Page 281 - Four Thousand Years Ago by Geoffrey Bibby

The children, even of the wealthy families, ran naked, ex­
cept for an amulet, to give them the protection of the snake­
goddess, the guardian of the caves.

It is the life story of these children, born in 1440 b.c. that
we here shall follow.
It was a carefree childhood, in this sunny land among the

A RECONSTRUCTION (AFTER SIR ARTHUR EVANS, THE EXCAVATOR OF
KNOSSOS) OF THE MARBLE-WALLED BATHROOM OF THE QUEEN IN
THE PALACE AT KNOSSOS.

wealthy of the gods’ own country. Many of the children admit­

tedly went to school, particularly those destined for trade or the
civil service. But there they learned nothing except to write
the Old Cretan script (and, in the dangerously modem schools,
the new script of the Greeks) and to recite interminable legends

of the gods and heroes, tales of the birth of Zeus in the caves of
Mount Ida, of the bull that had carried their forefathers to the
island, of Daedalus who had built the rambling palace of Knos-