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)

TUMBLING PERFORMANCES AT DANCES 77

potter turns a wheel.1 The stringed instrument is still known as the Xvpa,
and it is usual for the player of this instrument to be given a stool in the
middle of the circle of dancers. This modern ' lyre ' is very simple as com-
pared with the Minoan forms (Fig. 44 at end of Section), having only three
strings instead of seven or eight. These dances are not strictly speaking AH
' ring-dances'—such as the terra-cotta model described above from Palaikastro dances'.
seems to suggest, or such as may be witnessed still in the Slavonic' Kolo'
or ' wheel-dance'—but, rather, 'chain-dances' such as the early Greek, in
which the leader and Ills companion take a very prominent part. In some
cases in the West of the Island the dancers do not actually touch hands but
are linked by means of kerchiefs.

In the n-qSiKTos x°P°* common on the Northern side of Mount Ida where n,,cW6s-
the dancing is of a rougher and more primitive kind than in the towns, with
comic touches, the saltatory character of the performance presents a curious
conformity with Homeric tradition. The two men who lead the chain of Tumbling

1 1 1 • 1 /• i-i - • •!• r • perform-

dancers leap about before them with surprising agility, often presenting ances as
acrobatic feats of great skill. The strength of some of the leaders is at times Homerlc
very great, and it is not an uncommon experience to see one of these spring
up and set one foot on the palm of the second in the file, on which he is
raised aloft and, after turning a somersault in the air, lands on his feet.
These certainly recall the two Kv^ia-rvriipe of the Iliad? who accompanied and,
in a way, led the ring-dance with their tumbling-feats and gyrations. The
Cretans still retain their ancient fame s for tumbling as well as dancing. On
Minoan monuments their acrobatic skill receives an extraordinary illustration
from the scenes of the bull-ring to be described below.

It is this 'leaping dance' of which we already find a record in the 'Leaping
Homeric Hymn * where Apollo of the Dolphin leads his Cretan crew towards Cretan
his Pythian sanctuary, who stamp the ground to the strains of his kithara Apollo,
and sing native paeans in his honour/' The Muse still ' sets sweet songs in

1 //. xviii. 599 seqq.: s Athenaeus, v, p. 181 b reus /iiv oiv Kprr
Ot S' ore fj.ky 6pt£ao-Kov hri(TTtxp.ivoio-l 7roSecr(r(f o-\v "7 re opx^cris eVt^oi/xos Kol to Kvftio-rav.
'Peta/iaX, as ore rts rpoxoi/ apy-evov iv Tra\ap.rimv Pashley, Travels in Crete, i, p. 245, gives some
'Efo/teros Kcpa/iem Trei/jijo-erai, aixe Siyo-Lv' modem instances of the skill of the Cretan

2 77. xviii. 603 seqq.: tumblers.

X0XA09 8' ipepoevTo. xopov Trepkuraff o/uAos * Hymn to Apollo, 516 seqq. (see P. of M.t

T€pit6p.evoL' Sota) Se KvfiLcrrrjTripe Kar avrovs 11, Pt. II, p. 841).

ILoXirq'S ££dp)(Oi'T£S eSlvtvov Kara peao-ovs. 5 Ibid. Oi 8e prjO-o-ovrtt; tirovro
It is to be observed that in the ancient dance Kpijres irpoi llv9i> /cat IrjTrairjov auSov,

as here described, the ' tumblers' perform in o!oi re KpTjrwv rraiijows, oVt re MoSa-a

the middle of the ring of dancers. In the iv mrjOio-o-w Wt]Kt Ota peXiyripw aoth-qv.

Cretan 7rij8iKros the leading is more direct.