DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.807#0245
2l8
THE PALACE OF MINOS, ETC
Purifica-
tory
Station.
Altar
Bases.
The Pillar
Crypts
and
Double
Axe Cult.
Early
Shrine
at
Phaestos.
which flanked the North Piazza on the West, had been evidently remodelled
at the beginning of the Third Middle Minoan Period, and a full illustration
of it, together with a description of its contents, is therefore reserved
for Sections dealing with that epoch.1 But the small, inner masonry of its
walls, with its distinct interstices filled with clay mortar, bears an early
character, as does also the form of the column bases, and the main lines
of this structure, like the outer walls in which they are contained, must
probably be included among the original features of the building, and this
view is corroborated by the similar sunken area to the S.E. of the West
Porch at Phaestos, which certainly belongs to
the Early Palace there. These sunken areas,
indeed, in both cases seem to have formed
part of purificatory stations for those who
visited the buildings with a religious object.
That at Knossos defines the special character
of the North-West Entrance.
Two altar bases, marking the special
sanctity of the Western Palace region, are
visible in the Court that flanks its outer wall,
itself repeatedly marked with the Double
Axe symbol. The two Pillar Crypts of its
Middle Section bear a distinctively religious
character. The Eastern Pillar is reproduced
in Suppl. PI. X, with part of a stone vat
visible behind it. From the character of the incised marks and other indica-
tions these Pillars must clearly be reckoned among the structures of the
earlier Palace. It will be shown that these square gypsum pillars, on which
the Double Axe symbol is continually repeated,3 were themselves objects for
offerings, and at the same time gave support to the columns of an upper
sanctuary devoted to the central Palace cult. The shallow stone vats beside
the Eastern pillar stood, as in other cases, in connexion with ritual oblations.
In view, however, of the fuller evidence as to this cult forthcoming in the
last Middle Minoan phase and in the early part of the Late Minoan Age, it
has been thought better to reserve this subject for a later Section.2 In the
South-East Mouse, which goes back to M. M. Ill, the pyramidal socket of the
sacral weapon was found in situ before the pillar of its Crypt.
The Palace of Phaestos has supplied a well-preserved example of an
1 See below, p. 405 seqq.
2 See below, p. 4^3 seqq. For the double axe marks in this Palace region see p. 449, Pig. 322.
Fig, 1G3. Plan of ' Sacellum ',
Phaestos.
THE PALACE OF MINOS, ETC
Purifica-
tory
Station.
Altar
Bases.
The Pillar
Crypts
and
Double
Axe Cult.
Early
Shrine
at
Phaestos.
which flanked the North Piazza on the West, had been evidently remodelled
at the beginning of the Third Middle Minoan Period, and a full illustration
of it, together with a description of its contents, is therefore reserved
for Sections dealing with that epoch.1 But the small, inner masonry of its
walls, with its distinct interstices filled with clay mortar, bears an early
character, as does also the form of the column bases, and the main lines
of this structure, like the outer walls in which they are contained, must
probably be included among the original features of the building, and this
view is corroborated by the similar sunken area to the S.E. of the West
Porch at Phaestos, which certainly belongs to
the Early Palace there. These sunken areas,
indeed, in both cases seem to have formed
part of purificatory stations for those who
visited the buildings with a religious object.
That at Knossos defines the special character
of the North-West Entrance.
Two altar bases, marking the special
sanctity of the Western Palace region, are
visible in the Court that flanks its outer wall,
itself repeatedly marked with the Double
Axe symbol. The two Pillar Crypts of its
Middle Section bear a distinctively religious
character. The Eastern Pillar is reproduced
in Suppl. PI. X, with part of a stone vat
visible behind it. From the character of the incised marks and other indica-
tions these Pillars must clearly be reckoned among the structures of the
earlier Palace. It will be shown that these square gypsum pillars, on which
the Double Axe symbol is continually repeated,3 were themselves objects for
offerings, and at the same time gave support to the columns of an upper
sanctuary devoted to the central Palace cult. The shallow stone vats beside
the Eastern pillar stood, as in other cases, in connexion with ritual oblations.
In view, however, of the fuller evidence as to this cult forthcoming in the
last Middle Minoan phase and in the early part of the Late Minoan Age, it
has been thought better to reserve this subject for a later Section.2 In the
South-East Mouse, which goes back to M. M. Ill, the pyramidal socket of the
sacral weapon was found in situ before the pillar of its Crypt.
The Palace of Phaestos has supplied a well-preserved example of an
1 See below, p. 405 seqq.
2 See below, p. 4^3 seqq. For the double axe marks in this Palace region see p. 449, Pig. 322.
Fig, 1G3. Plan of ' Sacellum ',
Phaestos.