DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.811#0232
EARLY PLASTIC TRADITION OF BULL-GRAPPLING 189
to be in the act of throwing the lasso, which itself is not seen, but the bull's off
hind leg is drawn slightly back—much as we see it on the Cup—as if it were
already in its coils.
Early Date of Plastic Prototypes of Bull-grappling Scenes on
Palace Walls.
It is clear that some of the designs thus excerpted and epitomized by Early ex-
the gem-engraver's Art, such as the seal-types referred to from Zakro, go of scenes
back at least to the closing phase of M. M. III. It follows from this that °fTfa/°~
the plastic compositions from which, ex hypothesis they were taken go back sia at
to the same or even an earlier epoch. Evidence, indeed, is actually forth-
coming that such works were in existence by the close of the Second
Middle Minoan Period. Remains of painted reliefs of bulls, accompanied
by fragments of human figures, were found with the ' Spiral Fresco',
derived from an earlier ' East Hall' of Knossos.1 Fragments of the throat
and part of the jaw of the painted plaster head of a bull, somewhat under
life-size, but otherwise greatly resembling, even in the folds of the dewlap,
the relief from the Northern Entrance Passage, came to light in the ' House
of the Sacrificed Oxen' in a mature M. M. Ill deposit,2 and itself may well
belong to the earlier phase, a, of that Period. These similarities of style
and detail have, indeed, a special interest as tending to show that the same
incident of the tatirokathapsia had been illustrated on a smaller scale at the
South-East Corner of the Palace.
With regard to the dating of the bastions supporting the Porticoes on M.M. in
either side of the Northern Entrance Passage we have, as noticed above, painted
some very sure data. They form an integral part of a group of structures that fellefsM
include the North-West Portico and entrance system and the Lustral Basin Entrance
and 'Initiatory Area' beyond, while both the deposits found in the latter
region and the character of the incised signs on the blocks are of M. M. Ill a
date. The Northern Entrance Passage itself, lying like the Domestic
Quarter in a cutting in the slope, was favourably disposed for preserving
elements of continuity, and there seems, on the face of it, to be no objection
to the view that the painted plaster reliefs on the back walls of the Porticoes
may date back to the earlier phase of the Third Middle Minoan Period.3
1 P. of M., i, pp. 375, 376, and Fig. 273, 3 This view seems preferable to that given
and cf. Vol. ii, Pt. I, p. 355. in Vol. ii, Pt. I, p. 356, where I had referred
2 Ibid., ii, Pt. I, p. 310. The remains of these works to the post-seismic M. M. Ill
wall-paintings as a rule go back to an earlier phase, as seen in the Restored Palace,
date than the associated deposit from floors.
Passage.
to be in the act of throwing the lasso, which itself is not seen, but the bull's off
hind leg is drawn slightly back—much as we see it on the Cup—as if it were
already in its coils.
Early Date of Plastic Prototypes of Bull-grappling Scenes on
Palace Walls.
It is clear that some of the designs thus excerpted and epitomized by Early ex-
the gem-engraver's Art, such as the seal-types referred to from Zakro, go of scenes
back at least to the closing phase of M. M. III. It follows from this that °fTfa/°~
the plastic compositions from which, ex hypothesis they were taken go back sia at
to the same or even an earlier epoch. Evidence, indeed, is actually forth-
coming that such works were in existence by the close of the Second
Middle Minoan Period. Remains of painted reliefs of bulls, accompanied
by fragments of human figures, were found with the ' Spiral Fresco',
derived from an earlier ' East Hall' of Knossos.1 Fragments of the throat
and part of the jaw of the painted plaster head of a bull, somewhat under
life-size, but otherwise greatly resembling, even in the folds of the dewlap,
the relief from the Northern Entrance Passage, came to light in the ' House
of the Sacrificed Oxen' in a mature M. M. Ill deposit,2 and itself may well
belong to the earlier phase, a, of that Period. These similarities of style
and detail have, indeed, a special interest as tending to show that the same
incident of the tatirokathapsia had been illustrated on a smaller scale at the
South-East Corner of the Palace.
With regard to the dating of the bastions supporting the Porticoes on M.M. in
either side of the Northern Entrance Passage we have, as noticed above, painted
some very sure data. They form an integral part of a group of structures that fellefsM
include the North-West Portico and entrance system and the Lustral Basin Entrance
and 'Initiatory Area' beyond, while both the deposits found in the latter
region and the character of the incised signs on the blocks are of M. M. Ill a
date. The Northern Entrance Passage itself, lying like the Domestic
Quarter in a cutting in the slope, was favourably disposed for preserving
elements of continuity, and there seems, on the face of it, to be no objection
to the view that the painted plaster reliefs on the back walls of the Porticoes
may date back to the earlier phase of the Third Middle Minoan Period.3
1 P. of M., i, pp. 375, 376, and Fig. 273, 3 This view seems preferable to that given
and cf. Vol. ii, Pt. I, p. 355. in Vol. ii, Pt. I, p. 356, where I had referred
2 Ibid., ii, Pt. I, p. 310. The remains of these works to the post-seismic M. M. Ill
wall-paintings as a rule go back to an earlier phase, as seen in the Restored Palace,
date than the associated deposit from floors.
Passage.