ABSTRACT
The inscriptions and the literary evidence about Crete are thus mutually supporting, in two senses. Firstly, inscriptional evidence, though not considerable, exists for a period of about three centuries before any precise literary information begins; and it so happens that this literary information is most weighty when inscriptional evidence is lacking, that is, in the fourth century. Secondly, whilst the inscriptional evidence, from its nature, impresses us with the details of constitutional practice in so many places at specific periods, the literary evidence, especially that of philosophers, seeks for general principles about the organization of Cretan political and social life. The inscriptions of the following century show evidence of changes such as might have been expected to follow from changed general environment, which manifested itself in Crete, according to Aristotle, in the form of an invasion of warfare from abroad.
