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)

78 THE 'DANCING PLACE' OF ARIADNE AT KNOSSOS

'Siganos'
and
choral
accom-
pani-
ment.

The
' Mati-
nadas'.

The

' Dancing
Ground '
of Ari-
adne.

Its prob-
able
position
and

character
as illus-
trated by
fresco.

the bosoms ' of the Cretan dancers, but the longer chaunts usually accompany

a slower form of the dance known as the o-iyavos. These choral songs may

in part represent a survival of the viropxrjfiara which Lucian speaks of as

specially Cretan lays, sung to the lyre in the sacred dance of Delos.1 Such

a song—often of impromptu composition, allusive, topical, with capping of

rhymes and clever transitions of subject—is known to the modern Cretans

as na.Tiva.8a. The word itself is borrowed from the Venetian matinata,2 since

they often begin after the morning Celebration, especially after marriages.

At times, too, the festivities that they accompany begin after Vespers or, at

Easter, after Midnight Mass, and owing to the gentle motion of this particular

form of dance both the lays and the dancing are often kept up-well into the

small hours of the morning.

It is clear that, whether we take Aphrodite Ariadne herself or the

Sacred Grove and Tomb at Amathus or the 'Crane' dance and horned

altar of Delos, they are but reflections of the earlier aspects of the cult

of the Minoan Goddess such as we find it in Knossos. Nay more, in the

walled enclosure of the Miniature Fresco and the ceremonial dance

enacted within it may we not .recognize a living presentment of the actual

'Dancing Ground of Ariadne, wrought by Daedalos .in 'broad Knossos"'

according to the Homeric tradition ? In other words, have we not here

the famous x°P°s which Hephaestos chose as a model for that upon Achilles'

shield ?—

r& iKt\ov olov ttot (vl Kva>a-o> evpelrj

4ai8a\os i']crKT]<rei' KaWinXoKapw 'ApidSvrj,

The walled enclosure with the dancing women, of which we have here
a fragmentary glimpse, must surely represent some space artificially prepared
for- such a purpose.

That this space was not simply one of the Palace Courts is clear, from
the fact that it was not bordered by buildings but by an olive grove rising
on a slope, in the shade of which the crowds of spectators stood or sat. We
may infer perhaps, from the fresco composition that, whatever artificial
element may have existed in the ' Dancing Ground', it was largely supple-

1 Lucian -n-epl opxjja-ews c. 16, says of the
Delian sacred }(opos : to. yoiV toIs ^opot? ypa-
<p6jj.tvo. TQVTols ao-para v7rop)(7Jpo.Ta £ko.\€ito kol
ip7re-n-Xifjo-TO tSiv tolovtwv t] \vpa.

' Pashley, Travels in Crete, i, p. 246 seqq.,
who has preserved a song of this kind,
strangely proposes to derive ' po.liv6.lo.' (as he
writes it, though the Cretans take over the

Venetian t) from opd&i, a gathering. But the
word itself is unquestionably the Venetian
'matinata'. Bearing in mind the large Venetian
leaven in Crete it is reasonable to suppose that
these compositions themselves are partly due
to Venetian influence. The influence of love
epics like Erotokritos suggests a reflection
of Tasso.