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)

752 RELIEF SHOWING OFFERTORY FIGURES

Relief on
Knossian
' rhyton'.

In the bull-ring, as we shall see, female as well as male acrobats were
girt with the loin-
clothing of nar-
rower kind.

A further ex-
ample of this form
of attire applied
to processional fig-
ures is seen in
the fragment of a
steatite ' rhyton '
from the Southern
border of the
Palace shown in
Fig. 486,1 belong-
ing to the transi-
tional M.M.I 116-
L. M. I a style.
There here appear
two men, clearly
part of a larger
train, girt in the
older fashion, pro-
ceeding beneath
what seems to be
a hill sanctuary,
and holding out
offertory bowls,
possibly with both
hands. Their

bodies are well

Fig. 486. Relief of Offertory Figures and Sanctuary Wall, on
Fragment of Steatite ' Rhyton ', Knossos.

thrown back as if to supply a counterpoise to the supporting action of the
hands.

The construction here seen, with its wooden posts of the kind that
recurs in the Grand Stands of the Miniature Frescoes z and elsewhere,3 has
considerable interest. The ' sacral horns' between the posts, set above the

1 See A. E., Report, Knossos, 1903, pp. 129,
130, and Fig. 85.

2 See Vol. iii.

3 See P. of M.,
507-9 and 511.

i, p. 688 seqq. and Figs.