DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.807#0145
EARLY MINOAN III
119
perforation and engraved below with a rude animal figure. This signet
presents a curious parallelism with a black steatite example said to have
been found in the Hauran.1
A series of ivory seals from the larger ossuary tholos of Platanos, ivory
. seals
recently explored by Dr. Xanthudides2 are reproduced in Figs. 87 and 88, a. from
Nos. 1, 2, 3, represent respectively a squatting ape, a couchant ox, and p^°s0g
a boar's head. The absence of a tail in the first might suggest the Barbary
Ape, but the omission is possibly an accident of the engraving. On the other
hand the baboon-like figures on Fig. 88, a, with their handlike forepaws,
are clearly taken from the Egyptian cynocephalus in his usual adorant
attitude.
These comparisons perhaps indicate an African source for the ivory
found so abundantly in these South Cretan ossuaries. As in the case of the
bird signets, however, the forms of these find their closest parallels on the Syrian&c.
Asiatic side. Stone signets in the shape of couched oxen, sheep, and other Parallels-
animals, with similar cross perforations and engraved figures below,
are found sporadically over a wide tract of country extending from North
Syria to Babylonia, and even, apparently, beyond the Persian borders.3
The conoids, Fig. 77, a, above, and Fig. 90, have much the same range and
are diffused besides along a more westerly zone from Cappadocia to the Troad.
More distinctive in their character are the Early Minoan cylinders,
which, in place of the longitudinal perforations common to both the Oriental
and the Early Dynastic Egyptian class, are bored through at the side some-
what near the circumference. An E. M. II steatite specimen has already
been illustrated in Fig. 63, p. 94 above.4 A striking point of divergence
from the usual cylinder type lies in the fact that these Minoan cylinders Minoan
have their engraved designs on the top and bottom, in place of the circum- Cylmders-
ference, as is the universal rule elsewhere. The use of the flat surfaces for
sealing involved the lateral method of perforation, and at the same
time, in order to secure a larger field, these cylinders are for the most part
broad in comparison with their height. Their sides are generally incurved.
1 Op. af., Figs. 82, 83, and p. 108. ibexes below. Specimens without the trans-
2 The objects are drawn from casts kindly versal perforation, one with a rude figured
supplied me by Dr. Xanthudides. representation below, were found by M. de
3 A white marble specimen in the form of Sarzec at Tello (De'couvertes en Chalde'ey vol. i,
a couchant animal, apparently an ox, from PI. XXXVI. 11, 13, and p. 323).
Beyrout, with uncertain globular engraving 4 A clay cylinder of this type from the Hagios
below, is in the Ashmolean Collection ; another Onuphrios Deposit has already been illus-
in the form of a sheep was obtained from trated by me, Cretan Pidografihs, &c, p. 107,
Persia. It presents an engraved design of two Fig. 81.
119
perforation and engraved below with a rude animal figure. This signet
presents a curious parallelism with a black steatite example said to have
been found in the Hauran.1
A series of ivory seals from the larger ossuary tholos of Platanos, ivory
. seals
recently explored by Dr. Xanthudides2 are reproduced in Figs. 87 and 88, a. from
Nos. 1, 2, 3, represent respectively a squatting ape, a couchant ox, and p^°s0g
a boar's head. The absence of a tail in the first might suggest the Barbary
Ape, but the omission is possibly an accident of the engraving. On the other
hand the baboon-like figures on Fig. 88, a, with their handlike forepaws,
are clearly taken from the Egyptian cynocephalus in his usual adorant
attitude.
These comparisons perhaps indicate an African source for the ivory
found so abundantly in these South Cretan ossuaries. As in the case of the
bird signets, however, the forms of these find their closest parallels on the Syrian&c.
Asiatic side. Stone signets in the shape of couched oxen, sheep, and other Parallels-
animals, with similar cross perforations and engraved figures below,
are found sporadically over a wide tract of country extending from North
Syria to Babylonia, and even, apparently, beyond the Persian borders.3
The conoids, Fig. 77, a, above, and Fig. 90, have much the same range and
are diffused besides along a more westerly zone from Cappadocia to the Troad.
More distinctive in their character are the Early Minoan cylinders,
which, in place of the longitudinal perforations common to both the Oriental
and the Early Dynastic Egyptian class, are bored through at the side some-
what near the circumference. An E. M. II steatite specimen has already
been illustrated in Fig. 63, p. 94 above.4 A striking point of divergence
from the usual cylinder type lies in the fact that these Minoan cylinders Minoan
have their engraved designs on the top and bottom, in place of the circum- Cylmders-
ference, as is the universal rule elsewhere. The use of the flat surfaces for
sealing involved the lateral method of perforation, and at the same
time, in order to secure a larger field, these cylinders are for the most part
broad in comparison with their height. Their sides are generally incurved.
1 Op. af., Figs. 82, 83, and p. 108. ibexes below. Specimens without the trans-
2 The objects are drawn from casts kindly versal perforation, one with a rude figured
supplied me by Dr. Xanthudides. representation below, were found by M. de
3 A white marble specimen in the form of Sarzec at Tello (De'couvertes en Chalde'ey vol. i,
a couchant animal, apparently an ox, from PI. XXXVI. 11, 13, and p. 323).
Beyrout, with uncertain globular engraving 4 A clay cylinder of this type from the Hagios
below, is in the Ashmolean Collection ; another Onuphrios Deposit has already been illus-
in the form of a sheep was obtained from trated by me, Cretan Pidografihs, &c, p. 107,
Persia. It presents an engraved design of two Fig. 81.