DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.811#0364
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RELIGIOUS ASPECT OF MINOAN SHIELD
8-shaped
shield as
religious
emblem.
'Baetylic'
function.
Com-
parison
with
ancilia.
' Stepped Porch' in the West Quarter of the Palace, though only the lower
half of it is preserved, is of special interest because it points to the original
design of the marching warriors having been set above the spiral frieze,
whereas, in the case of the ' Shield Fresco' the shields themselves were, as
it were, hung across it. On another clay sealing from the ' Treasury'
referred to, the greater part of one of the warriors is preserved holding
a spear, and with a peaked and crested helmet on his head (Fig. 205).*
Religious Aspect of the Minoan Shield.
Of the 8-shaped shield as a religious emblem in Minoan Art we have
already seen an example on the ' Votive pinax' from Mycenae, where the
shield is held by a divinity whose female sex is shown by the white limbs.2
A similar descending figure appears, too, in a reserved field above, on the
gold signet-ring from Mycenae, depicting the seated Goddess. A parallel
with the later Palladium3 has been, not unnaturally, drawn from these
figures, and the traditional relation of Athena with the Libyan Goddess
Neith, as worshipped by the Auseans,4 dwelling about Lake Tritonis, has
suggested another interesting correspondence.5
For, as has been already observed,6 the 8-shaped shield already
appears—together with her chisel-edged arrows—as the badge of Neith on
the earliest dynastic monuments of Egypt. So, too, in certain representa-
tions of a religious class on signet-rings, the Minoan shield of this class
seems to perform a baetylic function as a vehicle of divine possession. In
two cases female figures are seen prone on such shields as if in an ecstatic
trance.7
The Roman ancilia, in which we may recognize a religious survival of the
Minoan shields 8 wholly translated into metal (compare Fig. 206, a and 6),s
1 A. E., Knossos, Report, 1902, p. 77, Fig.
41 {B. S. A., viii). On a clay seal-impression
from Hagia Triada two warriors appear with
similar shields (Doro Levi, Crelule di Hagia
• Triada, &°c. / Annuario, cVr.,MuL., 1929, p. 58,
■ Fig. 132). The design is summarily executed,
like rough Etruscan work. Cf. too Forsdyke,
Mavro Spelio (£. S. A., xxviii), PL XIX, vii,
B.5.
2 See above, p. 135, and Fig. 88.
3 E. Gardner, Palladia from Mycenae
IJ. H. S., xiii, 1893), p. 21 seqq.
4 Herodotus ii. 28, 59, 83, 169, 170, 175.
On the identification of the Ausean Goddess
with Neith see, especially, Oric Bates, The
Eastern Libyans, p. 203 seqq.
5 See P. of M., i, p. 50 seqq.
6 See especially P. Newberry, Proc. Soc.
Bibl. A?xh., 1906, pp. 72, 73, who compares
the shield on the tablet of Aha (Mena) with
the Minoan. For the stela of King Mer-
Neith where the shield of Neith also recurs, see
Petrie, R. Tombs of First Dyn., 1, frontispiece.
7 See above, pp. 140, 141, and Fig. 91.
8 See P. ofM., ii, Pt. I, pp. 52,53, and A. E.,
Myc. Tree and Pillar Cult, p. 82, & c. (/. H. S-,
xxi, p. 180, &c).
9 This representation is taken from a de-
RELIGIOUS ASPECT OF MINOAN SHIELD
8-shaped
shield as
religious
emblem.
'Baetylic'
function.
Com-
parison
with
ancilia.
' Stepped Porch' in the West Quarter of the Palace, though only the lower
half of it is preserved, is of special interest because it points to the original
design of the marching warriors having been set above the spiral frieze,
whereas, in the case of the ' Shield Fresco' the shields themselves were, as
it were, hung across it. On another clay sealing from the ' Treasury'
referred to, the greater part of one of the warriors is preserved holding
a spear, and with a peaked and crested helmet on his head (Fig. 205).*
Religious Aspect of the Minoan Shield.
Of the 8-shaped shield as a religious emblem in Minoan Art we have
already seen an example on the ' Votive pinax' from Mycenae, where the
shield is held by a divinity whose female sex is shown by the white limbs.2
A similar descending figure appears, too, in a reserved field above, on the
gold signet-ring from Mycenae, depicting the seated Goddess. A parallel
with the later Palladium3 has been, not unnaturally, drawn from these
figures, and the traditional relation of Athena with the Libyan Goddess
Neith, as worshipped by the Auseans,4 dwelling about Lake Tritonis, has
suggested another interesting correspondence.5
For, as has been already observed,6 the 8-shaped shield already
appears—together with her chisel-edged arrows—as the badge of Neith on
the earliest dynastic monuments of Egypt. So, too, in certain representa-
tions of a religious class on signet-rings, the Minoan shield of this class
seems to perform a baetylic function as a vehicle of divine possession. In
two cases female figures are seen prone on such shields as if in an ecstatic
trance.7
The Roman ancilia, in which we may recognize a religious survival of the
Minoan shields 8 wholly translated into metal (compare Fig. 206, a and 6),s
1 A. E., Knossos, Report, 1902, p. 77, Fig.
41 {B. S. A., viii). On a clay seal-impression
from Hagia Triada two warriors appear with
similar shields (Doro Levi, Crelule di Hagia
• Triada, &°c. / Annuario, cVr.,MuL., 1929, p. 58,
■ Fig. 132). The design is summarily executed,
like rough Etruscan work. Cf. too Forsdyke,
Mavro Spelio (£. S. A., xxviii), PL XIX, vii,
B.5.
2 See above, p. 135, and Fig. 88.
3 E. Gardner, Palladia from Mycenae
IJ. H. S., xiii, 1893), p. 21 seqq.
4 Herodotus ii. 28, 59, 83, 169, 170, 175.
On the identification of the Ausean Goddess
with Neith see, especially, Oric Bates, The
Eastern Libyans, p. 203 seqq.
5 See P. of M., i, p. 50 seqq.
6 See especially P. Newberry, Proc. Soc.
Bibl. A?xh., 1906, pp. 72, 73, who compares
the shield on the tablet of Aha (Mena) with
the Minoan. For the stela of King Mer-
Neith where the shield of Neith also recurs, see
Petrie, R. Tombs of First Dyn., 1, frontispiece.
7 See above, pp. 140, 141, and Fig. 91.
8 See P. ofM., ii, Pt. I, pp. 52,53, and A. E.,
Myc. Tree and Pillar Cult, p. 82, & c. (/. H. S-,
xxi, p. 180, &c).
9 This representation is taken from a de-