DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.807#0398
M.M. Ill: THE DOMESTIC OUARTER
359
SOS.
should have been taken over to represent the Cretan Palace-Sanctuary, in
other words, the Labyrinth. On the Egyptian seals that supplied the proto- Maze pat-
types of a Cretan sphragistic series human figures repeatedly occur beside labyrin-
or in the middle of maze patterns that must be regarded as labyrinthine of
plans of dwellings (Fig. 258 6, c). dwellings.
The labyrinth of Classical monuments is consistently rendered as
a building, often indicated on Attic vases by a pillar with meander decoration,1
In the daughter City of the Cretan Miletos the marble ceiling of an inner
staircase in the Didymaeon is decorated with a huge meander and the staircase
is described in an inscription as AABTPINOOC.2
The comparative examples given in Fig. 260 3 suggest that the coin- Labyrinth
types of Knossos, that kept alive the record both of the Labyrinth and of Minotaur
the Minotaur, may have been largely based on the earlier seal-types, which ^^^j
seem to have been specially rife in this Cretan district. The quadruple Seal-types
of K^nos
meander that forms the essential nucleus of the seal b is closely akin to
f I, where the central star reproduces a feature of the labyrinthine Egyptian
ceilings cited above. The Minotaur on the reverse of the coin {/2), being
wholly human except for his bull's head, differs from the ordinary Late
Minoan type d, e, but the Zakro seal-impression c shows human arms. It will
be shown below that the Man-bull was himself only one of a series of composite
monsters current in Minoan art, but the type (which may ultimately connect
itself with Ea-bani) is of more primitive origin.4 A rude proto-dynastic
example from the Karnak prism is given in Fig. 259.
The appearance of the maze pattern on an entrance passage of the
Minoan Palace is certainly a highly suggestive circumstance. That some of the
painted stucco decoration clung to the walls of the building in comparatively
exposed areas long after even its latest occupation by Minoan denizens is clear
from the circumstances attending the discovery of the bull-grappling reliefs
by the Northern Entrance. It is then quite within the bounds of reasonable
possibility that the Labyrinth in Art, as seen on the walls of this Corridor of
the Eastern Palace border, may have met the eyes and excited the wonder
of Early Greek settlers.
1 See P. Wolters, Darstellungen des Laby- The lower part of Fig. 260 a is here completed.
rinthes {Sitzungiberichte d. Bayer. Akad., 1908, The lentoid gems Fig. 260, d, e, and the two
1913). coins are in my own collection. (For the coins
2 Haussoullier, Rev. Philologique, 1905, cf. Svoronos, Num. de la Crete ancienne,
p. 265, and Didyme. p. 93, &c. ; Wiegand, Abh. PI. IV, 25, PI. VI, 6.) A small gold plate with
d. Berliner Akad., 1911, p. 49, and cf. 1908, a repousse maze pattern (contemporary with
p. 35. See, too, Bosanquet, Recent Excavations the Knossian fresco) was found in the H.
in Miletus (Dublin Lecture). Triada Palace (unpublished).
3 For the Egyptian seals cf. p. 122 above. 4 See above, p. 69.
359
SOS.
should have been taken over to represent the Cretan Palace-Sanctuary, in
other words, the Labyrinth. On the Egyptian seals that supplied the proto- Maze pat-
types of a Cretan sphragistic series human figures repeatedly occur beside labyrin-
or in the middle of maze patterns that must be regarded as labyrinthine of
plans of dwellings (Fig. 258 6, c). dwellings.
The labyrinth of Classical monuments is consistently rendered as
a building, often indicated on Attic vases by a pillar with meander decoration,1
In the daughter City of the Cretan Miletos the marble ceiling of an inner
staircase in the Didymaeon is decorated with a huge meander and the staircase
is described in an inscription as AABTPINOOC.2
The comparative examples given in Fig. 260 3 suggest that the coin- Labyrinth
types of Knossos, that kept alive the record both of the Labyrinth and of Minotaur
the Minotaur, may have been largely based on the earlier seal-types, which ^^^j
seem to have been specially rife in this Cretan district. The quadruple Seal-types
of K^nos
meander that forms the essential nucleus of the seal b is closely akin to
f I, where the central star reproduces a feature of the labyrinthine Egyptian
ceilings cited above. The Minotaur on the reverse of the coin {/2), being
wholly human except for his bull's head, differs from the ordinary Late
Minoan type d, e, but the Zakro seal-impression c shows human arms. It will
be shown below that the Man-bull was himself only one of a series of composite
monsters current in Minoan art, but the type (which may ultimately connect
itself with Ea-bani) is of more primitive origin.4 A rude proto-dynastic
example from the Karnak prism is given in Fig. 259.
The appearance of the maze pattern on an entrance passage of the
Minoan Palace is certainly a highly suggestive circumstance. That some of the
painted stucco decoration clung to the walls of the building in comparatively
exposed areas long after even its latest occupation by Minoan denizens is clear
from the circumstances attending the discovery of the bull-grappling reliefs
by the Northern Entrance. It is then quite within the bounds of reasonable
possibility that the Labyrinth in Art, as seen on the walls of this Corridor of
the Eastern Palace border, may have met the eyes and excited the wonder
of Early Greek settlers.
1 See P. Wolters, Darstellungen des Laby- The lower part of Fig. 260 a is here completed.
rinthes {Sitzungiberichte d. Bayer. Akad., 1908, The lentoid gems Fig. 260, d, e, and the two
1913). coins are in my own collection. (For the coins
2 Haussoullier, Rev. Philologique, 1905, cf. Svoronos, Num. de la Crete ancienne,
p. 265, and Didyme. p. 93, &c. ; Wiegand, Abh. PI. IV, 25, PI. VI, 6.) A small gold plate with
d. Berliner Akad., 1911, p. 49, and cf. 1908, a repousse maze pattern (contemporary with
p. 35. See, too, Bosanquet, Recent Excavations the Knossian fresco) was found in the H.
in Miletus (Dublin Lecture). Triada Palace (unpublished).
3 For the Egyptian seals cf. p. 122 above. 4 See above, p. 69.