DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14696#0602
528 The double axe in relation
a fish and a scroll derived from three Triton-shells treated as ten-
tacles of an argonaut. Again, a hieroglyphic sign, found by the
same explorer on a clay sealing from the Cnossian palace, represents
a tree—apparently a cypress—serving as the handle of a double
axe (fig. 397)1.
A certain analogy with the foregoing examples of 'Minoan'
(7) The double axe in relation to columns or pillars.
Thirdly, the double axe had a religious significance for the
'Minoan' age, when it was stuck into the columns of a sacred build-
ing or cave. Fragments of painted plaster from the palace at Knossos6
show portions of a sanctuary with a row of columns, which, from their
shape and colour, are obviously meant to represent the wooden sup-
ports usual in the architecture of the period. Between each pair of
columns and also along the top of their entablature are set large
ritual horns. Into the upper part of the shaft, and into the upper part
of the echinus, of every column is driven from opposite sides a couple
of double axes, which, like the horns, are painted white. Finally,
1 Sir A. J. Evans Scripta Minoa Oxford 1909 i. 195 no. 36, ^( = my fig. 397) pi. 3,
P. 70 a.
2 E. Cartailhac La France prihistorique Paris 1889 p. 6 fig. 3 (= my fig. 398). This
appears to be the pendant, in the Campana collection, very inadequately described and
figured by E. Braun in the Mon. Ann. e Bull. d. Inst. p. 54 pi. 10.
3 The arrow-head itself is lily-shaped, the tang forming the central spike of an inverted
flower.
4 See e.g. Sir J. Evans The Ancient Stone Implements of Great Britain" London 1897
D Other examples of flint arrow-heads set in gold, silver, or bronze and worn as amulets
by the ancient Etruscans etc. are given in C. Blinkenberg The Thnnderweapon in Religion
and Folklore Cambridge 1911 p. 28 f. fig. 14 f., p. 109.
6 Sir A. J. Evans in the Ann. Brit. Sch. Ath. 1903—1904 x. 40 ff., fig. 14, pi. 2
(=my fig. 399).
religious art is afforded by an amulet, which
forms the central pendant of an Etruscan
gold necklace (fig. 398)1 It consists of a
neolithic arrow-head of flint imbedded in the
stem of a golden lily3, on which rests a disk
enclosing a decorative double axe (?). Since
flint arrow-heads, no less than flint axes, were
held to be thunderbolts4, it is likely enough
that this amulet5 too was believed to com-
bine the virtues of the sky-god and the earth-
goddess.
Fig. 398.
p. 362 ff.
a fish and a scroll derived from three Triton-shells treated as ten-
tacles of an argonaut. Again, a hieroglyphic sign, found by the
same explorer on a clay sealing from the Cnossian palace, represents
a tree—apparently a cypress—serving as the handle of a double
axe (fig. 397)1.
A certain analogy with the foregoing examples of 'Minoan'
(7) The double axe in relation to columns or pillars.
Thirdly, the double axe had a religious significance for the
'Minoan' age, when it was stuck into the columns of a sacred build-
ing or cave. Fragments of painted plaster from the palace at Knossos6
show portions of a sanctuary with a row of columns, which, from their
shape and colour, are obviously meant to represent the wooden sup-
ports usual in the architecture of the period. Between each pair of
columns and also along the top of their entablature are set large
ritual horns. Into the upper part of the shaft, and into the upper part
of the echinus, of every column is driven from opposite sides a couple
of double axes, which, like the horns, are painted white. Finally,
1 Sir A. J. Evans Scripta Minoa Oxford 1909 i. 195 no. 36, ^( = my fig. 397) pi. 3,
P. 70 a.
2 E. Cartailhac La France prihistorique Paris 1889 p. 6 fig. 3 (= my fig. 398). This
appears to be the pendant, in the Campana collection, very inadequately described and
figured by E. Braun in the Mon. Ann. e Bull. d. Inst. p. 54 pi. 10.
3 The arrow-head itself is lily-shaped, the tang forming the central spike of an inverted
flower.
4 See e.g. Sir J. Evans The Ancient Stone Implements of Great Britain" London 1897
D Other examples of flint arrow-heads set in gold, silver, or bronze and worn as amulets
by the ancient Etruscans etc. are given in C. Blinkenberg The Thnnderweapon in Religion
and Folklore Cambridge 1911 p. 28 f. fig. 14 f., p. 109.
6 Sir A. J. Evans in the Ann. Brit. Sch. Ath. 1903—1904 x. 40 ff., fig. 14, pi. 2
(=my fig. 399).
religious art is afforded by an amulet, which
forms the central pendant of an Etruscan
gold necklace (fig. 398)1 It consists of a
neolithic arrow-head of flint imbedded in the
stem of a golden lily3, on which rests a disk
enclosing a decorative double axe (?). Since
flint arrow-heads, no less than flint axes, were
held to be thunderbolts4, it is likely enough
that this amulet5 too was believed to com-
bine the virtues of the sky-god and the earth-
goddess.
Fig. 398.
p. 362 ff.