DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.807#0759
M. M. Ill : WINGED CREATIONS AND ' FLYING GALLOP ' 713
protector of its native dynast, ' beloved of Ra he lays his left paw on the
kneeling figure of the conquered Hyksos.
This substitution of the Eagle's head for the Hawk of solar cult, as
much as the intrusion of the other Minoan elements such as the ' notched
plumes', into the composition of the sacred monster on so important a relic The
itself implies a reaction of Cretan influence on Egypt of the most profound Minoan°'
and intimate character in the earl)- days of the New Empire. The Griffin Gnffin-
type of King Aahmes can only be described as ' Egypto-Minoan'.
Both in Crete and Egypt many later Griffins bear peacocks' plumes and Peacocks'
such are already seen at Knossos in the fresco fragment in the Early L. M. I of Late
miniature style, illustrated in Fig. 400 above. They appear, still more ^moan
. r Types,
clearly, issuing from the head of the couchant and wingless Griffin of the
Room of the Throne, belonging to the latest period of the Palace. A softer
spirit breathes indeed in these decorative types, and there is little left either
of the hawk or the eagle.
On the Zakro seal-impression, Fig. 53G, 6, we see a more decorative ren-
dering of two fore-parts of Griffins, showing a protuberance above the beak
which seems to be an anticipation of the knobbed projection in this position
so characteristic of early Greek representations of this monster.1 The clay
impression, Fig. 536, c, from Knossos,2 supplies a variant of the scheme of two
confronted griffins that we see in Fig. 53G, a, In this case, however, the
details of the design are imperfectly preserved.
The evidence, at once stratigraphic and typological, that enables us
to assign the Melian jug with the fantastic bird griffin to the earliest phase
of the Third Middle Cycladic is of the highest importance in relation to the
artistic scheme represented by the Minoan design to which it stands in
a derivative relation. It compels us in fact, as already noted, to project Galloping
the Minoan motive of the galloping Griffin with his legs at full stretch Type"
within the limits of M. M. II. The artistic convention for rapid motion ^ja<^dj°
which this design embodies, as illustrated by the Mycenae example, Fig. 534,
is that distinguished by Monsieur Salomon Reinach as the ' flying gallop ', The
the chief distributing centre of which, as he has shown—in the later pre- Gallop0'
historic phase, at least, of the East Mediterranean basin—was Minoan Crete. 111 Art-
From this Aegean source it was diffused through a large part of the Ancient
World passing to Egypt and from the Anatolian coast to Persia and
ultimately reaching China and the Far East.3
1 See Furtwangler, op. cit., p. 1759 seqq. Domestic Quarter.
2 Found with other early seal-impressions 3 'La representation du galop dans fart
underneath the later ' Service' staircase of the ancien et moderne' (extract from Rev. Arch.,
protector of its native dynast, ' beloved of Ra he lays his left paw on the
kneeling figure of the conquered Hyksos.
This substitution of the Eagle's head for the Hawk of solar cult, as
much as the intrusion of the other Minoan elements such as the ' notched
plumes', into the composition of the sacred monster on so important a relic The
itself implies a reaction of Cretan influence on Egypt of the most profound Minoan°'
and intimate character in the earl)- days of the New Empire. The Griffin Gnffin-
type of King Aahmes can only be described as ' Egypto-Minoan'.
Both in Crete and Egypt many later Griffins bear peacocks' plumes and Peacocks'
such are already seen at Knossos in the fresco fragment in the Early L. M. I of Late
miniature style, illustrated in Fig. 400 above. They appear, still more ^moan
. r Types,
clearly, issuing from the head of the couchant and wingless Griffin of the
Room of the Throne, belonging to the latest period of the Palace. A softer
spirit breathes indeed in these decorative types, and there is little left either
of the hawk or the eagle.
On the Zakro seal-impression, Fig. 53G, 6, we see a more decorative ren-
dering of two fore-parts of Griffins, showing a protuberance above the beak
which seems to be an anticipation of the knobbed projection in this position
so characteristic of early Greek representations of this monster.1 The clay
impression, Fig. 536, c, from Knossos,2 supplies a variant of the scheme of two
confronted griffins that we see in Fig. 53G, a, In this case, however, the
details of the design are imperfectly preserved.
The evidence, at once stratigraphic and typological, that enables us
to assign the Melian jug with the fantastic bird griffin to the earliest phase
of the Third Middle Cycladic is of the highest importance in relation to the
artistic scheme represented by the Minoan design to which it stands in
a derivative relation. It compels us in fact, as already noted, to project Galloping
the Minoan motive of the galloping Griffin with his legs at full stretch Type"
within the limits of M. M. II. The artistic convention for rapid motion ^ja<^dj°
which this design embodies, as illustrated by the Mycenae example, Fig. 534,
is that distinguished by Monsieur Salomon Reinach as the ' flying gallop ', The
the chief distributing centre of which, as he has shown—in the later pre- Gallop0'
historic phase, at least, of the East Mediterranean basin—was Minoan Crete. 111 Art-
From this Aegean source it was diffused through a large part of the Ancient
World passing to Egypt and from the Anatolian coast to Persia and
ultimately reaching China and the Far East.3
1 See Furtwangler, op. cit., p. 1759 seqq. Domestic Quarter.
2 Found with other early seal-impressions 3 'La representation du galop dans fart
underneath the later ' Service' staircase of the ancien et moderne' (extract from Rev. Arch.,