DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1118#0112
I 104. Fresh Discovery of a Chryselephantine Image oe Boy-God-
the Minoan Tonsure and Evidences of Hair-Offering.
New Chryselephantine figure of boy-God; Comparison, with earlier
discovered example; Of somewhat maturer age; Gold plates of' loin clothing—
parallel to those of ' Goddess of Sports' ,• ' Pro to-A rmcuoid' physiognomy ■
Shorn head—evidence of tonsure; Biretta worn; Primitive custom of hair-
offerings—hair source of life and strength; Cutting off- of ' Childhood's locks'
at Age of Puberty; Hair-offerings to Syrian Goddess ; Dedications of locks of
hair in Temple of Carian Zeus Panamafos; Cretan connexions of his Cult—a
Godoflhe Double Axe; Sculptural representations of votive tresses— Thessalian
stela / Evidence of votive representations of hair-offerings in. Minoan Shrines;
Plaited steatite tresses used as affixes at Knossos and Mycenae; Ex voto of
this kind found in relation to Palace Sanctuary of Domestic Quarter; Rite
of tonsure as seen on the chryselephantine image associated with Youthful God.
New ■ To the examples given in the preceding Section of the Minoan Genii
phantine as Ministers and Protectors .of a young male divinity may now be added a
figure of new anci remarkable piece of evidence as to the character of the God himself
boy-God. ■■ ■ . *
under an adolescent aspect. As interpreted below, it throws at the same
time a suggestive light on the ritual usage of hair-offering connected with
. the entry on the stage of puberty.
A happy chance has made it possible to illustrate a fresh specimen of a
youthful chryselephantine figure, the gold raiment of which throws a nen
light on that of the little boy-God already described and here reproduced in
Fig. 393, similarly clad.1 Like the image of ' Our Lady of the Sports?
this specimen too had crossed the Atlantic, but in this case it has re-crossed
it and it has thus been made possible for me to illustrate this interesting and,
beyond all doubt, genuine object, in detail in the present work. All that cai
with certainty be said about its provenance is that it was found some yea'
since in the Southernmost region of Crete (Fig. 394, a, b, c and 396). Supp •
PL LIII shows the left side view of the figure enlarged to nearly one-ha •
The scale of this figurine is somewhat less than that of the boy-
shown in Fig. 393, its height being 12-5 centimetres (4I inches) in plaC
about 13 cm.3 To the actual height of the figure, which in this case sta
. ,.|ie tiara
' P. o/M., iii, p. 442 seqq., and Figs. 309, 3 As calculated, toe. cit., without
3H. and assuming that the feet were set flat in
"■ See above, p. 29, Fig. 14. of on tiptoe.
the Minoan Tonsure and Evidences of Hair-Offering.
New Chryselephantine figure of boy-God; Comparison, with earlier
discovered example; Of somewhat maturer age; Gold plates of' loin clothing—
parallel to those of ' Goddess of Sports' ,• ' Pro to-A rmcuoid' physiognomy ■
Shorn head—evidence of tonsure; Biretta worn; Primitive custom of hair-
offerings—hair source of life and strength; Cutting off- of ' Childhood's locks'
at Age of Puberty; Hair-offerings to Syrian Goddess ; Dedications of locks of
hair in Temple of Carian Zeus Panamafos; Cretan connexions of his Cult—a
Godoflhe Double Axe; Sculptural representations of votive tresses— Thessalian
stela / Evidence of votive representations of hair-offerings in. Minoan Shrines;
Plaited steatite tresses used as affixes at Knossos and Mycenae; Ex voto of
this kind found in relation to Palace Sanctuary of Domestic Quarter; Rite
of tonsure as seen on the chryselephantine image associated with Youthful God.
New ■ To the examples given in the preceding Section of the Minoan Genii
phantine as Ministers and Protectors .of a young male divinity may now be added a
figure of new anci remarkable piece of evidence as to the character of the God himself
boy-God. ■■ ■ . *
under an adolescent aspect. As interpreted below, it throws at the same
time a suggestive light on the ritual usage of hair-offering connected with
. the entry on the stage of puberty.
A happy chance has made it possible to illustrate a fresh specimen of a
youthful chryselephantine figure, the gold raiment of which throws a nen
light on that of the little boy-God already described and here reproduced in
Fig. 393, similarly clad.1 Like the image of ' Our Lady of the Sports?
this specimen too had crossed the Atlantic, but in this case it has re-crossed
it and it has thus been made possible for me to illustrate this interesting and,
beyond all doubt, genuine object, in detail in the present work. All that cai
with certainty be said about its provenance is that it was found some yea'
since in the Southernmost region of Crete (Fig. 394, a, b, c and 396). Supp •
PL LIII shows the left side view of the figure enlarged to nearly one-ha •
The scale of this figurine is somewhat less than that of the boy-
shown in Fig. 393, its height being 12-5 centimetres (4I inches) in plaC
about 13 cm.3 To the actual height of the figure, which in this case sta
. ,.|ie tiara
' P. o/M., iii, p. 442 seqq., and Figs. 309, 3 As calculated, toe. cit., without
3H. and assuming that the feet were set flat in
"■ See above, p. 29, Fig. 14. of on tiptoe.