DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.8755#0073
62
A. J. Evans
the two bone pieces. Such an arrow could have served no practical use,
and the relic may therefore be regarded as of a votive nature. We recall
the Mother Goddess as she appears on a Cretan lentoid,1 drawing a bow as
she runs; nor should it be forgotten that in later days the Cretan Dictynna,
who combines the attributes of Rhea and Artemis, sits throned among
the Curetes, holding the infant Zeus on her left hand, and an arrow in
her right.'2
§ 13.—The Temple Repositories: Decorative Objects of
Faience.
The most characteristic element among the contents of this Temple
Treasury—except for a few scattered pieces found in the other cist, confined
to the Eastern Repository—are the abundant series of objects made of a
kind of faience or native ' porcelain.'8 An isolated vase of this material,
and numerous plaques for inlaying—among them those reproducing the
small houses—had already occurred at various points of the excavation.4
But there was nothing to prepare us for the extraordinary variety, the
beauty and the technical perfection of the relics here brought to light.
They constitute a new revelation of Minoan art at the highest point of its
development. We seem here to have a considerable part of the decorative
fittings of a small shrine, to the adornment of which the services of the
most skilful craftsmen were devoted.
The fabric at Knossos of an indigenous class of faience was not new
indeed at this period. The contents of a deposit to be described below5 tend
to show that not only beads of the same material, but possibly also plaques
for inlaying, we're produced by the close of the Early Minoan period. The
prevailing pale bluish tint of these, faintly tinged with green, corresponds
with the characteristic faience hue of the Early Egyptian Dynasties, and the
beads, with their large perforations, suggest comparisons with those of the
Sixth Dynasty. In the case of the faience relics from the Temple Repository
the paler tones are supplemented by deeper tints. The beads here, of
1 Berlin Cat. No. 2 ; Kurtwangler, Antike Gemmen, Taf. II. 24.
2 On coins of Crete in gene re struck under Trajan, B. M. Cat. PI. I. 9. In a specimen in my
own collection the arrow is very clear.
3 As shown below, it can only be called ' porcelain ' in a loose popular sense.
4 So too in the excavations of the Italian Mission at Phaestos and Hagia Triada.
5 See § 16.
A. J. Evans
the two bone pieces. Such an arrow could have served no practical use,
and the relic may therefore be regarded as of a votive nature. We recall
the Mother Goddess as she appears on a Cretan lentoid,1 drawing a bow as
she runs; nor should it be forgotten that in later days the Cretan Dictynna,
who combines the attributes of Rhea and Artemis, sits throned among
the Curetes, holding the infant Zeus on her left hand, and an arrow in
her right.'2
§ 13.—The Temple Repositories: Decorative Objects of
Faience.
The most characteristic element among the contents of this Temple
Treasury—except for a few scattered pieces found in the other cist, confined
to the Eastern Repository—are the abundant series of objects made of a
kind of faience or native ' porcelain.'8 An isolated vase of this material,
and numerous plaques for inlaying—among them those reproducing the
small houses—had already occurred at various points of the excavation.4
But there was nothing to prepare us for the extraordinary variety, the
beauty and the technical perfection of the relics here brought to light.
They constitute a new revelation of Minoan art at the highest point of its
development. We seem here to have a considerable part of the decorative
fittings of a small shrine, to the adornment of which the services of the
most skilful craftsmen were devoted.
The fabric at Knossos of an indigenous class of faience was not new
indeed at this period. The contents of a deposit to be described below5 tend
to show that not only beads of the same material, but possibly also plaques
for inlaying, we're produced by the close of the Early Minoan period. The
prevailing pale bluish tint of these, faintly tinged with green, corresponds
with the characteristic faience hue of the Early Egyptian Dynasties, and the
beads, with their large perforations, suggest comparisons with those of the
Sixth Dynasty. In the case of the faience relics from the Temple Repository
the paler tones are supplemented by deeper tints. The beads here, of
1 Berlin Cat. No. 2 ; Kurtwangler, Antike Gemmen, Taf. II. 24.
2 On coins of Crete in gene re struck under Trajan, B. M. Cat. PI. I. 9. In a specimen in my
own collection the arrow is very clear.
3 As shown below, it can only be called ' porcelain ' in a loose popular sense.
4 So too in the excavations of the Italian Mission at Phaestos and Hagia Triada.
5 See § 16.