Page 280 - Four Thousand Years Ago by Geoffrey Bibby

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[144°-137u
businessmen, storekeepers, and tally clerks even in the capital it­
self.
Knossos proper was still predominantly Cretan in popula­
tion. It lay an hour’s walk up the valley from the coast, sited

there, it was said, out of sight of the sea as a protection against
pirates in the far-off days when Knossos had had no fleet to speak
of, and was but a tiny principality among the many principali­
ties of Crete. Now for almost three centuries the kings of Knos­
sos had ruled all Crete, and received tribute—somewhat irregu­

larly, it was true—from nominal vassals ruling most of the coastal
towns from Sicily to Asia Minor. Knossos need no longer fear pi­
rate attack.
It was predominantly the wealthier folk who lived in the city

below the colonnaded palace. They were the shipowners, and the
owners of vineyards and olive groves, the better-class craftsmen
and the richer tradesmen. Fashionably dressed men and women
moved leisurely through the paved streets, their dark hair and
vivacious countenances set off by the brilliant colors of their cos­

tumes.
The men wore little more than a loincloth, belted at the
waist and reaching halfway to the knee. It was a dress which
went well with the long black hair and muscular bronzed bodies

—though perhaps was scarcely so kind to the elderly and more
prosperous of build. The women’s costume, just as traditional as
the men’s, gave richer scope for variation of cut and color. From
an impossibly narrow waist fell an ankle-length skirt, frilled or
flounced or pleated to the heart’s desire or the dictates of the

latest leader of fashion. Above the waist the ladies went naked,
save for a short-sleeved jacket fastened at the waist but opening
above to reveal—or rather to display—the breasts. Hair styles

were elaborate, and more subject to the whims of fashion than
the clothes. And jewelry was worn in profusion by men and
women. For here, at the center of the world’s trade, the luxuries
of three continents vied to demonstrate the wealth of their own­
ers. Baltic amber and Yorkshire jet, set in Irish gold, gleamed

against Nubian ivory and Dilmun pearls, carnelian from India
and lapis lazuli from Afghanistan, and jade from the fabulous
lands still farther east.