DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.8944#0044
142
ARTHUR J. EVANS
Fig. 25.—Woiisnir of Gnour or Tubes:
Crystal Lentoid, Idaean Cave.
secration.' To the right of the altar is a rayed symbol, to the left is
apparently auother altar base, with a conical excrescence, and behind the
votary another tree. From this gem
it appears that the conch-shcll
trumpet performed a ritual function
in summoning the divinity. It may
be observed that triton shells have
been found in the Mycenaean bee-
hive tombs in Crete, and are still
in common use in the island, es-
pecially among the village guards
(%a)po(f>v\aKes), as a means of raising
an alarm or calling for help.
A triple group of trees, with
their trunks closely drawn together,
and liaving indeed the appearance
of a single tree with a tripartite
trunk, is presented by the gold signet
ring from Mycenae, for the first
time published in Fig. 56 below.1
It is noteworthy that the sacred tree beneath which the Goddess is seated
on the great gold ring from the Akropolis Treasure of Mj'cenae, exhibits
the same tripartite stem.2
The equation of sacred tree and pillar makes it equally natural for the
divinity to find a multiple impersonation in the arboreal as the stony
shape. Of this too parallels are abundant on Semitic ground. The divinity
may have a grove or group of trees as a jilace for indwelling, as well as a single
tree. On a Babylonian cylinder,3 a pair of trees rises behind a God ap-
parently defined as Sin by a crescent symbol. The fact that when Jehovah
first revealed Himself to Abraham beneatli ' the terebinths of Mature,' He
took the form of three persons, seems to point to the conclusion that there
was here a special group of three holy trees.
In Egyptian cult, which in some of its most ancient elements shows a
deep affinity with that of the Semitic world, we find evidences of groups of
trees representing a single divinity. The god Min, whose worship, as is
shown by the remains of his Koptos sanctuary, goes back into pre-historic
times, is seen with two,4 three,5 or five 6 cypresses, representing his arboreal
1 See p. 182.
- See Fig. 4, p. 108.
3 Lajard, Cultc dc Milhra, xxvii. 6; Cnlte
tin Cypres, ix. 3.
4 Wilkinson, Manners and Customs of the
Ancient Egyptians (1878 (A.), iii. p. 24,
Fig. 504.
5 On a stele excavated by Prof. Petrie at
Koptos, now in the Ashmolean Museum.
Fig. 20 is taken from a drawing of this kindly
made for me by Mr. C. F. Bell.
u Wilkinson, op. t it. i. p. 404, Fig. 173,
iii. PI. LX. E. ; Rosellini, Monttmenti de/l'
Et/itto, iii. LVT. 3, and of. Ohncfalsch-Kiehter,
Kt/pros, &e. Taf. cliii. 1, and p. 401, who
compares the votive cypresses of the Cypriote
sanctuaries.
ARTHUR J. EVANS
Fig. 25.—Woiisnir of Gnour or Tubes:
Crystal Lentoid, Idaean Cave.
secration.' To the right of the altar is a rayed symbol, to the left is
apparently auother altar base, with a conical excrescence, and behind the
votary another tree. From this gem
it appears that the conch-shcll
trumpet performed a ritual function
in summoning the divinity. It may
be observed that triton shells have
been found in the Mycenaean bee-
hive tombs in Crete, and are still
in common use in the island, es-
pecially among the village guards
(%a)po(f>v\aKes), as a means of raising
an alarm or calling for help.
A triple group of trees, with
their trunks closely drawn together,
and liaving indeed the appearance
of a single tree with a tripartite
trunk, is presented by the gold signet
ring from Mycenae, for the first
time published in Fig. 56 below.1
It is noteworthy that the sacred tree beneath which the Goddess is seated
on the great gold ring from the Akropolis Treasure of Mj'cenae, exhibits
the same tripartite stem.2
The equation of sacred tree and pillar makes it equally natural for the
divinity to find a multiple impersonation in the arboreal as the stony
shape. Of this too parallels are abundant on Semitic ground. The divinity
may have a grove or group of trees as a jilace for indwelling, as well as a single
tree. On a Babylonian cylinder,3 a pair of trees rises behind a God ap-
parently defined as Sin by a crescent symbol. The fact that when Jehovah
first revealed Himself to Abraham beneatli ' the terebinths of Mature,' He
took the form of three persons, seems to point to the conclusion that there
was here a special group of three holy trees.
In Egyptian cult, which in some of its most ancient elements shows a
deep affinity with that of the Semitic world, we find evidences of groups of
trees representing a single divinity. The god Min, whose worship, as is
shown by the remains of his Koptos sanctuary, goes back into pre-historic
times, is seen with two,4 three,5 or five 6 cypresses, representing his arboreal
1 See p. 182.
- See Fig. 4, p. 108.
3 Lajard, Cultc dc Milhra, xxvii. 6; Cnlte
tin Cypres, ix. 3.
4 Wilkinson, Manners and Customs of the
Ancient Egyptians (1878 (A.), iii. p. 24,
Fig. 504.
5 On a stele excavated by Prof. Petrie at
Koptos, now in the Ashmolean Museum.
Fig. 20 is taken from a drawing of this kindly
made for me by Mr. C. F. Bell.
u Wilkinson, op. t it. i. p. 404, Fig. 173,
iii. PI. LX. E. ; Rosellini, Monttmenti de/l'
Et/itto, iii. LVT. 3, and of. Ohncfalsch-Kiehter,
Kt/pros, &e. Taf. cliii. 1, and p. 401, who
compares the votive cypresses of the Cypriote
sanctuaries.