Themis, a study of the social origins of Greek ... - Warburg Institute

i] Discovery at Palaikastro 3
But Palaikastro, as a glance at the map 1 in Fig. 1 will show,
is not Dikte—not even near Dikte. All eastern Crete with its
towns of Itanos and Praisos, where dwelt the Eteokretans, and
the modern sites of Zakro and Palaikastro are cut off from the
mountain mass of Dikte by the low narrow isthmus 2 that joins
Fig. 1. Map of Crete.
the trading towns of Minoa (Gournia) and Hierapytna (Hiera-
petra). How comes it then that in remote Palaikastro Diktaean
Zeus is worshipped, that in Palaikastro the ruins of his temple
have come to light ? This brings us to the question of chronology.
f Strabo 3 ,/ in discussing the origin of Cretan institutions makes
an interesting remark. ' Among the Cretans/ he says, ' when
their warlike cities, and especially that of Knossos, were ravaged,
certain of their customs were kept up among the inhabitants of
Lyttos and Gortyna and other of the lesser towns rather than by
the Knossians.' Here we have much history in a nutshell.
Conspicuous cities pay the toll of their splendour. Palaikastro is
but a lesser town (ttoXl-^vlov) : there we may hope to find customs
surviving that had died down at Knossos.
In the Hymn before us just such customs are enshrined. The
actual stele was engraved in the second or third century after
1 Eeproduced with slight modifications from B.S.A. vin. p. 287, Fig. 1.
2 Strabo, x. 475 irXarvTaTTf 8e kcltcl to fieaov eari, waXw 8' ivTevdev els (TTevuirepov
tov wporepov avp.ir'iirTovaiv ladpbv ai yoves irepl e^rjKOVTa ffTadiwv, tov diro "Hivyas
rrts AuttIuv cis lepdirvrvav Kai to AifivKOv iriXayos.
3 Strabo, X. 481 KaKwdeiauv twv wbXewv Kai paXiffTa ttjs Kviocraiojv, twv TroXeptKwv
petvai de Tiva tQiv vop.tp.iov wapd Avttiois Kai TopTvviois Kai aWois Ticri woXlxviois
fidXXov rj irap eKeivois. Clement, citing as his authority the Nostoi of Antikleides,
says that human sacrifice was offered by the Lyctii, a Cretan tribe (Book in. 4).
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