DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.8755#0097
86
A. J. Evans
the settled dove again witnesses the divine possession. In the case of the
images the snakes are seen coiling up the cylindrical base, which seems to
represent the earlier columnar form of the cult object.
It is hardly necessary to point out that a Mother Goddess has
essentially a chthonic side. Demeter, daughter of Rhea, whose early
connexion with Crete comes out in the Homeric hymn,1 is herself, in her
character of Erinys, a Snake Goddess. The Cretan Eileithyia is a
cave divinity. It is, moreover, interesting to notice that the indigenous
Nature Goddess of the island, who retained her Eteocretan names Dictynna
and Britomartis to Classical times, was also identified with Hekate.2
This indigenous Goddess, of whom Rhea as well as Artemis may often
be regarded as the Hellenised equivalent, belongs to the very ancient class
of Virgin Mothers. She presides over human births and fosters the young
both of land and sea. Like Artemis, she combines the attributes of
nurture and of the chase. On Cretan coins we see her in the place of
Rhea, guarded by the Corybantes, with the infant Zeus at her bosom."
Various elements in the present deposit seem to illustrate different
sides of a similar cult. The votive arrow plumes4 belong to the huntress.
The sacred shield of the God and his Corybantes is repeated round the
margin of the votive bowl.5 The fruit and flowers, shells and fishes,
and notably the cows and goats suckling their young, illustrate the cult
of a Nature Goddess; while the seal-type exhibiting the flying clove
may be taken as an allusion to her more amorous side. On the other
hand, the repetitions on the seal impressions of the figure of a Warrior
Goddess attended by lions bring us very near to Rhea; and the
companion piece, showing the Warrior God, can hardly be other than
an early version of the Cretan ' Zeus.'
The general associations in which the figure of the Snake Goddess
and her votaries were found, are thus seen to illustrate certain broad
aspects of the ancient Cretan cult, of which a living tradition survived to
historical times. The last examples especially, the lion-guarded Goddess,
namely, and her male satellite fit on to the typical cult of the Palace and
1 In Cer. 123, 124.
2 Tives 5e (Bpir6fj.aprif) tV outV clrai t>j 'Ekotj;, Schol. ad Hymn. Orph. XXXVI. v. 12.
According to another account Britomartis was daughter of Hekate, Etymol. M. s.v. BpnofiapTis.
Cf. Hoeck, Creta ii. p. 175. Britomartis, according to a mystic tradition, was the granddaughter of
Enbulos (Diod. v. 76, 3).
3 See above, p. 62 and note 2. 4 See above, p. 61, Fig. 40. 5 See above, p. 72, Fig. 49.
A. J. Evans
the settled dove again witnesses the divine possession. In the case of the
images the snakes are seen coiling up the cylindrical base, which seems to
represent the earlier columnar form of the cult object.
It is hardly necessary to point out that a Mother Goddess has
essentially a chthonic side. Demeter, daughter of Rhea, whose early
connexion with Crete comes out in the Homeric hymn,1 is herself, in her
character of Erinys, a Snake Goddess. The Cretan Eileithyia is a
cave divinity. It is, moreover, interesting to notice that the indigenous
Nature Goddess of the island, who retained her Eteocretan names Dictynna
and Britomartis to Classical times, was also identified with Hekate.2
This indigenous Goddess, of whom Rhea as well as Artemis may often
be regarded as the Hellenised equivalent, belongs to the very ancient class
of Virgin Mothers. She presides over human births and fosters the young
both of land and sea. Like Artemis, she combines the attributes of
nurture and of the chase. On Cretan coins we see her in the place of
Rhea, guarded by the Corybantes, with the infant Zeus at her bosom."
Various elements in the present deposit seem to illustrate different
sides of a similar cult. The votive arrow plumes4 belong to the huntress.
The sacred shield of the God and his Corybantes is repeated round the
margin of the votive bowl.5 The fruit and flowers, shells and fishes,
and notably the cows and goats suckling their young, illustrate the cult
of a Nature Goddess; while the seal-type exhibiting the flying clove
may be taken as an allusion to her more amorous side. On the other
hand, the repetitions on the seal impressions of the figure of a Warrior
Goddess attended by lions bring us very near to Rhea; and the
companion piece, showing the Warrior God, can hardly be other than
an early version of the Cretan ' Zeus.'
The general associations in which the figure of the Snake Goddess
and her votaries were found, are thus seen to illustrate certain broad
aspects of the ancient Cretan cult, of which a living tradition survived to
historical times. The last examples especially, the lion-guarded Goddess,
namely, and her male satellite fit on to the typical cult of the Palace and
1 In Cer. 123, 124.
2 Tives 5e (Bpir6fj.aprif) tV outV clrai t>j 'Ekotj;, Schol. ad Hymn. Orph. XXXVI. v. 12.
According to another account Britomartis was daughter of Hekate, Etymol. M. s.v. BpnofiapTis.
Cf. Hoeck, Creta ii. p. 175. Britomartis, according to a mystic tradition, was the granddaughter of
Enbulos (Diod. v. 76, 3).
3 See above, p. 62 and note 2. 4 See above, p. 61, Fig. 40. 5 See above, p. 72, Fig. 49.