre of the folds fossiliferous beds

with crinoids have been found, and the black slates at the top of the

series contain _Myophoria_ and other fossils, indicating that the

rocks are of Triassic age. It is, however, not impossible that the

metamorphic series includes also some of the Lias. The later beds of

the island belong to the Jurassic, Cretaceous and Tertiary systems. At

the western foot of the Ida massif calcareous beds with corals,

brachiopods (_Rhynchonella inconstans_, &c.) have been found, the

fossils indicating the horizon of the Kimmeridge clay. Lower

Cretaceous limestones and schists, with radiolarian cherts, arc

extensively developed; and in many parts of the island Upper

Cretaceous limestones with _Rudistes_ and Eocene beds with nummulites

have been found. All these are involved in the earth movements to

which the mountains of the island owe their formation, but the Miocene

beds (with _Clypeaster_) and later deposits lie almost undisturbed

upon the coasts and the low-lying ground. With the Jurassic beds is

associated an extensive series of eruptive rocks (gabbro, peridotite,

serpentine, diorite, granite, &c.); they are chiefly of Jurassic age,

but the eruptions may have continued into the Lower Cretaceous.

The structure of the island is complex. In the west the folds run from

north to south, curving gradually westward towards the southern and

western coasts; but in the east the folds appear to run from west to

east, and to be the continuation of the Dinaric folds of the Balkan

peninsula. The structure is further complicated by a great

thrust-plane which has brought the Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous beds

upon the Upper Cretaceous and Eocene beds.

_Vegetation._--The forests which once covered the mountains have for the

most part disappeared and the slopes are now desolate wastes. The

cypress still grows wild in the higher regions; the lower hills and the

valleys, which are extremely fertile, are covered with olive woods.

Oranges and lemons also abound, and are of excellent quality, furnishing

almost the whole supply of continental Greece and Constantinople.

Chestnut woods are found in the Selino district, and forests of the

valonia oak in that of Retimo; in some parts the carob tree is abundant

and supplies an important article of consumption. Pears, apples,

quinces, mulberries and other fruit-trees flourish, as well as vines;

the Cretan wines, however, no longer enjoy the reputation which they

possessed in the time of the Venetians. Tobacco and cotton succeed well

in the plains and low grounds, though not at present cultivated to any

great extent.

_Animals._--Of the wild animals of Crete, the wild goat or _agrimi

(Capra aegagrus)_ alone need be mentioned; it is still found in

considerable numbers on the higher summits of Psiloriti and the White

Mountains. The same species is found in the Caucasus and Mount Taurus,

and is distinct from the ibex or bouquetin of the Alps. Crete, like

several other large islands, enjoys immunity from dangerous serpents--a

privilege ascribed by popular belief to the intercession of Titus, the

companion of St Paul, who according to tradition was the first bishop of

the island, and became in consequence its patron saint. Wolves also are

not found in the island, though common in Greece and Asia Minor. The

native breed of mules is remarkably fine.

_Population._--The population of Crete under the Venetians was estimated

at about 250,000. After the Turkish conquest it greatly diminished, but

afterwards gradually rose, till it was supposed to have attained to

about 260,000, of whom about half were Mahommedans, at the time of the

outbreak of the Greek revolution in 1821. The ravages of the war from

1821 to 1830, and the emigration that followed, caused a great

diminution, and the population was estimated by Pashley in 1836 at only

about 130,000. In the next generation it again materially increased; it

was calculated by Spratt in 1865 as amounting to 210,000. According to

the census taken in 1881, the complete publication of which was

interdicted by the Turkish authorities, the population of the island was

279,165, or 35.78 to the square kilometre. Of this total, 141,602 were

males, 137,563 females; 33,173 were literate, 242,114 illiterate;

205,010 were orthodox Christians, 73,234 Moslems, and 921 of other

religious persuasions. The Moslem element predominated in the principal

towns, of which the population was--Candia, 21,368; Canea, 13,812;

Retimo, 9274. According to the census taken in June 1900, the population

of the island was 301,273, the Christians having increased to 267,266,

while the Moslems had diminished to 33,281. The Moslems, as well as the

Christians, are of Greek origin and speak Greek.

_Towns._--The three principal towns are on the northern coast and

possess small harbours suitable for vessels of light draught. Candia,

the former capital and the see of the archbishop of Crete (pop. in 1900,

22,501), is officially styled Herakleion; it is surrounded by remarkable

Venetian fortifications and possesses a museum with a valuable

collection of objects found at Cnossus, Phaestus, the Idaean cave and

elsewhere. It has been occupied since 1897 by British troops. Canea

(Xavia), the seat of government since 1840 (pop. 20,972), is built in

the Italian style; its walls and interesting galley-slips recall the

Venetian period. The residence of the high commissioner and the

consulates of the powers are in the suburb of Halepa. Retimo [Greek:

Rethumnos] is, like Canea, the see of a bishop (pop. 9311). The other

towns, Hierapetra, Sitia, Kisamos, Selino and Sphakia, are unimportant.

_Production and Industries._--Owing to the volcanic nature of its

soil, Crete is probably rich in minerals. Recent experiments lead to

the conclusion that iron, lead, manganese, lignite and sulphur exist

in considerable abundance. Copper and zinc have also been found. A

large number of applications for mining concessions have been received

since the establishment of the autonomous government. The principal

wealth of the island is derived from its olive groves; notwithstanding

the destruction of many thousands of trees during each successive

insurrection, the production is apparently undiminished, and will

probably increase very considerably owing to the planting of young

trees and the improved methods of cultivation which the Government is

endeavouring to promote. The orange and lemon groves have also

suffered considerably, but new varieties of the orange tree are now

being introduced, and an impulse will be given to the export trade in

this fruit by the removal of the restriction on its importation into

Greece. Agriculture is still in a primitive condition; notwithstanding

the fertility of the arable land the supply of cereals is far below

the requirements of the population. A great portion of the central

plain of Monofatsi, the principal grain-producing district, is lying

fallow owing to the exodus of the Moslem peasantry. The cultivation of

silk cocoons, formerly a flourishing industry, has greatly declined in

recent years, but efforts are now being made to revive it. There are

few manufactures. Soap is produced at fifteen factories in the

principal towns, and there are two distilleries of cognac at Candia.

_Commerce._--The expansion of Cretan commerce has been retarded by

many drawbacks, such as the unsatisfactory condition of the harbours,

the want of direct steamship lines to England and other countries, and

the deficiency of internal communications. The total value of imports

in the four years 1901-1904 was L1,756,888, of exports L1,386,777;

excess of imports over exports, L370,111. Exports in 1904 were valued

at L419,642, the principal items being agricultural products (oranges,

lemons, carobs, almonds, grapes, valonia, &c.), value L153,858, olives

and products of olives (oil, soap, &c.), L134,788, and wines and

liquors, L48,544. The countries which accept the largest share of

Cretan produce are Turkey, England, Egypt, Austria and Russia. Imports

in 1904 were valued at L549,665, including agricultural products

(mainly flour and corn), value L162,535, and textiles, L129,349.

Cereals are imported from the Black Sea and Danube ports, ready-made

clothing from Austria and Germany, articles of luxury from Austria and

France, and cotton textiles from England. Imports are charged 8%,

exports 1% _ad valorem_ duty. According to a law published in 1899,

Turkish merchandise became subjected to the same rates as that of

foreign nations.

_Constitution and Government._--During the past half-century the affairs

of Crete have repeatedly occupied the attention of Europe. Owing to the

existence of a strong Mussulman minority among its inhabitants, the

warlike character of the natives, and the mountainous configuration of

the country, which enabled a portion of the Christian population to

maintain itself in a state of partial independence, the island has

constantly been the scene of prolonged and sanguinary struggles in which

the numerical superiority of the Christians was counterbalanced by the

aid rendered to the Moslems by the Ottoman troops. This unhappy state of

affairs was aggravated and perpetuated by the intrigues set on foot at

Constantinople against successive governors of the island, the conflicts

between the Palace and the Porte, the duplicity of the Turkish

authorities, the dissensions of the representatives of the great powers,

the machinations of Greek agitators, the rivalry of Cretan politicians,

and prolonged financial mismanagement. A long series of

insurrections--those of 1821, 1833, 1841, 1858, 1866-1868, 1878, 1889

and 1896 may be especially mentioned--culminated in the general

rebellion of 1897, which led to the interference of Greece, the

intervention of the great powers, the expulsion of the Turkish

authorities, and the establishment of an autonomous Cretan government

under the suzerainty of the sultan. According to the autonomous

constitution of 1899 the supreme power was vested in Prince George of

Greece, acting as high commissioner of the protecting powers. The

authority thus conferred was confided exclusively to the prince, and was

declared liable to modification by law in the case of his successor. The

modified constitution of February 1907 curtailed the large exceptional

legislative and administrative powers then accorded. The high

commissioner is irresponsible, but his decrees, except in certain

specified cases, must be countersigned by a member of his council. He

convokes, prorogues and dissolves the chamber, sanctions laws, exercises

the right of pardon in case of political offences, represents the island

in its foreign relations and is chief of its military forces. The

chamber ([Greek: boule]), which is elected in the proportion of one

deputy to every 5000 inhabitants, meets annually for a session of two

months. New elections are held every two years. The chamber exercises a

complete financial control, and no taxes can be imposed without its

consent. The high commissioner is aided in the administration by a

cabinet of three members, styled "councillors" ([Greek: symbouloi]), who

superintend the departments of justice, finance, education, public

security and the interior. The councillors, who are nominated and

dismissed by the high commissioner, are responsible to the chamber,

which may impeach them before a special tribunal for any illegal act or

neglect of duty.

In general the Cretan constitution is characterized by a conservative

spirit, and contrasts with the ultra-democratic systems established in

Greece and the Balkan States. A further point of difference is the more

liberal payment of public functionaries in Crete. For administrative

purposes the departmental divisions existing under the Turkish

government have been retained. There are 5 _nomoi_ or prefectures

(formerly _sanjaks_) each under a prefect ([Greek: nomarchos]), and 23

eparchies (formerly _kazas_) each under a sub-prefect ([Greek:

eparchos]). All these functionaries are nominated by the high

commissioner. The prefects are assisted by departmental councils. The

system of municipal and communal government remains practically

unchanged. The island is divided into 86 communes, each with a mayor, an

assistant-mayor, and a communal council elected by the people. The

councils assess within certain limits the communal taxes, maintain

roads, bridges, &c., and generally superintend local affairs. Public

order is maintained by a force of gendarmerie ([Greek: chorophulake])

organized and at first commanded by Italian officers, who were replaced

by Greek officers in December 1906. The constitution authorizes the

formation of a militia ([Greek: politophulake]) to be enrolled by

conscription, but in existing circumstances the embodiment of this force

seems unnecessary.

_Justice._--The administration of justice is on the French model. A

supreme court of appeal, which also discharges the functions of a court

of cassation, sits at Canea. There are two assize courts at Canea and

Candia respectively with jurisdiction in regard to serious offences

([Greek: kakourgemata ]). Minor offences ([Greek: plemmelemata]) and

civil causes are tried by courts of first instance in each of the five

departments. There are 26 justices of peace, to whose decision are

referred slight contraventions of the law ([Greek: ptaismata]) and civil

causes in which the amount claimed is below 600 francs. These

functionaries also hold monthly sessions in the various communes. The

judges are chosen without regard to religious belief, and precautions

have been taken to render them independent of political parties. They

are appointed, promoted, transferred or removed by order of the council

of justice, a body composed of the five highest judicial dignitaries,

sitting at Canea. An order for the removal of a judge must be based upon

a conviction for some specified offence before a court of law. The jury

system has not been introduced. The Greek penal code has been adopted

with some modifications. The Ottoman civil code is maintained for the

present, but it is proposed to establish a code recently drawn up by

Greek jurists which is mainly based on Italian and Saxon law. The

Mussulman cadis retain their jurisdiction in regard to religious

affairs, marriage, divorce, the wardship of minors and inheritance.

_Religion and Education._--The vast majority of the Christian population

belongs to the Orthodox (Greek) Church, which is governed by a synod of

seven bishops under the presidency of the metropolitan of Candia. The

Cretan Church is not, strictly speaking, autocephalous, being dependent

on the patriarchate of Constantinople. There were in 1907 3500 Greek

churches in the island with 53 monasteries and 3 nunneries; 55 mosques,

4 Roman Catholic churches and 4 synagogues. Education is nominally

compulsory. In 1907 there were 547 primary schools (527 Christian and 20

Mahommedan), and 31 secondary schools (all Christian). About L20,000 is

granted annually by the state for the purposes of education.

_Finance._--Owing to the havoc wrought during repeated insurrections,

the impoverishment of the peasants, the desolation of the districts

formerly inhabited by the Moslem agricultural population, and the

drain of gold resulting from the sale of Moslem lands and emigration

of the former proprietors, together with other causes, the financial

situation has been unsatisfactory. Notwithstanding the advance of

L160,000 made by the four protecting powers after the institution of

autonomous government and the profits (L61,937) derived from the issue

of a new currency in 1900, there was at the beginning of 1906 an

accumulated deficit of L23,470, which represents the floating debt. In

addition to the above-mentioned debt to the powers, the state

contracted a loan of L60,000 in 1901 to acquire the rights and

privileges of the Ottoman Debt, to which the salt monopoly has been

conceded for 20 years. In the budgets for 1905 and 1906 considerable

economies were effected by the curtailment of salaries, the abolition

of various posts, and the reduction of the estimates for education and

public works. The estimated revenue and expenditure for 1906 were as

follows:--

Revenue. Expenditure.

Drachmae (gold). Drachmae (gold).

Direct taxes 1,494,000 High Commissioner 200,000

Indirect taxes 1,715,000 Financial

administration 694,670

Stamp dues 351,700 Interior (including

gendarmerie) 1,678,566

Other sources 780,967 Education and Justice 1,453,500

--------- ---------

4,341,667 4,026,736

--------- ---------

The salary of the high commissioner was reduced in 1907 to 100,000

drachmae.

Improved communications are much needed for the transport of

agricultural produce, but the state of the treasury does not admit of

more than a nominal expenditure on road-making and other public works.

On these the average yearly expenditure between 1898 and 1905 was

L13,404. The prosperity of the island depends on the development of

agriculture, the acquirement of industrious habits by the people, and

the abandonment of political agitation. The Cretans were in 1906 more

lightly taxed than any other people in Europe. The tithe had been

replaced by an export tax on exported agricultural produce levied at

the custom-houses, and the smaller peasant proprietors and shepherds

of the mountainous districts were practically exempt from any

contribution to the state. The communal tax did not exceed on the

average two francs annually for each family. The poorer communes are

aided by a state subvention. (J. D. B.)

_Archaeology._

Early, Middle and Late "Minoan" periods.

The recent exploration and excavation of early sites in Crete have

entirely revolutionized our knowledge of its remote past, and afforded

the most astonishing evidence of the existence of a highly advanced

civilization going far back behind the historic period. Great "Minoan"

palaces have been brought to light at Cnossus and Phaestus, together

with a minor but highly interesting royal abode at Hagia Triada near

Phaestus. "Minoan" towns, some of considerable extent, have been

discovered at Cnossus itself, at Gournia, Palaikastro, and at Zakro. The

cave sanctuary of the Dictaean Zeus has been explored, and throughout

the whole length and breadth of the island a mass of early materials has

now been collected. The comparative evidence afforded by the discovery

of Egyptian relics shows that the Great Age of the Cretan palaces covers

the close of the third and the first half of the second millennium

before our era. But the contents of early tombs and dwellings and

indications supplied by such objects as stone vases and seal-stones show

that the Cretans had already attained to a considerable degree of

culture, and had opened out communication with the Nile valley in the

time of the earliest Egyptian dynasties. This more primitive phase of

the indigenous culture, of which several distinct stages are traceable,

is known as the Early Minoan, and roughly corresponds with the first

half of the third millennium B.C. The succeeding period, to which the

first palaces are due and to which the name of Middle Minoan is

appropriately given, roughly coincides with the Middle Empire of Egypt.

An extraordinary perfection was at this time attained in many branches

of art, notably in the painted pottery, often with polychrome

decoration, of a class known as "Kamares" from its first discovery in a

cave of that name on Mount Ida. Imported specimens of this ware were

found by Flinders Petrie among XIIth Dynasty remains at Kahun. The

beginnings of a school of wall painting also go back to the Middle

Minoan period, and metal technique and such arts as gem engraving show

great advance. By the close of this period a manufactory of fine faience

was attached to the palace of Cnossus. The succeeding Late Minoan

period, best illustrated by the later palace at Cnossus and that at

Hagia Triada, corresponds in Egypt with the Hyksos period and the

earlier part of the New Empire. In the first phase of this the Minoan

civilization attains its acme, and the succeeding style already shows

much that may be described as rococo. The later phase, which follows on

the destruction of the Cnossian palace, and corresponds with the

diffused Mycenaean style of mainland Greece and elsewhere, is already

partly decadent. Late Minoan art in its finest aspect is best

illustrated by the animated ivory figures, wall paintings, and _gesso

duro_ reliefs at Cnossus, by the painted stucco designs at Hagia Triada,

and the steatite vases found on the same site with zones in reliefs

exhibiting life-like scenes of warriors, toreadors, gladiators,

wrestlers and pugilists, and of a festal throng perhaps representing a

kind of "harvest home." Of the more conventional side of Late Minoan

life a graphic illustration is supplied by the remains of miniature wall

paintings found in the palace of Cnossus, showing groups of court ladies

in curiously modern costumes, seated on the terraces and balustrades of

a sanctuary. A grand "palace style" of vase painting was at the same

time evolved, in harmony with the general decoration of the royal halls.

Minoan script.

It had been held till lately that the great civilization of prehistoric

Greece, as first revealed to us by Schliemann's discoveries at Mycenae,

was not possessed of the art of writing. In 1893, however, Arthur Evans

observed some signs on seal-stones from Crete which led him to believe

that a hieroglyphic system of writing had existed in Minoan times.

Explorations carried out by him in Crete from 1894 onwards, for the

purpose of investigating the prehistoric civilization of the island,

fully corroborated this belief, and showed that a linear as well as a

semi-pictorial form of writing was diffused in the island at a very

early period ("Cretan Pictographs and Prae-Phoenician Script," _Journ.

of Hellenic Studies_, xiv. pt. 11). In 1895 he obtained a libation-table

from the Dictaean cave with a linear dedication in the prehistoric

writing ("Further Discoveries," &c., _J.H.S._ xvii.). Finally in 1900

all scepticism in the learned world was set at rest by his discovery in

the palace of Cnossus of whole archives consisting of clay tablets

inscribed both in the pictographic (hieroglyphic) and linear forms of

the Minoan script (Evans, "Palace of Knossos," _Reports of Excavation,

1900-1905_; _Scripta Minoa_, vol. i., 1909). Supplementary finds of

inscribed tablets have since been found at Hagia Triada (F. Halbherr,

_Rapporto, &c., Monumenti antichi_, 1903) and elsewhere (Palaikastro,

Zakro and Gournia). It thus appears that a highly developed system of

writing existed in Minoan Crete some two thousand years earlier than the

first introduction under Phoenician influence of Greek letters. In this,

as in so many other respects, the old Cretan tradition receives striking

confirmation. According to the Cretan version preserved by Diodorus (v.

74), the Phoenicians did not invent letters but simply altered their

forms.

Earlier pictographic script.

There is evidence that the use in Crete of both linear and pictorial

signs existed in the Early Minoan period, contemporary with the first

Egyptian dynasties. It is, however, during the Middle Minoan age, the

centre point of which corresponds with the XIIth Egyptian dynasty,

according to the Sothic system of dating, c. 2000-1850 B.C., that a

systematized pictographic or hieroglyphic script makes its appearance

which is common both to signets and clay tablets. During the Third

Middle Minoan period, the lower limits of which approach 1600 B.C., this

pictographic script finally gives way to a still more developed linear

system--which is itself divided into an earlier and a later class. The

earlier class (A) is already found in the temple repositories of Cnossus

belonging to the age immediately preceding the great remodelling of the

palace, and this class is specially well represented in the tablets of

Hagia Triada (M.M. iii. and L.M. i.). The later class (B) of the linear

script is that used on the great bulk of the clay tablets of the

Cnossian palace, amounting in number to nearly 2000.

These clay archives are almost exclusively inventories and business

documents. Their general purport is shown in many cases by pictorial

figures relating to various objects which appear on them--such as

chariots and horses, ingots and metal vases, arms and implements, stores

of corn, &c., flocks and herds. Many showing human figures apparently

contain lists of personal names. A decimal system of numeration was

used, with numbers going up to 10,000. But the script itself is as yet

undeciphered, though it is clear that certain words have changing

suffixes, and that there were many compound words. The script also

recurs on walls in the shape of graffiti, and on vases, sometimes

ink-written; and from the number of seals originally attached to

perishable documents it is probable that parchment or some similar

material was also used. In the easternmost district of Crete, where the

aboriginal "Eteocretan" element survived to historic times (Praesus,

Palaikastro), later inscriptions have been discovered belonging to the

5th and succeeding centuries B.C., written in Greek letters but in the

indigenous language (Comparetti, _Mon. Ant._ iii. 451 sqq.; R. S.

Conway, _British School Annual_, viii. 125 sqq. and ib. xl.). In 1908 a

remarkable discovery was made by the Italian Mission at Phaestus of a

clay disk with imprinted hieroglyphic characters belonging to a

non-Cretan system and probably from W. Anatolia.

Character of Minoan religion.

The remains of several shrines within the building, and the religious

element perceptible in the frescoes, show that a considerable part of

the Palace of Cnossus was devoted to purposes of cult. It is clear that

the rulers, as so commonly in ancient states, fulfilled priestly as well

as royal functions. The evidence supplied by this and other Cretan sites

shows that the principal Minoan divinity was a kind of _Magna Mater_, a

Great Mother or nature goddess, with whom was associated a male

satellite. The cult in fact corresponds in its main outlines with the

early religious conceptions of Syria and a large part of Anatolia--a

correspondence probably explained by a considerable amount of ethnic

affinity existing between a large section of the primitive Cretan

population and that of southern Asia Minor. The Minoan goddess is

sometimes seen in her chthonic form with serpents, sometimes in a more

celestial aspect with doves, at times with lions. One part of her

religious being survives in that of the later Rhea, another in that of

Aphrodite, one of whose epithets, _Ariadne_ ( = the exceeding holy),

takes us back to the earliest Cnossian tradition. Under her native name,

Britomartis ( = the sweet maiden) or Dictynna, she approaches Artemis

and Leto, again associated with an infant god, and this Cretan virgin

goddess was worshipped in Aegina under the name of Aphaea. It is

noteworthy that whereas, in Greece proper, Zeus attains a supreme

position, the old superiority of the Mother Goddess is still visible in

the Cretan traditions of Rhea and Dictynna and the infant Zeus.

Although images of the divinities were certainly known, the principal

objects of cult in the Minoan age were of the aniconic class; in many

cases these were natural objects, such as rocks and mountain peaks, with

their cave sanctuaries, like those of Ida or of Dicte. Trees and

curiously shaped stones were also worshipped, and artificial pillars of

wood or stone. These latter, as in the well-known case of the Lion's

Gate at Mycenae, often appear with guardian animals as their supporters.

The essential feature of this cult is the bringing down of the celestial

spirit by proper incantations and ritual into these fetish objects, the

dove perched on a column sometimes indicating its descent. It is a

primitive cult similar to that of Early Canaan, illustrated by the

pillow stone set up by Jacob, which was literally "Bethel" or the "House

of God." The story of the _baetylus_, or stone swallowed by Saturn under

the belief that it was his son, the Cretan Zeus, seems to cover the same

idea and has been derived from the same Semitic word.

A special form of this "baetylic" cult in Minoan Crete was the

representation of the two principal divinities in their fetish form by

double axes. Shrines of the Double Axes have been found in the palace of

Cnossus itself, at Hagia Triada, and in a small palace at Gournia, and

many specimens of the sacred emblem occurred in the Cave Sanctuary of

Dicte, the mythical birthplace of the Cretan Zeus. Complete scenes of

worship in which libations are poured before the Sacred Axes are,

moreover, given on a fine painted sarcophagus found at Hagia Triada.

Labyrinth and Minotaur.

The same cult survived to later times in Caria in the case of Zeus

Labrandeus, whose name is derived from _labrys_, the native name for the

double axe, and it had already been suggested on philological grounds

that the Cretan "labyrinthos" was formed from a kindred form of the same

word. The discovery that the great Minoan foundation at Cnossus was at

once a palace and a sanctuary of the Double Axe and its associated

divinities has now supplied a striking and it may well be thought an

overwhelming confirmation of this view. We can hardly any longer

hesitate to recognize in this vast building, with its winding corridors

and subterranean ducts, the Labyrinth of later tradition; and as a

matter of fact a maze pattern recalling the conventional representation

of the Labyrinth in Greek art actually formed the decoration of one of

the corridors of the palace. It is difficult, moreover, not to connect

the repeated wall-paintings and reliefs of the palace illustrating the

cruel bull sports of the Minoan arena, in which girls as well as youths

took part, with the legend of the Minotaur, or bull of Minos, for whose

grisly meals Athens was forced to pay annual tribute of her sons and

daughters. It appears certain from the associations in which they are

found at Cnossus, that these Minoan bull sports formed part of a

religious ceremony. Actual figures of a monster with a bull's head and

man's body occurred on seals of Minoan fabric found on this and other

Cretan sites.

Historic substratum of Cretan myths.

It is abundantly evident that whatever mythic element may have been

interwoven with the old traditions of the spot, they have a solid

substratum of reality. With such remains before us it is no longer

sufficient to relegate Minos to the regions of sun-myths. His legendary

presentation as the "Friend of God," like Abraham, to whom as to Moses

the law was revealed on the holy mountain, calls up indeed just such a

priest-king of antiquity as the palace-sanctuary of Cnossus itself

presupposes. It seems possible even that the ancient tradition which

recorded an earlier or later king of the name of Minos may, as suggested

above, cover a dynastic title. The earlier and later palaces at Cnossus

and Phaestus, and the interrupted phases of each, seem to point to a

succession of dynasties, to which, as to its civilization as a whole, it

is certainly convenient to apply the name "Minoan." It is interesting,

as bringing out the personal element in the traditional royal seat, that

an inscribed sealing belonging to the earliest period of the later

palace of Cnossus bears on it the impression of two official signets

with portrait heads of a man and of a boy, recalling the "associations"

on the coinage of imperial Rome. It is clear that the later traditions

in many respects accurately summed up the performances of the "Minoan"

dynast who carried out the great buildings now brought to light. The

palace, with its wonderful works of art, executed for Minos by the

craftsman Daedalus, has ceased to belong to the realms of fancy. The

extraordinary architectural skill, the sanitary and hydraulic science

revealed in details of the building, bring us at the same time face to

face with the power of mechanical invention with which Daedalus was

credited. The elaborate method and bureaucratic control visible in the

clay documents of the palace point to a highly developed legal

organization. The powerful fleet and maritime empire which Minos was

said to have established will no doubt receive fuller illustration when

the sea-town of Cnossus comes to be explored. The appearance of ships on

some of the most important seal-impressions is not needed, however, to

show how widely Minoan influence made itself felt in the neighbouring

Mediterranean regions.

Early relations with Egypt.

The Kefts and Philistines.

Early relations with Cyprus and N. Aegean.

The Nilotic influence visible in the vases, seals and other fabrics of

the Early Minoan age, seems to imply a maritime activity on the part of

the islanders going back to the days of the first Egyptian dynasties. In

a deposit at Kahun, belonging to the XIIth Dynasty, c. 2000 B.C., were

already found imported polychrome vases of "Middle Minoan" fabric. In

the same way the important part played by Cretan enterprise in the days

of the New Egyptian empire is illustrated by repeated finds of Late

Minoan pottery on Egyptian sites. A series of monuments, moreover,

belonging to the early part of the XVIIIth Dynasty show the

representatives of the Kefts or peoples of "The Ring" and of the "Lands

to the West" in the fashionable costume of the Cnossian court, bearing

precious vessels and other objects of typical Minoan forms. Farther to

the east the recent excavations on the old Philistine sites like Gezer

have brought to light swords and vases of Cretan manufacture in the

later palace style. The principal Philistine tribe is indeed known in

the biblical records as the Cherethims or Cretans, and the Minoan name

and the cult of the Cretan Zeus were preserved at Gaza to the latest

classical days. Similar evidence of Minoan contact, and indeed of

wholesale colonization from the Aegean side, recurs in Cyprus. The

culture of the more northerly Aegean islands, best revealed to us by the

excavations of the British School at Phylakopi in Melos, also attest a

growing influence from the Cretan side, which, about the time of the

later palace at Cnossus, becomes finally predominant.

Minoan influence on mainland of Greece.

Turning to the mainland of Greece we see that the astonishing remains of

a highly developed prehistoric civilization, which Schliemann first

brought to light in 1876 at Mycenae, and which from those discoveries

received the general name of "Mycenaean," in the main represent a

transmarine offshoot from the Minoan stock. The earlier remains both at

Mycenae and Tiryns, still imperfectly investigated, show that this

Cretan influence goes back to the Middle Minoan age, with its

characteristic style of polychrome vase decoration. The contents of the

royal tombs, on the other hand, reveal a wholesale correspondence with

the fabrics of the first, and, to a less degree, the second Late Minoan

age, as illustrated by the relics belonging to the Middle Period of the

later palace at Cnossus and by those of the royal villa at Hagia Triada.

The chronological centre of the great beehive tombs seems to be slightly

lower. The ceiling of that of Orchomenos, and the painted vases and gold

cups from the Vaphio tomb by Sparta, with their marvellous reliefs

showing scenes of bull-hunting, represent the late palace style at

Cnossus in its final development.

The leading characteristics of this mainland civilization are thus

indistinguishable from the Minoan. The funeral rites are similar, and

the religious representations show an identical form of worship. At the

same time the local traditions and conditions differentiate the

continental from the insular branch. In Crete, in the later period, when

the rulers could trust to the "wooden walls" of the Minoan navy, there

is no parallel for the massive fortifications that we see at Tiryns or

Mycenae. The colder winter climate of mainland Greece dictated the use

of fixed hearths, whereas in the Cretan palaces these seem to have been

of a portable kind, and the different usage in this respect again

reacted on the respective forms of the principal hall or "Megaron."

Minoan influences in N. Greece.

Minoan culture under its mainland aspect left its traces on the

Acropolis at Athens,--a corroboration of the tradition which made the

Athenians send their tribute children to Minos. Similar traces extend

through a large part of northern Greece from Cephallenia and Leucadia to

Thessaly, and are specially well marked at Iolcus (near mod. Volo), the

legendary embarking place of the Argonauts. This circumstance deserves

attention owing to the special connexion traditionally existing between

the Minyans of Iolcus and those of Orchomenus, the point of all others

on this side where the early Cretan influence seems most to have taken

root. The Minoan remains at Orchomenus which are traceable to the latest

period go far to substantiate the philological comparison between the

name of Minyas, the traditional ancestor of this ancient race, and that

of Minos.

Adriatic and Italian extension.

Still farther to the north-west a distinct Minoan influence is

perceptible in the old Illyrian lands east of the Adriatic, and its

traces reappear in the neighbourhood of Venice. It is well marked

throughout southern Italy from Taranto to Naples. It was with Sicily,

however, that the later history of Minos and his great craftsman

Daedalus was in a special way connected by ancient tradition. Here, as

in Crete, Daedalus executed great works like the temple of Eryx, and it

was on Sicilian soil that Minos, engaged in a western campaign, was said

to have met with a violent death at the hands of the native king Kokalos

(Cocalus) and his daughters. His name is preserved in the Sicilian

Minoa, and his tomb was pointed out in the neighbourhood of Agrigentum,

with a shrine above dedicated to his native Aphrodite, the lady of the

dove; and in this connexion it must be observed that the cult of Eryx

perpetuates to much later times the characteristic features of the

worship of the Cretan Nature goddess, as now revealed to us in the

palace of Cnossus and elsewhere. These ancient indications of a Minoan

connexion with Sicily have now received interesting confirmation in the

numerous discoveries, principally due to the recent excavations of P.

Orsi, of arms and painted vases of Late Minoan fabric in Bronze Age

tombs of the provinces of Syracuse and Girgenti (Agrigentum) belonging

to the late Bronze Age. Some of these objects, such as certain forms of

swords and vases, seem to be of local fabric, but derived from originals

going back to the beginning of the Late Minoan age.

Minoan crisis: c. 1400 B.C.

The abiding tradition of the Cretan aborigines, as preserved by

Herodotus (vii. 171), ascribes the eventual settlement of the Greeks in

Crete to a widespread desolation that had fallen on the central regions.

It is certain that by the beginning of the 14th century B.C., when the

signs of already decadent Minoan art are perceptible in the imported

pottery found in the palace of Akhenaton at Tell el-Amarna, some heavy

blows had fallen on the island power. Shortly before this date the

palaces both of Cnossus and Phaestus had undergone a great destruction,

and though during the ensuing period both these royal residences were

partially reoccupied it was for the most part at any rate by poorer

denizens, and their great days as palaces were over for ever. Elsewhere

at Cnossus, in the smaller palace to the west, the royal villa and the

town houses, we find the evidence of a similar catastrophe followed by

an imperfect recovery, and the phenomenon meets us again at Palaikastro

and other early settlements in the east of Crete. At the same time, to

whatever cause this serious setback of Minoan civilization was owing, it

would be very unsafe to infer as yet any large displacement of the

original inhabitants by the invading swarms from the mainland or

elsewhere. The evidence of a partial restoration of the domestic quarter

of the palace of Cnossus tends to show a certain measure of dynastic

continuity. There is evidence, moreover, that the script and with it the

indigenous language did not die out during this period, and that

therefore the days of Hellenic settlement at Cnossus were not yet. The

recent exploration of a cemetery belonging to the close of the great

palace period, and in a greater degree to the age succeeding the

catastrophe, has now conclusively shown that there was no real break in

the continuity of Minoan culture. This third Late Minoan period--the

beginning of which may be fixed about 1400--is an age of stagnation and

decline, but the point of departure continued to be the models supplied

by the age that had preceded it. Art was still by no means extinct, and

its forms and decorative elements are simply later derivatives of the

great palace style. Not only the native form of writing, but the

household arrangements, sepulchral usages, and religious rites remain

substantially the same. The third Late Minoan age corresponds generally

with the Late Mycenaean stage in the Aegean world (see AEGEAN

CIVILIZATION). It is an age indeed in which the culture as a whole,

though following a lower level, attains the greatest amount of

uniformity. From Sicily and even the Spanish coast to the Troad,

southern Asia Minor, Cyprus and Palestine,--from the Nile valley to the

mouth of the Po, very similar forms were now diffused. Here and there,

as in Cyprus, we watch the development of some local schools. How far

Crete itself continued to preserve the hegemony which may reasonably be

ascribed to it at an earlier age must remain doubtful. It is certain

that towards the close of this third and concluding Late Minoan period

in the island certain mainland types of swords and safety-pins make

their appearance, which are symptomatic of the great invasion from that

side that was now impending or had already begun.

_Principal Minoan Sites._

It will be convenient here to give a general view of the more important

Minoan remains recently excavated on various Cretan sites.

_Cnossus._--The palace of Cnossus is on the hill of Kephala about 4 m.

inland from Candia. As a scene of human settlement this site is of

immense antiquity. The successive "Minoan" strata, which go well back

into the fourth millennium B.C., reach down to a depth of about 17 ft.

But below this again is a human deposit, from 20 to 26 ft. in

thickness, representing a long and gradual course of Neolithic or

Later Stone-Age development. Assuming that the lower strata were

formed at approximately the same rate as the upper, we have an

antiquity of from 12,000 to 14,000 years indicated for the first

Neolithic settlement on this spot. The hill itself, like a Tell of

Babylonia, is mainly formed of the debris of human settlements. The

palace was approached from the west by a paved Minoan Way

communicating with a considerable building on the opposite hill. This

road was flanked by magazines, some belonging to the royal armoury,

and abutted on a paved area with stepped seats on two sides (theatral

area). The palace itself approximately formed a square with a large

paved court in the centre. It had a N.S. orientation. The principal

entrance was to the north, but what appears to have been the royal

entrance opened on a paved court on the west side. This entrance

communicated with a corridor showing frescoes of a processional

character. The west side of the palace contained a series of 18

magazines with great store jars and cists and large hoards of clay

documents. A remarkable feature of this quarter is a small council

chamber with a gypsum throne of curiously Gothic aspect and lower

stone benches round. The walls of the throne room show frescoes with

sacred griffins confronting each other in a Nile landscape, and a

small bath chamber--perhaps of ritual use--is attached. This quarter

of the palace shows the double axe sign constantly repeated on its

walls and pillars, and remains of miniature wall-paintings showing

pillar shrines, in some cases with double axes stuck into the wooden

columns. Here too were found the repositories of an early shrine

containing exquisite faience figures and reliefs, including a snake

goddess--another aspect of the native divinity--and her votaries. The

central object of cult in this shrine was apparently a marble cross.

Near the north-west angle of the palace was a larger bath chamber, and

by the N. entrance were remains of great reliefs of bull-hunting

scenes in painted _gesso duro_. South of the central court were found

parts of a relief in the same material, showing a personage with a

fleur-de-lis crown and collar. The east wing of the palace was the

really residential part. Here was what seems to have been the basement

of a very large hall or "Megaron," approached directly from the

central court, and near this were found further reliefs, fresco

representations of scenes of the bull-ring with female as well as male

toreadors, and remains of a magnificent gaming-board of gold-plated

ivory with intarsia work of crystal plaques set on silver plates and

blue enamel (_cyanus_). The true domestic quarter lay to the south of

the great hall, and was approached from the central court by a

descending staircase, of which three flights and traces of a fourth

are preserved. This gives access to a whole series of halls and

private rooms (halls "of the Colonnades," "of the Double Axes,"

"Queen's Megaron" with bath-room attached and remains of the fish

fresco, "Treasury" with ivory figures and other objects of art),

together with extensive remains of an upper storey. The drainage

system here, including a water-closet, is of the most complete and

modern kind. Near this domestic quarter was found a small shrine of

the Double Axes, with cult objects and offertory vessels in their

places. The traces of an earlier "Middle Minoan" palace beneath the

later floor-levels are most visible on the east side, with splendid

ceramic remains. Here also are early magazines with huge store jars.

At the foot of the slope on this side, forming the eastern boundary of

the palace, are massive supporting walls and a bastion with descending

flights of steps, and a water-channel devised with extraordinary

hydraulic science (Evans, "Palace of Knossos," "Reports of Excavations

1900-1905," in _Annual of British School at Athens_, vi. sqq.; _Journ.

R.I.B.A._ (1902), pt. iv. For the palace pottery see D. Mackenzie,

_Journ. of Hellenic Studies_, xxiii.). The palace site occupies nearly

six acres. To the N.E. of it came to light a "royal villa" with

staircase, and a basilica-like hall (Evans, _B.S. Annual_, ix. 130

seq.). To the N.W. was a dependency containing an important hoard of

bronze vessels (ib. p. 112 sqq.). The building on the hill to the W.

approached by the Minoan paved way has the appearance of a smaller

palace (_B.S. Annual_, xii., 1906). Many remains of private houses

belonging to the prehistoric town have also come to light (Hogarth,

_B.S.A._ vi. [1900], p. 70 sqq.). A little N. of the town, at a spot

called Zafer Papoura, an extensive Late Minoan cemetery was excavated

in 1904 (Evans, _The Prehistoric Tombs of Knossus_, 1906), and on a

height about 2 m. N. of this, a royal tomb consisting of a square

chamber, which originally had a pointed vault of "Cyclopaean"

structure approached by a forehall or rock-cut passage. This

monumental work seems to date from the close of the Middle Minoan age,

but has been re-used for interments at successive periods (Evans,

_Archaeologia_, 1906, p. 136 sqq.). It is possibly the traditional

tomb of Idomeneus. (For later discoveries see further CNOSSUS.)

_Phaestus._--The acropolis of this historic city looks on the Libyan

Sea and commands the extensive plain of Messara. On the eastern hill

of the acropolis, excavations initiated by F. Halbherr on behalf of

the Italian Archaeological Mission and subsequently carried out by L.

Pernier have brought to light another Minoan palace, much resembling

on a somewhat smaller scale that of Cnossus. The plan here too was

roughly quadrangular with a central court, but owing to the erosion of

the hillside a good deal of the eastern quarter has disappeared. The

Phaestian palace belongs to two distinct periods, and the earlier or

"Middle Minoan" part is better preserved than at Cnossus. The west

court and entrance belonging to the earlier building show many

analogies with those of Cnossus, and the court was commanded to the

north by tiers of stone benches like those of the "theatral area" at

Cnossus on a larger scale. Magazines with fine painted store jars came

to light beneath the floor of the later "propylaeum." The most

imposing block of the later building is formed by a group of

structures rising from the terrace formed by the old west wall. A fine

paved corridor running east from this gives access to a line of the

later magazines, and through a columnar hall to the central court

beyond, while to the left of this a broad and stately flight of steps

leads up to a kind of entrance hall on an upper terrace. North of the

central court is a domestic quarter presenting analogies with that of

Cnossus, but throughout the later building there was a great dearth of

the frescoes and other remains such as invest the Cnossian palace with

so much interest. There are also few remaining traces here of upper

storeys. It is evident that in this case also the palace was overtaken

by a great catastrophe, followed by a partial reoccupation towards the

close of the Late Minoan age (L. Pernier, _Scavi della missione

italiana a Phaestos; Monumenti antichi_, xii. and xiv.).

About a kilometre distant from the palace of Phaestus near the village

of Kalyvia a Late Minoan cemetery was brought to light in 1901,

belonging to the same period as that of Cnossus (Savignoni, _Necropoli

di Phaestos_, 1905).

_Hagia Triada._--On a low hill crowned by a small church of the above

name, about 3 m. nearer the Libyan Sea than Phaestus, a small palace

or royal villa was discovered by Halbherr and excavated by the Italian

Mission. In its structure and general arrangements it bears a general

resemblance to the palace of Phaestus and Cnossus on a smaller scale.

The buildings themselves, with the usual halls, bath-rooms and

magazines, together with a shrine of the Mother Goddess, occupy two

sides of a rectangle, enclosing a court at a higher level approached

by flights of stairs. Repositories also came to light containing

treasure in the shape of bronze ingots. In contrast to the palace of

Phaestus, the contents of the royal villa proved exceptionally rich,

and derive a special interest from the fact that the catastrophe which

overwhelmed the building belongs to a somewhat earlier part of the

Late Minoan age than that which overwhelmed Cnossus and Phaestus. Clay

tablets were here found belonging to the earlier type of the linear

script (Class A), together with a great number of clay sealings with

religious and other devices and incised countermarks. Both the signet

types and the other objects of art here discovered display the fresh

naturalism that characterizes in a special way the first Late Minoan

period. A remarkable wall-painting depicts a cat creeping over

ivy-covered rocks and about to spring on a pheasant. The steatite

vases with reliefs are of great importance. One of these shows a

ritual procession, apparently of reapers singing and dancing to the

sound of a sistrum. On another a Minoan warrior prince appears before

his retainers. A tall funnel-shaped vase of this class, of which a

considerable part has been preserved, is divided into zones showing

bull-hunting scenes, wrestlers and pugilists in gladiatorial costume,

the whole executed in a most masterly manner. The small palace was

reconstructed at a later period, and at a somewhat higher level. To a

period contemporary with the concluding age of the Cnossian palace

must be referred a remarkable sarcophagus belonging to a neighbouring

cemetery. The chest is of limestone coated with stucco, adorned with

life-like paintings of offertory scenes in connexion with the sacred

Double Axes of Minoan cult. There have also come to light remains of a

great domed mortuary chamber of primitive construction containing

relics of the Early Minoan period (Halbherr, _Monumenti Antichi_,

xiii. (1903), p. 6 sqq., and _Memorie del instituto lombardo_, 1905;

Paribeni, _Lavori eseguiti della missione italiana nel Palazzo e nella

necropoli di Haghia Triada; Rendiconti_, &c., xi. and xii.; Savignoni,

_Il Vaso di Haghia Triada_).

_Palaikastro._--Near this village, lying on the easternmost coast of

Crete, the British School at Athens has excavated a section of a

considerable Minoan town. The buildings here show a stratification

analogous to that of the palace of Cnossus. The town was traversed by

a well-paved street with a stone sewer, and contained several

important private houses and a larger one which seems to have been a

small palace. Among the more interesting relics found were ivory

figures of Egyptian or strongly Egyptianizing fabric. On an adjacent

hill were the remains of what seems to have been in later times a

temple of the Dictaean Zeus, and from the occurrence of rich deposits

of Minoan vases and sacrificial remains at a lower level, the

religious tradition represented by the later temple seems to go back

to prehistoric times. On the neighbouring height of Petsofa, by a

rock-shelter, remains of another interesting shrine were brought to

light dating from the Middle Minoan period, and containing interesting

votive offerings of terra-cotta, many of them apparently relating to

cures or to the warding off of diseases (R. C. Bosanquet, _British

School Annual_, viii. 286 sqq., ix. 274 sqq.; R. M. Dawkins, ibid. ix.

290 sqq., x.; J. L. Myres, ibid. ix. 356 sqq.).

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