Page:Outlines of European History.djvu/158

120 learned from his Egyptian neighbor the use of the potter's wheel and the closed over (p. 35) for the shaping and firing his clay vases (Fig. 61). About 2000 B.C. the Cretans began a distinct forward movement under the influence of the great nation on the Nile. Commerce between the two countries was constant. Egyptian craft (Fig. 14) were a common sight in the Cretan harbors, while the prevailing north wind of summer easily carried the galleys, which the Cretans learned to build on Egyptian models, across to the Nile Delta.

At Cnossus, near the middle of the northern coast of Crete, arose a prosperous city, whose ruler was able to build a palace arranged in the Egyptian manner, with a large cluster of rooms