DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.807#0185
M.M. I: PEAK SANCTUARY: 'THE TOMB OF ZEUS' 159
Cave of Psychro, and ' prayer pellets' like those of Petsofa. The votive
deposit continued into the red M. M. Ill stratum above. Goats and oxen
here occurred of larger build, and, inter alia, clay locks of human hair, the
raised arms of an adorant, and curious flat, shell-like coils. But the most Votive
interesting find was a votive limestone. ' ladle' of a kind of which other juntas,
specimens had been found on the steep below, with traces of an inscription
in Class A of the Linear Script. Moreover, on the height of Trullos, a foot-
hill of Juktas, in a contemporary votive deposit, a similar ' ladle ' has come
to light with a fuller inscription in the same form of script,1 inscribed with a
dedicatory formula containing several elements of that engraved on the
Libation Table of the ' Dictaean Cave' of Lvktian tradition.2
The votive cult attaching itself to the 'Holy Sepulchre' of the The
0 d cl ess
Cretan Zeus is thus seen to have been shared by the legendary scene of p;rst jn
his Nativity, the cave where the she-goat suckled him. In the same way ^rlier
the sanctuary of Petsofa overlooks the site of his later Dictaean Temple. Cult.
It is safe to assume that here, as elsewhere in the pre-Hellenic Age, the
female form of the divinity took precedence of her son or satellite. In
the case of Juktas, indeed, the peak sanctuary of Knossos, there is a curious
indication that this was so. In the Central Palace shrine was found a series
of L. M. II signet impressions exhibiting the Minoan Mother Goddess,
Lady of the Double Axe, standing on a rocky peak between her guardian
lions and receiving the adoration of a votary—perhaps himself a Priest-
King.3 A gold signet-ring from the site ot Knossos, Fig. 115, may be even
taken to foreshadow the ' Tomb of Zeus '.4
This remarkable 5 signet, of the usual Minoan form with the besil at Gold
right angles to the hoop, was obtained by me on the occasion of my first Ringfr0m
visit to the site in 1894, and though it unquestionably belongs to the date of ^"£ssos
the later Palace, throws such a unique light on its early baetylic cult that it scene of
, ' Baetylic
seems best to reproduce it in this place. rjult;
We see here an obelisk in front of a hypaethral sanctuary enclosed in
walls of isodomic masonry, above which rise the branches of a group of
1 An account of these inscribed ' ladles ' and 3 See A. J. E., Knossos, Report, 1901, p. 28
their connexions is given below, p. 623 seqq. seqq., and p. 29, Fig. 9. Only the staff of the *
For the Trullos ladle see Xanthudides, 'e<£. object that she holds is visible. It may well-
'A/3X-> i9°9j P- x79 seqq. Cf. below, p. 625, have been the Sacred Double Axe.
Fig. 462. 4 See Vol. II.
2 For a further demonstration of the view 5 I published this signet in my Mycenaean
that the Cave of Psychro represents the Lyktian Tree and Pillar-Cult, p. 72 seqq. (/. If. S.,
Aiktcuov avrpov I must refer to my forthcoming xxi, p. 170 seqq.).
Second Volume of Scripta Minoa.
Cave of Psychro, and ' prayer pellets' like those of Petsofa. The votive
deposit continued into the red M. M. Ill stratum above. Goats and oxen
here occurred of larger build, and, inter alia, clay locks of human hair, the
raised arms of an adorant, and curious flat, shell-like coils. But the most Votive
interesting find was a votive limestone. ' ladle' of a kind of which other juntas,
specimens had been found on the steep below, with traces of an inscription
in Class A of the Linear Script. Moreover, on the height of Trullos, a foot-
hill of Juktas, in a contemporary votive deposit, a similar ' ladle ' has come
to light with a fuller inscription in the same form of script,1 inscribed with a
dedicatory formula containing several elements of that engraved on the
Libation Table of the ' Dictaean Cave' of Lvktian tradition.2
The votive cult attaching itself to the 'Holy Sepulchre' of the The
0 d cl ess
Cretan Zeus is thus seen to have been shared by the legendary scene of p;rst jn
his Nativity, the cave where the she-goat suckled him. In the same way ^rlier
the sanctuary of Petsofa overlooks the site of his later Dictaean Temple. Cult.
It is safe to assume that here, as elsewhere in the pre-Hellenic Age, the
female form of the divinity took precedence of her son or satellite. In
the case of Juktas, indeed, the peak sanctuary of Knossos, there is a curious
indication that this was so. In the Central Palace shrine was found a series
of L. M. II signet impressions exhibiting the Minoan Mother Goddess,
Lady of the Double Axe, standing on a rocky peak between her guardian
lions and receiving the adoration of a votary—perhaps himself a Priest-
King.3 A gold signet-ring from the site ot Knossos, Fig. 115, may be even
taken to foreshadow the ' Tomb of Zeus '.4
This remarkable 5 signet, of the usual Minoan form with the besil at Gold
right angles to the hoop, was obtained by me on the occasion of my first Ringfr0m
visit to the site in 1894, and though it unquestionably belongs to the date of ^"£ssos
the later Palace, throws such a unique light on its early baetylic cult that it scene of
, ' Baetylic
seems best to reproduce it in this place. rjult;
We see here an obelisk in front of a hypaethral sanctuary enclosed in
walls of isodomic masonry, above which rise the branches of a group of
1 An account of these inscribed ' ladles ' and 3 See A. J. E., Knossos, Report, 1901, p. 28
their connexions is given below, p. 623 seqq. seqq., and p. 29, Fig. 9. Only the staff of the *
For the Trullos ladle see Xanthudides, 'e<£. object that she holds is visible. It may well-
'A/3X-> i9°9j P- x79 seqq. Cf. below, p. 625, have been the Sacred Double Axe.
Fig. 462. 4 See Vol. II.
2 For a further demonstration of the view 5 I published this signet in my Mycenaean
that the Cave of Psychro represents the Lyktian Tree and Pillar-Cult, p. 72 seqq. (/. If. S.,
Aiktcuov avrpov I must refer to my forthcoming xxi, p. 170 seqq.).
Second Volume of Scripta Minoa.