評論
打印
A very careful study of these many relics has done away with some of the romantic features of the story. The makers of these early works of art and the builders of these strong fortresses were no sorcerers, but simple sailors and traders. They had lived in Crete, and on the many small islands of the Aegean Sea. They had been hardy mariners and they had turned the Aegean into a center of commerce for the exchange of goods between the highly civilised east and the slowly developing wilderness of the European mainland.
經考古學家一番詳細的研究，揭開了籠罩在這些為數眾多的遺跡上的神秘面紗。這些早期工藝品的制作者及巨大城堡的建筑師們并非什么魔法師，而是淳樸的水手與商人，他們曾定居在克里特島和愛琴海的諸多小島上。他們辛勤堅韌地工作，把愛琴海變成了一個貿易繁忙的商業中心，在高度文明的東方與蠻荒落后的歐洲之間源源不斷地交 易著商品和物資。
For more than a thousand years they had maintained an island empire which had developed a very high form of art. Indeed their most important city, Cnossus, on the northern coast of Crete, had been entirely modern in its insistence upon hygiene and comfort. The palace had been properly drained and the houses had been provided with stoves and the Cnossians had been the first people to make a daily use of the hitherto unknown bathtub. The palace of their King had been famous for its winding staircases and its large banqueting hall.
這個繁榮的海島帝國維持了 1000多年，發展出高超的工藝。其中最重要的城市克諾索斯位于克里特島北部海岸。它在衛生條件和舒適程度方面，達到了相當現代化的水準。宮殿的排水設施精良，住宅配有取暖的火爐。另外，克諾索斯人還是歷史上第一個把浴缸引入日常生活的民族。克里特國王的宮殿以其蜿蜒盤旋的樓梯和寬敞高大的宴會廳而蜚聲于世。
