DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.8944#0054
152 ARTHUR J. EVANS
To the bi-sexual Hermaphroditos indeed the pillar form clung down to
much later times.
§ ID. — The Egyptian Element in the Animal Supporters of Myecnacan
Trees and Columns.
Nothing is itself more contrary to the native genius of Mycenaean art,
su free and naturalistic in its home-born impulses, than the constrained and
schematic pose of the animals and mythical monsters that in this group of
designs appear as guardians or supporters of the sacred trees and columns.
But it is precisely because these attendant animals are here conceived of as
performing a religious function that they take this heraldic and traditional
form. It is usual to regard the pairs of opposed animals as due to oriental
influence. It can be shown, indeed, that the reduplicated forms of mythical
monsters are in some cases the natural result of the process of cylinder en-
graving as practised in Chaldaea at a very remote period. Certain types of
the same class that appear on Mycenaean gems, such as the bulls with crossed
bodies, the hero holding two lions in reverse positions, or the lions by
themselves similarly grouped must unquestionably be due to Babylonian
prototypes. But it must not be forgotten that in Egypt, too, these opposed
heraldic pairs are a very ancient tradition. In the fresco of the prae-dynastic
tomb, recently discovered by Mr. Green at Hierakoupolis, a hero is seen
struggling with two symmetrically opposed bulls in a manner which, except
for its rudeness, exactly recalls figures of Gilgames and Ecbani on Uhaldaean
cylinders. Paired heraldic animals are found in some hieroglyphic types, and
on a monument of the sixth Dynasty two goats are seen symmetrically grouped
on either side of a tree.1 On a fragmentary vase of the black ware character-
istic of the twelfth and thirteenth Dynasties, two pairs of goats are seen acting
as heraldic supporters, in the one case of a palm-tree, in the other of a vine. It
appears, moreover, that Egyptian models of parallel schemes found their way
on scarabs, at least as far as Rhodes, and could be copied by the Mycenaean
engraver on his native shores. In the well of Kameiros, together with a
scarab bearing apparently the cartouche of Thothmes III,2 was found another
example 3—in steatite of rude work—on which two bovine animals each with
the Ankh symbol beneath it stand symmetrically facing a palm-tree. In
considering the Lions' Gate scheme we shall have occasion to note the parallel
grouping of Ra and Ma before the solar obelisk and of the two lions supporting
the sun's disk on the horizon.4 We have, moreover, direct evidence that, in
another shape, the Mycenaeans were familiarised with the Egyptian scheme
of a sacred pillar between heraldically opposed animals. This scheme is, in
fact, very frequent about the time of the eighteenth Dynasty under the form of
1 Lepsius, Denhnaler, to. Tat 108, 111 ;
cited by Riegl, StUfragm, p. 40.
2 B.M: Gem Col. No. 144.
' lb. No. 14:2. The Mlimala are there de-
scribed as wolves; to me they seem clearly
oxen, though roughly drawn ; Myk. Vasen
PI. E, 39.
* fjee below Fig. i'2.
To the bi-sexual Hermaphroditos indeed the pillar form clung down to
much later times.
§ ID. — The Egyptian Element in the Animal Supporters of Myecnacan
Trees and Columns.
Nothing is itself more contrary to the native genius of Mycenaean art,
su free and naturalistic in its home-born impulses, than the constrained and
schematic pose of the animals and mythical monsters that in this group of
designs appear as guardians or supporters of the sacred trees and columns.
But it is precisely because these attendant animals are here conceived of as
performing a religious function that they take this heraldic and traditional
form. It is usual to regard the pairs of opposed animals as due to oriental
influence. It can be shown, indeed, that the reduplicated forms of mythical
monsters are in some cases the natural result of the process of cylinder en-
graving as practised in Chaldaea at a very remote period. Certain types of
the same class that appear on Mycenaean gems, such as the bulls with crossed
bodies, the hero holding two lions in reverse positions, or the lions by
themselves similarly grouped must unquestionably be due to Babylonian
prototypes. But it must not be forgotten that in Egypt, too, these opposed
heraldic pairs are a very ancient tradition. In the fresco of the prae-dynastic
tomb, recently discovered by Mr. Green at Hierakoupolis, a hero is seen
struggling with two symmetrically opposed bulls in a manner which, except
for its rudeness, exactly recalls figures of Gilgames and Ecbani on Uhaldaean
cylinders. Paired heraldic animals are found in some hieroglyphic types, and
on a monument of the sixth Dynasty two goats are seen symmetrically grouped
on either side of a tree.1 On a fragmentary vase of the black ware character-
istic of the twelfth and thirteenth Dynasties, two pairs of goats are seen acting
as heraldic supporters, in the one case of a palm-tree, in the other of a vine. It
appears, moreover, that Egyptian models of parallel schemes found their way
on scarabs, at least as far as Rhodes, and could be copied by the Mycenaean
engraver on his native shores. In the well of Kameiros, together with a
scarab bearing apparently the cartouche of Thothmes III,2 was found another
example 3—in steatite of rude work—on which two bovine animals each with
the Ankh symbol beneath it stand symmetrically facing a palm-tree. In
considering the Lions' Gate scheme we shall have occasion to note the parallel
grouping of Ra and Ma before the solar obelisk and of the two lions supporting
the sun's disk on the horizon.4 We have, moreover, direct evidence that, in
another shape, the Mycenaeans were familiarised with the Egyptian scheme
of a sacred pillar between heraldically opposed animals. This scheme is, in
fact, very frequent about the time of the eighteenth Dynasty under the form of
1 Lepsius, Denhnaler, to. Tat 108, 111 ;
cited by Riegl, StUfragm, p. 40.
2 B.M: Gem Col. No. 144.
' lb. No. 14:2. The Mlimala are there de-
scribed as wolves; to me they seem clearly
oxen, though roughly drawn ; Myk. Vasen
PI. E, 39.
* fjee below Fig. i'2.