DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.808#0064
62
ARTHUR EVANS
furniture of a Minoan shrine, including bronze double-axes of the ritual type,
the special symbols of the divinity, set between the ' sacral horns,' a steatite
rhyton for libations as well as an incense-burner, and doubtless, originally,
a small image of the Goddess. Thus ' the tomb was at the same time a
funereal chapel, and it may well be that the benches round the sides of
the chamber were made use of for some memorial function in which the whole
family partook. On such an occasion, in accordance with the central idea of
the Minoan cult, the essence of the divinity might by due ritual acts be
infused into its visible symbols, and, even in the shades, the direct guardian-
ship of the Great Mother be thus assured to
the warrior resting in his emblematic bed.' M
The Minoans seem to have consistently
figured the divine spirit itself in bird form, and
it is birds, generally doves,54 that we see
perched on the head of the Goddess herself or
brought down by ritual acts upon her baetylic
shapes such as pillars or double-axes, upon her
shrines and altars, and, as a sign of possession,
upon the heads and shoulders of her votaries.
The human soul itself is also regarded as a
bird in the folk-loTe of many countries, and
there are indications that this idea was also
known in Classical Greece,55 though there an-
thropomorphisation early set in and the soul
Fig. 63.—Soul as Butterfly has generally a human head. In later Greece,
E££e«TO<a55S5E however' PeAa?s because * was so de^y
Gem. rooted in an older stratum of the population,
the idea of the human soul as a butterfly
came to overshadow the other. But this too took generally an anthropo-
morphic form, and its vogue was no doubt favoured by the popularity of the
tale of Eros and Psyche.
^v)(v, like ' aniTna,' in its simple application may best be translated as
the ' life ' of man. Thus Life and Death are symbolically depicted on Greco-
Roman gems as a skull with a butterfly above.56 In one case this emblem is
coupled with a resurgent skeleton of a man whom a little winged Genius, with
53 Op. til., p. 56.
51 Cf. P. of M., i. pp. 222, 223, where
descent of the Holy Spirit as a dove in
the baptism in Jordan is compared. The
doves on the gold chalice from Mycenae
(Schliemann, p. 237, Fig. 246) and those
on Nestor's Cup (II., xi. 632-635) must be
regarded as signs of consecration. The
birds brought down by the sound of the
lyre and ritual incantation on the double-
axes of the Hagia Triada sarcophagus
appear to be ravens. See P. of M., i.
pp. 440, 441, and Fig. 317.
55 In Homer, where the dead are also
likened to bats {Od., xxiv. 5), their clamour
is also said to resemble that of birds—KAayy^
vsKvosv . . . oicdvwv 8>s (Od., xi. 605, 633).
The soul of Aristeas is said when he died
to have flown out of his mouth in the shape
of a raven (Plin, H.N., vii. 174). See S.
Wide, Ath. Mitth., xxvi., 1901, pp. 153-155.
56 E.g. Furtwangler, Antike Gemmen,
PI. XXIX. 48, PI. XXII. 12; and cf.
Otto Waser, art. ' PsycheJ in Roseher's
Lexikon, p. 3235.
ARTHUR EVANS
furniture of a Minoan shrine, including bronze double-axes of the ritual type,
the special symbols of the divinity, set between the ' sacral horns,' a steatite
rhyton for libations as well as an incense-burner, and doubtless, originally,
a small image of the Goddess. Thus ' the tomb was at the same time a
funereal chapel, and it may well be that the benches round the sides of
the chamber were made use of for some memorial function in which the whole
family partook. On such an occasion, in accordance with the central idea of
the Minoan cult, the essence of the divinity might by due ritual acts be
infused into its visible symbols, and, even in the shades, the direct guardian-
ship of the Great Mother be thus assured to
the warrior resting in his emblematic bed.' M
The Minoans seem to have consistently
figured the divine spirit itself in bird form, and
it is birds, generally doves,54 that we see
perched on the head of the Goddess herself or
brought down by ritual acts upon her baetylic
shapes such as pillars or double-axes, upon her
shrines and altars, and, as a sign of possession,
upon the heads and shoulders of her votaries.
The human soul itself is also regarded as a
bird in the folk-loTe of many countries, and
there are indications that this idea was also
known in Classical Greece,55 though there an-
thropomorphisation early set in and the soul
Fig. 63.—Soul as Butterfly has generally a human head. In later Greece,
E££e«TO<a55S5E however' PeAa?s because * was so de^y
Gem. rooted in an older stratum of the population,
the idea of the human soul as a butterfly
came to overshadow the other. But this too took generally an anthropo-
morphic form, and its vogue was no doubt favoured by the popularity of the
tale of Eros and Psyche.
^v)(v, like ' aniTna,' in its simple application may best be translated as
the ' life ' of man. Thus Life and Death are symbolically depicted on Greco-
Roman gems as a skull with a butterfly above.56 In one case this emblem is
coupled with a resurgent skeleton of a man whom a little winged Genius, with
53 Op. til., p. 56.
51 Cf. P. of M., i. pp. 222, 223, where
descent of the Holy Spirit as a dove in
the baptism in Jordan is compared. The
doves on the gold chalice from Mycenae
(Schliemann, p. 237, Fig. 246) and those
on Nestor's Cup (II., xi. 632-635) must be
regarded as signs of consecration. The
birds brought down by the sound of the
lyre and ritual incantation on the double-
axes of the Hagia Triada sarcophagus
appear to be ravens. See P. of M., i.
pp. 440, 441, and Fig. 317.
55 In Homer, where the dead are also
likened to bats {Od., xxiv. 5), their clamour
is also said to resemble that of birds—KAayy^
vsKvosv . . . oicdvwv 8>s (Od., xi. 605, 633).
The soul of Aristeas is said when he died
to have flown out of his mouth in the shape
of a raven (Plin, H.N., vii. 174). See S.
Wide, Ath. Mitth., xxvi., 1901, pp. 153-155.
56 E.g. Furtwangler, Antike Gemmen,
PI. XXIX. 48, PI. XXII. 12; and cf.
Otto Waser, art. ' PsycheJ in Roseher's
Lexikon, p. 3235.