DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.8944#0025
MYCENAEAN TREE AND PILLAR CULT.
123
corner props, placed above the stone. In a succeeding section attention will
be called to the sacred pillar placed beneath an arch or doorway or beneath
the capstone of a kind of dolmen cell. To such primitive shrines, based on
the megalithic chambers of a sepulchral cult, parallels can be found in
various parts of the world. It will be shown, for instance, in the course of this
stud)r that the Indian dolmen cells with the baetylic stones set up within them,
and the ancient megalithic shrines, such as those of Hagiar Kim and Giganteja
in the Maltese Islands or the Balearic Talyots, present a close analogy to
the Mycenaean type in which the pillar itself acts as an additional support
to the roof-stones. Of these baetylic cells the dove-shrines of the Akropolis
tomb at Mycenae, with their triple division and summit altars, present a
somewhat more complex type. A still further development of this tripartite
shrine is now supplied by a fresco painting from the Palace of Knossos
representing a small temple, largely of wood-work construction, in which the
columns are clearly indicated as aniconic images by the ' horns of consecration '
placed beside them and at their feet. A detailed description of this
Mycenaean temple is reserved for a later section.1
But even this, the most elaborate example of a Mycenaean sanctuary,
is of small dimensions, as is shown by the human figures beside it and the
horns within. The religious ideas indeed associated with this aniconic cult
were far removed from those that produced the spacious temples of later
times. The sepulchral chambers, the abode of departed spirits, supplied a
much nearer analogy, and the true germ of their development. Of anthro-
pomorphic temjile images there is as yet no trace, and it was not necessary,
as in later times, to accommodate the God with a palatial dwelling, which was
in fact the glorified megaron of mortal kings. It is doubtless owing to the
small dimensions of the Mycenaean shrines that up to the date of the recent
Cretan discoveries so little trace has been found of places of worship among
the monumental records of this period. A sacred tree too, it must be re-
membered, leaves no mark; its sanctuary is hypaethral, and the surrounding
enclosure often of rustic construction.
§ 11.—Aniconic Cult Images Supplemented by Pictorial Representations of
Divinities: Transitions to Anthropomorphism.
It has been remarked above that there is as yet no indication of temple
images in human form. It is true that a certain number of figures appear
on the Mycenaean religious designs, which may with great probability be
taken to portray the divine personages themselves, rather than their wor-
shippers. But it may safely be said that we have here to do with creations of
religious fancy, rather than with the actual objects of cult. The idols remained
aniconic, but the Gods themselves were naturally pictured to the mind of their
worshippers under a more or less human aspect. It is probable that if more
1 See p. 192 seqq.
123
corner props, placed above the stone. In a succeeding section attention will
be called to the sacred pillar placed beneath an arch or doorway or beneath
the capstone of a kind of dolmen cell. To such primitive shrines, based on
the megalithic chambers of a sepulchral cult, parallels can be found in
various parts of the world. It will be shown, for instance, in the course of this
stud)r that the Indian dolmen cells with the baetylic stones set up within them,
and the ancient megalithic shrines, such as those of Hagiar Kim and Giganteja
in the Maltese Islands or the Balearic Talyots, present a close analogy to
the Mycenaean type in which the pillar itself acts as an additional support
to the roof-stones. Of these baetylic cells the dove-shrines of the Akropolis
tomb at Mycenae, with their triple division and summit altars, present a
somewhat more complex type. A still further development of this tripartite
shrine is now supplied by a fresco painting from the Palace of Knossos
representing a small temple, largely of wood-work construction, in which the
columns are clearly indicated as aniconic images by the ' horns of consecration '
placed beside them and at their feet. A detailed description of this
Mycenaean temple is reserved for a later section.1
But even this, the most elaborate example of a Mycenaean sanctuary,
is of small dimensions, as is shown by the human figures beside it and the
horns within. The religious ideas indeed associated with this aniconic cult
were far removed from those that produced the spacious temples of later
times. The sepulchral chambers, the abode of departed spirits, supplied a
much nearer analogy, and the true germ of their development. Of anthro-
pomorphic temjile images there is as yet no trace, and it was not necessary,
as in later times, to accommodate the God with a palatial dwelling, which was
in fact the glorified megaron of mortal kings. It is doubtless owing to the
small dimensions of the Mycenaean shrines that up to the date of the recent
Cretan discoveries so little trace has been found of places of worship among
the monumental records of this period. A sacred tree too, it must be re-
membered, leaves no mark; its sanctuary is hypaethral, and the surrounding
enclosure often of rustic construction.
§ 11.—Aniconic Cult Images Supplemented by Pictorial Representations of
Divinities: Transitions to Anthropomorphism.
It has been remarked above that there is as yet no indication of temple
images in human form. It is true that a certain number of figures appear
on the Mycenaean religious designs, which may with great probability be
taken to portray the divine personages themselves, rather than their wor-
shippers. But it may safely be said that we have here to do with creations of
religious fancy, rather than with the actual objects of cult. The idols remained
aniconic, but the Gods themselves were naturally pictured to the mind of their
worshippers under a more or less human aspect. It is probable that if more
1 See p. 192 seqq.