Evans, Arthur: The ‘Tomb of the Double Axes’ and associated group, and the pillar rooms and ritual vessels of the ‘Little Palace’ at Knossos’ (London, 1914)

56

THE TOMB OF THE DOUBLE AXES

clearly visible in the photographic illustration, fig. 73. It will be seen that the
walls of the cist are in each case slightly but regularly curved, the longer sides
inwards, the two ends outwards, in such a manner that the whole outline of the

sepulchral cell is ■ made to resemble the
form of a double axe. The bronze axe
(fig. 48, above) of the ordinary working type,
found in the blocking of the doorway, shows
a similar shape.

Religious symbolism could hardly go
further than this shaping of the sepulchral
cell itself into the outline of the sacred
object. With the small shrine of the Double
Axes near the head of the grave, the tomb
was at the same time a funereal chapel, and
it may well be that the benches round the
sides of the chamber were made use of for
some memorial function in which the whole
family partook. On such an occasion, in
accordance with the central idea of the
Minoan cult, the essence of the divinity
might by due ritual acts be infused into its
visible symbols, and, even in the shades,
the direct guardianship of the Great Mother
be thus assured to the warrior resting in his
emblematic bed.

May some such memorial service have
been renewed after an interval of time?
The evidence, to which attention has been
called above, of the deliberate re-opening
and re-closing of the tomb at a subsequent
date is consistent with this possibility. The
relics themselves, moreover, are of a homo-
geneous and strictly contemporary charac-
ter, which forbids the assumption that this
re-opening was for the purposes of a second
interment. The painted vases belong to the
same 'set'. They are the clearly marked
products of a definite stage of the second Late Minoan Period, and are
characteristic of the epoch preceding the great catastrophe of the Palace at
Knossos.

Fig. 72.

Plan and section of cist in Tomb
of Double Axe?.