Evans, Arthur J.: The Palace of Minos: a comparative account of the successive stages of the early Cretan civilization as illustred by the discoveries at Knossos (Band 2,2): Town houses in Knossos of the new era and restored West Palace Section (London, 1928)

TRIPLE GROUP OF DATE-PALMS AND DERIVATIVES 49;

One feature—which is common to all the types of the ' Sacral Leaf'
that appear on pottery—is its association with chains of dots or minute
disks. These, indeed, sometimes cover a large part of the field, but are
always arranged in rows, and are therefore to be distinguished from the
mere speckling such as has been shown to be a derivative from various
kinds of stoneware.

The explanation of these dotted festoons is to be sought in a quite

different direction. They repre-
sent, in fact, a simpler version of
the form of ornament taken over
from the strings of beads and
pendant jewels of the toilette
scenes dear to the Minoan wall-
painters, and of which a fuller
ceramic illustration is seen on
L. M. \b vases, such as Fig. 248,
p. 427, above.

Associa-
tion of
' Sacral
Leaf
with
beaded
festoons
derived
from
' Jewel '
frescoes.

Fig. 298. Group of Three Date-palm Trees
on M. M. II b Polychrome Vase at Knossos.

1 Three Palms' Motive.

Themost remarkableceramic M. M. II
type of the closing M. M. 11 phase paim
is the group of three date-palms srouP-
rising from slightly undulating ground seen on a stately two-handled jar from
the Loom-Weight Area already illustrated in the previous Volume of this work
(see, too, Figs. 298, 299).l An interesting feature here is the inflorescence,
springing up from the central stem—a local touch, since, in Northern Crete,2
at any rate, the dates hardly ripen. In the Carthaginian world, on the
other hand, where the date-palm fruited freely, this canting badge (0o?w£)
of the Phoenician race is consistently represented on the coinage with the
dates—its most important product—hanging down.

That this group with the central tree slightly higher than the other two,
which are somewhat inclined away from it (see sketch, Fig. 298), represents
a pictorial motive in vogue at that epoch, may be also gathered from

motive is supplied by a three-handled ala-
bastron from Grave 26 of the Kolonakion
(Keramopoullos, 'Apx- AcAtw, iii, 1917, p. 200,

F'g- M4. 3)-

1 P. of M., i, pp. 253-6 and Fig. 190.

2 On the coins of Priansos in Southern

Crete, where the climate is much less subject to
boreal blasts, the dates are seen hanging down
(cf. Svoronos, Numismaticjue de la Crete
anaenne, PI. XXVIII, 21 seqq.; B.M. Cat.,
Crete, PI. XVIII, 6-9).