DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.809#0276
MARINE ASPECT OF MINOAN GODDESS
249
fW,'^
the appearance of winged figures. The first, which occurs in line 1 of face a,
appears as the end of a group beginning with the ' wheel' sign and followed
by numerical marks = 60. On another tablet where these two signs
occur the male figure is immediately preceded by the wheel. Next,
on face a, is the forepart of a ship with three
decimal marks, and uncertain units succeeded
(line 2) by ffi, derived from a double axe, with
seven units, and the female figure followed by
numerical signs = 18. This figure with its
flounced skirts, advancing to the right, derives
great interest from the object it holds forth.
One end of this is slightly damaged, but there
can be hardly any doubt that the bar here
held horizontally, terminating in a curved line,
is intended for an anchor, though on another
Hagia Triada tablet (Fig. 146),1where a flounced
figure of this type carries an analogous object
on her shoulder, the terminal cross-piece is
straighten To the Homeric Greeks the true
anchor seems to have been unknown, big stones
(eiivaty being made use of in its place. But it
looks as if a simple form of metal anchor,
in which, however, there is as yet no trace of a fluke, was already known
to the Minoans.
In this flounced emblematic figure, compounded with the double axe,
holding, as it seems, an anchor and coupled with the ship-ideograph, may we
not recognize the symbolization of the Minpan Goddess as Mistress of the
Sea ? There is, indeed, sufficient evidence that there was a marine side to
her spiritual being. The floor of her shrines was paved with sea-shells and
water-worn pebbles, flying-fish amidst sea-spray are found amongst the
adornment of their walls, and rock-work, again, and sea creatures appear
among the reliefs on her sacred vessels. But the clearest proof is afforded
by the gold signet-ring found by Mr. Seager in a L. M. I burial at Mochlos
(Fig. 147).2 Here, in a bark one end of which terminates in what appears
Goddess
appar-
ently
holding
Anchor.
Fig. 14G. Tablet of Linear
Class A from Hagia Triada
with Winged Personage hold-
ing Similar Object.
Marine
Aspect of
Minoan
Goddess.
Advent of
Goddess
in Sacred
Bark on
Mochlos
Ring.
1 No. 40 of my series.
2 By Mr. Seager's kind permission I was
able to give an account of this interesting
signet type to the Third International Con-
gress for the History of Religions (Oxford,
1908, vol. ii, pp. 195, 196 and Figure). He
published it himself in Explorations in the
Isle of Mochlos (1912), pp. 89-91 and Fig. 52.
(The ring has since been stolen from the
Candia Museum.) It is there suggested that
249
fW,'^
the appearance of winged figures. The first, which occurs in line 1 of face a,
appears as the end of a group beginning with the ' wheel' sign and followed
by numerical marks = 60. On another tablet where these two signs
occur the male figure is immediately preceded by the wheel. Next,
on face a, is the forepart of a ship with three
decimal marks, and uncertain units succeeded
(line 2) by ffi, derived from a double axe, with
seven units, and the female figure followed by
numerical signs = 18. This figure with its
flounced skirts, advancing to the right, derives
great interest from the object it holds forth.
One end of this is slightly damaged, but there
can be hardly any doubt that the bar here
held horizontally, terminating in a curved line,
is intended for an anchor, though on another
Hagia Triada tablet (Fig. 146),1where a flounced
figure of this type carries an analogous object
on her shoulder, the terminal cross-piece is
straighten To the Homeric Greeks the true
anchor seems to have been unknown, big stones
(eiivaty being made use of in its place. But it
looks as if a simple form of metal anchor,
in which, however, there is as yet no trace of a fluke, was already known
to the Minoans.
In this flounced emblematic figure, compounded with the double axe,
holding, as it seems, an anchor and coupled with the ship-ideograph, may we
not recognize the symbolization of the Minpan Goddess as Mistress of the
Sea ? There is, indeed, sufficient evidence that there was a marine side to
her spiritual being. The floor of her shrines was paved with sea-shells and
water-worn pebbles, flying-fish amidst sea-spray are found amongst the
adornment of their walls, and rock-work, again, and sea creatures appear
among the reliefs on her sacred vessels. But the clearest proof is afforded
by the gold signet-ring found by Mr. Seager in a L. M. I burial at Mochlos
(Fig. 147).2 Here, in a bark one end of which terminates in what appears
Goddess
appar-
ently
holding
Anchor.
Fig. 14G. Tablet of Linear
Class A from Hagia Triada
with Winged Personage hold-
ing Similar Object.
Marine
Aspect of
Minoan
Goddess.
Advent of
Goddess
in Sacred
Bark on
Mochlos
Ring.
1 No. 40 of my series.
2 By Mr. Seager's kind permission I was
able to give an account of this interesting
signet type to the Third International Con-
gress for the History of Religions (Oxford,
1908, vol. ii, pp. 195, 196 and Figure). He
published it himself in Explorations in the
Isle of Mochlos (1912), pp. 89-91 and Fig. 52.
(The ring has since been stolen from the
Candia Museum.) It is there suggested that