DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.811#0104
7o FRESCO OF DANCING LADY: 'QUEEN'S MEGARON'
Fresco of
dancing
lady in
' Queen's
Mega-
ion'.
to be a flute and raises the other—apparently holding another pipe—above
her head. Her hairy skirt might have been made of the skin of a victim, like
that—there showing a short tail—of the female votary who on the Hagia
Triada sarcophagus is pouring the blood of sacrifice into the vessel set
between the baetylic Double Axes.1 On a gold signet from the same tomb
a similar orgiastic figure receives the source of her inspiration in the fruit of
a sacred tree through the hands of her minister. The scene and the subject
in this case apparently had a funereal association.2 On the bezel of a gold
ring from the Phaestos cemetery another female votary dances before the
seated Goddess, who is backed by her baetylic pillar.3
The upper part of a female figure, about half the natural size, in painted
stucco found in the ' Queen's Megaron',4 here shown in the photographic
reproduction, Fig. 40, may also be taken to be that of a dancer thus individually
inspired with ecstatic motion. She is clad in a jacket of the ordinary type and
therefore cannot be regarded as a female taureador, since such wore only the
loin-clothing common to the male performers.5 Her hair, indeed, flies out on
each side of the neck, in a very similar manner, but in this case as an indica-
tion that she is whirling round in the dance. Her left arm is bent and her right
thrown forward in an attitude resembling some of the figures in the ' Sacred
Dance' before us. Her jacket, like those of the dancers there, is of saffron
colour, here bordered by blue and red, while across her neck appears the
upper line of a diaphanous chemise. From the occurrence of the remains of
this fresco in a small heap of stucco fragments near one of the dividing
pillars of this Hall,0 it is highly probable that it had filled one of its panels,
and in the coloured frontispiece of this Volume it will be seen restored
1 See P.ofM., i, p. 438 seqq. and Fig. 317. in an orgiastic state throwing himself on his
The male offertory figures wear similar skins.
2 See my Myc. Tree and Pillar Cult, p. 78
seqq. and Fig. 52 {J.H. S., 1901, p. 176 seqq.).
The scene on another gold signet from My-
cenae (op. cit., p. 79, Fig. 53, and see Fig. 91,
below) must be regarded as of a parallel
nature. The dancing figure referred to by
me, loc. cit., as the Goddess may possibly be
regarded as a votary possessed by her divinity.
3 L. Savignoni, Scavi e scoperte nella necro-
poli di Phaestos (Mon. Antichi, xiv, 1904,
p. 578, Fig. 51). The intaglio is worn, but
the figure to the left seems to me to be that of
the Goddess (marked by the pillar behind her)
in the usual side-squatting attitude of Minoan
women. It is described (Joe. cit.) as a man
knees, and about to embrace the baetylic
column. But the figure is clearly female, with
even excessive pectoral development.
4 See below, Coloured Plate XXV, facing
P- 37°-
5 See p. 212 seqq., and Fig. 144, and com-
pare P. of M., ii, Pt. I, pp. 34, 35 and
Suppl. PI. XIII.
6 In the original Report (Knossos Excava-
tions, 1902 ; B. S. A., xi) it was suggested that
the fresco had been derived from the North
Wall of the Megaron, but its revised location
is better and more consonant with the circum-
stances of its finding. See, on this, pp. 369-71
and Coloured Plate XXV.
Fresco of
dancing
lady in
' Queen's
Mega-
ion'.
to be a flute and raises the other—apparently holding another pipe—above
her head. Her hairy skirt might have been made of the skin of a victim, like
that—there showing a short tail—of the female votary who on the Hagia
Triada sarcophagus is pouring the blood of sacrifice into the vessel set
between the baetylic Double Axes.1 On a gold signet from the same tomb
a similar orgiastic figure receives the source of her inspiration in the fruit of
a sacred tree through the hands of her minister. The scene and the subject
in this case apparently had a funereal association.2 On the bezel of a gold
ring from the Phaestos cemetery another female votary dances before the
seated Goddess, who is backed by her baetylic pillar.3
The upper part of a female figure, about half the natural size, in painted
stucco found in the ' Queen's Megaron',4 here shown in the photographic
reproduction, Fig. 40, may also be taken to be that of a dancer thus individually
inspired with ecstatic motion. She is clad in a jacket of the ordinary type and
therefore cannot be regarded as a female taureador, since such wore only the
loin-clothing common to the male performers.5 Her hair, indeed, flies out on
each side of the neck, in a very similar manner, but in this case as an indica-
tion that she is whirling round in the dance. Her left arm is bent and her right
thrown forward in an attitude resembling some of the figures in the ' Sacred
Dance' before us. Her jacket, like those of the dancers there, is of saffron
colour, here bordered by blue and red, while across her neck appears the
upper line of a diaphanous chemise. From the occurrence of the remains of
this fresco in a small heap of stucco fragments near one of the dividing
pillars of this Hall,0 it is highly probable that it had filled one of its panels,
and in the coloured frontispiece of this Volume it will be seen restored
1 See P.ofM., i, p. 438 seqq. and Fig. 317. in an orgiastic state throwing himself on his
The male offertory figures wear similar skins.
2 See my Myc. Tree and Pillar Cult, p. 78
seqq. and Fig. 52 {J.H. S., 1901, p. 176 seqq.).
The scene on another gold signet from My-
cenae (op. cit., p. 79, Fig. 53, and see Fig. 91,
below) must be regarded as of a parallel
nature. The dancing figure referred to by
me, loc. cit., as the Goddess may possibly be
regarded as a votary possessed by her divinity.
3 L. Savignoni, Scavi e scoperte nella necro-
poli di Phaestos (Mon. Antichi, xiv, 1904,
p. 578, Fig. 51). The intaglio is worn, but
the figure to the left seems to me to be that of
the Goddess (marked by the pillar behind her)
in the usual side-squatting attitude of Minoan
women. It is described (Joe. cit.) as a man
knees, and about to embrace the baetylic
column. But the figure is clearly female, with
even excessive pectoral development.
4 See below, Coloured Plate XXV, facing
P- 37°-
5 See p. 212 seqq., and Fig. 144, and com-
pare P. of M., ii, Pt. I, pp. 34, 35 and
Suppl. PI. XIII.
6 In the original Report (Knossos Excava-
tions, 1902 ; B. S. A., xi) it was suggested that
the fresco had been derived from the North
Wall of the Megaron, but its revised location
is better and more consonant with the circum-
stances of its finding. See, on this, pp. 369-71
and Coloured Plate XXV.