Page:Outlines of European History.djvu/158

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120
Outlines of European History

learned from his Egyptian neighbor the use of the potter's wheel and the closed over (p. 35) for the shaping and firing his clay vases (Fig. 61). About 2000 B.C. the Cretans began a distinct forward movement under the influence of the great nation on the Nile. Commerce between the two countries was

Fig. 65. An Open-Air Theatral Area Beside the Cretan Palace at Cnossus
This area is about thirty by forty feet, and on two sides rise tiers of seats, accommodating four or five hundred spectators. Open-air athletic spectacles, like boxing matches, probably took place here to divert select groups of Cretan lords and ladies; the area is not large enough for the bullfights in which the Cretans took great delight (compare the exciting bull-hunt at head of Chapter V, p. 111, and footnote, p. 121)

constant. Egyptian craft (Fig. 14) were a common sight in the Cretan harbors, while the prevailing north wind of summer easily carried the galleys, which the Cretans learned to build on Egyptian models, across to the Nile Delta.

Cnossus At Cnossus, near the middle of the northern coast of Crete, arose a prosperous city, whose ruler was able to build a palace arranged in the Egyptian manner, with a large cluster of rooms