DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.811#0445
392
SLABS FOR PAVEMENT GAMES
The
Cupped
Table of
Mallia.
examples from 10 to 39. Sometimes there is a central cup, in other cases
it is absent. In the Knossian specimen we see two double holes, and at
times there is a hole contained in a side projection.
But of all the objects of this class the most complete and finely executed
specimen is that brought to
light by the French explorers
at Mallia. It formed a block
by itself in the form of a thick
disk of hard limestone 90 cen-
timetres in diameter and 36 cm.
thick. Round its circumference
were 34 cups, one larger than
the others, on a kind of pro-
jecting ear (see Figs. 263, and
264 b, p. 396), while in the
centre was a larger bowl 15 cm.
wide and 8-5 cm. deep.
As Monsieur Fernand
Chapouthier has pointed out1
in his exhaustive account of the
Mallia table, it derives special
interest from the position in
which it,was found, near the South-East corner of the Central Palace Court.
It was set on a small terrace, bordering a broad stepway on the North leading
from the Court to the upper story, and behind it and in symmetrical relation
with it was a low stone bench, while, opening on the terrace from the South,
was a small one-columned Portico (see plan, Fig. 264 a).2 Under such circum-
stances, from its permanent and prominent position, it was quite natural for
him to assign to this Cupped Table a religious significance as a ' Table of
Offerings',3 stress being laid on the central bowl, analogous to the clay
' Libation Table' set into the pavement of the early Sacelhim at Phaestos,4
where the only cavity was that in the middle. M. Chapouthier further com-
Fig. 262. Cupped'Slab from Roo.m i of Chief-
tain's Residence, Knossos.
1 The "ry was made by
Messieir.- \ Robert Flaceliere in
1926. (Seo-1 ~e CorrespondanceHelle'nique
1926, Chron., p. 576.) It has been since
admirably illustrated anddescribed by Monsieur
Fernand Chapouthier in Bull, de Corr. Hell.,
Palais de Mallia. Fig. 2G4 b is reproduced from
the photographic representation, p. 8, Fig. 6.
2 Reproduced from Chapouthier, op. tit.,
P- 5. I*'ig. 3.
3 Op. cit., pp. 15, 16.
4 L. Pernier, Mon. Ant, pp. 407-10, and
1928, pp. 1-32 : Une table a offrandes au PI. XXXIV.
SLABS FOR PAVEMENT GAMES
The
Cupped
Table of
Mallia.
examples from 10 to 39. Sometimes there is a central cup, in other cases
it is absent. In the Knossian specimen we see two double holes, and at
times there is a hole contained in a side projection.
But of all the objects of this class the most complete and finely executed
specimen is that brought to
light by the French explorers
at Mallia. It formed a block
by itself in the form of a thick
disk of hard limestone 90 cen-
timetres in diameter and 36 cm.
thick. Round its circumference
were 34 cups, one larger than
the others, on a kind of pro-
jecting ear (see Figs. 263, and
264 b, p. 396), while in the
centre was a larger bowl 15 cm.
wide and 8-5 cm. deep.
As Monsieur Fernand
Chapouthier has pointed out1
in his exhaustive account of the
Mallia table, it derives special
interest from the position in
which it,was found, near the South-East corner of the Central Palace Court.
It was set on a small terrace, bordering a broad stepway on the North leading
from the Court to the upper story, and behind it and in symmetrical relation
with it was a low stone bench, while, opening on the terrace from the South,
was a small one-columned Portico (see plan, Fig. 264 a).2 Under such circum-
stances, from its permanent and prominent position, it was quite natural for
him to assign to this Cupped Table a religious significance as a ' Table of
Offerings',3 stress being laid on the central bowl, analogous to the clay
' Libation Table' set into the pavement of the early Sacelhim at Phaestos,4
where the only cavity was that in the middle. M. Chapouthier further com-
Fig. 262. Cupped'Slab from Roo.m i of Chief-
tain's Residence, Knossos.
1 The "ry was made by
Messieir.- \ Robert Flaceliere in
1926. (Seo-1 ~e CorrespondanceHelle'nique
1926, Chron., p. 576.) It has been since
admirably illustrated anddescribed by Monsieur
Fernand Chapouthier in Bull, de Corr. Hell.,
Palais de Mallia. Fig. 2G4 b is reproduced from
the photographic representation, p. 8, Fig. 6.
2 Reproduced from Chapouthier, op. tit.,
P- 5. I*'ig. 3.
3 Op. cit., pp. 15, 16.
4 L. Pernier, Mon. Ant, pp. 407-10, and
1928, pp. 1-32 : Une table a offrandes au PI. XXXIV.