DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.809#0369
342
REVIVAL OF OLD PALACE CULT
' AIA2-
KOYPAI'
ofMinoan
Dia.
Female
image of
primitive
type.
Shrine of
Double
Axes
revival
of old
Palace
cult.
group, the handmaidens in this case bearing poppy capsules to the Goddess
seated on a high stool.1 On the ' Ring of Nestor' they tend for her the lion
guardian of the Underworld (Fig. 194,/).2
The Minoan Dia was in fact associated with a youthful pair of Aido-Kovpai,
just as Zeus who succeeded to her position was attended by Ai6a-Kovpoi.s
The cult images of the Goddess and her attendants are of the fine
glazed ware of the period and their conical bases 4 are decorated with bands
and curves in the style of L. M. 111 b pottery. Very
different is another female figure of the group, which, from
its attitude, may originally have been placed on some
kind of seat. From its crude style and fabric, its incised
decoration with chalk inlay, and its half seated attitude
with the arms folded over the breasts, this figure has
a real claim to represent a primitive tradition, going
far back into Neolithic times. As such it has already
received illustration in the first volume of this work.5
It is typical of an epoch marked, it would seem, by the
coming to the fore of new and formerly down-trodden
elements in the Cretan population, bringing with them
a strange recrudescence in religious forms and ideas. A
striking example of this is supplied by the late Shrine found
in the Little Palace at Knossos with its grotesque fetishes
consisting of natural concretions.6 (See Fig. 198, p. 346.)
The contents of the Shrine of the Double Axes still
represent an unbroken insular tradition, and there is, as yet, no discernible
trace of Mainland intrusion. In a degenerate shape, indeed, we still see
before us the ritual objects of the old Palace cult, and new features, such
as the cylindrical bases of the images, may themselves be regarded
as the outgrowth of the bell-shaped skirts of the M. M. \ a figures.
Such composite images had at this epoch grown up in various parts of
Crete, but there is no evidence of any close parallels in Mycenaean
Fig. 195. Back
of Image (Fig. 193,
c) showing Snaky
Locks.
1 In this, as in other cases, there appears
in addition to the girl ministrants an adult
female companion who is more or less the
double of the divinity. On the ' Ring of
Nestor' the companion is seated opposite the
Goddess in one compartment while the two
children tend her sacred lion in another.
2 See A. E., Ring ofNestor, &*£., pp. 65, 66,
and Fig. 55.
3 lb., p. 14.
4 The cylinders are hollow, with small
round openings in their bottoms.
5 P. of M., i, p. 52, Fig. 14. Unfortunately,
this figure was afterwards stolen. Of the
female image (Fig. 193, b) abstracted at the
same time only the upper part was recovered.
c See, too, p. 520 below.
REVIVAL OF OLD PALACE CULT
' AIA2-
KOYPAI'
ofMinoan
Dia.
Female
image of
primitive
type.
Shrine of
Double
Axes
revival
of old
Palace
cult.
group, the handmaidens in this case bearing poppy capsules to the Goddess
seated on a high stool.1 On the ' Ring of Nestor' they tend for her the lion
guardian of the Underworld (Fig. 194,/).2
The Minoan Dia was in fact associated with a youthful pair of Aido-Kovpai,
just as Zeus who succeeded to her position was attended by Ai6a-Kovpoi.s
The cult images of the Goddess and her attendants are of the fine
glazed ware of the period and their conical bases 4 are decorated with bands
and curves in the style of L. M. 111 b pottery. Very
different is another female figure of the group, which, from
its attitude, may originally have been placed on some
kind of seat. From its crude style and fabric, its incised
decoration with chalk inlay, and its half seated attitude
with the arms folded over the breasts, this figure has
a real claim to represent a primitive tradition, going
far back into Neolithic times. As such it has already
received illustration in the first volume of this work.5
It is typical of an epoch marked, it would seem, by the
coming to the fore of new and formerly down-trodden
elements in the Cretan population, bringing with them
a strange recrudescence in religious forms and ideas. A
striking example of this is supplied by the late Shrine found
in the Little Palace at Knossos with its grotesque fetishes
consisting of natural concretions.6 (See Fig. 198, p. 346.)
The contents of the Shrine of the Double Axes still
represent an unbroken insular tradition, and there is, as yet, no discernible
trace of Mainland intrusion. In a degenerate shape, indeed, we still see
before us the ritual objects of the old Palace cult, and new features, such
as the cylindrical bases of the images, may themselves be regarded
as the outgrowth of the bell-shaped skirts of the M. M. \ a figures.
Such composite images had at this epoch grown up in various parts of
Crete, but there is no evidence of any close parallels in Mycenaean
Fig. 195. Back
of Image (Fig. 193,
c) showing Snaky
Locks.
1 In this, as in other cases, there appears
in addition to the girl ministrants an adult
female companion who is more or less the
double of the divinity. On the ' Ring of
Nestor' the companion is seated opposite the
Goddess in one compartment while the two
children tend her sacred lion in another.
2 See A. E., Ring ofNestor, &*£., pp. 65, 66,
and Fig. 55.
3 lb., p. 14.
4 The cylinders are hollow, with small
round openings in their bottoms.
5 P. of M., i, p. 52, Fig. 14. Unfortunately,
this figure was afterwards stolen. Of the
female image (Fig. 193, b) abstracted at the
same time only the upper part was recovered.
c See, too, p. 520 below.