DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.809#0072
48 IMPULSE FROM THE SOUTH : EARLY NILOTIC
Cult
parallels.
Neith
and Dik-
tynna, &c.
Early
Nilotic
bow.
his chant to this jingling music (Fig. 22). The sistrum here is of primi-
tive form with a single bar in contrast to the dynastic Egyptian examples
with three or four.1 The later form occurs as a sign, possibly ideographic,
on tablets of Class A.
The stone libation table, forming part of the baetylic altar, from the
Psychro Cave, the traditional refuge of the Cretan Rhea and the birthplace
of the native Zeus, finds a remarkable parallel, of a later date it is true, from
Cyrenaica.1 Here too we see a central pillar, somewhat conical, upon which,
further supported by legs at its corners, rests an offering slab with a recipient
above. The cult of the Minoan Goddess, with which at any rate the Psychro
Libation Table and other kindred objects must be connected, finds its most
Fig. 23. Cretan, Proto-Nilotic, and Libyan Bows and Arrows, a, b, Pre dynastic
Egyptian ; c, Chisel-edged Egyptian Arrow-head, secured by Bitumen ; d, Flint Arrow-
head, Sahara; e, Cretan Archer (M.M. la);/, Neith Symbol : Bows in Sheath; g, h,
The Same Symbol as Libyan Tattoo-mark.
natural associations, as has been already shown, in the Anatolian worship
of a similar Virgin Mother. Yet on the Libyan side, again, there
may be recognized in the cult of the national Goddess Neith not only
general community of divine nature but actual identity as regards some
important attributes. She was not only a Virgin-Mother, Goddess of
Vegetation, but the armed Maiden, whose special symbols, the bow and arrows
and their case, recall a prominent form of the Minoan Goddess, perpetuated
in the Diktynna and Britomartis of later days. The chief priest of Sais,
' the Dwelling of Neith ', was the ' Great One of the Bow'. So we see the
Minoan Goddess depicted as the huntress and find votive arrow plumes in
the Central Shrine of the Knossian Palace.3 The bow of Neith, as may
be gathered from her symbol (Fig. 23, f), which represents two bows in
figure wears. L. Savignoni (// Vaso di Hagia ed.), vol. i, p. 497 seqq.
Triada: Mon. Ant., xiii (1903), pp. 124, 125) 2 See my Myc. Tree and Pillar Cult, pp. 17,
regards both 'priest' and singing women as 18, andy. H.S., xxi (1901), pp.,115, ri6, and
Libyan. Fig. 9.
1 See Wilkinson, Ancient Egyptians (1878 s P. of M., i, pp. 548, 549 and Fig. 399, a:
Cult
parallels.
Neith
and Dik-
tynna, &c.
Early
Nilotic
bow.
his chant to this jingling music (Fig. 22). The sistrum here is of primi-
tive form with a single bar in contrast to the dynastic Egyptian examples
with three or four.1 The later form occurs as a sign, possibly ideographic,
on tablets of Class A.
The stone libation table, forming part of the baetylic altar, from the
Psychro Cave, the traditional refuge of the Cretan Rhea and the birthplace
of the native Zeus, finds a remarkable parallel, of a later date it is true, from
Cyrenaica.1 Here too we see a central pillar, somewhat conical, upon which,
further supported by legs at its corners, rests an offering slab with a recipient
above. The cult of the Minoan Goddess, with which at any rate the Psychro
Libation Table and other kindred objects must be connected, finds its most
Fig. 23. Cretan, Proto-Nilotic, and Libyan Bows and Arrows, a, b, Pre dynastic
Egyptian ; c, Chisel-edged Egyptian Arrow-head, secured by Bitumen ; d, Flint Arrow-
head, Sahara; e, Cretan Archer (M.M. la);/, Neith Symbol : Bows in Sheath; g, h,
The Same Symbol as Libyan Tattoo-mark.
natural associations, as has been already shown, in the Anatolian worship
of a similar Virgin Mother. Yet on the Libyan side, again, there
may be recognized in the cult of the national Goddess Neith not only
general community of divine nature but actual identity as regards some
important attributes. She was not only a Virgin-Mother, Goddess of
Vegetation, but the armed Maiden, whose special symbols, the bow and arrows
and their case, recall a prominent form of the Minoan Goddess, perpetuated
in the Diktynna and Britomartis of later days. The chief priest of Sais,
' the Dwelling of Neith ', was the ' Great One of the Bow'. So we see the
Minoan Goddess depicted as the huntress and find votive arrow plumes in
the Central Shrine of the Knossian Palace.3 The bow of Neith, as may
be gathered from her symbol (Fig. 23, f), which represents two bows in
figure wears. L. Savignoni (// Vaso di Hagia ed.), vol. i, p. 497 seqq.
Triada: Mon. Ant., xiii (1903), pp. 124, 125) 2 See my Myc. Tree and Pillar Cult, pp. 17,
regards both 'priest' and singing women as 18, andy. H.S., xxi (1901), pp.,115, ri6, and
Libyan. Fig. 9.
1 See Wilkinson, Ancient Egyptians (1878 s P. of M., i, pp. 548, 549 and Fig. 399, a: