DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.810#0061
438 'HOUSE OF FRESCOES': INSCRIBED LIBATION TABLE
Votive
stone
' ladle'
and in-
scribed
libation
table.
Recur-
ring ritual
formula
and lion's
head sign.
Of the ritual character of the vessels with the Double-Axe motive found
in Room H there can be no reasonable doubt. This religious element in
the remains was supplemented by the discovery in the adjoining space, D, of
a ' Votive Ladle' of grey limestone (Fig. 256, c) resembling those found
within the peak sanctuary of Juktas
and the inscribed specimen from Trul-
los.1 Near this there also came to light
a more important relic in the shape of
a large part of a Libation Table, in finely
banded limestone, Fiof. 250, A,bearinoon its
two remaining faces an inscription in the
Linear Script A - (Fig. 256, d) . Eighteen
signs are here shown, with marks of
division into several groups.3 The small
' feline head', No. 9, is of special interest,
as it may refer to the Minoan Lion _ n„ „ T *%.__
' Fig. 25o. Transitional Light on Dark
Goddess.4 Fragment. Room H, 'House of Fres-
This conclusion greatly gains in C0ES ■
probability from the fact that the
sign-group of four characters preceding this corresponds with a recurring
formula fj A A J I that has been shown to mark a series of ritual objects,
connected in two cases at least with important Minoan sanctuaries.5 It is
seen on the Libation Table from the Psychro Cave as well as on another,
and on part of a steatite cup—doubtless as a mark of consecration—from
1 P. of M., i, pp. 623-5 and Figs- 461> 4G2-
2 Signs nos. 4, 6, 7, 9, and the form of the
penultimate ' hand' sign show that the series
belongs to this earlier linear class (cf. Table,
ibid., i, p. 642, Fig. 476).
3 There was also possibly a dot, indicative
of such division, after sign 13. This sign is
imperfectly preserved, but may have been
no. 12 b of the Table cited.
4 The facing lion's head, or mask, occurs
already as a hieroglyphic character. A speci-
men with a fleur-de-lis crest is given under
No. 74 in my Scripta Minoa, i, clearly of an
ideographic nature. Since then I have noted
its occurrence, without the crest, as an ordinary
hieroglyphic sign on seal-stones, in one case
repeated four times and filling a whole side of
a bead-seal. It also, as shown in P. of M.,
i, pp. 673, 674, and Fig. 492, is reproduced in
successive degenerations on a class of ' talis-
manic' gems. It appears in the ordinary
signary of the Linear Class A (see ibid.,
i, p. 643; Comparative Table of Signs of the
Hieroglyphic and Linear Script). In the Linear
Class B it appears to be wanting.
* P. of M., i, p. 629 seqq. The last sign of
the group (see Comparative Table, ibid., p. 642,
Fig. 470) appears in a reversed position as on
the cup fragment from Palaikastro (ibid., p. 631,
Fig. 409). This character seems to be confined
to the Linear Class A.
Votive
stone
' ladle'
and in-
scribed
libation
table.
Recur-
ring ritual
formula
and lion's
head sign.
Of the ritual character of the vessels with the Double-Axe motive found
in Room H there can be no reasonable doubt. This religious element in
the remains was supplemented by the discovery in the adjoining space, D, of
a ' Votive Ladle' of grey limestone (Fig. 256, c) resembling those found
within the peak sanctuary of Juktas
and the inscribed specimen from Trul-
los.1 Near this there also came to light
a more important relic in the shape of
a large part of a Libation Table, in finely
banded limestone, Fiof. 250, A,bearinoon its
two remaining faces an inscription in the
Linear Script A - (Fig. 256, d) . Eighteen
signs are here shown, with marks of
division into several groups.3 The small
' feline head', No. 9, is of special interest,
as it may refer to the Minoan Lion _ n„ „ T *%.__
' Fig. 25o. Transitional Light on Dark
Goddess.4 Fragment. Room H, 'House of Fres-
This conclusion greatly gains in C0ES ■
probability from the fact that the
sign-group of four characters preceding this corresponds with a recurring
formula fj A A J I that has been shown to mark a series of ritual objects,
connected in two cases at least with important Minoan sanctuaries.5 It is
seen on the Libation Table from the Psychro Cave as well as on another,
and on part of a steatite cup—doubtless as a mark of consecration—from
1 P. of M., i, pp. 623-5 and Figs- 461> 4G2-
2 Signs nos. 4, 6, 7, 9, and the form of the
penultimate ' hand' sign show that the series
belongs to this earlier linear class (cf. Table,
ibid., i, p. 642, Fig. 476).
3 There was also possibly a dot, indicative
of such division, after sign 13. This sign is
imperfectly preserved, but may have been
no. 12 b of the Table cited.
4 The facing lion's head, or mask, occurs
already as a hieroglyphic character. A speci-
men with a fleur-de-lis crest is given under
No. 74 in my Scripta Minoa, i, clearly of an
ideographic nature. Since then I have noted
its occurrence, without the crest, as an ordinary
hieroglyphic sign on seal-stones, in one case
repeated four times and filling a whole side of
a bead-seal. It also, as shown in P. of M.,
i, pp. 673, 674, and Fig. 492, is reproduced in
successive degenerations on a class of ' talis-
manic' gems. It appears in the ordinary
signary of the Linear Class A (see ibid.,
i, p. 643; Comparative Table of Signs of the
Hieroglyphic and Linear Script). In the Linear
Class B it appears to be wanting.
* P. of M., i, p. 629 seqq. The last sign of
the group (see Comparative Table, ibid., p. 642,
Fig. 470) appears in a reversed position as on
the cup fragment from Palaikastro (ibid., p. 631,
Fig. 409). This character seems to be confined
to the Linear Class A.