THE EXPLORATION OF CRETE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXII, Issue 51, 1 March 1901, Page 3

THE EXPLORATION OF CRETE.

o , 'To tils Editor.) •rKttSFSSSSr o°£ ient m£l\,i SeCOnd Mlnos- °r wh<™ we hear H n,,W a of the former om ™", d a f war "Pop. the Athenians, and compelledl them to send an annual tribute J-Jn Z 3;? ut!«*"d seven maidens to be slain by the Minotaur la ihe labyrinth. rheseus formed once one of the party of victims, but having obtained from Ariadne, the daughter of Minos, a sword killed the Minotaur and escaped from the labyrinth by a thread obtained from her also. The remainder ut the story is familiar to ail, and need not detain us now. How much of this fable is solid I'actV Did Minos ever reign? Where is the

labyrinth? Even now at the dawn of the twentieth century, the pick und shovel aro-bringing to view the Dietian Cave, full of votive offerings. The chair from which Minos might have given law hixs been photographed. And in his vast palace now being' unearthed, are frescoes, statues and pottery of a description hitherto unknown. A number of clay tablets, inscribed witjh hieroglyphica, are older by seven centuries than the earliest known "monuments of the historic Greekwriting. If any of your readers should wi«h to support this great work of discovery. I shall be most pleased to correspond with them.-l i am. A etc..

Whitianga, February 20, 1001.