Evans, Arthur J.: The Palace of Minos: a comparative account of the successive stages of the early Cretan civilization as illustred by the discoveries at Knossos (Band 1): The Neolithic and Early and Middle Minoan Ages (London, 1921)

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THE PALACE OF MINOS, ETC.

a hind-leg. One of them, Fig. 273, shows, just above the fetlock, rounded black
spots on a white ground which may stand in a derivative relation to
a conventional Egyptian rendering of black spotted white oxen common
in the time of the Middle Kingdom. There was also a tip of a horn, white on
a red ground. With these, also in low relief, was part of a human leg or

arm, though the colouring of the
surface was too much worn away
to give an indication as to the
sex. It lay at the top of the
deposit, about 70 cm. down.

It is clear that we have to do
with a Minoan bull-grappling or
bull-catching scene of the usual
kind. Several full-sized animals
must have been represented, so
that a large extent of wall-space
would have been necessary. From
the great masses ot plain red-
faced stucco found in this de-
posit we may infer that part of
this had gone to form the back-
ground of these reliefs, as it did of
one side of the framework of the
Spiral Fresco. A fuller account of
the class of scenes to which these
fragments belong; is given in con-
nexion with the bull reliefs of the
Northern Entrance Passage. On
the other hand the clear indica-
tions supplied by the remarkable
fragment referred to above, that
the bands of the Spiral Fresco
belong to a square frame with
diagonals suggests that this de-
corative design may have had a
real connexion with the subject of
the reliefs.

It has been already noted that a similar pattern in lattice-work executed
in painted plaster occurs on two bays of the Central Court at Phaestos

Fig. 273. Painted Stucco Low Relief
(M. M. Ilia) showing Part of a Bull's Foot.
Spiral Fresco Deposit. {\ c.)