Evans, Arthur J.: The Palace of Minos: a comparative account of the successive stages of the early Cretan civilization as illustred by the discoveries at Knossos (Band 2,1): Fresh lights on origins and external relations (London, 1928)

§ 47- South-East Palace Angle and Adjacent Shrine of the

Double Axes.

Staircase of S.E. Palace Angle; Column-bases and Central Wall;
Cement-paved Light-area—Minoan Tarazza/ Exedra beneath Landing;
Approach to S.E. Stairs from South Corridor; Raising and reconstituting
of fallen structures; S.E. Palace Angle left derelict after Earthquake;
' Insula' North of it, continuously ocmpied ; 'Corridor of Sword Tablets' ;
S.E. Lustral Basin; Shrine of the Double Axes; Offertory vessels in sur-
rounding area; Survival of Old Palace Cult; Earlier relics found in
collapsed cavity—high relief of Lion in painted stucco ; Lion Guardians of
Minoan Goddess, later identified with Rhea ; Tripod altars of earlier Cult;
Socketed base of Double Axe; Later Shrine preserves earlier tradition—its
successive floor-levels ; The ' Reoccupation' Shrine of the Double Axes ; A Itar
ledge with Cttlt objects; ' Dove Goddess' and male votary; The two Hand-
maidens of the Goddess—'AIA2KOTPAI'; Parallel examples on signet types ;
Female image of crude primitive type ; Shrine of the Double Axes revival of old
Palace Ctilt; Later Cult of Spring-Chamber compared; Goddess in hut-urn
there, Stib-Minoan ; Proto-Geometric Stage of Spring-Chamber not found in
Double Axe Shrine; Submergence of Shrine marks sudden end of ' Re-
occupation'; Was it due to Mainland incursion? Discovery of leaden sling
bullets among votive relics ; Prototypes of Greek specimens from Knossos ; No
evidence of Minoan use of Slings ; Were the bullets shot by Achaean marauders ?
Period of Sea Raids—precedes Conquest.

Sta'"ase The rectangular space forming the South-East Palace Angle had been

Palace long recognized as the almost inevitable site of a staircase eventually
supplying access to the upper halls of the Domestic Quarter from the
Southern approaches to the building. The Western extension of the South
Corridor formed a natural link of connexion both with the South Porch and
with the other more important entrance that we now know to have existed at
the South-West corner of the Palace and to which the Stepped Portico led.

The evident traces of a more or less central wall-line within this
rectangular area itself suggested the former existence of a staircase with two
flights within it.1 But the clear evidence that has since accumulated as the

1 This indeed is suggested in the Diagrammatic Plan of the Palace, P. of M., i, facing
p. 203.