DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.807#0188
l62
THE PALACE OF MINOS, ETC.
Tomb-
stone of
young-
God J
the
Cretan
Zeus.
Obelisk
on
Knossian
Signet
anticipa-
tion of
later
Tomb of
Zeus.
Cave
Sanc-
tuaries :
Psychro.
from the fruit of a tree, which springs from another representation of a small
hypaethral sanctuary containing a similar baetylic pillar, its boughs being
pulled down for her by a youthful male attendant.1 Here there can be
little doubt that the mourning scene refers to a Minoan equivalent for Attis
or Kinyras, Adonis or Thammuz, but imaged here as a youthful warrior
God, in other words the Cretan Zeus.
The baetylic pillar is, in fact, here regarded actually as the grave-stone.
It is clear, indeed, that the ideas of the aniconic image and the sepulchral
monument must have had a natural tendency to coalesce—the tombstone
itself in primitive belief being the actual tenement of the departed spirit.
In the case of the obelisk on the signet from the site of Knossos we may
venture to recognize a baetylic monument of the early religion that actually
existed in the neighbourhood of the Palace, and which, renewed perhaps at
a later date, survived in later tradition as the ' Tomb of ZeusThe
mountainous locality in which the scene is placed supplies an additional
warrant for identifying the site with the peak sanctuary of Juktas.
It would seem that two distinct phases in the character of the cult are
here traceable. It is onlv in the later staee that we see a formal shrine and
habitation erected for the divinity, supplemented doubtless by an aniconic
pillar form. There are, indeed, some traces of earlier walls, perhaps
belonging to a more primitive enclosure, but the comparatively wide
distribution of the sacral ash stratum on the rock surface, which extends
South and East beyond the later house of the Goddess, may be taken to
point to a more direct form of nature worship. It looks as if, according to
the earlier religious practice, the rocky peak itself, which stood forth as
representative of the sanctity of the whole mountain, was the primary object
of the cult, and received the offerings directly, as the indwelling place of the
Godhead. Here the summit was chosen as the object of cult ; in other
cases it might be a rock shelter like that of Petsofa or Zakro, while there
can be no doubt of the prevailing veneration in which caves were held,
representing as they did a visible access to the under-world and often
provided with natural ' Bethels' in the shape of their stalagmitic pillars.
It is evident that the votive cult of the cave sanctuaries of Crete
also assumed a special importance from this Period onwards, and in these
cases the offerings were often of greater intrinsic value. It is probable
that a certain proportion of the bronze figures and votive weapons 2 found
1 On a parallel representation from a gold symbolic of the dead w arrior,
signet ring found in the Vapheio tomb (see op. 2 e.g. Hogarth, The Dictaean Cave (£>. S.A.,
at., p. 78, Fig. 52) a smaller mourning figure is vi), p. no, Fig. 42 (dagger-blades in the upper
seen to right prostrate on a large Minoan shield, and lower row).
THE PALACE OF MINOS, ETC.
Tomb-
stone of
young-
God J
the
Cretan
Zeus.
Obelisk
on
Knossian
Signet
anticipa-
tion of
later
Tomb of
Zeus.
Cave
Sanc-
tuaries :
Psychro.
from the fruit of a tree, which springs from another representation of a small
hypaethral sanctuary containing a similar baetylic pillar, its boughs being
pulled down for her by a youthful male attendant.1 Here there can be
little doubt that the mourning scene refers to a Minoan equivalent for Attis
or Kinyras, Adonis or Thammuz, but imaged here as a youthful warrior
God, in other words the Cretan Zeus.
The baetylic pillar is, in fact, here regarded actually as the grave-stone.
It is clear, indeed, that the ideas of the aniconic image and the sepulchral
monument must have had a natural tendency to coalesce—the tombstone
itself in primitive belief being the actual tenement of the departed spirit.
In the case of the obelisk on the signet from the site of Knossos we may
venture to recognize a baetylic monument of the early religion that actually
existed in the neighbourhood of the Palace, and which, renewed perhaps at
a later date, survived in later tradition as the ' Tomb of ZeusThe
mountainous locality in which the scene is placed supplies an additional
warrant for identifying the site with the peak sanctuary of Juktas.
It would seem that two distinct phases in the character of the cult are
here traceable. It is onlv in the later staee that we see a formal shrine and
habitation erected for the divinity, supplemented doubtless by an aniconic
pillar form. There are, indeed, some traces of earlier walls, perhaps
belonging to a more primitive enclosure, but the comparatively wide
distribution of the sacral ash stratum on the rock surface, which extends
South and East beyond the later house of the Goddess, may be taken to
point to a more direct form of nature worship. It looks as if, according to
the earlier religious practice, the rocky peak itself, which stood forth as
representative of the sanctity of the whole mountain, was the primary object
of the cult, and received the offerings directly, as the indwelling place of the
Godhead. Here the summit was chosen as the object of cult ; in other
cases it might be a rock shelter like that of Petsofa or Zakro, while there
can be no doubt of the prevailing veneration in which caves were held,
representing as they did a visible access to the under-world and often
provided with natural ' Bethels' in the shape of their stalagmitic pillars.
It is evident that the votive cult of the cave sanctuaries of Crete
also assumed a special importance from this Period onwards, and in these
cases the offerings were often of greater intrinsic value. It is probable
that a certain proportion of the bronze figures and votive weapons 2 found
1 On a parallel representation from a gold symbolic of the dead w arrior,
signet ring found in the Vapheio tomb (see op. 2 e.g. Hogarth, The Dictaean Cave (£>. S.A.,
at., p. 78, Fig. 52) a smaller mourning figure is vi), p. no, Fig. 42 (dagger-blades in the upper
seen to right prostrate on a large Minoan shield, and lower row).