DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.810#0437
8o8 DEPOSIT OF SEAL-IMPRESSIONS WITH MINOAN RHEA
The painted stucco fragment showing part of the entablature in the
miniature style, found under a block of the stylobate, warrants us in any
case in believing that the facade of a small shrine erected on the Palace
borders at the time of the great rebuilding would not have essentially
differed in its details from the little temple already illustrated in Fig. 371,
p. 597, above.
Open The evidence before us certainly points to the central division as
behind having contained the real 'holy of holies'. The two wings would have
columnar been open, that to the North bordering a small elongated area between the
stylobate and the earlier facade, on the pavement of which were found the
fragments of the clay seal-impressions already mentioned. The Southern
wing, on the other hand, bordered a square open area about 2 metres in
depth and breadth, on the left side of which, with its back against the
descending steps of the entrance passage, was a stone bench, facing, on the
other side of the area, the nook representing the lower part of the Cella, in
which sacred objects may well have been displayed. These would thus have
been in full view of persons seated on the bench opposite. The little area
itself may in fact be regarded as a kind of fore-hall of the Shrine.
Deposit Of the character of the divinity in whose honour this little columnar
irnpres- shrine was erected the numerous remains of broken seals, all representing
sionswith tne sarne religious scene, here found, convey some definite information.
Mmoan .
Rhea. The fragments lay about 70 cm. from the surface, beneath a deposit of burnt
wood. They were mainly concentrated on the South-East corner of the
area behind the North wing of the facade, but others were scattered about
within a range of some feet, and one was found in the basement immediately
West. They were impressed by the same signet, and though no single
example of a perfect impression was found, it proved possible to com-
plete one by another and by means of overlapping pieces to restore the
complete design as reproduced in Fig. 528.' The central figure on the
peak is clearly the Minoan Mother Goddess, here, as elsewhere, shown with
her lion supporters. The peak itself may stand for that of her holy moun-
tain, Juktas, and the pillar sanctuary behind her possibly represents, in the
abbreviated fashion usual with seal-engravers, her actual Palace shrine.
On its roof and in front of its columns are placed the 'Sacral Horns'.
Other fragments of seal-impressions found near, executed in the same
style, belonged to variant versions of a similar scene. In one case the lions
stand on the ground on each, side of the rocky peak.
1 Cf. B.S.A., 1901, p. 29, Fig. 9. This was drawn for me by means of the overlapping
fragments by Monsieur E. Gillieron, pere.
The painted stucco fragment showing part of the entablature in the
miniature style, found under a block of the stylobate, warrants us in any
case in believing that the facade of a small shrine erected on the Palace
borders at the time of the great rebuilding would not have essentially
differed in its details from the little temple already illustrated in Fig. 371,
p. 597, above.
Open The evidence before us certainly points to the central division as
behind having contained the real 'holy of holies'. The two wings would have
columnar been open, that to the North bordering a small elongated area between the
stylobate and the earlier facade, on the pavement of which were found the
fragments of the clay seal-impressions already mentioned. The Southern
wing, on the other hand, bordered a square open area about 2 metres in
depth and breadth, on the left side of which, with its back against the
descending steps of the entrance passage, was a stone bench, facing, on the
other side of the area, the nook representing the lower part of the Cella, in
which sacred objects may well have been displayed. These would thus have
been in full view of persons seated on the bench opposite. The little area
itself may in fact be regarded as a kind of fore-hall of the Shrine.
Deposit Of the character of the divinity in whose honour this little columnar
irnpres- shrine was erected the numerous remains of broken seals, all representing
sionswith tne sarne religious scene, here found, convey some definite information.
Mmoan .
Rhea. The fragments lay about 70 cm. from the surface, beneath a deposit of burnt
wood. They were mainly concentrated on the South-East corner of the
area behind the North wing of the facade, but others were scattered about
within a range of some feet, and one was found in the basement immediately
West. They were impressed by the same signet, and though no single
example of a perfect impression was found, it proved possible to com-
plete one by another and by means of overlapping pieces to restore the
complete design as reproduced in Fig. 528.' The central figure on the
peak is clearly the Minoan Mother Goddess, here, as elsewhere, shown with
her lion supporters. The peak itself may stand for that of her holy moun-
tain, Juktas, and the pillar sanctuary behind her possibly represents, in the
abbreviated fashion usual with seal-engravers, her actual Palace shrine.
On its roof and in front of its columns are placed the 'Sacral Horns'.
Other fragments of seal-impressions found near, executed in the same
style, belonged to variant versions of a similar scene. In one case the lions
stand on the ground on each, side of the rocky peak.
1 Cf. B.S.A., 1901, p. 29, Fig. 9. This was drawn for me by means of the overlapping
fragments by Monsieur E. Gillieron, pere.