DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.8757#0092
66 THE PILLAR ROOMS AND RITUAL VESSELS
This two-pillared crypt, the southern limits of which were restricted by a
walled partition containing- a small staircase, opened cast on a similar chamber
of somewhat larger extent, which had originally contained three pillars, of
which, however, only the base of the central one and the sockets of another were
preserved1 (see fig. 79). In the interspaces between these were two square
basins of the same shape as that in the first chamber. Light was, no doubt,
obtained for this three-pillared crypt by means of the sunken area along its north
face (see Plan, pi. VII).
The square basins set between the pillars of these basement chambers, with
the smaller square sunk in their centre, could hardly have served any utilitarian
purpose. Shallow stone vats of the same kind were found in a similar position
in the Pillar-Rooms of the Palace and of the Royal Villa at Knossos, and their
character and associations suggest that they were used for libations in connexion
with the special cult attaching to these Minoan pillars.
The conclusion that the stone basins set beside the pillars fulfilled a ritual
purpose is confirmed, moreover, by other parallel phenomena. In the west
pillar-room at Phylakopi the place of these stone receptacles was taken by
pedestal vases of the same class as that from the 'Tomb of the Double Axes'" —
itself, in truth, a pillar-room—and evidently intended for libations. On the
other hand, in a small chamber of this class excavated by Mr. Hogarth in a house
on the hill of Gypsades, south of the Palace at Knossos, nearly 200 plain clay
cups, of the class so plentifully associated with Minoan holy places, were found,
arranged in regular rows on two sides of the central pillar/1 covering in each case
a little heap of carbonized matter which probably represented some form of fatty
or oleaginous offerings.
The religious associations of such ' Pillar Rooms' arc illustrated in other
ways. The view originally put forward by me,4 that the constant recurrence of
the double-axe sign on the blocks of the pillars in the west quarter of the Palace
at Knossos must be taken to indicate their special sanctity, has been borne out
by the whole course of discovery in that region of the building. The pillar-
rooms arc indeed seen to form the nucleus of a sanctuary block in relation with
a Central Palace shrine of which wc have now the records both from its earlier
and its later stage. In the small contiguous 'Room of the Stone Vases', moreover,
were found a series of ritual vessels including marble ' rhytons ' in the form of
lionesses' heads.
1 In the case of the south pillar the socket itself was obliterated, but the basin on this side as well
as considerations of symmetry warrant the conclusion that it had originally existed.
2 See above, p. 51, fig. 69.
3 Hogarth, B.S.A , vi, pp. 71, 76, and pi. vi.
4 Report, Knossos, 1900 (B. S.A., vi, p. 32 seqq.) ; Mycenaean Tree and Pillar Cult, pp. 12, 13 (J.H.S.,
xxi, pp. 110, t 11).
This two-pillared crypt, the southern limits of which were restricted by a
walled partition containing- a small staircase, opened cast on a similar chamber
of somewhat larger extent, which had originally contained three pillars, of
which, however, only the base of the central one and the sockets of another were
preserved1 (see fig. 79). In the interspaces between these were two square
basins of the same shape as that in the first chamber. Light was, no doubt,
obtained for this three-pillared crypt by means of the sunken area along its north
face (see Plan, pi. VII).
The square basins set between the pillars of these basement chambers, with
the smaller square sunk in their centre, could hardly have served any utilitarian
purpose. Shallow stone vats of the same kind were found in a similar position
in the Pillar-Rooms of the Palace and of the Royal Villa at Knossos, and their
character and associations suggest that they were used for libations in connexion
with the special cult attaching to these Minoan pillars.
The conclusion that the stone basins set beside the pillars fulfilled a ritual
purpose is confirmed, moreover, by other parallel phenomena. In the west
pillar-room at Phylakopi the place of these stone receptacles was taken by
pedestal vases of the same class as that from the 'Tomb of the Double Axes'" —
itself, in truth, a pillar-room—and evidently intended for libations. On the
other hand, in a small chamber of this class excavated by Mr. Hogarth in a house
on the hill of Gypsades, south of the Palace at Knossos, nearly 200 plain clay
cups, of the class so plentifully associated with Minoan holy places, were found,
arranged in regular rows on two sides of the central pillar/1 covering in each case
a little heap of carbonized matter which probably represented some form of fatty
or oleaginous offerings.
The religious associations of such ' Pillar Rooms' arc illustrated in other
ways. The view originally put forward by me,4 that the constant recurrence of
the double-axe sign on the blocks of the pillars in the west quarter of the Palace
at Knossos must be taken to indicate their special sanctity, has been borne out
by the whole course of discovery in that region of the building. The pillar-
rooms arc indeed seen to form the nucleus of a sanctuary block in relation with
a Central Palace shrine of which wc have now the records both from its earlier
and its later stage. In the small contiguous 'Room of the Stone Vases', moreover,
were found a series of ritual vessels including marble ' rhytons ' in the form of
lionesses' heads.
1 In the case of the south pillar the socket itself was obliterated, but the basin on this side as well
as considerations of symmetry warrant the conclusion that it had originally existed.
2 See above, p. 51, fig. 69.
3 Hogarth, B.S.A , vi, pp. 71, 76, and pi. vi.
4 Report, Knossos, 1900 (B. S.A., vi, p. 32 seqq.) ; Mycenaean Tree and Pillar Cult, pp. 12, 13 (J.H.S.,
xxi, pp. 110, t 11).