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 3): The great transitional age in the northern and eastern sections of the Palace (London, 1930)

76

SECRET DANCE' OF CRETAN GIRLS

preserved in an exceptional degree—the opening dance at weddings is
performed by girls alone, the bride leading. Here, too, at times, the girls
dance what is known as the /jvo-tlkos yopos or ' secret dance' in a house by

Fig. 42. Peasants dancing Kastrixos : Central Figure playing Lyra : Knossos District.

Secret
dance
of the
women.

Mazy
course of
dances.

themselves, played to by a woman on a violin while they sing their special
songs (ao-naTo), and on these occasions men are rigorously excluded. It
would seem, indeed, that a male intruder might share the fate experienced
by Pentheus at the hands of Agave, when he broke in on the secluded orgies
of the Theban women amidst the wilds of Kithaeron.

In all these cases the train of dancers moves from left to right—against
the sun or ' widershins ,J—and follows a sinuous, meandering course, recalling
the Delian ' Crane ' dance. It curiously illustrates Homer's description of the
dancers on the Shield of Achilles, turnine backwards and forwards as a

Never, as in Melos. from right to left with the sun.