DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.807#0563
M. M. Ill: THE SNAKE GODDESS AND RELICS 521
Phaestos in company with miniature cups of clay and numerous pectunculus
shells. The refined practice of lining the floor and altar of our Palace
Shrine with delicately painted shells may itself have been handed down
from a time when these ' fruits ' of the sea formed an important part of the
diet of the inhabitants and would thus result from conditions analogous to
those of the ' Kitchenmidden ' folk of Northern strands.
The marine aspect of the cult also comes out among the contents of Flying
the Temple Repositories in a series of very beautiful faience objects in p^nel.
Fig. 380. Moulded Terra-cotta Reliefs of Crabs and Marine Objects with
Traces of Painted Decoration (f c).
relief or in the round, representing flying fish, rocks and shells, and other
sea creatures.
The most exquisite of these relics are the argonaut shells of various
sizes, modelled in the round, and lustrous with a pearl-like sheen. These
may have been placed upon the altar ledge beside the other votive objects
as a more sumptuous substitute for the sea-shells themselves. Most of
these marine forms, however, were in the shape of isolated reliefs with flat
backs, and it is clear that they must have been applied to some kind of
plaster backing. The)' doubtless belonged to a series of picturesque panels
Phaestos in company with miniature cups of clay and numerous pectunculus
shells. The refined practice of lining the floor and altar of our Palace
Shrine with delicately painted shells may itself have been handed down
from a time when these ' fruits ' of the sea formed an important part of the
diet of the inhabitants and would thus result from conditions analogous to
those of the ' Kitchenmidden ' folk of Northern strands.
The marine aspect of the cult also comes out among the contents of Flying
the Temple Repositories in a series of very beautiful faience objects in p^nel.
Fig. 380. Moulded Terra-cotta Reliefs of Crabs and Marine Objects with
Traces of Painted Decoration (f c).
relief or in the round, representing flying fish, rocks and shells, and other
sea creatures.
The most exquisite of these relics are the argonaut shells of various
sizes, modelled in the round, and lustrous with a pearl-like sheen. These
may have been placed upon the altar ledge beside the other votive objects
as a more sumptuous substitute for the sea-shells themselves. Most of
these marine forms, however, were in the shape of isolated reliefs with flat
backs, and it is clear that they must have been applied to some kind of
plaster backing. The)' doubtless belonged to a series of picturesque panels