DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.811#0191
152
YOUNG COUPLE REUNITED IN DEATH
Young
couple
reunited
in Death
Placed as they are here in connexion with their pupal forms, it is difficult
to explain them otherwise than as an allusion to the resurgence of the
human spirit after death. It can hardly be doubted, moreover, that they
apply to the two youthful figures
who appear beside them on the
ring, and must be taken to be
symbolic of their reanimation
with new life.
The youth, with long Minoan
locks, standing behind the God-
dess, raises the lower part of his
right arm, while the short-skirted
damsel who faces him with her
back to the trunk, shows her
surprise at the meeting by hold-
ing up both hands.1 Here it will
be noticed that the gesture
language is altogether in keeping
with that of the lady spectators
shown in the ' Miniature Fres- Fig. 103. Athena infusing Life into Clay
coes'. Taken in connexion with Figure moulded by Prometheus on Sarcophagus
.... i in Capitoline Museum.
the emblems of resurgence, the
natural significance of the scene strikes the eye.2 We see here, reunited by
the life-giving power of the Goddess and symbolized by the chrysalises and
butterflies, a young couple whom Death had parted. The meeting indeed
may, in view of the scene of initiation depicted below, be rather interpreted
as the permanent reunion of a wedded pair in the Land of the Blest than
an attempt like that of Orpheus to rescue his Eurydice from the Shades, or
than the all too brief respite granted to Protesilaos.3 But the dramatic
1 This gesture seems to be a universal primi-
tive sign of surprise. As such, it is figured
among the Neapolitan gestures in A. de Jorio,
Mimica degli Aniichi, 6-v., p. 333, and PI. 5,
where agirl stands in precisely thesame attitude.
■ Dr. Martin Nilsson, indeed (The Minoan-
Mycenaean Religion, p. 553), finds it difficult
to accept this symbolic value of the butterflies
and chrysalises so early as the Minoan Age.
But the symbolic side of Minoan religion was
well marked. The Double Axe appears as an
indication of the chief divinity, the sacred 'eye '
and ' ear' in the background of ceremonial
scenes on signets imply an all-seeing and all-
hearing presence. Settled doves are emblematic
of spiritual possession. The sepulchral cell of
the' Tomb of the Double Axes', actually cut out
in the shape of the sacred weapon, supplies an
example of religious symbolism which may be
strictly compared with the cruciform shape of
many Christian Churches.
3 Cf. The Ring of Nestor, pp. 64, 65.
YOUNG COUPLE REUNITED IN DEATH
Young
couple
reunited
in Death
Placed as they are here in connexion with their pupal forms, it is difficult
to explain them otherwise than as an allusion to the resurgence of the
human spirit after death. It can hardly be doubted, moreover, that they
apply to the two youthful figures
who appear beside them on the
ring, and must be taken to be
symbolic of their reanimation
with new life.
The youth, with long Minoan
locks, standing behind the God-
dess, raises the lower part of his
right arm, while the short-skirted
damsel who faces him with her
back to the trunk, shows her
surprise at the meeting by hold-
ing up both hands.1 Here it will
be noticed that the gesture
language is altogether in keeping
with that of the lady spectators
shown in the ' Miniature Fres- Fig. 103. Athena infusing Life into Clay
coes'. Taken in connexion with Figure moulded by Prometheus on Sarcophagus
.... i in Capitoline Museum.
the emblems of resurgence, the
natural significance of the scene strikes the eye.2 We see here, reunited by
the life-giving power of the Goddess and symbolized by the chrysalises and
butterflies, a young couple whom Death had parted. The meeting indeed
may, in view of the scene of initiation depicted below, be rather interpreted
as the permanent reunion of a wedded pair in the Land of the Blest than
an attempt like that of Orpheus to rescue his Eurydice from the Shades, or
than the all too brief respite granted to Protesilaos.3 But the dramatic
1 This gesture seems to be a universal primi-
tive sign of surprise. As such, it is figured
among the Neapolitan gestures in A. de Jorio,
Mimica degli Aniichi, 6-v., p. 333, and PI. 5,
where agirl stands in precisely thesame attitude.
■ Dr. Martin Nilsson, indeed (The Minoan-
Mycenaean Religion, p. 553), finds it difficult
to accept this symbolic value of the butterflies
and chrysalises so early as the Minoan Age.
But the symbolic side of Minoan religion was
well marked. The Double Axe appears as an
indication of the chief divinity, the sacred 'eye '
and ' ear' in the background of ceremonial
scenes on signets imply an all-seeing and all-
hearing presence. Settled doves are emblematic
of spiritual possession. The sepulchral cell of
the' Tomb of the Double Axes', actually cut out
in the shape of the sacred weapon, supplies an
example of religious symbolism which may be
strictly compared with the cruciform shape of
many Christian Churches.
3 Cf. The Ring of Nestor, pp. 64, 65.