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)

M.M. Ill: THE SNAKE GODDESS AND RELICS 507

but the whole associations in which they were found show that they were Priest-

of a religious character, and formed in fact the central objects of a shrine, snake

So far, indeed, as the attendants or votaries of the Goddess here worshipped charm"

. ... . ers-

are concerned this is really ' a distinction without a difference ', for the practice

of snake-charming would clearly have been part of their priestly functions.

Accumulating evidences are now before us of the survival of the cult of Survival

a Snake Goddess at Knossos itself and in other parts of Crete. There are, ofCult-

indeed, o-ood reasons for believing that the beautiful crowned female figure

Fig. 365. Upper Part of Minoan Bronze Figure, showing Triple Coil of Snakes

(Berlin Mus.).

of ivory holding out two golden snakes in the Boston Museum,1 and described
in a later Section of this work referring to the First Late Minoan Period, had
belonged to the same Palace reliquary of the Domestic Quarter at Knossos
as the ivory figure of the Leaping Boy.

Since the discovery of the Shrine of the Snake Goddess and her
votaries, moreover, more than one archaeologist has recognized the fact
that the bronze female figure in the Berlin Museum, the provenance of
which was once doubtfully referred to Troy, belongs to the same class.2

1 L. D. Caskey, Museum of Fine Arts 2 Furtwangler referred to it in conversation
Bulletin, vol. xii (1914), p. 52 seqq. as a ' Schlangenfrau'. Caskey, in the Mus. of

Chrysele-
phantine
Figure
from
Knossos.

Berlin
Bronze
Figure
with
Triple
Coil of
Snakes
(L. M, I)