DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.811#0488
MINIATURE MODEL ARENA
435
but bulls executed in the round, suggest that we have to do with an actual
miniature model of a Minoan arena in which the painted stucco representa-
tion of the shrine, marked by the sacred symbol of the Goddess, may have
taken its place, as on the fresco, beside the Grand Stands. A miniature
copy in bone of the capital of a ' theatral' column actually occurred in another
part of the deposit.
Nor does the idea of such a miniature reproduction of the Minoan A minia
Corrida, and its accompaniments, stand alone. An instructive parallel on Mhi0an
more purely religious ground may, in fact, be seen in the remains of the comda.
' Terra-cotta Shrine' already described, with its windowed cell, its altar set
with sacral horns, the little clay imitations of the conch-shell trumpets that
summoned to devotions, and its doves with spotted wings perched on the
columns that they infused with celestial spirit.
The contemplation of such a model, complete in all its details, was, no Perhaps
doubt, edifying to the devout, and miniature reproductions of this kind f„^°^c.
may have themselves found a place in sanctuaries, like a ' presepe' in a tuary-
Church. In Southern Italy, at least, the making of these small models goes
far beyond this. The dramatic action itself is reproduced by mechanical
means; with a tap-tap-tap nails are hammered into the Cross, there is
a beating of rods, a creaking of concealed revolutions, and the sacred puppets
move their heads and limbs.1
That in the Minoan case actual motion and sound was imported into these
miniature circus models is highly improbable. But the scenic background
and the highly realistic figures of the acrobatic performers, suspended in the
air and reaching towards the coursing animals below, must have gone far to
produce a sufficiently realistic effect.
1 I once had an occasion to witness a small puppet-show of this religious kind at Naples.
Fig. 303. Sumerian Steatite Object in Form of a Boar : from Ur.
F f 2
435
but bulls executed in the round, suggest that we have to do with an actual
miniature model of a Minoan arena in which the painted stucco representa-
tion of the shrine, marked by the sacred symbol of the Goddess, may have
taken its place, as on the fresco, beside the Grand Stands. A miniature
copy in bone of the capital of a ' theatral' column actually occurred in another
part of the deposit.
Nor does the idea of such a miniature reproduction of the Minoan A minia
Corrida, and its accompaniments, stand alone. An instructive parallel on Mhi0an
more purely religious ground may, in fact, be seen in the remains of the comda.
' Terra-cotta Shrine' already described, with its windowed cell, its altar set
with sacral horns, the little clay imitations of the conch-shell trumpets that
summoned to devotions, and its doves with spotted wings perched on the
columns that they infused with celestial spirit.
The contemplation of such a model, complete in all its details, was, no Perhaps
doubt, edifying to the devout, and miniature reproductions of this kind f„^°^c.
may have themselves found a place in sanctuaries, like a ' presepe' in a tuary-
Church. In Southern Italy, at least, the making of these small models goes
far beyond this. The dramatic action itself is reproduced by mechanical
means; with a tap-tap-tap nails are hammered into the Cross, there is
a beating of rods, a creaking of concealed revolutions, and the sacred puppets
move their heads and limbs.1
That in the Minoan case actual motion and sound was imported into these
miniature circus models is highly improbable. But the scenic background
and the highly realistic figures of the acrobatic performers, suspended in the
air and reaching towards the coursing animals below, must have gone far to
produce a sufficiently realistic effect.
1 I once had an occasion to witness a small puppet-show of this religious kind at Naples.
Fig. 303. Sumerian Steatite Object in Form of a Boar : from Ur.
F f 2