Light on Lost Epochs

Digging at widely separated sites --one on an island in the Aegean Sea, the other in western Iran--two teams of archaeologists recently made discoveries that may require passages of ancient history to be rewritten. Already, the objects uncovered by the scientists are shedding new light on two mighty empires of antiquity.

The first find was reported by Greek archaeologists, who for the past six years have been excavating the remains of an important center of the highly advanced Minoan civilization: a city that was buried under a blanket of ash and dust when the volcanic island of Thera (Santorini) erupted in a great explosion about 1500 B.C. Until now, the most important treasures unearthed by the diggers on Thera were several exquisitely beautiful frescoes; they show such tranquil scenes as swallows frolicking amid spring blossoms, two boys playfully boxing, and a man apparently kneeling in worship (TIME, Feb. 28, 1972). But they offer few hints about the naval power that helped Thera acquire its great wealth.

Epic. The archaeologists have now found such evidence. Digging out another buried house last summer, they discovered fragments of a frieze painted in a continuous strip on three of its walls. Partially restored by experts of Athens' Byzantine Museum, the impressive 21-ft.-long wall painting portrays a detailed, DeMille-like epic of invasion and bloodshed. Spyridon Marinatos, the chief excavator and director of Greece's department of antiquities, compares it to the Iliad. "Homer is poetry in words," he says. "This is poetry in color."

The painting, which consists of a series of miniature scenes, none more than 16 inches high, portrays a battle between a fleet of Minoan ships and an enemy flotilla off a coastal city. Following their victory, the Minoans land, sack the city and make off with its valuables. The battle is vividly recreated; men can be seen falling from sinking ships and drowning, women jump in despair off towers, and soldiers lead away looted cattle and sheep. In other panels, the conquerors are welcomed by the inhabitants of two other cities. This activity takes place against a landscape populated by lions, deer, panthers, leopards and even a griffin, the mythical creature with the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion.

From the faces of the people and the type of sheep they raised, Marinatos concludes that the action occurred on the coast of Libya. Either allies or colonies of the Minoans, the two friendly cities had apparently summoned naval help against a rival city. If Marinatos is correct, the frieze extends by at least a thousand years the known history of Libya; until now scholars have thought that the earliest reference to Libya was in the chronicles of Herodotus, written about 450 B.C. The frieze also strongly suggests that Thera prospered through trade and occasionally conquest. For these reasons, Marinatos is convinced that the frieze is "the most valuable historical document that we have obtained so far from the Bronze Age."

The Middle East discovery was made last Christmas Eve by a French-led team of archaeologists. While dig ging at the ancient imperial Persian city of Susa in western Iran, they suddenly struck a large stone object. As they excitedly removed more earth, fingers, then a hand and finally most of a human figure emerged. Even though the head and shoulders were missing, hieroglyphics on the carved belt of the more than seven-foot-high, four-ton statue indicated that it was a figure of Darius the Great, one of the most powerful rulers of the ancient world.

During his reign, which lasted from 522 to 485 B.C., Darius controlled a vast empire that stretched from the coast of North Africa to India. Apart from the fact that he was renowned as a lawgiver and statesman, most details of his life and that of the Achaemenian dynasty --which ruled ancient Persia for two centuries--are shrouded in the mists of the past. The great bas-reliefs that Darius ordered carved into a cliffside in Behistun, some 150 miles to the north of Susa, for instance, tell of his accession to the throne and his triumph over enemies. But they are too fragmentary to offer a full historical record.

Portrait. The statue of Darius should provide many missing details. Unearthed at the entrance of a newly discovered hilltop building near a palace built by Darius, the figure is executed in the fashionable Egyptian style of the day: dressed in robes, the king has his left foot forward, his left arm against his chest, and wears on his belt a dagger in a sheath decorated with winged bulls. According to the inscriptions, Darius ("the King of Kings, the King of the People, the King of this Great Earth") had the statue carved in Egypt and shipped to Susa, where he personally consecrated it. On the statue's base are two rows of kneeling figures, representing the different tribes and nations that lived under his rule.

Elated by the discovery, the archaeologists will next turn their attention to the lower areas of the palace grounds, hoping to find the statue's missing head, which may have rolled down the hill after some ancient accident. They will be spurred on by the inscriptions in the three official languages of the empire--Old Persian, Elamite and Akkadian--as well as in Egyptian hieroglyphics. In fact, the hieroglyphics say the statue is a "portrait." If that is indeed true, finding the missing head will enable modern man to gaze for the first time upon the full visage of Darius, the King of Kings.

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