DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.811#0182
MOURNING FOR MINOAN ADONIS 143
Here, too, the scene—the arrangement of which is reversed—divides
itself into two separate episodes. The first of these on the right shows an
almost exact conformity with that which occupies the centre and left of the
field in the other case. A male attendant is pulling down a branch of the Similar
sacred fruit-tree which in this case stands in its little enclosure with a pillar refresh-
within it. The Goddess, beyond, in an attitude that according to primitive meddof
analogy may represent hunger,1 seems to be here waiting for the fruit that
shall inspire her ecstatic trances—or, indeed, she may actually have par-
taken of the sacramental refreshment and be in the act of starting off in an
orgiastic dance similar to that of the companion figure. Two curving lines
indicate the boundary of high heaven above and a leafy spray is seen to the
left.
The remaining part of the field to the left is occupied by a separate Separate
scene, curiously parallel with that on the Vapheio ring but divergent in mourning
detail. Here the female figure, repeating, in this view, the Goddess on the »t grave
right, leans forward over the balustrade of a little enclosure resembling the with little
pillar shrine on the opposite side of the field, in an attitude suggestive of deep
mourning. The enclosure itself is divided into two compartments, in the first
of which—hung, as was usual in shrines, with beaded festoons—appears below
a short stone pillar. In the second compartment is a miniature but clearly
defined Minoan shield of the same class as that on which the prostrate
figure is seen on the Vapheio signet. May we not here trace a variant form
of the same religious idea, in which, however, the departed God—a Minoan
Adonis—was of more tender years ? Already we have seen the Goddess Asso-
associated not so much with an adult warrior divinity, as with an armed boy- Goddess
God. An ivory figurine, to be described below, shows him wearing a tiara p?',1 boy"
similar to that of the 'Boston Goddess', and, on a Late Minoan ring-type,
the child stands on his mother's lap, in a scene that curiously anticipated
the Adoration of the Magi.2 In the little pillar within the enclosure of Fig. 93
we must certainly recognize the tombstone of the child-God.3 This, indeed,
brings us near to Knossos, where the traditional tomb of the Cretan Zeus
was pointed out, down to late Byzantine times, on the peak of Juktas.4
In these and kindred compositions we seem to stand in a more intimate Religious
connexion with the later World than with the intervening Classical Age. nearer
The Religion itself stands closer to that which, from the days of Constantine totlle.
a Christian
1 See Myc. Tree and Pillar Cult, p. 79 [177], cently acquired by me from a tomb at Thisbe.
n. 2. 3 P.ofM., ii, Pt. I, p. 278.
2 See below, p. 471, Fig. 328. It was re- " See P. of M., i, p. 153.
Here, too, the scene—the arrangement of which is reversed—divides
itself into two separate episodes. The first of these on the right shows an
almost exact conformity with that which occupies the centre and left of the
field in the other case. A male attendant is pulling down a branch of the Similar
sacred fruit-tree which in this case stands in its little enclosure with a pillar refresh-
within it. The Goddess, beyond, in an attitude that according to primitive meddof
analogy may represent hunger,1 seems to be here waiting for the fruit that
shall inspire her ecstatic trances—or, indeed, she may actually have par-
taken of the sacramental refreshment and be in the act of starting off in an
orgiastic dance similar to that of the companion figure. Two curving lines
indicate the boundary of high heaven above and a leafy spray is seen to the
left.
The remaining part of the field to the left is occupied by a separate Separate
scene, curiously parallel with that on the Vapheio ring but divergent in mourning
detail. Here the female figure, repeating, in this view, the Goddess on the »t grave
right, leans forward over the balustrade of a little enclosure resembling the with little
pillar shrine on the opposite side of the field, in an attitude suggestive of deep
mourning. The enclosure itself is divided into two compartments, in the first
of which—hung, as was usual in shrines, with beaded festoons—appears below
a short stone pillar. In the second compartment is a miniature but clearly
defined Minoan shield of the same class as that on which the prostrate
figure is seen on the Vapheio signet. May we not here trace a variant form
of the same religious idea, in which, however, the departed God—a Minoan
Adonis—was of more tender years ? Already we have seen the Goddess Asso-
associated not so much with an adult warrior divinity, as with an armed boy- Goddess
God. An ivory figurine, to be described below, shows him wearing a tiara p?',1 boy"
similar to that of the 'Boston Goddess', and, on a Late Minoan ring-type,
the child stands on his mother's lap, in a scene that curiously anticipated
the Adoration of the Magi.2 In the little pillar within the enclosure of Fig. 93
we must certainly recognize the tombstone of the child-God.3 This, indeed,
brings us near to Knossos, where the traditional tomb of the Cretan Zeus
was pointed out, down to late Byzantine times, on the peak of Juktas.4
In these and kindred compositions we seem to stand in a more intimate Religious
connexion with the later World than with the intervening Classical Age. nearer
The Religion itself stands closer to that which, from the days of Constantine totlle.
a Christian
1 See Myc. Tree and Pillar Cult, p. 79 [177], cently acquired by me from a tomb at Thisbe.
n. 2. 3 P.ofM., ii, Pt. I, p. 278.
2 See below, p. 471, Fig. 328. It was re- " See P. of M., i, p. 153.