DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14697#0106
944
Appendix B
'prayer-pellets' like those of Petsofa (J. L. Myres in the Ann. Brit. Sch. Ath. 1902—1903
ix. 382) ; in the burnt earth, larger goats and oxen, the raised arms of a worshipper, clay
locks of human hair, flat shelHike coils, and a limestone ladle with traces of an inscription
in linear characters (class A). A similar ladle likewise inscribed was found in a deposit
of the same date on Troullos, a foot-hill of Mt Juktas (S. A. Xanthoudides in the 'E(f>.
'ApX. 1909 p. 179 ff. figs. 1—4).
The later phase of the cult (' Late Minoan ') witnessed the foundation of a rectangular
building with walls of ashlar blocksmnd outer terrace-walls of rougher construction. The
building was approached by an ascent (A—A) and comprised an entrance-chamber (B 1),
a magazine (?) (B 2), and an inner room (C). In the floor of B 1 a large hollow has been
dug by treasure-hunters. On the walls of B 2 fragments of a plaster-facing are still to be
seen. And in C are remains of a paving in white-faced cement. The whole building
' seems to have reproduced the arrangement of a small house of the early Cretan and
Aegean " but and ben" type, about 16 x 10 metres in its exterior dimensions' (Sir A. J.
Evans The Palace of Minos at Knossos London 1921 i. 158 with fig. ii4 = my fig. 837).
Fig- 837.
Outside the building, to the north, lay a te'menos of roughly triangular shape supported by
terrace-walls.
Here knowledge ends and conjecture begins. Sir Arthur Evans (pp. at. p. 158 ff.)
surmises that the building described above ' was a little house of shelter and refection for
the Goddess on her mountain top, a " Casa Santa," ' etc., and that the te'menos was 'the
hypaethral part of the Sanctuary, well adapted for the exposure of a pillar form of the
divinity.' Further, he thinks that a gold signet from Knossos [supra p. 48 fig. 19), refer-
able to the period ' Late Minoan ii,' represents 'the Minoan Mother Goddess...bringing
down the warrior youth, whether her paramour or actual son, in front of his sacred pillar'
—a scene which ' may be even taken to foreshadow the " Tomb of Zeus," ' for ' A later
age seems to have regarded these baetylic pillars as actual tombs of divinities.'
Personally I should rather suppose that, just as Kinyras and his descendants were
buried in the sanctuary of Aphrodite at Paphos (Ptolemaios of Megalopolis frag. 1 [Frag,
hist. Gr. iii. 66 Midler) ap. Clem. Al. protr. 3. 45. 4 p. 35, 1 ff. Stahlin and ap. Arnob.
adv. nat. 6. 6), just as Erichthonios was buried in the precinct of Athena at Athens
(Apollod. 3. 14. 7, alib.), just as Hippolytos was buried beside the temple of Aphrodite
Kataskopia at Troizen (Paus. 2. 32. 3f., cp. L. R. Farnell Greek Hero Cults and Ideas
of Immortality Oxford 1921 p. 66)—and the list could be lengthened (see Clem. Al. protr.
3. 44. 4 ff. p. 34, 7 ff.. Stahlin, Arnob. adv. nat. 6. 6)—, so Minos the priestly king of
Knossos lay buried within the circuit-wall of the mountain-goddess. I should conjecture
that during his lifetime he had played the part of Zeus {supra i. 662 n. 1, cp. 527 n. 1),
Appendix B
'prayer-pellets' like those of Petsofa (J. L. Myres in the Ann. Brit. Sch. Ath. 1902—1903
ix. 382) ; in the burnt earth, larger goats and oxen, the raised arms of a worshipper, clay
locks of human hair, flat shelHike coils, and a limestone ladle with traces of an inscription
in linear characters (class A). A similar ladle likewise inscribed was found in a deposit
of the same date on Troullos, a foot-hill of Mt Juktas (S. A. Xanthoudides in the 'E(f>.
'ApX. 1909 p. 179 ff. figs. 1—4).
The later phase of the cult (' Late Minoan ') witnessed the foundation of a rectangular
building with walls of ashlar blocksmnd outer terrace-walls of rougher construction. The
building was approached by an ascent (A—A) and comprised an entrance-chamber (B 1),
a magazine (?) (B 2), and an inner room (C). In the floor of B 1 a large hollow has been
dug by treasure-hunters. On the walls of B 2 fragments of a plaster-facing are still to be
seen. And in C are remains of a paving in white-faced cement. The whole building
' seems to have reproduced the arrangement of a small house of the early Cretan and
Aegean " but and ben" type, about 16 x 10 metres in its exterior dimensions' (Sir A. J.
Evans The Palace of Minos at Knossos London 1921 i. 158 with fig. ii4 = my fig. 837).
Fig- 837.
Outside the building, to the north, lay a te'menos of roughly triangular shape supported by
terrace-walls.
Here knowledge ends and conjecture begins. Sir Arthur Evans (pp. at. p. 158 ff.)
surmises that the building described above ' was a little house of shelter and refection for
the Goddess on her mountain top, a " Casa Santa," ' etc., and that the te'menos was 'the
hypaethral part of the Sanctuary, well adapted for the exposure of a pillar form of the
divinity.' Further, he thinks that a gold signet from Knossos [supra p. 48 fig. 19), refer-
able to the period ' Late Minoan ii,' represents 'the Minoan Mother Goddess...bringing
down the warrior youth, whether her paramour or actual son, in front of his sacred pillar'
—a scene which ' may be even taken to foreshadow the " Tomb of Zeus," ' for ' A later
age seems to have regarded these baetylic pillars as actual tombs of divinities.'
Personally I should rather suppose that, just as Kinyras and his descendants were
buried in the sanctuary of Aphrodite at Paphos (Ptolemaios of Megalopolis frag. 1 [Frag,
hist. Gr. iii. 66 Midler) ap. Clem. Al. protr. 3. 45. 4 p. 35, 1 ff. Stahlin and ap. Arnob.
adv. nat. 6. 6), just as Erichthonios was buried in the precinct of Athena at Athens
(Apollod. 3. 14. 7, alib.), just as Hippolytos was buried beside the temple of Aphrodite
Kataskopia at Troizen (Paus. 2. 32. 3f., cp. L. R. Farnell Greek Hero Cults and Ideas
of Immortality Oxford 1921 p. 66)—and the list could be lengthened (see Clem. Al. protr.
3. 44. 4 ff. p. 34, 7 ff.. Stahlin, Arnob. adv. nat. 6. 6)—, so Minos the priestly king of
Knossos lay buried within the circuit-wall of the mountain-goddess. I should conjecture
that during his lifetime he had played the part of Zeus {supra i. 662 n. 1, cp. 527 n. 1),