(see PHENACODUS), from which, however, they are distinguished by the
approximation in the form of the skull to the carnivorous type, the more
trenchant teeth (at least in most cases) and the more claw-like
character of the terminal joints of the toes. The general character of
the dentition in the more typical forms, such as _Hyaenodon_ (see fig.),
recalls that of the carnivorous marsupials, this being especially the
case with the Patagonian species, which have been separated as a
distinct group under the name of Sparassodonta (q.v.). The skull,
however, is not of the marsupial type, and in the European forms at any
rate there is a complete replacement of the milk-molars by pre-molars,
while the minute structure of the enamel of the teeth is of the
carnivorous as distinct from the marsupial type. The head is large in
proportion to the body, the lumbar region is unusually rigid, owing to
the complexity of the articulations, and the tail and hind-limbs are
relatively long and powerful. In life the tail probably passed almost
imperceptibly into the body, as in the Tasmanian thylacine.

[Illustration: Dentition of _Hyaenodon leptorhynchus_, from the Lower
Oligocene of France. The last upper molar is concealed by the
penultimate tooth.]

That the Creodonta are the ancestors of the modern Carnivora is now
generally admitted. They are apparently the most generalized and
primitive of all (placental?) mammals, and probably the direct
descendants of the mammal-like anomodont or theromorphous reptiles of
the Triassic epoch; the evolution from that group having perhaps taken
place in Africa or in the lost area connecting that continent with
India. The relationship of the creodonts to the carnivorous marsupials
is not yet determined, but it seems scarcely probable that the
remarkable resemblance existing between the teeth of the two groups can
be solely due to parallelism; and it has been suggested by Dr L. Wortman
that both creodonts and marsupials are descended from a common
non-placental stock. In other words, the latter are a side-branch from
the anomodont-creodont line of descent. Dr C. W. Andrews has pointed out
that certain of the Egyptian creodonts appear to have been aquatic or
subaquatic in their habits; and it is possible that from such types are
derived the true seals, or _Phocidae_.

With the exception of Australasia, and perhaps South Africa, creodonts
(on the supposition that the Patagonian forms are rightly included)
appear to have had a nearly world-wide distribution. In Europe and North
America they date from the Lowest Eocene and lived till the early
Oligocene, while in India they apparently survived till a much later
epoch. Some of the Oligocene forms, alike as regards dentition, the
union of the scaphoid and lunar of the carpus, and the complexity of the
brain, approximated to modern Carnivora.

As regards classification Mr W. D. Matthew includes in the typical
family _Hyaenodontidae_ not only the widely spread genera _Hyaenodon_
and _Pterodon_, but likewise _Sinopa_ (_Stypolophus_), _Cynohyaenodon_
and _Proviverra_; but _Viverravus_ (_Didymictis_) and _Vulpavus_
(_Miacis_) are assigned to a separate family (_Viverravidae_). It is
these latter forms which come nearest to modern Carnivora, most of them
being of Oligocene age. The American and European _Oxyaena_ apparently
represents a family by itself, as does the American _Oxyclaena_; and
_Palaeonictis_ and _Patriofelis_ are assigned to yet another family;
while the North American Lower Eocene and Eocene _Arctocyon_ typifies a
family characterized by the somewhat bear-like type of dentition.
_Mesonyx_ is also a very distinct type, from the North American Eocene
and Oligocene. Some of the species of _Patriofelis_ and _Hyaenodon_
attained the size of a tiger, although with long civet-like skulls. In
the earlier forms the claws often retained somewhat of a hoof-like
character.

The South American _Borhyaenidae_ include _Borhyaena_, _Prothylacinus_,
_Amphiproviverra_, and allied forms from the Santa Cruz beds of
Patagonia, and have been referred to a distinct group, the
Sparassodonta, mainly on account of the alleged replacement of some only
of the milk-molars by premolars. By their first describer, Dr F.
Ameghino, they were regarded as nearly related to the marsupials, to
which group they were definitely referred in 1905 by Mr W. J. Sinclair,
by whom they are considered near akin to _Thylacinus_, but this view
seems to be disproved by the investigations of Mr C. S. Tomes into the
structure of the dental enamel.

It should be added that Dr J. L. Wortman transfers _Viverravus_ and its
allies, together with _Palaeonictis_, to the true Carnivora, the latter
genus being regarded as the ancestral type of the sabre-toothed cats
(see MACHAERODUS).

  AUTHORITIES.--J. L. Wortman, "Eocene Mammalia in the Peabody Museum,
  pt. i. Carnivora," _Amer. J. Sci._ vols. xi.-xiv. (1901-1902); W. D.
  Matthew, "Additional Observations on the Creodonta," _Bull. Amer.
  Mus._ vol. xiv. p. i. (1901); C. W. Andrews, _Descriptive Catalogue of
  the Tertiary Vertebrata of the Fayum_, British Museum (1906); W. J.
  Sinclair, "The Marsupial Fauna of the Santa Cruz Beds," _Proc. Amer.
  Phil. Soc._ vol. xlix. p. 73 (1905).     (R. L.*)

CREOLE (the Fr. form of _criollo_, a West Indian, probably a negro
corruption of the Span, _criadillo_, the dim. of _criado_, one bred or
reared, from _criar_, to breed, a derivative of the Lat. _creare_, to
create), a word used originally (16th century) to denote persons born in
the West Indies of Spanish parents, as distinguished from immigrants
direct from Spain, aboriginals, negroes or mulattos. It is now used of
the descendants of non-aboriginal races born and settled in the West
Indies, in various parts of the American mainland and in Mauritius,
Reunion and some other places colonized by Spain, Portugal, France, or
(in the case of the West Indies) by England. In a similar sense the name
is used of animals and plants. The use of the word by some writers as
necessarily implying a person of mixed blood is totally erroneous; in
itself "creole" has no distinction of colour; a Creole may be a person
of European, negro, or mixed extraction--or even a horse.

Local variations occur in the use of the word as applied to people. In
the West Indies it designates the descendants of any European race; in
the United States the French-speaking native portion of the white race
in Louisiana, whether of French or Spanish origin. The French Canadians
are never termed creoles, nor is the word now used of the South
Americans of Spanish or Portuguese descent, but in Mexico whites of pure
Spanish extraction are still called creoles. In all the countries named,
when a non-white creole is indicated the word negro is added. In
Mauritius, Reunion, &c., on the other hand, creole is commonly used to
designate the black population, but is also occasionally used of the
inhabitants of European descent. The difference in type between the
white creoles and the European races from whom they have sprung, a
difference often considerable, is due principally to changed
environment--especially to the tropical or semi-tropical climate of the
lands they inhabit. The many patois founded on French and Spanish, and
used chiefly by creole negroes, are spoken of as creole languages, a
term extended by some writers to include similar dialects spoken in
countries where the word creole is rarely used.

  See G. W. Cable, _The Creoles of Louisiana_ (1884); A. Coelho, "Os
  Dialetos romanicos on neo latinos na Africa, Asia e America," _Bol.
  Soc. Geo. Lisboa_ (1884-1886), with bibliography. For the Creole
  French of Haiti see an article by Sir H. H. Johnston in _The Times_,
  April 10th, 1909.

CREON, in Greek legend, son of Lycaethus, king of Corinth and father of
Glauce or Creusa, the second wife of Jason.

CREON, in Greek legend, son of Menoeceus, king of Thebes after the death
of Laius, the husband of his sister Jocasta. Thebes was then suffering
from the visitation of the Sphinx, and Creon offered his crown and the
hand of the widowed queen to whoever should solve the fatal riddle.
Oedipus, the son of Laius, ignorant of his parentage, successfully
accomplished the task and married Jocasta, his mother. By her he had two
sons, Eteocles and Polyneices, who agreed after their father's death to
reign in alternative years. Eteocles first ascended the throne, being
the elder, but at the end of the year refused to resign, whereupon his
brother attacked him at the head of an army of Argives. The war was to
be decided by a single combat between the brothers, but both fell.
Creon, who had resumed the government during the minority of Leodamas,
the son of Eteocles, commanded that the Argives, and above all
Polyneices, the cause of all the bloodshed, should not receive the rites
of sepulture, and that any one who infringed this decree should be
buried alive. Antigone, the sister of Polyneices, refused to obey, and
sprinkled dust upon her brother's corpse. The threatened penalty was
inflicted; but Creon's crime did not escape unpunished. His son, Haemon,
the lover of Antigone, killed himself on her grave; and he himself was
slain by Theseus. According to another account he was put to death by
Lycus, the son or descendant of a former ruler of Thebes (Euripides,
_Herc. Fur._ 31; Apollodorus iii. 5, 7; Pausanias ix. 5).

CREOPHYLUS of Samos, one of the earliest Greek epic poets. According to
an epigram of Callimachus (quoted in Strabo xiv. p. 638) he was the
author of a poem called [Greek: Oichalias halôsis], which told the story
of the conquest of Oechalia by Heracles. Creophylus was said to have
been a friend or relative of Homer, who, according to another
tradition, was himself the author of the [Greek: Halôsis], and presented
it to Creophylus in return for the latter's hospitality.

  See F. G. Welcker, _Der epische Cyclus_ (1865-1882).

CREOSOTE, CREASOTE or KREASOTE (from Gr. [Greek: kreas], flesh, and
[Greek: sôzein], to preserve), a product of the distillation of coal,
bone oil, shale oil, and wood-tar (more especially that made from
beech-wood). The creosote is extracted from the distillate by means of
alkali, separated from the filtered alkaline solution by sulphuric acid,
and then distilled with dilute alkali; the distillate is again treated
with alkali and acid, till its purification is effected; it is then
redistilled at 200° C., and dried by means of calcium chloride. It is a
highly refractive, colourless, oily liquid, and was first obtained in
1832 by K. Reichenbach from beech-wood tar. It consists mainly of a
mixture of phenol, cresol, guaiacol, creosol, xylenol, dimethyl
guaiacol, ethyl guaiacol, and various methyl ethers of pyrogallol.
Creosote has a strong odour and hot taste, and burns with a smoky flame.
It dissolves sulphur, phosphorus, resins, and many acids and colouring
matters; and is soluble in alcohol, ether, and carbon disulphide, and in
80 parts by volume of water. It is distinguished from carbolic acid by
the following properties:--it rotates the plane of polarized light to
the right, forms with collodion a transparent fluid, and is nearly
insoluble in glycerin; whereas carbolic acid has no effect on polarized
light, gives with about two-thirds of its volume of collodion a
gelatinous mass, and is soluble in all proportions in glycerin; further,
alcohol and ferric chloride produce with creosote a green solution,
turned brown by water, with carbolic acid a brown, and on the addition
of water a blue solution. Creosote, like carbolic acid, is a powerful
antiseptic, and readily coagulates albuminous matter; wood-smoke and
pyroligneous acid or wood-vinegar owe to its presence their efficacy in
preserving animal and vegetable substances from putrefaction.

_Creosote oil_ is the name generally applied to the fraction of the coal
tar distillate which boils between 200° and 300° C. (see COAL TAR). It
is a greenish-yellow fluorescent liquid, usually containing phenol,
cresol, naphthalene, anthracene, pyridine, quinoline, acridine and other
substances. Its chief use is for the preservation of timber.

_Pharmacology and Therapeutics._--Creosote derived from wood-tar is
given medicinally in doses of from one to five minims, either suspended
in mucilage, or in capsules. It should always be administered after a
meal, when the gastric contents dilute it and prevent irritation.
Creosote and carbolic acid (q.v.) have a very similar pharmacology; but
there is one conspicuous exception. Beech-wood creosote alone should be
used in medicine, as its composition renders it much more valuable than
other creosotes. Its constituents circulate unchanged in the blood and
are excreted by the lungs. Although carbolic acid has no value in
phthisis (pulmonary tuberculosis) or in any other bacterial condition of
the lungs, creosote, having volatile constituents which are excreted in
the expired air and which are powerfully antiseptic, may well be of much
value in these conditions. In phthisis creosote is now superseded by
both its carbonate (creosotal)--given in the same doses--which causes
less gastric disturbance, and by guaiacol itself, which may be given in
doses up to thirty minims in capsules. The phosphate (phosote or
phosphote), phosphite (phosphotal), and valerianate (eosote) also find
application. Similarly the carbonate of guaiacol may be given in doses
even as large as a drachm. Creosote may also be used as an inhalation
with a steam atomizer. It is applicable not only in phthisis but in
bronchiectasis, bronchitis, broncho-pneumonia, lobar pneumonia and all
other bacterial lung diseases. Like carbolic acid, creosote may be used
in toothache, and the local antiseptic and anaesthetic action which it
shares with that substance is often of value in relieving gastric pain
due to simple ulcer or cancer, and in those forms of vomiting which are
due to gastric irritation.

  For the determination and separation of the various constituents of
  creosote see F. Tiemann, _Ber._ (1881), 14, p. 2005; A. Béhal and C.
  Choay, _Comptes rendus_ (1893), 116, p. 197; and L. F. Kebler, _Amer.
  Jour. Pharm._ (1899), p. 409.

CREPUSCULAR (from Lat. _crepusculum_, twilight), of or belonging to the
twilight, hence indistinct or glimmering; in zoology the word is used of
animals that appear before sunrise or nightfall.

CRÉQUY, a French family which originated in Picardy, and took its name
from a small lordship in the present Pas-de-Calais. Its genealogy goes
back to the 10th century, and from it originated the noble houses of
Blécourt, Canaples, Heilly and Royon. Henri de Créquy was killed at the
siege of Damietta in 1240; Jacques de Créquy, marshal of Guienne, was
killed at Agincourt with his brothers Jean and Raoul; Jean de Créquy,
lord of Canaples, was in the Burgundian service, and took part in the
defence of Paris against Joan of Arc in 1429, received the order of the
Golden Fleece in 1431, and was ambassador to Aragon and France; Antoine
de Créquy was one of the boldest captains of Francis I., and died in
consequence of an accident at the siege of Hesdin in 1523. Jean VIII.,
sire de Créquy, prince de Poix, seigneur de Canaples (d. 1555), left
three sons, the eldest of whom, Antoine de Créquy (1535-1574), inherited
the family estates on the death of his brothers at St Quentin in 1557.
He was raised to the cardinalate, and his nephew and heir, Antoine de
Blanchefort, assumed the name and arms of Créquy.

Charles I. de Blanchefort, marquis de Créquy, prince de Poix, duc de
Lesdiguières (1578-1638), marshal of France, son of the last-named, saw
his first fighting before Laon in 1594, and was wounded at the capture
of Saint Jean d'Angély in 1621. In the next year he became a marshal of
France. He served through the Piedmontese campaign in aid of Savoy in
1624 as second in command to the constable, François de Bonne, duc de
Lesdiguières, whose daughter Madeleine he had married in 1595. He
inherited in 1626 the estates and title of his father-in-law, who had
induced him, after the death of his first wife, to marry her half-sister
Françoise. He was also lieutenant-general of Dauphiné. In 1633 he was
ambassador to Rome, and in 1636 to Venice. He fought in the Italian
campaigns of 1630, 1635, 1636 and 1637, when he helped to defeat the
Spaniards at Monte Baldo. He was killed on the 17th of March 1638 in an
attempt to raise the siege of Crema, a fortress in the Milanese. He had
a quarrel extending over years with Philip, the bastard of Savoy, which
ended in a duel fatal to Philip in 1599; and in 1620 he defended
Saint-Aignan, who was his prisoner of war, against a prosecution
threatened by Louis XIII. Some of his letters are preserved in the
Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, and his life was written by N. Chorier
(Grenoble, 1683).

His eldest son, François, comte de Sault, due de Lesdiguières
(1600-1677), governor and lieutenant-general of Dauphiné, took the name
and arms of Bonne. The younger, Charles II. de Créquy, seigneur de
Canaples, was killed at the siege of Chambéry in 1630, leaving three
sons--Charles III., sieur de Blanchefort, prince de Poix, duc de Créquy
(1623?-1687); Alphonse de Créquy, comte de Canaples (d. 1711), who
became on the extinction of the elder branch of the family in 1702 duc
de Lesdiguières, and eventually succeeded also to his younger brother's
honours; and François, chevalier de Créquy and marquis de Marines,
marshal of France (1625-1687).

The last-named was born in 1625, and as a boy took part in the Thirty
Years' War, distinguishing himself so greatly that at the age of
twenty-six he was made a _maréchal de camp_, and a lieutenant-general
before he was thirty. He was regarded as the most brilliant of the
younger officers, and won the favour of Louis XIV. by his fidelity to
the court during the second Fronde. In 1667 he served on the Rhine, and
in 1668 he commanded the covering army during Louis XIV.'s siege of
Lille, after the surrender of which the king rewarded him with the
marshalate. In 1670 he overran the duchy of Lorraine. Shortly after this
Turenne, his old commander, was made marshal-general, and all the
marshals were placed under his orders. Many resented this, and Créquy,
in particular, whose career of uninterrupted success had made him
over-confident, went into exile rather than serve under Turenne. After
the death of Turenne and the retirement of Condé, he became the most
important general officer in the army, but his over-confidence was
punished by the severe defeat of Conzer Brück (1675) and the surrender
of Trier and his own captivity which followed. But in the later
campaigns of this war (see DUTCH WARS) he showed himself again a cool,
daring and successful commander, and, carrying on the tradition of
Turenne and Condé, he was in his turn the pattern of the younger
generals of the stamp of Luxembourg and Villars. He died in Paris on the
3rd of February 1687.

Alphonse de Créquy had not the talent of his brothers, and lost his
various appointments in France. He went to London in 1672, where he
became closely allied with Saint Évremond, and was one of the intimates
of King Charles II.

Charles III. de Créquy served in the campaigns of 1642 and 1645 in the
Thirty Years' War, and in Catalonia in 1649. In 1646, after the siege of
Orbitello, he was made lieutenant-general by Louis. By faithful service
during the king's minority he had won the gratitude of Anne of Austria
and of Mazarin, and in 1652 he became duc de Créquy and a peer of
France. The latter half of his life was spent at court, where he held
the office of first gentleman of the royal chamber, which had been
bought for him by his grandfather. In 1659 he was sent to Spain with
gifts for the infanta Maria Theresa, and on a similar errand to Bavaria
in 1680 before the marriage of the dauphin. He was ambassador to Rome
from 1662 to 1665, and to England in 1677; and became governor of Paris
in 1675. He died in Paris on the 13th of February 1687. His only
daughter, Madeleine, married Charles de la Trémoille (1655-1709).

The marshal François de Créquy had two sons, whose brilliant military
abilities bade fair to rival his own. The elder, François Joseph,
marquis de Créquy (1662-1702), already held the grade of
lieutenant-general when he was killed at Luzzara on the 13th of August
1702; and Nicolas Charles, sire de Créquy, was killed before Tournai in
1696 at the age of twenty-seven.

A younger branch of the Créquy family, that of Hémont, was represented
by Louis Marie, marquis de Créquy (1705-1741), author of the _Principes
philosophiques des saints solitaires d'Égypte_ (1779), and husband of
the marquise separately noticed below, and became extinct with the death
in 1801 of his son, Charles Marie, who had some military reputation.

  For a detailed genealogy of the family and its alliances see Moreri,
  _Dictionnaire historique; Annuaire de la noblesse française_ (1856 and
  1867). There is much information about the Créquys in the _Mémoires_
  of Saint-Simon.

CRÉQUY, RENÉE CAROLINE DE FROULLAY, MARQUISE DE (1714-1803), was born on
the 19th of October 1714, at the château of Monfleaux (Mayenne), the
daughter of Lieutenant-General Charles François de Froullay. She was
educated by her maternal grandmother, and married in 1737 Louis Marie,
marquis de Créquy (see above), who died four years after the marriage.
Madame de Créquy devoted herself to the care of her only son, who
rewarded her with an ingratitude which was the chief sorrow of her life.
In 1755 she began to receive in Paris, among her intimates being
D'Alembert and J. J. Rousseau. She had none of the frivolity generally
associated with the women of her time and class, and presently became
extremely religious with inclinations to Jansenism. D'Alembert's visits
ceased when she adopted religion, and she was nearly seventy when she
formed the great friendship of her life with Sénac de Meilhan, whom she
met in 1781, and with whom she carried on a correspondence (edited by
Édouard Fournier, with a preface by Sainte-Beuve in 1856). She commented
on and criticized Meilhan's works and helped his reputation. She was
arrested in 1793 and imprisoned in the convent of Les Oiseaux until the
fall of Robespierre (July 1794). The well-known _Souvenirs de la
marquise de Créquy_ (1710-1803), printed in 7 volumes, 1834-1835, and
purporting to be addressed to her grandson, Tancrède de Créquy, was the
production of a Breton adventurer, Cousin de Courchamps. The first two
volumes appeared in English in 1834 and were severely criticized in the
_Quarterly Review_.

  See the notice prefixed by Sainte-Beuve to the _Lettres_; P. L. Jacob,
  _Énigmes et découvertes bibliographiques_ (Paris, 1866); Quérard,
  _Superchéries littéraires_, s.v. "Créquy"; _L'Ombre de la marquise de
  Créquy aux lecteurs des souvenirs_ (1836) exposes the forgery of the
  _Mémoires_.

CRESCAS, HASDAI BEN ABRAHAM (1340-1410), Spanish philosopher. His work,
_The Light of the Lord_ (_'Or 'Adonai_), deeply affected Spinoza, and
thus his philosophy became of wide importance. Maimonides (q.v.) had
brought Jewish thought entirely under the domination of Aristotle. The
work of Crescas, though it had no immediate success, ended in effecting
its liberation. He refused to base Judaism on speculative philosophy
alone; there was a deep emotional side to his thought. Thus he based
Judaism on love, not on knowledge; love was the bond between God and
man, and man's fundamental duty was love as expressed in obedience to
God's will. Spinoza derived from Crescas his distinction between
attributes and properties; he shared Crescas's views on creation and
free will, and in the whole trend of his thought the influence of
Crescas is strongly marked.

  See E. G. Hirsch, _Jewish Encyclopaedia_, iv. 350.     (I. A.)

CRESCENT (Lat. _crescens_, growing), originally the waxing moon, hence a
name applied to the shape of the moon in its first quarter. The crescent
is employed as a charge in heraldry, with its horns vertical; when they
are turned to the dexter side of the shield, it is called increscent,
when to the sinister, decrescent. A crescent is used as a difference to
denote the second son of a house; thus the earls of Harrington place a
crescent upon a crescent, as descending from the second son of a second
son. An order of the crescent was instituted by Charles I. of Naples and
Sicily in 1268, and revived by René of Anjou in 1464. A Turkish order or
decoration of the crescent was instituted by Sultan Selim III. in 1799,
in memory of the diamond crescent which he had presented to Nelson after
the battle of the Nile, and which Nelson wore on his coat as if it were
an order.

The crescent is the military and religious symbol of the Ottoman Turks.
According to the story told by Hesychius of Miletus, during the siege of
Byzantium by Philip of Macedon the moon suddenly appeared, the dogs
began to bark and aroused the inhabitants, who were thus enabled to
frustrate the enemy's scheme of undermining the walls. The grateful
Byzantines erected a statue to "torch-bearing" Hecate, and adopted the
lunar crescent as the badge of the city. It is generally supposed that
it was in turn adopted by the Turks after the capture of Constantinople
in 1453, either as a badge of triumph, or to commemorate a partial
eclipse of the moon on the night of the final attack. In reality, it
seems to have been used by them long before that event. Ala ud-din, the
Seljuk sultan of Iconium (1245-1254), and Ertoghrul, his lieutenant and
the founder of the Ottoman branch of the Turkish race, assumed it as a
device, and it appeared on the standard of the janissaries of Sultan
Orkhan (1326-1360). Since the new moon is associated with special acts
of devotion in Turkey--where, as in England, there is a popular
superstition that it is unlucky to see it through glass--it may
originally have been adopted in consequence of its religious
significance. According to Professor Ridgeway, however, the Turkish
crescent, like that seen on modern horse-trappings, has nothing to do
with the new moon, but is the result of the base-to-base conjunction of
two claw or tusk amulets, an example of which has been brought to light
during the excavations of the site of the temple of Artemis Orthia at
Sparta (see _Athenaeum_, March 21, 1908). There is nothing distinctively
Turkish in the combination of crescent and star which appears on the
Turkish national standard; the latter is shown by coins and inscriptions
to have been an ancient Illyrian symbol, and is of course common in
knightly and decorative orders. It is doubtful whether any opposition
between crescent and cross, as symbols of Islam and Christianity, was
ever intended by the Turks; and it is an historical error to attribute
the crescent to the Saracens of crusading times or the Moors in Spain.

Crescent is also the name of a Turkish musical instrument. In
architecture, a crescent is a street following the arc of a circle; the
name in this sense was first used in the Royal Crescent at Bath.

CRESCIMBENI, GIOVANNI MARIO (1663-1728), Italian critic and poet, was
born at Macerata in 1663. Having been educated by a French priest at
Rome, he entered the Jesuits' college of his native town, where he
produced a tragedy on the story of Darius, and versified the
_Pharsalia_. In 1679 he received the degree of doctor of laws, and in
1680 he removed again to Rome. The study of Filicaja and Leonico having
convinced him that he and all his contemporaries were working in a wrong
direction, he resolved to attempt a general reform. In 1690, in
conjunction with fourteen others, he founded the celebrated academy of
the Arcadians, and began the contest against false taste and its
adherents. The academy was most successful; branch societies were opened
in all the principal cities of Italy; and the influence of Marini,
opposed by the simplicity and elegance of such models as Costanzo, soon
died away. Crescimbeni officiated as secretary to the Arcadians for
thirty-eight years. In 1705 he was made canon of Santa Maria; in 1715 he
obtained the chief curacy attached to the same church; and about two
months before he died (1728) he was admitted a member of the order of
Jesus.

  His principal work is the _Istoria della volgar poesia_ (Rome, 1698),
  an estimate of all the poets of Italy, past and contemporary, which
  may yet be consulted with advantage. The most important of his
  numerous other publications are the _Commentarij_ (5 vols., Rome,
  1702-1711), and _La Bellezza della volgar poezia_ (Rome, 1700).

CRESILAS, a Cretan sculptor of Cydonia. He was a contemporary of
Pheidias, and one of the sculptors who vied in producing statues of
amazons at Ephesus (see GREEK ART) about 450 B.C. As his amazon was
wounded (_volnerata_; Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ xxxiv. 75), we may safely
identify it with the figure, of which several copies are extant, who is
carefully removing her blood-stained garment from a wound under the
right breast. Another work of Cresilas of which copies survive is the
portrait of Pericles, the earliest Greek portrait which has been with
certainty identified, and which fully confirms the statement of ancient
critics that Cresilas was an artist who idealized and added nobility to
men of noble type. An extant portrait of Anacreon is also derived from
Cresilas.

CRESOLS or METHYL PHENOLS, C7H8O or C6H4·CH3·OH. The three isomeric
cresols are found in the tar obtained in the destructive distillation of
coal, beech-wood and pine. The crude cresol obtained from tar cannot be
separated into its different constituents by fractional distillation,
since the boiling points of the three isomers are very close together.
The pure substances are best obtained by fusion of the corresponding
toluene sulphonic acids with potash.

Ortho-cresol, CH3(1)·C6H4·OH(2), occurs as sulphate in the urine of the
horse. It may be prepared by fusion of ortho-toluene sulphonic acid with
potash; by the action of phosphorus pentoxide on carvacrol; or by the
action of zinc chloride on camphor. It is a crystalline solid, which
melts at 30° C. and boils at 190.8° C. Fusion with alkalis converts it
into salicylic acid.

Meta-cresol, CH3(1)·C6H4·OH(3), is formed when thymol
(para-isopropyl-meta-cresol) is heated with phosphorus pentoxide.
Propylene is liberated during the reaction, and the phosphoric acid
ester of meta-cresol which is formed is then fused with potash. It can
also be prepared by distilling meta-oxyuvitic acid with lime, or by the
action of air on boiling toluene in the presence of aluminium chloride
(C. Friedel and J. M. Crafts, _Ann. Chim. Phys._, 1888 [6], 14, p. 436).
It solidifies in a freezing mixture, on the addition of a crystal of
phenol, and then melts at 3°-4° C. It boils at 202°.8 C. Its aqueous
solution is coloured bluish-violet by ferric chloride.

Para-cresol, CH3(1)·C6H4·OH(4), occurs as sulphate in the urine of the
horse. It is also found in horse's liver, being one of the putrefaction
products of tyrosine. It may be prepared by the fusion of para-toluene
sulphonic acid with potash; by the action of nitrous acid on
para-toluidine; or by heating para-oxyphenyl acetic acid with lime. It
crystallizes in prisms which melt at 36° C. and boil at 201°.8 C. It is
soluble in water, and the aqueous solution gives a blue coloration with
ferric chloride. When treated with hydrochloric acid and potassium
chlorate, no chlorinated quinones are obtained (M. S. Southworth, _Ann._
(1873), 168, p. 271), a behaviour which distinguishes it from ortho- and
meta-cresol.

  On the composition of commercial cresylic acid see A. H. Allen, _Jour.
  Soc. Chem. Industry_ (1890), 9, p. 141. See also CREOSOTE.

CRESPI, DANIELE (1590-1630), Italian historical painter, was born near
Milan, and studied under Giovanni Battista Crespi and Giulio Procaccini.
He was an excellent colourist; his drawing was correct and vigorous, and
he grouped his compositions with much ability. His best work, a series
of pictures from the life of Saint Bruno, is in the monastery of the
Carthusians at Milan. Among the most famous of his paintings is a
"Stoning of St Stephen" at Brera, and there are several excellent
examples of his work in the city of his birth and at Pavia.

CRESPI, GIOVANNI BATTISTA (1557-1663), called Il Cerano, Italian
painter, sculptor, and architect, was born at Cerano in the Milanese. He
was a scholar of considerable attainments, and held a position of
dignity in his native city. He was head of the Milanese Academy founded
by Cardinal Frederigo Borromeo, and he was the teacher of Guercino. He
is most famous as a painter; and, though his figures are neither natural
nor graceful, his colouring is good, and his designs full of ideal
beauty.

CRESPI, GIUSEPPE MARIA (1665-1747), Italian painter, called "Lo
Spagnuolo" from his fondness for rich apparel, was born at Bologna, and
was trained under Angelo Toni, Domenico Canuti and Carlo Cignani. He
then went through a course of copying from Correggio and Barocci; this
he followed up with a journey to Venice for the sake of Titian and Paul
Veronese; and late in life he proclaimed himself a follower of Guercino
and Pietro da Cortona. He was a good colourist and a facile executant,
and was wont to employ the camera obscura with great success in the
treatment of light and shadow; but he was careless and unconscientious.
He was a clever portrait-painter and a brilliant caricaturist; and his
etchings after Rembrandt and Salvator are in some demand. His greatest
work, a "Massacre of the Innocents," is at Bologna; but the Dresden
gallery possesses twelve examples of him, among which is his celebrated
series of the Seven Sacraments.

CRESS, in botany. "Garden Cress" (_Lepidium sativum_) is an annual plant
(nat. ord. Cruciferae), known as a cultivated plant at the present day
in Europe, North Africa, western Asia and India, but its origin is
obscure. Alphonse de Candolle (_L'Origine des plantes cultivées_) says
its cultivation must date from ancient times and be widely diffused, for
very different names for it exist in the Arab, Persian, Albanian,
Hindustani and Bengali tongues. He considered the plant to be of Persian
origin, whence it may have spread after the Sanskrit epoch (there is no
Sanskrit name for it) into the gardens of India, Syria, Greece and North
Africa. It is used in salads, the young plants being cut and eaten while
still in the seed-leaf, forming, along with plants of the white mustard
in the same stage of growth, what is commonly called "small salad." The
seeds should be sown thickly broadcast or in rows in succession every
ten or fourteen days, according to the demand. The sowings may be made
in the open ground from March till October, the earliest under
hand-glasses, and the summer ones in a cool moist situation, where water
from trees, shrubs, walls, &c., cannot fall on or near them. The grit
thrown up by falling water pierces the tender tissues of the cress, and
cannot be thoroughly removed by washing. During winter they must be
raised on a slight hotbed, or in shallow boxes or pans placed in any of
the glass-houses where there is a temperature of 60° or 65°. Cress is
subject to the attack of a fungus (_Pythium debaryanum_) if kept too
close and moist. The pest very quickly infects a whole sowing. There is
no cure for it; preventive measures should therefore be taken by keeping
the sowings fairly dry and well ventilated. The seed should be sown on
new soil, and should not be covered.

The "Golden" or "Australian" cress is a dwarf, yellowish-green,
mild-flavoured sort, which is cut and eaten when a little more advanced
in growth but while still young and tender. It should be sown at
intervals of a month from March onwards, the autumn sowing, for winter
and spring use, being made in a sheltered situation.

The "curled" or "Normandy" cress is a very hardy sort, of good flavour.
In this, which is allowed to grow like parsley, the leaves are picked
for use while young; and, being finely cut and curled, they are well
adapted for garnishing. It should be sown thinly, in drills, in good
soil in the open borders, in March, April and May, and for winter and
spring use at the foot of a south wall early in September, and about the
middle of October.

_Water-cress._--"Water-cress" (_Nasturtium officinale_) is a member of
the same natural order, and a native of Great Britain. Although now so
largely used, it does not appear to have been cultivated in England
prior to the 19th century, though in Germany, especially near Erfurt, it
had been grown long previously. Its flavour is due to an essential oil
containing sulphur. Water-cress is largely cultivated in shallow
ditches, prepared in wet, low-lying meadows, means being provided for
flooding the ditches at will. Where the amount of water available is
limited, the ditches are arranged at successively higher levels, so as
to allow of the volume admitted to the upper ditch being passed
successively to the others. The ditches are usually puddled with clay,
which is covered to the depth of 9 to 12 in. with well-manured soil.

A stock of plants may be raised in two ways--by cuttings, and by seeds.
If a stock is to be raised from cuttings, the desired quantity of young
shoots is gathered--those sold in bunches for salad serve the purpose
well--and reduced where necessary to about 3 in. in length, the basal
and frequently rooted portion being rejected. They are dibbled thickly
into one of the ditches, and only enough water admitted to just cover
the soil. If the start is made in late spring, the cuttings will be
rooted in a week. They are allowed to remain for another week or two,
and are then taken up and dropped about 9 in. apart into the other
ditches, which have been slightly flooded to receive them. There is no
need to plant them--the young roots will very soon be securely anchored.
The volume of water is increased as the plants grow. If raised from
seed, the seed-bed is prepared as for cuttings, and seed sown either in
drills or broadcast. No flooding is done until the seedlings are up.
Water is then admitted, the level being raised as the plants grow. When
5 or 6 in. high, they are taken up and dropped into their permanent
quarters precisely like those raised from cuttings.

Cultivated as above described, the plants afford frequent cuttings of
large clean cress of excellent flavour for market purposes. Sooner or
later growth will become less vigorous and flowering shoots will be
produced. This will be accompanied by a pronounced deterioration of the
remaining vegetative shoots. These signs will be interpreted by the
grower to mean that his plants, as a market crop, are worn out. He will
therefore take steps to repeat the routine of culture above described.
In the winter the ditches are flooded to protect the cress from frost.

The best-flavoured water-cress is produced in the pure water of running
streams over chalk or gravel soil. Should the water be contaminated by
sewage or other undesirable matter, the plants not only absorb some of
the impurities but also serve to anchor much of the solid particles
washed as scum among them. This is extremely difficult to dislodge by
washing, and renders the cress a source of danger as food.

Water-cress for domestic use may be raised as a kitchen-garden crop if
frequently watered overhead. Beds to afford cress during the summer
should be made in broad trenches on a border facing north. It may also
be raised in pots or pans stood in saucers of water and frequently
watered overhead.

In recent years in America attention has been paid to the injury done to
water-cress beds by the "water-cress sow-bug" (_Mancasellus
brachyurus_), and the "water-cress leaf-beetle" (_Phaedon aeruginosa_).
Another species of _Phaedon_ is known in England as "blue beetle" or
"mustard beetle," and is a pest also of mustard, cabbage and kohlrabi
(see F. H. Chittenden, in _Bulletin_ 66, part ii. of Bureau of
Entomology, United States Department of Agriculture, 1907).

The name "nasturtium" is applied in gardens, but incorrectly, to species
of _Tropaeolum_.

CRESSENT, CHARLES (1685-1768), French furniture-maker, sculptor and
_fondeur-ciseleur_. As the second son of François Cressent, _sculpteur
du roi_, and grandson of Charles Cressent, a furniture-maker of Amiens,
who also became a sculptor, he inherited the tastes and aptitudes which
were likely to make a finished designer and craftsman. Even more
important perhaps was the fact that he was a pupil of André Charles
Boulle. Trained in such surroundings, it is not surprising that he
should have reached a degree of achievement which has to a great extent
justified the claim that he was the best decorative artist of the 18th
century. Cressent's distinction is closely connected with the regency,
but his earlier work had affinities with the school of Boulle, while his
later pieces were full of originality. He was an artist in the widest
sense of the word. He not only designed and made furniture, but created
the magnificent gilded enrichments which are so characteristic of his
work. He was likewise a sculptor, and among his plastic work is known to
have been a bronze bust of Louis, duc d'Orléans, the son of the regent,
for whom Cressent had made one of the finest examples of French
furniture of the 18th century--the famous _médaillier_ now in the
Bibliothèque Nationale. Cressent's bronze mounts were executed with a
sharpness of finish and a grace and vigour of outline which were hardly
excelled by his great contemporary Jacques Caffieri. His female figures
placed at the corners of tables are indeed among the most delicious
achievements of the great days of the French metal worker. Much of
Cressent's work survives, and can be identified; the Louvre and the
Wallace collection are especially rich in it, and his commode at
Hertford House with gilt handles representing Chinese dragons is perhaps
the most elaborate piece he ever produced. The work of identification is
rendered comparatively easy in his case by the fact that he published
catalogues of three sales of his work. These catalogues are highly
characteristic of the man, who shared in no small degree the personal
_bravoura_ of Cellini, and could sometimes execute almost as well. He
did not hesitate to describe himself as the author of "a clock worthy to
be placed in the very finest cabinets," "the most distinguished
bronzes," or pieces of "the most elegant form adorned with bronzes of
extra richness." He worked much in marqueterie, both in tortoiseshell
and in brilliant coloured woods. He was indeed an artist to whom colour
appealed with especial force. The very type and exemplar of the
"feeling" of the regency, he is worthy to have given his own name to
some of the fashions which he deduced from it.

CRESSWELL, SIR CRESSWELL (1794-1863), English judge, was a descendant of
an old Northumberland family, and was born at Newcastle in 1794. He was
educated at the Charterhouse and at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He
graduated B.A. in 1814, and M.A. four years later. Having chosen the
profession of the law he studied at the Middle Temple, and was called to
the bar in 1819. He joined the northern circuit, and was not long in
earning a distinguished position among his professional brethren. In
1837 he entered parliament as Conservative member for Liverpool, and he
soon gained a reputation as an acute and learned debater on all
constitutional questions. In January 1842 he was made a judge of the
court of common pleas, being knighted at the same time; and this post he
occupied for sixteen years. When the new court for probate, divorce and
matrimonial causes was established (1858), Sir Cresswell Cresswell was
requested by the Liberal government to become its first judge and
undertake the arduous task of its organization. Although he had already
earned a right to retire, and possessed large private wealth, he
accepted this new task, and during the rest of his life devoted himself
to it most assiduously and conscientiously, with complete satisfaction
to the public. In one case only, out of the very large number on which
he pronounced judgment, was his decision reversed. His death was sudden.
By a fall from his horse on the 11th of July 1863 his knee-cap was
injured. He was recovering from this when on the 29th of the same month
he died of disease of the heart.

  See Foss's _Lives of the Judges_; E. Manson, _Builders of our Law_
  (1904).

CRESSY, HUGH PAULINUS DE (c. 1605-1674), English Benedictine monk, whose
religious name was Serenus, was born at Wakefield, Yorkshire, about
1605. He went to Oxford at the age of fourteen, and in 1626 became a
fellow of Merton College. Having taken orders, he rose to the dignity of
dean of Leighlin, Ireland, and canon of Windsor. He also acted as
chaplain to Lord Wentworth, afterwards the celebrated earl of Strafford.
For some time he travelled abroad as tutor to Lord Falmouth, and in
1646, during a visit to Rome, joined the Roman Catholic Church. In the
following year he published his _Exomologesis_ (Paris, 1647), or account
of his conversion, which was highly valued by Roman Catholics as an
answer to William Chillingworth's attacks. Cressy entered the
Benedictine Order in 1649, and for four years resided at Somerset House
as chaplain to Catherine of Braganza, wife of Charles II. He died at
West Grinstead on the 10th of August 1674. Cressy's chief work, _The
Church History of Brittanny or England, from the beginning of
Christianity to the Norman Conquest_ (1st vol. only published, Rouen,
1668), gives an exhaustive account of the foundation of monasteries
during the Saxon heptarchy, and asserts that they followed the
Benedictine rule, differing in this respect from many historians. The
work was much criticized by Lord Clarendon, but defended by Antony à
Wood in his _Athenae Oxoniensis_, who supports Cressy's statement that
it was compiled from original MSS. and from the _Annales Ecclesiae
Britannicae_ of Michael Alford, _Dugdale's Monasticon_, and the _Decem
Scriptores Historiae Anglicanae_. The second part of the history, which
has never been printed, was discovered at Douai in 1856. To Roman
Catholics Cressy's name is familiar as the editor of Walter Hilton's
_Scale of Perfection_ (London, 1659); of Father A. Baker's _Sancta
Sophia_ (2 vols., Douai, 1657); and of Juliana of Norwich's _Sixteen
Revelations on the Love of God_ (1670). These books, which would have
been lost but for Cressy's zeal, have been frequently reprinted, and
have been favourably regarded by a section of the Anglican Church.

  For a complete list of Cressy's works see J. Gillow's _Bibl. Dict. of
  Eng. Catholics_, vol. i.

CREST, a town of south-eastern France, in the department of Drôme, on
the right bank of the Drôme, 20 m. S.S.E. of Valence by rail. Pop.
(1906) town, 3971; commune, 5660. It carries on silk-worm breeding,
silk-spinning, and the manufacture of woollens, paper, leather and
cement. There is trade in truffles. On the rock which commands the town
stands a huge keep, the sole survival of a castle (12th century) to
which Crest was indebted for its importance in the middle ages and the
Religious Wars. The rest of the castle was destroyed in the first half
of the 17th century, after which the keep was used as a state prison.
Crest ranked for a time as the capital of the duchy of Valentinois, and
in that capacity belonged before the Revolution to the prince of Monaco.
The communal charter, graven on stone and dating from the 12th century,
is preserved in the public archives. Ten miles south-east of Crest lies
the picturesque Forest of Saon.

CREST (Lat. _crista_, a plume or tuft), the "comb" on an animal's head,
and so any feathery tuft or excrescence, the "cone" of a helmet (by
transference, the helmet itself), and the top or summit of anything. In
heraldry (q.v.) a crest is a device, originally borne as a cognizance on
a knight's helmet, placed on a wreath above helmet and shield in
armorial bearings, and used separately on a seal or on articles of
property.

_Cresting_, in architecture, is an ornamental finish in the wall or
ridge of a building, which is common on the continent of Europe. An
example occurs at Exeter cathedral, the ridge of which is ornamented
with a range of small _fleurs-de-lis_ in lead.

CRESTON, a city and the county-seat of Union county, Iowa, U.S.A., about
60 m. S.W. of Des Moines, at the crossing of the main line and two
branches of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railway. Pop. (1890) 7200;
(1900) 7752; (1905, state census) 8382 (753 foreign-born); (1910) 6924.
The city is on the crest of the divide between the Mississippi and the
Missouri basins at an altitude of about 1310 ft.--whence its name. It is
situated in a fine farming and stock-raising region, for which it is a
shipping point. The site was chosen in 1869 by the Burlington & Missouri
River Railroad Company (subsequently merged in the Chicago, Burlington &
Quincy Railroad Company) for the location of its shops. Creston was
incorporated as a town in 1869, and was chartered as a city in 1871.

CRESWICK, THOMAS (1811-1869), English landscape-painter, was born at
Sheffield, and educated at Hazelwood, near Birmingham. At Birmingham he
first began to paint. His earliest appearance as an exhibitor was in
1827, at the Society of British Artists in London; in the ensuing year
he sent to the Royal Academy the two pictures named "Llyn Gwynant,
Morning," and "Carnarvon Castle." About the same time he settled in
London; and in 1836 he took a house in Bayswater. He soon attracted some
attention as a landscape-painter, and had a career of uniform and
encouraging, though not signal success. In 1842 he was elected an
associate, and in 1850 a full member of the Royal Academy, which, for
several years before his death, numbered hardly any other full members
representing this branch of art. In his early practice he set an
example, then too much needed, of diligent study of nature out of doors,
painting on the spot all the substantial part of several of his
pictures. English and Welsh streams may be said to have formed his
favourite subjects, and generally British rural scenery, mostly under
its cheerful, calm and pleasurable aspects, in open daylight. This he
rendered with elegant and equable skill, colour rather grey in tint,
especially in his later years, and more than average technical
accomplishment; his works have little to excite, but would, in most
conditions of public taste, retain their power to attract. Creswick was
industrious and extremely prolific; he produced, besides a steady
outpouring of paintings, numerous illustrations for books. He was
personally genial--a dark, bulky man, somewhat heavy and graceless in
aspect in his later years. He died at his house in Bayswater, Linden
Grove, on the 28th of December 1869, after a few years of declining
health. Among his principal works may be named "England" (1847); "Home
by the Sands, and a Squally Day" (1848); "Passing Showers" (1849); "The
Wind on Shore, a First Glimpse of the Sea, and Old Trees" (1850); "A
Mountain Lake, Moonrise" (1852); "Changeable Weather" (1865); also the
"London Road, a Hundred Years ago"; "The Weald of Kent"; the "Valley
Mill" (a Cornish subject); a "Shady Glen"; the "Windings of a River";
the "Shade of the Beech Trees"; the "Course of the Greta"; the "Wharfe";
"Glendalough," and other Irish subjects, 1836 to 1840; the "Forest
Farm." Frith for figures, and Ansdell for animals, occasionally worked
in collaboration with Creswick.

  In 1873 T. O. Barlow, the engraver, published a catalogue of
  Creswick's works.

CRESWICK, a borough of Talbot county, Victoria, Australia. 85½ m. by
rail N.W. of Melbourne. Pop. (1901) 3060. It is the centre of a mining,
pastoral and agricultural district. Gold is found both in alluvial and
quartz formations, the quartz being especially rich. The surrounding
country is fertile and well-timbered, and there is a government
plantation and nursery in connexion with the forests department.

CRETACEOUS SYSTEM, in geology, the group of stratified rocks which
normally occupy a position above the Jurassic system and below the
oldest Tertiary deposits; therefore it is in this system that the
closing records of the great Mesozoic era are to be found. The name
furnishes an excellent illustration of the inconvenience of employing a
local lithological feature in the descriptive title of a wide-ranging
rock-system. The white chalk (Lat. _creta_), which gives its name to the
system, was first studied in the Anglo-Parisian basin, where it takes a
prominent place; but even in this limited area there is a considerable
thickness and variety of rocks which are not chalky, and the Cretaceous
system as a whole contains a remarkable diversity of types of sediment.

_Classification._--The earlier subdivisions of the Cretaceous rocks were
founded upon the uncertain ground of similarity in lithological
characters, assisted by observed stratigraphical sequence. This method
yielded poor results even in a circumscribed area like Great Britain,
and it breaks down utterly when applied to the correlation of rocks of
similar age in Europe and elsewhere. Study of the fossils, however, has
elicited the fact that certain forms characterize certain "zones," which
are preceded and succeeded by other zones each bearing a peculiar
species or distinctive assemblage of species. By these means the
Cretaceous rocks of the world have now been correlated zone with zone,
with a degree of exactitude proportional to the palaeontological
information gained in the several areas of occurrence.

The Cretaceous system falls naturally into two divisions, an upper and a
lower, in all but a few limited regions. In the table on page 288 the
names of the principal stages are enumerated; these are capable of
world-wide application. The sub-stages are of more local value, and too
much importance must not be attached to them for the correlation of
distant deposits. The general table is designed to show the relative
position in the system of some of the more important and better-known
formations; but it must be remembered that the Cretaceous rocks of
Europe can now be classified in considerable detail by their fossils,
the most accurate group for this purpose being the cephalopods. The
smaller table was compiled by T. C. Chamberlin and R. D. Salisbury to
show the main subdivisions of the North American Cretaceous rocks. The
correlation of the minor subdivisions of Europe and America are only
approximate.

[Illustration: Distribution of Cretaceous Rocks]

_Relation of the Cretaceous Strata to the Systems above and below._--In
central and northern Europe the boundary between the Cretaceous and
Tertiary strata is sharply defined by a fairly general unconformity,
except in the Danian and Montian beds, where there is a certain
commingling of Tertiary with Cretaceous fossils. The relations with the
underlying Jurassic rocks are not so clearly defined, partly because the
earliest Cretaceous rocks are obscured by too great a thickness of
younger strata, and partly because the lowest observable rocks of the
system are not the oldest, but are higher members of the system that
have overlapped on to much older rocks. However, in the south of
England, in the Alpine area, and in part of N.W. Germany the passage
from Jurassic to Cretaceous is so gradual that there is some divergence
of opinion as to the best position for the line of separation. In the
Alpine region this passage is formed by marine beds, in the other two by
brackish-water deposits. In a like manner the Potomac beds of N. America
grade downwards into the Jurassic; while in the Laramie formation an
upward passage is observed into the Eocene deposits. There is a very
general unconformity and break between the Lower and Upper Cretaceous;
this has led Chamberlin and Salisbury to suggest that the Lower
Cretaceous should be regarded as a separate period with the title
"Comanchean."

_Physiographical Conditions and Types of Deposit._--With the opening of
the Cretaceous in Europe there commenced a period of marine
transgression; in the central and western European region this took
place from the S. towards the N., slow at first and local in effect, but
becoming more decided at the beginning of the upper division. During the
earlier portion of the period, S. England, Belgium and Hanover were
covered by a great series of estuarine sands and clays, termed the
Wealden formation (q.v.), the delta of a large river or rivers flowing
probably from the N.W. Meanwhile, in the rest of Europe alternations of
marine and estuarine deposits were being laid down; but over the Alpine
region lay the open sea, where there flourished coral reefs and great
banks of clam-like molluscs. The sea gradually encroached upon the
estuarine Wealden area, and at the time of the Aptian deposits uniform
marine conditions prevailed from western Europe through Russia into
Asia. This extension of the sea is illustrated in England by the overlap
of the Gault over the Lower Greens and on to the older rocks, and by
similar occurrences in N. France and Germany.

Almost throughout the Upper Cretaceous period the marine invasion
continued, varied here and there by slight movements in the opposite
sense which did not, however, interfere with the quiet general advance
of the sea. This marine extension made itself felt over the old central
plateau of France, the N. of Great Britain, the Spanish peninsula, the
Armorican peninsula, and also in the Bavarian Jura and Bohemia; it
affected the northern part of Africa and East Africa; in N. America the
sea spread over the entire length of the Rocky Mountain region; and in
Brazil, eastern Asia and western Australia, Upper Cretaceous deposits
are found resting directly upon much older rocks. Indeed, at this time
there happened one of the greatest changes in the distribution of land
and water that have been recorded in geological history.

We have seen that in early Cretaceous times marine limestones were being
formed in southern Europe, while estuarine sands and muds were being
laid down in the Anglo-German delta, and that beds of intermediate
character were being made in parts of N. France and Germany. During
later Cretaceous times this striking difference between the northern and
southern facies was maintained, notwithstanding the fact that the later
deposits were of marine origin in both regions. In the northern region
the gradual deepening and accompanying extension of the sea caused the
sandy deposits to become finer grained in N.W. Europe. The sandy beds
and clays then gave way to marly deposits, and in these early stages
glauconitic grains are very characteristically present both in the sand
and in the marls. In their turn these marly deposits in the
Anglo-Parisian basin were succeeded gradually and somewhat
intermittently by the purer, soft limestone of the chalk sea, and by
limestones, similar in character, in N. France, extra-Alpine Germany, S.
Scandinavia, Denmark and Russia. Meanwhile, the S. European deposits
maintained the characters already indicated; limestones (not chalk)
prevailed, except in certain Alpine and Carpathian tracts where detrital
sandstones were being laid down.

The great difference between the lithological characters of the northern
and southern deposits is accompanied by an equally striking difference
between their respective organic contents. In the north, the genera
_Inoceramus_ and _Belemnitella_ are particularly abundant. In the south,
the remarkable, large, clam-like, aberrant pelecypods, the
_Hippuritidae_, _Rudistes_, _Caprotina_, &c., attained an extraordinary
development; they form great lenticular banks, like the clam banks of
warm seas, or like our modern oyster-beds; they appear in successive
species in the different stages of the Cretaceous system of the south,
and can be used for marking palaeontological horizons as the cephalopods
are used elsewhere. Certain genera of ammonites, _Haploceras_,
_Lytoceras_, _Phylloceras_, rare in the north, are common in the south;
and the southern facies is further characterized by the peculiar group
of swollen belemnites (_Dumontia_), by the gasteropods _Actionella_,
_Nerinea_, &c., and by reef-building corals. The southern facies is far
more widespread and typical of the period than is the chalk; it not only
covers all southern Europe, but spreads eastwards far into Asia and
round the Mediterranean basin into Africa. It is found again in Texas,
Alabama, Mexico, the West Indies and Colombia; though limestones of the
chalk type are found in Texas, New Zealand, and locally in one or two
other places. The marine deposits are organically formed limestones, in
which foraminifera and large bivalve mollusca play a leading part, marls
and sandstones; dolomite and oolitic and pisolitic limestones are also
known.

  +-----------+--------------------------------+---------------------+-----------------------+
  |           |    European Classification.    |                     | Germany, &c., several |
  |           +--------------+-----------------+       Britain.      | other parts of Europe.|
  |           |    Stages.   |   Sub-stages.   |                     |                       |
  +-----------+--------------+-----------------+---------------------+-----------------------+
  |           |              |                 |                     |                       |
  |           |Montian.      |(placed by some  |                     | Marls and pisolitic   |
  |           |              |in the Tertiary).|                     |  Limestone of Meudon. |
  |           |              |                 |                     |                       |
  |           |Danian.       |                 |Chalk of Trimingham. | Limestone of Saltholm |
  |           |              |Maestrichtian    |                     |  and Faxö (Denmark).  |
  |           |              |  (Dordonian).   |Upper Chalk with     |                       |
  |           |Aturian.   \  |                 |  Flints.            |Upper Quader Sandstone.|
  |           |            | |Campanian.       |                     |                       |
  |   Upper   |    Senonian. |                 |                     |                       |
  |Cretaceous.|            | |Santonian.       |                     | Quader Marls and      |
  |           |Emscherian./  |                 |                     |  Pläner Marls.        |
  |           |              |Coniacian.       |                     |                       |
  |           |              |                 |Middle Chalk without |                       |
  |           |              |Angoumian.       |  Flints.            | Upper Pläner.         |   \
  |           |Turonian.     |                 |                     |                       |    \
  |           |              |Ligerian.        |                     |                       |     |
  |           |              |                 |                     |                       |     |
  |           |              |Carentonian.     |Grey Chalk.          | Lr. Pläner and Lr.    |     |
  |           |Cenomanian.   |                 |Chalk marl.          |  Quader.              | Hippurite
  |           |              |Rothomagian.     |Cambridge Greensand. |                       | limestones
  |           |              |                 +---------------------+ Tourtia of Mons, &c.  | of
  +-----------+--------------+-----------------| Selbornian.         +-----------------------+ Southern
  |           |              |                 |                     |                       | France
  |           |              |                 |     Gault and Upper |                       | and
  |           |              |                 |       Greensand.    |                       | Mediterranean
  |           |Albian.       |Gault.           |                     | Flammen mergel. Clay  | Region
  |           |              |                 +---------------------+  of N. Germany.       |     |
  |           |              |Gargasian.       |                     | Urgonian              |     |
  |           |Aptian.       |                 |Lower Greensand.     | Requienia             |     |
  |   Lower   |              |Bedoulian.       |                     |  (caprotina) Kalk     |    /
  |Cretaceous.|              |                 |                     |  or Schrattenkalk.    |   /
  |           |Barremian.    |                 |Weald Clay           |                       |
  |           |              |Hauterivian.     |    and              |                       |
  |           |Neocomian.    |                 |Hastings sands.      |         North         |
  |           |              |Valangian.       |                     |        German         |
  |           |              |                 |       Marine        |         Hills         |
  |           |              |Berriasian.      |      Beds of        |       formation       |
  |           |              |                 |      Specton.       |                       |
  |           |              |                 |                     |                       |
  |           |              |                 |                     |                       |
  +-----------+--------------+-----------------+---------------------+-----------------------+

  +-----------+--------------------------------------------------:-------------------------------------+
  |           |                Upper Cretaceous.                 :           Lower Cretaceous.         |
  +-----------+--------------------------------------------------:-------------------------------------+
  |           | Aptychenkalk in E. Alps ... Cretaceous Flysch... : ... Cretaceous Flysch ...           |
  |           | Biancone of S. Alps.                             : Carpathian and Vienna Sandstones,   |
  |  Alpine   |                                                  :   Gosau formation of E. Alps.       |
  |  Region.  |                                                  : Seewan beds of N. Alps.             |
  |           |                                                  : Scaglia of S. Alps.                 |
  +-----------+--------------------------------------------------:-------------------------------------+
  |  Africa.  |                          Nubian Sandstone of ... : ... N. Africa and Syria.            |
  |           | Uitenhage Beds S. Africa.                        :           Pondoland Beds S. Africa. |
  +-----------+--------------------------------------------------:-------------------------------------+
  |  India.   | Oomia and Utatur Group.                          :        Arialoor Beds (Deccan Trap). |
  +-----------+--------------------------------------------------:-------------------------------------+
  |Australia. | Rolling Down Formation.                          :                   Desert Sandstone. |
  +-----------+--------------------------------------------------:-------------------------------------+
  |    New    | Thick conglomeratic Series with Bitumous coals.  : Waipara Beds and Limestones, Chalk, |
  |  Zealand. |                                                  :   with Flints, Marls and Greensand. |
  +-----------+--------------------------------------------------:-------------------------------------+
  |S. America.| Puegiredon Series.                  Belgrano ... : ... Series.  San Martin Series.     |
  +-----------+--------------------------------------------------:-------------------------------------+
  |   Japan.  | Torinosa Limestone and Ryoseki Series.           : Izumi Sandstone and Hokkaido Series.|
  +-----------+--------------------------------------------------:-------------------------------------+
  |Greenland. | Kome Group.                                      : Atani Group.  Patoot Group (part).  |
  +-----------+--------------------------------------------------:-------------------------------------+

    _Note to Tables._

  Montian      from Mons in Belgium.
  Danian         "  Denmark = _Garumnien_ of Leymerie.
  Aturian        "  Adour.
  Maestrichtian  "  Maestricht.
  Campanian      "  Champagne.
  Emscherian     "  Emscher river in Westphalia.
  Santonian      "  Saintonge.
  Coniacian      "  Cognac.
  Senonian       "  Sens in department of Yonne.
  Turonian       "  Touraine.
  Angoumian      "  Angoumois.
  Ligerian       "  the Loire.
  Cenomanian     "  Le Mans (Cenomanum).
  Carentonian    "  Charente.
  Rothomagian    "  Rouen (_Rothomagus_).
  Albian         "  dept. of Aube.
  Selbornian     "  Selborne in Hampshire.
  Aptian         "  Apt in Vaucluse.
  Gargasian      "  Gargas near Apt.
  Bedoulian      "  la Bedoule (Var) = _Rhodanien_ of Renevie
  Barremian      "  Barrême in Basses Alpes.
  Hauterivian    "  Hauterive on Lake of Neuchâtel.
  Valangian      "  Château de Valangin near Neuchâtel.
  Neocomian      "  Neuchâtel (_Neocomum_).
  Berriasian     "  Berrias (_Ardéche_) near Besseges.
  Urgonian       "  Orgon near Arles.

The Cretaceous seas were probably comparatively shallow; this was
certainly the case where the deposits are sandy, and in the regions
occupied by the hippuritic fauna. Much discussion has taken place as to
the depth of the chalk sea. Stress has been laid upon the resemblance of
this deposit to the modern deep-sea globigerina-ooze; but on the whole
the evidence is in favour of moderate depth, perhaps not more than 1000
fathoms; the freedom of the deposit from detrital matter being regarded
as due to the low elevation of the surrounding land, and the main lines
of drainage being in other directions. Sandy and shore deposits are
common throughout the system in every region. Besides the Weald, there
were great lacustrine and terrestrial deposits in N. America (the
Potomac, Kootenay, Morrison, Dakota and Laramie formations) as well as
in N. Spain, and in parts of Germany, &c. The general distribution of
land and sea is indicated in the map.

_Earth Movements and Vulcanicity._--During the greater part of the
Cretaceous period crustal movements had been small and local in effect,
but towards the close a series of great deformative movements was
inaugurated and continued into the next period. These movements make it
possible to discriminate between the Cretaceous and Tertiary rocks,
because the conditions of sedimentation were profoundly modified by
them, and in most parts of the world there resulted a distinct break in
the sequence of fossil remains. Great tracts of our modern continental
land areas gradually emerged, and several mountainous tracts began to be
elevated, such as the Appalachians, parts of the Cordilleras, and the
Rocky Mountains, and their northern continuation, and indeed the greater
part of the western N. American continent was intensely affected; the
uplifting was associated with extensive faulting. Volcanic activity was
in abeyance in Europe and in much of Asia, but in America there were
many eruptions and intrusions of igneous rock towards the close of the
period. Diabases and peridotites had been formed during the Lower
Cretaceous in the San Luis Obispo region. Great masses of ash and
conglomerate occur in the Crow's Nest Pass in Canada; porphyries and
porphyritic tuffs of later Cretaceous age are important in the Andes;
while similar rocks are found in the Lower Cretaceous of New Zealand. It
is, however, in the Deccan lava flows of India that we find eruptions on
a scale more vast than any that have been recorded either before or
since. These outpourings of lava cover 200,000 sq. m. and are from 4000
to 6000 ft. thick. They lie upon an eroded Cenomanian surface and are to
some extent interbedded with Upper Cretaceous sediments.

  +-----------+---------------+------------+----------------+--------------------+---------------+-------------+
  |           |Atlantic Coast.|Eastern Gulf|  Western Gulf  |  Western Interior. | Pacific Coast.|  European.  |
  |           |               |   Region.  |     Region.    |                    |               |             |
  +-----------+---------------+------------+----------------+--------------------+---------------+-------------+
  |       /   | Manasquan.    |            |                |Denver, Livingstone,|               |             |
  |      |    |               |   ......   |     ......     |  (possibly Eocene).| Not           |             |
  |      |    |               |            |                |  &c.               | differentiated|             |
  |      |    | Rancocas.     |            |                | Laramie.           | or wanting.   | Danian.     |
  |      |    +---------------+------------+----------------+--------------------+---------------+-------------+
  |      |    |               | Ripley.    |                | Montana Series     |               |             |
  |CRETACEOUS | Monmouth.     |            | Montana Series |  2. Fox Hills.     |               | Senonian.   |
  |      |    |               | Selma.     | Navarro.       |  1. Fort Pierre and|               |             |
  |   Upper   |               |            |                |    Belly River.    |               |             |
  |Cretaceous.| Matawan.      | Eutaw.     | Colorado Series| Colorado Series.   |               |             |
  |      |    |               |            |  2. Austin     |  2. Niobrara.      | Chico.        | Turonian.   |
  |      |    |               |            |  1. Eagle Ford |  1. Benton.        |               |             |
  |      |    +---------------+------------+----------------|--------------------+               +-------------+
  |      |    |               |            | Dakota.        | Dakota.            |               | Cenomanian. |
  |      |    |    ......     |   ......   | Woodbine.      |                    |               | Albian.     |
  |      |    |               |            |                |                    |               | Unconformity|
  |       \   |               |     U n c o|n f o r m i t y.|                    |               |   in places.|
  |           |...............|............|................|....................|...............|.............|
  |       /   |               |            |                |                    | Horsetown     | Aptian.     |
  |      |    |               |            | Washita.       |                    |               |             |
  |      |    |               |            |                |                    | Knoxville.    | Urgonian.   |
  |      |    |               | Tuskaloosa | Fredericksburg.| Kootenay and       | \__  ___/     |             |
  |COMANCHEAN |               |    Series. |                |   Morrison (or     |    \/         | Neocomian.  |
  |      |    |Potomac Series.|            |                |   Como).           |  Shastan.     | Wealden.    |
  |  Lower    |  4. Raritan.  |            |                |                    |               |             |
  |Cretaceous.|  3. Patapsco. |            | Trinity.       |                    |               |             |
  |      |    |               |            |                |                    |               |             |
  |      |    |      Jurassic?|            |                |                    |               |             |
  |       \   | 2. Arundel    |            |                |                    |               |             |
  |           | 1. Patuxent   |            |                |                    |               |             |
  +-----------+---------------+------------+----------------+--------------------+---------------+-------------+

_Economic Products of Cretaceous Rocks._--Coal is one of the most
important products of the rocks of this system. The principal Cretaceous
coal-bearing area is in the western interior of N. America, where an
enormous amount of coal--mostly lignitic, but in places converted into
anthracite--lies in the rocks at the foot of the Rocky Mountains; most
of this is of Laramie age. Similar beds occur locally in Montana. Coal
seams of Lower Cretaceous age are found in the Black Hills (S. Dakota),
Alaska, Greenland, and in New Zealand; and the "Upper Quader" of
Löwenberg in Silesia also contains coal seams. Coals also occur in the
brackish and fresh-water deposits of Carinthia, Dalmatia and Istria,
while unimportant lignitic beds are known in many other regions. The
Fort Pierre beds are oil-bearing at Boulder, Colorado; and the Trinity
formation bears asphalt and bitumen. Important clay deposits are worked
in the Raritan formation of New Jersey, &c., and pottery clays are found
in the Löwenberg district in Germany. The Washita beds yield the
well-known hone stone. Great beds of gypsum exist in the Cretaceous
rocks of S. America. Near Salzburg a variety of the hippuritic limestone
is quarried for marble. Lithographic stone occurs in the Pyrenees. The
economic products peculiar to the chalk are mentioned in the article
CHALK. Beds of iron ore are found in the Lower Cretaceous of Germany and
England.

_The Life of the Cretaceous Period._--The fossils from the Cretaceous
series comprise marine, fresh-water and terrestrial animals and plants.
Foremost in interest and importance is the appearance in the Lower
Potomac (Lower Cretaceous) of eastern and central N. America of the
earliest representatives of angiospermous dicotyledons, and undoubted
monocotyledons, the progenitors of our modern flowering plants. The
angiosperms spread outward from the Atlantic coast region of N. America,
and first appeared in Europe in the Aptian of Portugal; towards the
close of the Lower Cretaceous period they occupied parts of Greenland,
the remaining land areas of N. America, and were steadily advancing in
every quarter of the globe. At first the Jurassic plants, the Cycads,
ferns and conifers, lived on and were the dominant plant forms.
Gradually, however, they took a subordinate place, and by the close of
the Cretaceous period the angiosperms had gained the upper hand. The
earliest of these fossil angiosperms is not in a true sense a primitive
form, and no records of such types have yet been discovered. Some of the
early forms of the Lower Cretaceous are distinctly similar to modern
genera, such as _Ficus_, _Sassafras_ and _Aralia_; others bore leaves
closely resembling our elm, maple, willow, oak, eucalyptus, &c. Before
the close of the period many other representatives of living genera had
appeared, beech, walnut, tamarisk, plane, laurel (_Laurus_), cinnamon,
ivy, ilex, viburnum, buckthorn, breadfruit, oleander and others; there
were also junipers, thujas, pines and sequoias and monocotyledons such
as _Potamogeton_ and _Arundo_. This flora was widely spread and uniform;
there was great similarity between that of Europe and N. America, and in
parts of the United States (Virginia and Maryland) the plants were very
like those in Greenland. The general aspect of the flora was
sub-tropical; the eucalyptus and other plants then common in Europe and
N. America are now confined to the southern hemisphere.

The marine fauna comprised foraminifera which must have swarmed in the
Chalk and some of the limestone seas; their shells have formed great
thickness of rock. Common forms are the genera _Alveolina_,
_Cristellaria_, _Rotalia_, _Textularia_, _Orbitolina_, _Globigerina_.
Radiolarians were doubtless abundant, but their remains are rare.
Sponges with calcareous (_Peronidilla_, _Barroisia_) and siliceous
skeletons (_Siphonia_, _Coeloptychium_, _Ventriculites_) were very
numerous in certain of the Cretaceous waters. Corals were comparatively
rare, _Trochosmilia_, _Parasmilia_, _Holocystis_ being typical genera;
reefs were formed in the Maestricht beds of Denmark and Faxoe, in the
Neocomian and Turonian of France, in the Turonian of the Alps and
Pyrenees, and also in the Gosau beds and in the Utatur group of India.
Sea-urchins were a conspicuous feature, and many nearly allied forms are
still living; _Cidaris_, _Micraster_, _Discoidea_ are examples. Crinoids
were represented by _Marsupites_, _Uintacrinus_ and _Bourgueticrinus_;
starfish (_Calliderma_ and _Pentagonaster_) were not uncommon. Polyzoa
were abundant; brachiopods were fairly common, though subordinate to the
pelecypods; they were mostly rhynchonellids and terebratulids, which
lived side by side with the ancient forms, like _Crania_ and _Discina_.
The bivalve mollusca were very important during this period,
_Inoceramus_, _Ostrea_, _Spondylus_, _Gervillia_, _Exogyra_, _Pecten_,
_Trigonia_ being particularly abundant in the northern seas, while in
the southern waters the remarkable _Hippurites_, _Radiolites_,
_Caprotina_, _Caprina_, _Monopleura_ and _Requienia_ prevailed.
Gasteropods were well represented and included many modern genera.
Cephalopods were important as a group, but the ammonites, so vigorous in
the foregoing period, were declining and were assuming curious
degenerate forms, often with a tendency to uncoil the shell;
_Baculites_, _Hoplites_, _Turrilites_, _Ptychoceras_, _Hamites_ are some
of the typical genera, while _Belemnites_ and _Belemnitella_ were
abundant in the northern seas.

The vertebrate fauna of the Cretaceous period differed in many features
from that of the present day; mammals appear to have been only poorly
represented by puny forms, related to Triassic and Jurassic types; they
were mainly marsupials (_Batodon_, _Cimolestes_) with a few
monotreme-like forms; carnivores, rodents and ungulates were still
unknown. As in Jurassic times, reptiles were the dominant forms, and not
a few genera lived on from the former period into the Cretaceous; but,
on the whole, the reptilian assemblage was no longer so varied, and most
of the distinctive mesozoic types had passed away before the close of
this period. Dinosaurs were represented by herbivorous and carnivorous
genera as in the Jurassic period, but the latter were less abundant than
before. The _Iguanodon_ of the Sussex-Weald and Bernissart in Belgium is
perhaps the best-known genus; but there were many others, their remains
being particularly abundant and well-preserved in the Cretaceous
deposits of N. America. _Titanosaurus_, _Acanthopholis_, _Megalosaurus_
and _Hypsilophodon_ may be mentioned, some of these being of great size,
while _Diclonius_ was a curious duck-billed creature; but most
remarkable in appearance must have been the horned Dinosaurs, _Ceratops_
and _Triceratops_, gross, unwieldy creatures, 25 to 30 ft. long, whose
huge heads were grotesquely armed with horns and bony frills.

Coincident, perhaps, with the widespread extension of the sea was the
development of aquatic habits and structures suitable thereto amongst
all the reptilian groups including also the birds. The foremost place
was undoubtedly taken by the pythonomorphs or sea-serpents, including
_Mosasaurus_ and many others; these were enormously elongated creatures,
reaching up to 75 ft., with swimming flappers and powerful swimming
tails, and they lived a predatory life in the open sea. Ichthyosaurians
soon disappeared from Cretaceous waters; but the plesiosaurians
(_Cimoliosaurus_ and others) reached their maximum development in this
period. The remarkable flying lizards, pterosaurs, likewise attained
their great development and then passed away; they ranged in size from
that of a pigeon to creatures with a wing-spread of 25 ft.; notable
genera are _Pteranodon_, _Ornithocheirus_, _Nyctiosaurus_. Ordinary
lizard-like forms were represented by _Coniosaurus_, _Dolichosaurus_,
&c.; and true crocodiles, _Goniopholis_, _Suchosaurus_, appeared in this
period, and continued to approximate to modern genera. The earliest
known river turtles are found in the Belly River deposits of Canada;
marine turtles also made their first appearance and were widely
represented, some of them, _Archelon_ and _Protostega_, being of great
size. True snakes appeared later in the period.

The birds, as far as existing evidence goes, were aquatic; some, like
_Ichthyornis_, were built for powerful flight; others, like
_Hesperornis_, were flightless. _Enaliornis_ is a form well known from
the Cambridge Greensand. They were toothed birds having structural
affinities with the Dinosaurs and Pterodactyles.

Fish remains of this period show that a marked change was taking place;
teleosteans (with bony internal skeleton) were taking a more prominent
place, and although ganoids were still represented (_Macropoma_,
_Lepidotus_, _Amiopris_, &c.) they had quite ceased to be the dominant
types before the close of Cretaceous times. Sharks and rays were of the
modern types, though distinct in species. Amongst the early forms of
Cretaceous teleosteans may be mentioned _Elopopsis_, _Ichthyodectes_,
_Diplomystus_ (herring), _Haplopteryx_ and _Urenchelys_ (eel).

  For further information see the articles CHALK; GREENSAND; WEALDEN.
  Sir A. Geikie's _Text-book of Geology_, vol. ii. (4th ed., 1903),
  contains in addition to a full general account of the system very full
  references to the literature.

CRETE (Gr. [Greek: Krêtê]; Turk. _Kirid_, Ital. _Candia_), after Sicily,
Sardinia and Cyprus the largest island in the Mediterranean, situated
between 34° 50' and 35° 40' N. lat. and between 23° 30' and 26° 20' E.
long. Its north-eastern extremity, Cape Sidero, is distant about 110 m.
from Cape Krio in Asia Minor, the interval being partly filled by the
islands of Carpathos and Rhodes; its north-western, Cape Grabusa, is
within 60 m. of Cape Malea in the Morea. Crete thus forms the natural
limit between the Mediterranean and the Archipelago. The island is of
elongated form; its length from E. to W. is 160 m., its breadth from N.
to S. varies from 35 to 7½ m., its area is 3330 sq. m. The northern
coast-line is much indented. On the W. two narrow mountainous
promontories, the western terminating in Cape Grabusa or Busa (ancient
Corycus), the eastern in Cape Spada, shut in the Bay of Kisamos; beyond
the Bay of Canea, to the E., the rocky peninsula of Akrotiri shelters
the magnificent natural harbour of Suda (8½ sq. m.), the only completely
protected anchorage for large vessels which the island affords. Farther
E. are the bays of Candia and Malea, the deep Mirabello Bay and the Bay
of Sitia. The south coast is less broken, and possesses no natural
harbours, the mountains in many parts rising almost like a wall from the
sea; in the centre is Cape Lithinos, the southernmost point of the
island, partly sheltering the Bay of Messará on the W. Immediately to
the E. of Cape Lithinos is the small bay of Kali Liménes or Fair Havens,
where the ship conveying St Paul took refuge (Acts xxvii. 8). Of the
islands in the neighbourhood of the Cretan coast the largest is Gavdo
(ancient Clauda, Acts xxvii. 16), about 25 m. from the south coast at
Sphakia, in the middle ages the see of a bishop. On the N. side the
small island of Dia, or Standia, about 8 m. from Candia, offers a
convenient shelter against northerly gales. Three small islands on the
northern coast--Grabusa at the N.W. extremity, Suda, at the entrance to
Suda harbour, and Spinalonga, in Mirabello Bay--remained for some time
in the possession of Venice after the conquest of Crete by the Turks.
Grabusa, long regarded as an impregnable fortress, was surrendered in
1692, Suda (where the flags of Turkey and the four protecting powers are
now hoisted) and Spinalonga in 1715.

[Illustration: Map of Crete]

_Natural Features._--The greater part of the island is occupied by
ranges of mountains which form four principal groups. In the western
portion rises the massive range of the White Mountains (_Aspra Vouna_),
directly overhanging the southern coast with spurs projecting towards
the W. and N.W. (highest summit, Hagios Theodoros, 7882 ft.). In the
centre is the smaller, almost detached mass of Psiloriti ([Greek:
Hypsiloreition], ancient Ida), culminating in Stavros (8193 ft.), the
highest summit in the island. To the E. are the Lassithi mountains with
Aphenti Christos (7165 ft.), and farther E. the mountains of Sitia with
Aphenti Kavousi (4850 ft.). The Kophino mountains (3888 ft.) separate
the central plain of Messará from the southern coast. The isolated peak
of Iuktas (about 2700 ft.), nearly due S. of Candia, was regarded with
veneration in antiquity as the burial-place of Zeus. The principal
groups are for the greater part of the year covered with snow, which
remains in the deeper clefts throughout the summer; the intervals
between them are filled by connecting chains which sometimes reach the
height of 3000 ft. The largest plain is that of Monofatsi and Messará, a
fertile tract extending between Mt. Psiloriti and the Kophino range,
about 37 m. in length and 10 m. in breadth. The smaller plain, or rather
slope, adjoining Canea and the valley of Alikianú, through which the
Platanos (ancient Iardanos) flows, are of great beauty and fertility. A
peculiar feature is presented by the level upland basins which furnish
abundant pasturage during the summer months; the more remarkable are the
Omalo in the White Mountains (about 4000 ft.) drained by subterranean
outlets ([Greek: katábothra]), Nida ([Greek: eis tên Idan]) in Psiloriti
(between 5000 and 6000 ft.), and the Lassithi plain (about 3000 ft.), a
more extensive area, on which are several villages. Another remarkable
characteristic is found in the deep narrow ravines ([Greek: pharángia]),
bordered by precipitous cliffs, which traverse the mountainous
districts; into some of these the daylight scarcely penetrates. Numerous
large caves exist in the mountains; among the most remarkable are the
famous Idaean cave in Psiloriti, the caves of Melidoni, in Mylopotamo,
and Sarchu, in Malevisi, which sheltered hundreds of refugees after the
insurrection of 1866, and the Dictaean cave in Lassithi, the birth-place
of Zeus. The so-called Labyrinth, near the ruins of Gortyna, was a
subterranean quarry from which the city was built. The principal rivers
are the Metropoli Potamos and the Anapothiari, which drain the plain of
Monofatsi and enter the southern sea E. and W. respectively of the
Kophino range; the Platanos, which flows northwards from the White
Mountains into the Bay of Canea; and the Mylopotamo (ancient Oaxes)
flowing northwards from Psiloriti to the sea E. of Retimo.

  _Geology._[1]--The metamorphic rocks of western Crete form a series
  some 9000 to 10,000 ft. in thickness, of very varied composition. They
  include gypsum, dolomite, conglomerates, phyllites, and a basic series
  of eruptive rocks (gabbros, peridotites, serpentines). Glaucophane
  rocks are widely spread. In the centre of the folds fossiliferous beds
  with crinoids have been found, and the black slates at the top of the
  series contain _Myophoria_ and other fossils, indicating that the
  rocks are of Triassic age. It is, however, not impossible that the
  metamorphic series includes also some of the Lias. The later beds of
  the island belong to the Jurassic, Cretaceous and Tertiary systems. At
  the western foot of the Ida massif calcareous beds with corals,
  brachiopods (_Rhynchonella inconstans_, &c.) have been found, the
  fossils indicating the horizon of the Kimmeridge clay. Lower
  Cretaceous limestones and schists, with radiolarian cherts, arc
  extensively developed; and in many parts of the island Upper
  Cretaceous limestones with _Rudistes_ and Eocene beds with nummulites
  have been found. All these are involved in the earth movements to
  which the mountains of the island owe their formation, but the Miocene
  beds (with _Clypeaster_) and later deposits lie almost undisturbed
  upon the coasts and the low-lying ground. With the Jurassic beds is
  associated an extensive series of eruptive rocks (gabbro, peridotite,
  serpentine, diorite, granite, &c.); they are chiefly of Jurassic age,
  but the eruptions may have continued into the Lower Cretaceous.

  The structure of the island is complex. In the west the folds run from
  north to south, curving gradually westward towards the southern and
  western coasts; but in the east the folds appear to run from west to
  east, and to be the continuation of the Dinaric folds of the Balkan
  peninsula. The structure is further complicated by a great
  thrust-plane which has brought the Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous beds
  upon the Upper Cretaceous and Eocene beds.

_Vegetation._--The forests which once covered the mountains have for the
most part disappeared and the slopes are now desolate wastes. The
cypress still grows wild in the higher regions; the lower hills and the
valleys, which are extremely fertile, are covered with olive woods.
Oranges and lemons also abound, and are of excellent quality, furnishing
almost the whole supply of continental Greece and Constantinople.
Chestnut woods are found in the Selino district, and forests of the
valonia oak in that of Retimo; in some parts the carob tree is abundant
and supplies an important article of consumption. Pears, apples,
quinces, mulberries and other fruit-trees flourish, as well as vines;
the Cretan wines, however, no longer enjoy the reputation which they
possessed in the time of the Venetians. Tobacco and cotton succeed well
in the plains and low grounds, though not at present cultivated to any
great extent.

_Animals._--Of the wild animals of Crete, the wild goat or _agrimi
(Capra aegagrus)_ alone need be mentioned; it is still found in
considerable numbers on the higher summits of Psiloriti and the White
Mountains. The same species is found in the Caucasus and Mount Taurus,
and is distinct from the ibex or bouquetin of the Alps. Crete, like
several other large islands, enjoys immunity from dangerous serpents--a
privilege ascribed by popular belief to the intercession of Titus, the
companion of St Paul, who according to tradition was the first bishop of
the island, and became in consequence its patron saint. Wolves also are
not found in the island, though common in Greece and Asia Minor. The
native breed of mules is remarkably fine.

_Population._--The population of Crete under the Venetians was estimated
at about 250,000. After the Turkish conquest it greatly diminished, but
afterwards gradually rose, till it was supposed to have attained to
about 260,000, of whom about half were Mahommedans, at the time of the
outbreak of the Greek revolution in 1821. The ravages of the war from
1821 to 1830, and the emigration that followed, caused a great
diminution, and the population was estimated by Pashley in 1836 at only
about 130,000. In the next generation it again materially increased; it
was calculated by Spratt in 1865 as amounting to 210,000. According to
the census taken in 1881, the complete publication of which was
interdicted by the Turkish authorities, the population of the island was
279,165, or 35.78 to the square kilometre. Of this total, 141,602 were
males, 137,563 females; 33,173 were literate, 242,114 illiterate;
205,010 were orthodox Christians, 73,234 Moslems, and 921 of other
religious persuasions. The Moslem element predominated in the principal
towns, of which the population was--Candia, 21,368; Canea, 13,812;
Retimo, 9274. According to the census taken in June 1900, the population
of the island was 301,273, the Christians having increased to 267,266,
while the Moslems had diminished to 33,281. The Moslems, as well as the
Christians, are of Greek origin and speak Greek.

_Towns._--The three principal towns are on the northern coast and
possess small harbours suitable for vessels of light draught. Candia,
the former capital and the see of the archbishop of Crete (pop. in 1900,
22,501), is officially styled Herákleion; it is surrounded by remarkable
Venetian fortifications and possesses a museum with a valuable
collection of objects found at Cnossus, Phaestus, the Idaean cave and
elsewhere. It has been occupied since 1897 by British troops. Canea
(Xaviá), the seat of government since 1840 (pop. 20,972), is built in
the Italian style; its walls and interesting galley-slips recall the
Venetian period. The residence of the high commissioner and the
consulates of the powers are in the suburb of Halepa. Retimo [Greek:
Rethumnos] is, like Canea, the see of a bishop (pop. 9311). The other
towns, Hierapetra, Sitia, Kisamos, Selino and Sphakia, are unimportant.

  _Production and Industries._--Owing to the volcanic nature of its
  soil, Crete is probably rich in minerals. Recent experiments lead to
  the conclusion that iron, lead, manganese, lignite and sulphur exist
  in considerable abundance. Copper and zinc have also been found. A
  large number of applications for mining concessions have been received
  since the establishment of the autonomous government. The principal
  wealth of the island is derived from its olive groves; notwithstanding
  the destruction of many thousands of trees during each successive
  insurrection, the production is apparently undiminished, and will
  probably increase very considerably owing to the planting of young
  trees and the improved methods of cultivation which the Government is
  endeavouring to promote. The orange and lemon groves have also
  suffered considerably, but new varieties of the orange tree are now
  being introduced, and an impulse will be given to the export trade in
  this fruit by the removal of the restriction on its importation into
  Greece. Agriculture is still in a primitive condition; notwithstanding
  the fertility of the arable land the supply of cereals is far below
  the requirements of the population. A great portion of the central
  plain of Monofatsi, the principal grain-producing district, is lying
  fallow owing to the exodus of the Moslem peasantry. The cultivation of
  silk cocoons, formerly a flourishing industry, has greatly declined in
  recent years, but efforts are now being made to revive it. There are
  few manufactures. Soap is produced at fifteen factories in the
  principal towns, and there are two distilleries of cognac at Candia.

  _Commerce._--The expansion of Cretan commerce has been retarded by
  many drawbacks, such as the unsatisfactory condition of the harbours,
  the want of direct steamship lines to England and other countries, and
  the deficiency of internal communications. The total value of imports
  in the four years 1901-1904 was £1,756,888, of exports £1,386,777;
  excess of imports over exports, £370,111. Exports in 1904 were valued
  at £419,642, the principal items being agricultural products (oranges,
  lemons, carobs, almonds, grapes, valonia, &c.), value £153,858, olives
  and products of olives (oil, soap, &c.), £134,788, and wines and
  liquors, £48,544. The countries which accept the largest share of
  Cretan produce are Turkey, England, Egypt, Austria and Russia. Imports
  in 1904 were valued at £549,665, including agricultural products
  (mainly flour and corn), value £162,535, and textiles, £129,349.
  Cereals are imported from the Black Sea and Danube ports, ready-made
  clothing from Austria and Germany, articles of luxury from Austria and
  France, and cotton textiles from England. Imports are charged 8%,
  exports 1% _ad valorem_ duty. According to a law published in 1899,
  Turkish merchandise became subjected to the same rates as that of
  foreign nations.

_Constitution and Government._--During the past half-century the affairs
of Crete have repeatedly occupied the attention of Europe. Owing to the
existence of a strong Mussulman minority among its inhabitants, the
warlike character of the natives, and the mountainous configuration of
the country, which enabled a portion of the Christian population to
maintain itself in a state of partial independence, the island has
constantly been the scene of prolonged and sanguinary struggles in which
the numerical superiority of the Christians was counterbalanced by the
aid rendered to the Moslems by the Ottoman troops. This unhappy state of
affairs was aggravated and perpetuated by the intrigues set on foot at
Constantinople against successive governors of the island, the conflicts
between the Palace and the Porte, the duplicity of the Turkish
authorities, the dissensions of the representatives of the great powers,
the machinations of Greek agitators, the rivalry of Cretan politicians,
and prolonged financial mismanagement. A long series of
insurrections--those of 1821, 1833, 1841, 1858, 1866-1868, 1878, 1889
and 1896 may be especially mentioned--culminated in the general
rebellion of 1897, which led to the interference of Greece, the
intervention of the great powers, the expulsion of the Turkish
authorities, and the establishment of an autonomous Cretan government
under the suzerainty of the sultan. According to the autonomous
constitution of 1899 the supreme power was vested in Prince George of
Greece, acting as high commissioner of the protecting powers. The
authority thus conferred was confided exclusively to the prince, and was
declared liable to modification by law in the case of his successor. The
modified constitution of February 1907 curtailed the large exceptional
legislative and administrative powers then accorded. The high
commissioner is irresponsible, but his decrees, except in certain
specified cases, must be countersigned by a member of his council. He
convokes, prorogues and dissolves the chamber, sanctions laws, exercises
the right of pardon in case of political offences, represents the island
in its foreign relations and is chief of its military forces. The
chamber ([Greek: boulê]), which is elected in the proportion of one
deputy to every 5000 inhabitants, meets annually for a session of two
months. New elections are held every two years. The chamber exercises a
complete financial control, and no taxes can be imposed without its
consent. The high commissioner is aided in the administration by a
cabinet of three members, styled "councillors" ([Greek: symbouloi]), who
superintend the departments of justice, finance, education, public
security and the interior. The councillors, who are nominated and
dismissed by the high commissioner, are responsible to the chamber,
which may impeach them before a special tribunal for any illegal act or
neglect of duty.

In general the Cretan constitution is characterized by a conservative
spirit, and contrasts with the ultra-democratic systems established in
Greece and the Balkan States. A further point of difference is the more
liberal payment of public functionaries in Crete. For administrative
purposes the departmental divisions existing under the Turkish
government have been retained. There are 5 _nomoi_ or prefectures
(formerly _sanjaks_) each under a prefect ([Greek: nomárchos]), and 23
eparchies (formerly _kazas_) each under a sub-prefect ([Greek:
éparchos]). All these functionaries are nominated by the high
commissioner. The prefects are assisted by departmental councils. The
system of municipal and communal government remains practically
unchanged. The island is divided into 86 communes, each with a mayor, an
assistant-mayor, and a communal council elected by the people. The
councils assess within certain limits the communal taxes, maintain
roads, bridges, &c., and generally superintend local affairs. Public
order is maintained by a force of gendarmerie ([Greek: chôrophulakê])
organized and at first commanded by Italian officers, who were replaced
by Greek officers in December 1906. The constitution authorizes the
formation of a militia ([Greek: politophulakê]) to be enrolled by
conscription, but in existing circumstances the embodiment of this force
seems unnecessary.

_Justice._--The administration of justice is on the French model. A
supreme court of appeal, which also discharges the functions of a court
of cassation, sits at Canea. There are two assize courts at Canea and
Candia respectively with jurisdiction in regard to serious offences
([Greek: kakourgêmata ]). Minor offences ([Greek: plêmmelêmata]) and
civil causes are tried by courts of first instance in each of the five
departments. There are 26 justices of peace, to whose decision are
referred slight contraventions of the law ([Greek: ptaismata]) and civil
causes in which the amount claimed is below 600 francs. These
functionaries also hold monthly sessions in the various communes. The
judges are chosen without regard to religious belief, and precautions
have been taken to render them independent of political parties. They
are appointed, promoted, transferred or removed by order of the council
of justice, a body composed of the five highest judicial dignitaries,
sitting at Canea. An order for the removal of a judge must be based upon
a conviction for some specified offence before a court of law. The jury
system has not been introduced. The Greek penal code has been adopted
with some modifications. The Ottoman civil code is maintained for the
present, but it is proposed to establish a code recently drawn up by
Greek jurists which is mainly based on Italian and Saxon law. The
Mussulman cadis retain their jurisdiction in regard to religious
affairs, marriage, divorce, the wardship of minors and inheritance.

_Religion and Education._--The vast majority of the Christian population
belongs to the Orthodox (Greek) Church, which is governed by a synod of
seven bishops under the presidency of the metropolitan of Candia. The
Cretan Church is not, strictly speaking, autocephalous, being dependent
on the patriarchate of Constantinople. There were in 1907 3500 Greek
churches in the island with 53 monasteries and 3 nunneries; 55 mosques,
4 Roman Catholic churches and 4 synagogues. Education is nominally
compulsory. In 1907 there were 547 primary schools (527 Christian and 20
Mahommedan), and 31 secondary schools (all Christian). About £20,000 is
granted annually by the state for the purposes of education.

  _Finance._--Owing to the havoc wrought during repeated insurrections,
  the impoverishment of the peasants, the desolation of the districts
  formerly inhabited by the Moslem agricultural population, and the
  drain of gold resulting from the sale of Moslem lands and emigration
  of the former proprietors, together with other causes, the financial
  situation has been unsatisfactory. Notwithstanding the advance of
  £160,000 made by the four protecting powers after the institution of
  autonomous government and the profits (£61,937) derived from the issue
  of a new currency in 1900, there was at the beginning of 1906 an
  accumulated deficit of £23,470, which represents the floating debt. In
  addition to the above-mentioned debt to the powers, the state
  contracted a loan of £60,000 in 1901 to acquire the rights and
  privileges of the Ottoman Debt, to which the salt monopoly has been
  conceded for 20 years. In the budgets for 1905 and 1906 considerable
  economies were effected by the curtailment of salaries, the abolition
  of various posts, and the reduction of the estimates for education and
  public works. The estimated revenue and expenditure for 1906 were as
  follows:--

           Revenue.                           Expenditure.
                 Drachmae (gold).                      Drachmae (gold).

    Direct taxes    1,494,000     High Commissioner        200,000
    Indirect taxes  1,715,000     Financial
                                     administration        694,670
    Stamp dues        351,700     Interior (including
                                     gendarmerie)        1,678,566
    Other sources     780,967     Education and Justice  1,453,500
                    ---------                            ---------
                    4,341,667                            4,026,736
                    ---------                            ---------

  The salary of the high commissioner was reduced in 1907 to 100,000
  drachmae.

  Improved communications are much needed for the transport of
  agricultural produce, but the state of the treasury does not admit of
  more than a nominal expenditure on road-making and other public works.
  On these the average yearly expenditure between 1898 and 1905 was
  £13,404. The prosperity of the island depends on the development of
  agriculture, the acquirement of industrious habits by the people, and
  the abandonment of political agitation. The Cretans were in 1906 more
  lightly taxed than any other people in Europe. The tithe had been
  replaced by an export tax on exported agricultural produce levied at
  the custom-houses, and the smaller peasant proprietors and shepherds
  of the mountainous districts were practically exempt from any
  contribution to the state. The communal tax did not exceed on the
  average two francs annually for each family. The poorer communes are
  aided by a state subvention.     (J. D. B.)

_Archaeology._

  Early, Middle and Late "Minoan" periods.

The recent exploration and excavation of early sites in Crete have
entirely revolutionized our knowledge of its remote past, and afforded
the most astonishing evidence of the existence of a highly advanced
civilization going far back behind the historic period. Great "Minoan"
palaces have been brought to light at Cnossus and Phaestus, together
with a minor but highly interesting royal abode at Hagia Triada near
Phaestus. "Minoan" towns, some of considerable extent, have been
discovered at Cnossus itself, at Gournia, Palaikastro, and at Zakro. The
cave sanctuary of the Dictaean Zeus has been explored, and throughout
the whole length and breadth of the island a mass of early materials has
now been collected. The comparative evidence afforded by the discovery
of Egyptian relics shows that the Great Age of the Cretan palaces covers
the close of the third and the first half of the second millennium
before our era. But the contents of early tombs and dwellings and
indications supplied by such objects as stone vases and seal-stones show
that the Cretans had already attained to a considerable degree of
culture, and had opened out communication with the Nile valley in the
time of the earliest Egyptian dynasties. This more primitive phase of
the indigenous culture, of which several distinct stages are traceable,
is known as the Early Minoan, and roughly corresponds with the first
half of the third millennium B.C. The succeeding period, to which the
first palaces are due and to which the name of Middle Minoan is
appropriately given, roughly coincides with the Middle Empire of Egypt.
An extraordinary perfection was at this time attained in many branches
of art, notably in the painted pottery, often with polychrome
decoration, of a class known as "Kamares" from its first discovery in a
cave of that name on Mount Ida. Imported specimens of this ware were
found by Flinders Petrie among XIIth Dynasty remains at Kahun. The
beginnings of a school of wall painting also go back to the Middle
Minoan period, and metal technique and such arts as gem engraving show
great advance. By the close of this period a manufactory of fine faience
was attached to the palace of Cnossus. The succeeding Late Minoan
period, best illustrated by the later palace at Cnossus and that at
Hagia Triada, corresponds in Egypt with the Hyksos period and the
earlier part of the New Empire. In the first phase of this the Minoan
civilization attains its acme, and the succeeding style already shows
much that may be described as rococo. The later phase, which follows on
the destruction of the Cnossian palace, and corresponds with the
diffused Mycenaean style of mainland Greece and elsewhere, is already
partly decadent. Late Minoan art in its finest aspect is best
illustrated by the animated ivory figures, wall paintings, and _gesso
duro_ reliefs at Cnossus, by the painted stucco designs at Hagia Triada,
and the steatite vases found on the same site with zones in reliefs
exhibiting life-like scenes of warriors, toreadors, gladiators,
wrestlers and pugilists, and of a festal throng perhaps representing a
kind of "harvest home." Of the more conventional side of Late Minoan
life a graphic illustration is supplied by the remains of miniature wall
paintings found in the palace of Cnossus, showing groups of court ladies
in curiously modern costumes, seated on the terraces and balustrades of
a sanctuary. A grand "palace style" of vase painting was at the same
time evolved, in harmony with the general decoration of the royal halls.

  Minoan script.

It had been held till lately that the great civilization of prehistoric
Greece, as first revealed to us by Schliemann's discoveries at Mycenae,
was not possessed of the art of writing. In 1893, however, Arthur Evans
observed some signs on seal-stones from Crete which led him to believe
that a hieroglyphic system of writing had existed in Minoan times.
Explorations carried out by him in Crete from 1894 onwards, for the
purpose of investigating the prehistoric civilization of the island,
fully corroborated this belief, and showed that a linear as well as a
semi-pictorial form of writing was diffused in the island at a very
early period ("Cretan Pictographs and Prae-Phoenician Script," _Journ.
of Hellenic Studies_, xiv. pt. 11). In 1895 he obtained a libation-table
from the Dictaean cave with a linear dedication in the prehistoric
writing ("Further Discoveries," &c., _J.H.S._ xvii.). Finally in 1900
all scepticism in the learned world was set at rest by his discovery in
the palace of Cnossus of whole archives consisting of clay tablets
inscribed both in the pictographic (hieroglyphic) and linear forms of
the Minoan script (Evans, "Palace of Knossos," _Reports of Excavation,
1900-1905_; _Scripta Minoa_, vol. i., 1909). Supplementary finds of
inscribed tablets have since been found at Hagia Triada (F. Halbherr,
_Rapporto, &c., Monumenti antichi_, 1903) and elsewhere (Palaikastro,
Zakro and Gournia). It thus appears that a highly developed system of
writing existed in Minoan Crete some two thousand years earlier than the
first introduction under Phoenician influence of Greek letters. In this,
as in so many other respects, the old Cretan tradition receives striking
confirmation. According to the Cretan version preserved by Diodorus (v.
74), the Phoenicians did not invent letters but simply altered their
forms.

  Earlier pictographic script.

There is evidence that the use in Crete of both linear and pictorial
signs existed in the Early Minoan period, contemporary with the first
Egyptian dynasties. It is, however, during the Middle Minoan age, the
centre point of which corresponds with the XIIth Egyptian dynasty,
according to the Sothic system of dating, c. 2000-1850 B.C., that a
systematized pictographic or hieroglyphic script makes its appearance
which is common both to signets and clay tablets. During the Third
Middle Minoan period, the lower limits of which approach 1600 B.C., this
pictographic script finally gives way to a still more developed linear
system--which is itself divided into an earlier and a later class. The
earlier class (A) is already found in the temple repositories of Cnossus
belonging to the age immediately preceding the great remodelling of the
palace, and this class is specially well represented in the tablets of
Hagia Triada (M.M. iii. and L.M. i.). The later class (B) of the linear
script is that used on the great bulk of the clay tablets of the
Cnossian palace, amounting in number to nearly 2000.

These clay archives are almost exclusively inventories and business
documents. Their general purport is shown in many cases by pictorial
figures relating to various objects which appear on them--such as
chariots and horses, ingots and metal vases, arms and implements, stores
of corn, &c., flocks and herds. Many showing human figures apparently
contain lists of personal names. A decimal system of numeration was
used, with numbers going up to 10,000. But the script itself is as yet
undeciphered, though it is clear that certain words have changing
suffixes, and that there were many compound words. The script also
recurs on walls in the shape of graffiti, and on vases, sometimes
ink-written; and from the number of seals originally attached to
perishable documents it is probable that parchment or some similar
material was also used. In the easternmost district of Crete, where the
aboriginal "Eteocretan" element survived to historic times (Praesus,
Palaikastro), later inscriptions have been discovered belonging to the
5th and succeeding centuries B.C., written in Greek letters but in the
indigenous language (Comparetti, _Mon. Ant._ iii. 451 sqq.; R. S.
Conway, _British School Annual_, viii. 125 sqq. and ib. xl.). In 1908 a
remarkable discovery was made by the Italian Mission at Phaestus of a
clay disk with imprinted hieroglyphic characters belonging to a
non-Cretan system and probably from W. Anatolia.

  Character of Minoan religion.

The remains of several shrines within the building, and the religious
element perceptible in the frescoes, show that a considerable part of
the Palace of Cnossus was devoted to purposes of cult. It is clear that
the rulers, as so commonly in ancient states, fulfilled priestly as well
as royal functions. The evidence supplied by this and other Cretan sites
shows that the principal Minoan divinity was a kind of _Magna Mater_, a
Great Mother or nature goddess, with whom was associated a male
satellite. The cult in fact corresponds in its main outlines with the
early religious conceptions of Syria and a large part of Anatolia--a
correspondence probably explained by a considerable amount of ethnic
affinity existing between a large section of the primitive Cretan
population and that of southern Asia Minor. The Minoan goddess is
sometimes seen in her chthonic form with serpents, sometimes in a more
celestial aspect with doves, at times with lions. One part of her
religious being survives in that of the later Rhea, another in that of
Aphrodite, one of whose epithets, _Ariadne_ ( = the exceeding holy),
takes us back to the earliest Cnossian tradition. Under her native name,
Britomartis ( = the sweet maiden) or Dictynna, she approaches Artemis
and Leto, again associated with an infant god, and this Cretan virgin
goddess was worshipped in Aegina under the name of Aphaea. It is
noteworthy that whereas, in Greece proper, Zeus attains a supreme
position, the old superiority of the Mother Goddess is still visible in
the Cretan traditions of Rhea and Dictynna and the infant Zeus.

Although images of the divinities were certainly known, the principal
objects of cult in the Minoan age were of the aniconic class; in many
cases these were natural objects, such as rocks and mountain peaks, with
their cave sanctuaries, like those of Ida or of Dicte. Trees and
curiously shaped stones were also worshipped, and artificial pillars of
wood or stone. These latter, as in the well-known case of the Lion's
Gate at Mycenae, often appear with guardian animals as their supporters.
The essential feature of this cult is the bringing down of the celestial
spirit by proper incantations and ritual into these fetish objects, the
dove perched on a column sometimes indicating its descent. It is a
primitive cult similar to that of Early Canaan, illustrated by the
pillow stone set up by Jacob, which was literally "Bethel" or the "House
of God." The story of the _baetylus_, or stone swallowed by Saturn under
the belief that it was his son, the Cretan Zeus, seems to cover the same
idea and has been derived from the same Semitic word.

A special form of this "baetylic" cult in Minoan Crete was the
representation of the two principal divinities in their fetish form by
double axes. Shrines of the Double Axes have been found in the palace of
Cnossus itself, at Hagia Triada, and in a small palace at Gournia, and
many specimens of the sacred emblem occurred in the Cave Sanctuary of
Dicte, the mythical birthplace of the Cretan Zeus. Complete scenes of
worship in which libations are poured before the Sacred Axes are,
moreover, given on a fine painted sarcophagus found at Hagia Triada.

  Labyrinth and Minotaur.

The same cult survived to later times in Caria in the case of Zeus
Labrandeus, whose name is derived from _labrys_, the native name for the
double axe, and it had already been suggested on philological grounds
that the Cretan "labyrinthos" was formed from a kindred form of the same
word. The discovery that the great Minoan foundation at Cnossus was at
once a palace and a sanctuary of the Double Axe and its associated
divinities has now supplied a striking and it may well be thought an
overwhelming confirmation of this view. We can hardly any longer
hesitate to recognize in this vast building, with its winding corridors
and subterranean ducts, the Labyrinth of later tradition; and as a
matter of fact a maze pattern recalling the conventional representation
of the Labyrinth in Greek art actually formed the decoration of one of
the corridors of the palace. It is difficult, moreover, not to connect
the repeated wall-paintings and reliefs of the palace illustrating the
cruel bull sports of the Minoan arena, in which girls as well as youths
took part, with the legend of the Minotaur, or bull of Minos, for whose
grisly meals Athens was forced to pay annual tribute of her sons and
daughters. It appears certain from the associations in which they are
found at Cnossus, that these Minoan bull sports formed part of a
religious ceremony. Actual figures of a monster with a bull's head and
man's body occurred on seals of Minoan fabric found on this and other
Cretan sites.

  Historic substratum of Cretan myths.

It is abundantly evident that whatever mythic element may have been
interwoven with the old traditions of the spot, they have a solid
substratum of reality. With such remains before us it is no longer
sufficient to relegate Minos to the regions of sun-myths. His legendary
presentation as the "Friend of God," like Abraham, to whom as to Moses
the law was revealed on the holy mountain, calls up indeed just such a
priest-king of antiquity as the palace-sanctuary of Cnossus itself
presupposes. It seems possible even that the ancient tradition which
recorded an earlier or later king of the name of Minos may, as suggested
above, cover a dynastic title. The earlier and later palaces at Cnossus
and Phaestus, and the interrupted phases of each, seem to point to a
succession of dynasties, to which, as to its civilization as a whole, it
is certainly convenient to apply the name "Minoan." It is interesting,
as bringing out the personal element in the traditional royal seat, that
an inscribed sealing belonging to the earliest period of the later
palace of Cnossus bears on it the impression of two official signets
with portrait heads of a man and of a boy, recalling the "associations"
on the coinage of imperial Rome. It is clear that the later traditions
in many respects accurately summed up the performances of the "Minoan"
dynast who carried out the great buildings now brought to light. The
palace, with its wonderful works of art, executed for Minos by the
craftsman Daedalus, has ceased to belong to the realms of fancy. The
extraordinary architectural skill, the sanitary and hydraulic science
revealed in details of the building, bring us at the same time face to
face with the power of mechanical invention with which Daedalus was
credited. The elaborate method and bureaucratic control visible in the
clay documents of the palace point to a highly developed legal
organization. The powerful fleet and maritime empire which Minos was
said to have established will no doubt receive fuller illustration when
the sea-town of Cnossus comes to be explored. The appearance of ships on
some of the most important seal-impressions is not needed, however, to
show how widely Minoan influence made itself felt in the neighbouring
Mediterranean regions.

  Early relations with Egypt.

  The Kefts and Philistines.

  Early relations with Cyprus and N. Aegean.

The Nilotic influence visible in the vases, seals and other fabrics of
the Early Minoan age, seems to imply a maritime activity on the part of
the islanders going back to the days of the first Egyptian dynasties. In
a deposit at Kahun, belonging to the XIIth Dynasty, c. 2000 B.C., were
already found imported polychrome vases of "Middle Minoan" fabric. In
the same way the important part played by Cretan enterprise in the days
of the New Egyptian empire is illustrated by repeated finds of Late
Minoan pottery on Egyptian sites. A series of monuments, moreover,
belonging to the early part of the XVIIIth Dynasty show the
representatives of the Kefts or peoples of "The Ring" and of the "Lands
to the West" in the fashionable costume of the Cnossian court, bearing
precious vessels and other objects of typical Minoan forms. Farther to
the east the recent excavations on the old Philistine sites like Gezer
have brought to light swords and vases of Cretan manufacture in the
later palace style. The principal Philistine tribe is indeed known in
the biblical records as the Cherethims or Cretans, and the Minoan name
and the cult of the Cretan Zeus were preserved at Gaza to the latest
classical days. Similar evidence of Minoan contact, and indeed of
wholesale colonization from the Aegean side, recurs in Cyprus. The
culture of the more northerly Aegean islands, best revealed to us by the
excavations of the British School at Phylakopi in Melos, also attest a
growing influence from the Cretan side, which, about the time of the
later palace at Cnossus, becomes finally predominant.

  Minoan influence on mainland of Greece.

Turning to the mainland of Greece we see that the astonishing remains of
a highly developed prehistoric civilization, which Schliemann first
brought to light in 1876 at Mycenae, and which from those discoveries
received the general name of "Mycenaean," in the main represent a
transmarine offshoot from the Minoan stock. The earlier remains both at
Mycenae and Tiryns, still imperfectly investigated, show that this
Cretan influence goes back to the Middle Minoan age, with its
characteristic style of polychrome vase decoration. The contents of the
royal tombs, on the other hand, reveal a wholesale correspondence with
the fabrics of the first, and, to a less degree, the second Late Minoan
age, as illustrated by the relics belonging to the Middle Period of the
later palace at Cnossus and by those of the royal villa at Hagia Triada.
The chronological centre of the great beehive tombs seems to be slightly
lower. The ceiling of that of Orchomenos, and the painted vases and gold
cups from the Vaphio tomb by Sparta, with their marvellous reliefs
showing scenes of bull-hunting, represent the late palace style at
Cnossus in its final development.

The leading characteristics of this mainland civilization are thus
indistinguishable from the Minoan. The funeral rites are similar, and
the religious representations show an identical form of worship. At the
same time the local traditions and conditions differentiate the
continental from the insular branch. In Crete, in the later period, when
the rulers could trust to the "wooden walls" of the Minoan navy, there
is no parallel for the massive fortifications that we see at Tiryns or
Mycenae. The colder winter climate of mainland Greece dictated the use
of fixed hearths, whereas in the Cretan palaces these seem to have been
of a portable kind, and the different usage in this respect again
reacted on the respective forms of the principal hall or "Megaron."

  Minoan influences in N. Greece.

Minoan culture under its mainland aspect left its traces on the
Acropolis at Athens,--a corroboration of the tradition which made the
Athenians send their tribute children to Minos. Similar traces extend