Cook, Arthur B.: Zeus: a study in ancient religion (Band 2,1): Zeus god of the dark sky (thunder and lightning): Text and notes (Cambridge, 1925)

The double axe in relation to horns 535

the tree, or column, or pillar, betokens the presence of the goddess—
a view supported by the later emergence of the axe-bearing god1
on the one hand and the pillar-shaped goddess or 'Caryatid2' on
the other.

(8) The double axe in relation to horns.

Fourthly, 'Minoan' religion brought the double axe into con-
nexion with sacred horns. Of this we have already seen some
examples3; and many more might be cited.

Fragments of pottery from Knossos show the double axe, in one
case set between horns, in a second placed before a shrine4. An
actual shrine of small size (only 1^ m. square) was found by Sir
A. J. Evans in the Cnossian palace5. It was referable to the period
of partial re-occupation ('Late Minoan iii'), and it was arranged as
follows (fig. 404)e. On the floor of stamped clay were bowls and
vases. A raised dai's or step had a plaster tripod fixed into its pebbly
surface, on which stood also some cups and small jugs. A higher
step with a pebbled floor and a plastered front had attached to it
two pairs of horns made of white-coloured stucco with a clay core.
Leaning against one of them was a miniature double axe of steatite
with duplicated blades (fig. 405)7. And each
pair of horns had a central socket, which in
all probability was meant to receive the shaft
of a double axe. On either side of these horned
sockets stood painted terra-cotta figures of
votaries and deities. To the left of the left-
hand pair of horns was a male votary on a
small flat base: he was wearing a loin-cloth
and some sort of tunic laced behind, while he held out a dove
as an oblation (fig. 4.06 a)8. To the right of the same horns was a
goddess on a high cylindrical base: she had long hair falling
down her back and over her shoulders ; her head was turned
towards the horns, and her hands were curved up over her breasts

1 Infra § 3 (c) i (e). -

2 See now T. Homolle ' L'origine des Caryatides' in the Rev. Arch. 1917 i. 1—67
with six figs, and pi. 4 f.

3 Supra pp. 517 f., 524 f., 528 f.

4 D. Mackenzie in the Joum. Hell. Stud. 1903 xxiii. 203.

5 Sir A. J. Evans in the Ann. Brit. Sch. Ath. 1901—1902 viii. 95—102 with figs.
55—57-

6 Id. ib. p. 97 fig. 55 (redrawn in my fig. 404).

7 Id. ib. p. 101 fig. 57 ('slightly enlarged') = my fig. 405.

8 G. Maraghiannis Antiquites Critoises Troisieme Serie Candie s.a. pi. 50 (part of
which = my fig. 406).