DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.8755#0125
U4
A. J. Evans
Double Axe of archaic form appears painted on the bottom of a frag-
mentary vase belonging to the Middle Minoan Period found in one of the
lowermost deposits of the building. Pieces of large painted Amphoras of
the later ' Palace Style' show more advanced delineations of the same
sacred object,1 and an agate intaglio of the same date, of which the essen-
tial part is preserved, presents the fuller religious type of the ' labrys '
rising from the bull's head (Fig. 70). This design, though already known,'2
Fig- 71, we see it flanked in other compartments by a fish and by a scroll
derived from a group of three Triton shells. From the occurrence thus
of the same sacred symbol in the upper levels of this building and in a
.stratum belonging to the Re-occupation Period, it is evident that the
religious tradition of the spot was of a very persistent nature.
These repeated references to the prevailing Palace Cult make it
reasonable to suppose that the North-West Building if not itself a sanc-
tuary must at least be regarded as a dependency of such. What we have
to deal with seems to be a series of small basement chambers belonging to
.some kind of storehouse in connexion with the Central Palace shrine.
Reasons have indeed already been given in a preceding Section (§ 8) for
believing that at least a considerable section of the Western Wing of the
1 Compare the examples given, Report, &c., 1901, p. 53, Fig. 15, and by D. Mackenzie, ' The
Pottery of Knossos' {J.H.S., xxiii. 1903, p. 204). Dr. Mackenzie rightly insists on the fact that
the Double Axe is foreign to the ordinary decorative repertory of the Minoan vase painters, and
that its introduction must be due to a special religious motive.
2 Compare the gold figures from Mycenae, Schliemann, Mycenae, p. 218, Nos. 329, 330, and
the lentoid gem from the Heraeum at Argos, Schliemann, Mycenae, p. 362, No. 541 ; Furtwangler,
Ant. Gemmen, PI. II. 42. The design also occurs on a vase from Old Salamis (see Myc. Tree and
Pillar Cull, p. 9 sei/q.).
derives peculiar suggestiyeness from its occurring
thus in a Minoan deposit by the legendary site of
the Labyrinth. A pair of miniature ' Horns of
Consecration' of bronze plate found in the same
' Late Palace' stratum is also of religious sig-
nificance.
Fig. 70.—Agate Intaglio
(completed) [t].
_I
The Double Axe, moreover, rising between
the Sacral Horns and with a leafy shaft, recalling
those of the Hagia Triada cult scene, appears
here on vase fragments of the more decadent
' Mycenaean ' style derived from a superficial layer
of this same deposit. In the example given in
A. J. Evans
Double Axe of archaic form appears painted on the bottom of a frag-
mentary vase belonging to the Middle Minoan Period found in one of the
lowermost deposits of the building. Pieces of large painted Amphoras of
the later ' Palace Style' show more advanced delineations of the same
sacred object,1 and an agate intaglio of the same date, of which the essen-
tial part is preserved, presents the fuller religious type of the ' labrys '
rising from the bull's head (Fig. 70). This design, though already known,'2
Fig- 71, we see it flanked in other compartments by a fish and by a scroll
derived from a group of three Triton shells. From the occurrence thus
of the same sacred symbol in the upper levels of this building and in a
.stratum belonging to the Re-occupation Period, it is evident that the
religious tradition of the spot was of a very persistent nature.
These repeated references to the prevailing Palace Cult make it
reasonable to suppose that the North-West Building if not itself a sanc-
tuary must at least be regarded as a dependency of such. What we have
to deal with seems to be a series of small basement chambers belonging to
.some kind of storehouse in connexion with the Central Palace shrine.
Reasons have indeed already been given in a preceding Section (§ 8) for
believing that at least a considerable section of the Western Wing of the
1 Compare the examples given, Report, &c., 1901, p. 53, Fig. 15, and by D. Mackenzie, ' The
Pottery of Knossos' {J.H.S., xxiii. 1903, p. 204). Dr. Mackenzie rightly insists on the fact that
the Double Axe is foreign to the ordinary decorative repertory of the Minoan vase painters, and
that its introduction must be due to a special religious motive.
2 Compare the gold figures from Mycenae, Schliemann, Mycenae, p. 218, Nos. 329, 330, and
the lentoid gem from the Heraeum at Argos, Schliemann, Mycenae, p. 362, No. 541 ; Furtwangler,
Ant. Gemmen, PI. II. 42. The design also occurs on a vase from Old Salamis (see Myc. Tree and
Pillar Cull, p. 9 sei/q.).
derives peculiar suggestiyeness from its occurring
thus in a Minoan deposit by the legendary site of
the Labyrinth. A pair of miniature ' Horns of
Consecration' of bronze plate found in the same
' Late Palace' stratum is also of religious sig-
nificance.
Fig. 70.—Agate Intaglio
(completed) [t].
_I
The Double Axe, moreover, rising between
the Sacral Horns and with a leafy shaft, recalling
those of the Hagia Triada cult scene, appears
here on vase fragments of the more decadent
' Mycenaean ' style derived from a superficial layer
of this same deposit. In the example given in