DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.808#0038
36
AKTHUR EVANS
site of Lyttoss97 exhibiting a chariot of this form drawn by two Cretan wild
goats (Fig. 37). In it axe two male personages, one holding a forked whip as
well as the reins, and the other, seemingly, with Lis right hand 98 on the hilt of
a sword or dagger. That in Minoan times chariots should have been a
practical form of conveyance in such a rugged region as that of Avdu seems
highly improbable, but a prince of that district may well have chosen such a
device as a playful allusion to his mountain home. Without reading any
mythological signification into the representation, it may yet be recalled that,
according to the Edda, goats were yoked to the thunder-chariot of Thor."
The powerful rendering of the harnessed goats on this signet-ring presents
an interesting contrast to the very imperfect designs of the horses on the
Fig.
37.—Chakiox Dmwn by Wild Goats, on Agate
Ring from Avdu, near Lyttos. (■£)
Tbisbe bead-seal and the allied versions from the Fourth Shaft Crave at
Mycenae and the Vapheio tomb. The Cretan wild goat had supplied one of
the earliest exercises of the Minoan engravers. The horse was a comparative
novelty.
From its remarkably fine style, the firm treatment and pure outlines,
this signet-ring from Avdu cannot be brought down later than the early phase
of the concluding Palace period at Ejiossos (L.M. II. a), and must therefore
be regarded as one of the first examples of the newly introduced c dual' type
This gem was found at a spot called
aria, which, seems, as in other cases,
to refer to chamber tombs, together with
an oval chalcedony bead-seal of abnormal
type representing a fish. It passed into
a dealer's hands at Athens and thence
into an American collection. Subsequently,
however, I was able to obtain it by exchange.
Xanthudides mentions it ('E^>. 'Apx-, 1897,
p. 184), but was only able to reproduce it
(PI. VIII. No. 166) from a very imperfect
impression. Mercklin, who refers to this
(op. cit. p. 20, 18 a), found the details too
obscure to be made use of. He need not,
however, have described this really fine
intaglio as ' von unerfreulich salopper
Zeiehnung,' which indeed is exactly the
reverse of the strong, pure style and
powerful animal drawing here displayed.
93 As seen in the intaglio itself, which,
as usual, gives the proper direction.
99 Cf. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie, 4th
ed., i. p. 153.
AKTHUR EVANS
site of Lyttoss97 exhibiting a chariot of this form drawn by two Cretan wild
goats (Fig. 37). In it axe two male personages, one holding a forked whip as
well as the reins, and the other, seemingly, with Lis right hand 98 on the hilt of
a sword or dagger. That in Minoan times chariots should have been a
practical form of conveyance in such a rugged region as that of Avdu seems
highly improbable, but a prince of that district may well have chosen such a
device as a playful allusion to his mountain home. Without reading any
mythological signification into the representation, it may yet be recalled that,
according to the Edda, goats were yoked to the thunder-chariot of Thor."
The powerful rendering of the harnessed goats on this signet-ring presents
an interesting contrast to the very imperfect designs of the horses on the
Fig.
37.—Chakiox Dmwn by Wild Goats, on Agate
Ring from Avdu, near Lyttos. (■£)
Tbisbe bead-seal and the allied versions from the Fourth Shaft Crave at
Mycenae and the Vapheio tomb. The Cretan wild goat had supplied one of
the earliest exercises of the Minoan engravers. The horse was a comparative
novelty.
From its remarkably fine style, the firm treatment and pure outlines,
this signet-ring from Avdu cannot be brought down later than the early phase
of the concluding Palace period at Ejiossos (L.M. II. a), and must therefore
be regarded as one of the first examples of the newly introduced c dual' type
This gem was found at a spot called
aria, which, seems, as in other cases,
to refer to chamber tombs, together with
an oval chalcedony bead-seal of abnormal
type representing a fish. It passed into
a dealer's hands at Athens and thence
into an American collection. Subsequently,
however, I was able to obtain it by exchange.
Xanthudides mentions it ('E^>. 'Apx-, 1897,
p. 184), but was only able to reproduce it
(PI. VIII. No. 166) from a very imperfect
impression. Mercklin, who refers to this
(op. cit. p. 20, 18 a), found the details too
obscure to be made use of. He need not,
however, have described this really fine
intaglio as ' von unerfreulich salopper
Zeiehnung,' which indeed is exactly the
reverse of the strong, pure style and
powerful animal drawing here displayed.
93 As seen in the intaglio itself, which,
as usual, gives the proper direction.
99 Cf. Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie, 4th
ed., i. p. 153.