DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.808#0020
18
ARTHUR EVANS
(see Fig. 20). On the left side of the field, with one of her little girl atten-
dants imitating her action behind, stands the Goddess with the same triple
coiffure and wearing the same dress as in the preceding groups. Her left
arm is raised and her right hand is held immediately over the rim of a large
jar or amphora, into which an adult female attendant similarly robed, and
apparently answering to the seated companion of the signet, is pouring some
kind of liquid from a jug.
The metallic character of the large jar is clearly revealed by its two curved
handles, and by the distinct ring running round the base of the collar, on which,
too, two lines of rivet-heads are clearly visible. It has raised stellate ornaments
on the body, perhaps standing for rosettes in relief. The form of the handle
of the jug and the ring, here too seen round the base of its high collar, also
show that the artist had in view an original in metal work.
Behind the attendant or votary who is pouring from the jug is a tree, laden
apparently with bunches of fruit, some of which hang down. This shows an
analogy with some other fruit-bearing trees that appear in relation to the
Goddess on Minoan or Mycenaean signets, and of which an example is given
in Fig. 12 above, from Mycenae. The large signet-ring from the deposit out-
side the Shaft Graves there shows the Goddess
seated under a fruit tree of this kind, and, in
spite of its "upright stem, the bunches that it
bears unmistakably indicate a vine. It seems
probable that the small tree on the present
intaglio must be identified in the same way.
The clay seal-impression from Knossos,
here for the first time illustrated (Fig. 20),
which supplies such a curious parallel to the
foregoing subject, has lost a segment of its
upper circumference. But the central features,
most important for comparison, are preserved,
including the rim and part of the handle of
the jug, and the liquor pouring out of it into a
laTge jar which seems to represent a vessel of the same class. The jug is here
held by a seated female personage, the only figure depicted, who may represent
either the Goddess or her votary. She rests on a kind of stool, apparently of
woodwork, but which in its structure bears some analogy to the throne at
Knossos. The ritual character of the act is here clearly marked by the
' sacral horns' placed in front of the jar. In this case too a tree or bush
appears in the margin of the field beyond, but owing to the rough material of
the sealing and the poorness of the impression it is very imperfectly delineated.
It appears, however, to have had several stems springing from the ground, in
contrast to the single-stemmed fruit tree on the gold intaglio.
But the substantial correspondence of the main episode in the two designs
is such as to necessitate the conclusion that both refer to some ritual function
of the same kind. What then was the inward significance of this ? The
different character of the plant forms exhibited only allows us to infer a general
Fig. 20.—Goddess pouring
Libation. Seal Impres-
sion, Knossos. (})
ARTHUR EVANS
(see Fig. 20). On the left side of the field, with one of her little girl atten-
dants imitating her action behind, stands the Goddess with the same triple
coiffure and wearing the same dress as in the preceding groups. Her left
arm is raised and her right hand is held immediately over the rim of a large
jar or amphora, into which an adult female attendant similarly robed, and
apparently answering to the seated companion of the signet, is pouring some
kind of liquid from a jug.
The metallic character of the large jar is clearly revealed by its two curved
handles, and by the distinct ring running round the base of the collar, on which,
too, two lines of rivet-heads are clearly visible. It has raised stellate ornaments
on the body, perhaps standing for rosettes in relief. The form of the handle
of the jug and the ring, here too seen round the base of its high collar, also
show that the artist had in view an original in metal work.
Behind the attendant or votary who is pouring from the jug is a tree, laden
apparently with bunches of fruit, some of which hang down. This shows an
analogy with some other fruit-bearing trees that appear in relation to the
Goddess on Minoan or Mycenaean signets, and of which an example is given
in Fig. 12 above, from Mycenae. The large signet-ring from the deposit out-
side the Shaft Graves there shows the Goddess
seated under a fruit tree of this kind, and, in
spite of its "upright stem, the bunches that it
bears unmistakably indicate a vine. It seems
probable that the small tree on the present
intaglio must be identified in the same way.
The clay seal-impression from Knossos,
here for the first time illustrated (Fig. 20),
which supplies such a curious parallel to the
foregoing subject, has lost a segment of its
upper circumference. But the central features,
most important for comparison, are preserved,
including the rim and part of the handle of
the jug, and the liquor pouring out of it into a
laTge jar which seems to represent a vessel of the same class. The jug is here
held by a seated female personage, the only figure depicted, who may represent
either the Goddess or her votary. She rests on a kind of stool, apparently of
woodwork, but which in its structure bears some analogy to the throne at
Knossos. The ritual character of the act is here clearly marked by the
' sacral horns' placed in front of the jar. In this case too a tree or bush
appears in the margin of the field beyond, but owing to the rough material of
the sealing and the poorness of the impression it is very imperfectly delineated.
It appears, however, to have had several stems springing from the ground, in
contrast to the single-stemmed fruit tree on the gold intaglio.
But the substantial correspondence of the main episode in the two designs
is such as to necessitate the conclusion that both refer to some ritual function
of the same kind. What then was the inward significance of this ? The
different character of the plant forms exhibited only allows us to infer a general
Fig. 20.—Goddess pouring
Libation. Seal Impres-
sion, Knossos. (})