ABSTRACT
THE inscriptions and the literary evidence about Crete are thus mutually supporting, in two senses. Firstly, inscrip-tional 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 the philosophers, seeks for general principles about the organization of Cretan political and social life. The inscriptions record the events of Cretan history from within, from the formal standpoint of the governing classes of many cities, each with its individual traditions, which composed the Crete that the literary evidence presents to us as a whole, from the standpoint of outside observers who appreciated its distinct qualities but were also seeking for analogies with actual institutions on the mainland, and for factual data to support their political theory.
