DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.811#0008
viii THE PALACE OF MINOS, ETC.
seem to have served as inkstands. The remote antiquity of this type has
been demonstrated by the recent discovery of one in the form of a boar in a
very early stratum at Ur.
Among the ivories, the figurines of leaping youths, the remains of
which are here fully illustrated, may be said to excel all known works
of the kind in the Han and free action that they display. The remains of a
small relief of an ivory Sphinx in the Minoan style, part of a miniature
painting of a pillar shrine adorned with double axes, and two bronze axes
themselves of the diminutive cult type, made it strange that no figure of the
divinity itself should have occurred in the deposit. On the other hand, such
an ivory figure, seen by a competent archaeologist in private hands at Candia,
shortly afterwards emerged on the other side of the Atlantic as the ' Boston
Goddess'—divine sister of the Lady of Knossos,—holding out in this
case golden snakes. The opinion, shared by our foreman and others, that
this had been abstracted from the Ivory Deposit has certainly not lost
in credibility from a remarkable sequel. Also emanating from private
possession at Candia, but released after a further discreet interval of time,
an ivory figure of a boy-God made its appearance. Having been successful
in rescuing this from the midst of doubtful elements in a Parisian dealer's
hands, it has been possible to ascertain the fact that it not only answers to
the other in its exquisite naturalistic style and individuality of expression, but,
as shown standing on tiptoe and coifed with a high tiara, corresponds within
a millimetre or so in measurement. The two figures in fact form a single
group of the divine Child God saluting the Mother Goddess.1
An illustration of the Minoan worship of the Mother and Child had
been already supplied by the painted clay figurine of a later date found in a
tomb of the Mavro Spelio Cemetery at Knossos. It is supplemented by
a design on a gold signet-ring of the religious class recently found at Thisbe
and published here for the first time.2 On this we see the Holy Mother
seated with the Babe on her knee and approached with gifts by adorant
chieftains, remote predecessors of the Magi.
It will be seen that from the point of view of Comparative Religion this
evidence—like that supplied by the subjects on the ' Ring of Nestor '—is of
the highest interest.
Important as are the remains of the ' Domestic Quarter' and the
1 See the restored arrangement, p. 456, Fig. 318, below.
2 P. 471, Fig. 328
seem to have served as inkstands. The remote antiquity of this type has
been demonstrated by the recent discovery of one in the form of a boar in a
very early stratum at Ur.
Among the ivories, the figurines of leaping youths, the remains of
which are here fully illustrated, may be said to excel all known works
of the kind in the Han and free action that they display. The remains of a
small relief of an ivory Sphinx in the Minoan style, part of a miniature
painting of a pillar shrine adorned with double axes, and two bronze axes
themselves of the diminutive cult type, made it strange that no figure of the
divinity itself should have occurred in the deposit. On the other hand, such
an ivory figure, seen by a competent archaeologist in private hands at Candia,
shortly afterwards emerged on the other side of the Atlantic as the ' Boston
Goddess'—divine sister of the Lady of Knossos,—holding out in this
case golden snakes. The opinion, shared by our foreman and others, that
this had been abstracted from the Ivory Deposit has certainly not lost
in credibility from a remarkable sequel. Also emanating from private
possession at Candia, but released after a further discreet interval of time,
an ivory figure of a boy-God made its appearance. Having been successful
in rescuing this from the midst of doubtful elements in a Parisian dealer's
hands, it has been possible to ascertain the fact that it not only answers to
the other in its exquisite naturalistic style and individuality of expression, but,
as shown standing on tiptoe and coifed with a high tiara, corresponds within
a millimetre or so in measurement. The two figures in fact form a single
group of the divine Child God saluting the Mother Goddess.1
An illustration of the Minoan worship of the Mother and Child had
been already supplied by the painted clay figurine of a later date found in a
tomb of the Mavro Spelio Cemetery at Knossos. It is supplemented by
a design on a gold signet-ring of the religious class recently found at Thisbe
and published here for the first time.2 On this we see the Holy Mother
seated with the Babe on her knee and approached with gifts by adorant
chieftains, remote predecessors of the Magi.
It will be seen that from the point of view of Comparative Religion this
evidence—like that supplied by the subjects on the ' Ring of Nestor '—is of
the highest interest.
Important as are the remains of the ' Domestic Quarter' and the
1 See the restored arrangement, p. 456, Fig. 318, below.
2 P. 471, Fig. 328