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https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7476#0066
5o DESIGNS ON STELAE: EGYPTO-MINOAN SCROLLS
associated relics, such as the gold double axes of the same scale, fit on to
a whole series of phenomena, showing that the Minoan religion had been
transported in ever)' detail to the Mainland side.
The Grave Stelae.
Minoan and ' Egypto-Minoan' Affinities of Designs.
The Grave Stelae repeat the same story as the relics found with the
interments.1 They seem to have been, for the
most part at least, sculptured by craftsmen whose
ordinary work was connected with the gold-
smith's art, and who—though skilful enough in
their reproduction of border patterns taken
directly from the ornamental designs—show a
great unevenness in their execution of figured
reliefs. The spiraliform motives here repre-
sented—apart from those belonging in a more
general way to the Cretan and Aegean class in
Fig. 38. Clay Seal-impres- its wider sense—specifically belong, as I have
sion from Harbour Town, i i j . . 1 • i . -i . , -r- .
Knossos elsewhere demonstrated in detail, to an Egypto-
Minoan' branch. Especially instructive in this
connexion is the pattern formed of eight C-scrolls linked within a circle
seen on Stela VI, which is exactly taken over from a Cretan type, of
M. M. Ill date, found on clay sealings both at Zakro and in the Harbour
Town of Knossos (Fig. 38).
A table showing Twelfth and Thirteenth Dynasty Egyptian examples
as seen on scarabs compared with others supplied by Minoan decorative
patterns is here reproduced,2 in Fig. 39, and is of particular value in its
bearing on similar designs that appear on the Mycenae stelae. An interesting
point in these comparisons is that, though taken over on to larger monumen-
tal art, and reproduced both in painting and sculpture, these patterns belong
in their original stage essentially to the field of seals. In conformity with
this, the Egyptian quatrefoil motive, borrowed in the case off from a sealing
on a Kahun papyrus, takes the oval outline adapted to the scarab shape.
1 The stelae were first separately treated
by W. Reichel, Die mykenischen Grabstelen,
in Eranos Vindobotiensis, p. 24 seqq. A
fresh examination of the material was under-
taken by Dr. Kurt Miiller in his Friihmykenische
Reliefs {Jahrbuch d. Arch. Inst., xxx; see
p. 286 seqq.). The whole material has since
been carefully collected and arranged by Mr.
W. A. Heurtley in B. S. A., xxv, p. T26seqq.,
and Plates XIX-XXI.
2 See P. of M., ii, Pt. I, pp. 199-202, and
Figs. 110 a and 110 b.
associated relics, such as the gold double axes of the same scale, fit on to
a whole series of phenomena, showing that the Minoan religion had been
transported in ever)' detail to the Mainland side.
The Grave Stelae.
Minoan and ' Egypto-Minoan' Affinities of Designs.
The Grave Stelae repeat the same story as the relics found with the
interments.1 They seem to have been, for the
most part at least, sculptured by craftsmen whose
ordinary work was connected with the gold-
smith's art, and who—though skilful enough in
their reproduction of border patterns taken
directly from the ornamental designs—show a
great unevenness in their execution of figured
reliefs. The spiraliform motives here repre-
sented—apart from those belonging in a more
general way to the Cretan and Aegean class in
Fig. 38. Clay Seal-impres- its wider sense—specifically belong, as I have
sion from Harbour Town, i i j . . 1 • i . -i . , -r- .
Knossos elsewhere demonstrated in detail, to an Egypto-
Minoan' branch. Especially instructive in this
connexion is the pattern formed of eight C-scrolls linked within a circle
seen on Stela VI, which is exactly taken over from a Cretan type, of
M. M. Ill date, found on clay sealings both at Zakro and in the Harbour
Town of Knossos (Fig. 38).
A table showing Twelfth and Thirteenth Dynasty Egyptian examples
as seen on scarabs compared with others supplied by Minoan decorative
patterns is here reproduced,2 in Fig. 39, and is of particular value in its
bearing on similar designs that appear on the Mycenae stelae. An interesting
point in these comparisons is that, though taken over on to larger monumen-
tal art, and reproduced both in painting and sculpture, these patterns belong
in their original stage essentially to the field of seals. In conformity with
this, the Egyptian quatrefoil motive, borrowed in the case off from a sealing
on a Kahun papyrus, takes the oval outline adapted to the scarab shape.
1 The stelae were first separately treated
by W. Reichel, Die mykenischen Grabstelen,
in Eranos Vindobotiensis, p. 24 seqq. A
fresh examination of the material was under-
taken by Dr. Kurt Miiller in his Friihmykenische
Reliefs {Jahrbuch d. Arch. Inst., xxx; see
p. 286 seqq.). The whole material has since
been carefully collected and arranged by Mr.
W. A. Heurtley in B. S. A., xxv, p. T26seqq.,
and Plates XIX-XXI.
2 See P. of M., ii, Pt. I, pp. 199-202, and
Figs. 110 a and 110 b.