DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.811#0514
THE ATTITUDE OF ADORATION 461
As is frequently the case with bronze figurines of this class, the hair,
which presented exceptional difficulties in the casting, is somewhat summarily
rendered by means of two curling locks in front, one of which falls down to
the left shoulder, and two behind knotted together above. Otherwise the
head has a bald appearance. The loin-clothing with a flap, of the medium
size, covering the buttocks, and with no drapery in front,1 is of a kind
usual in the transitional M. M, III-L. M. I epoch. The belt shows the end
of a strap hanging down over the right thigh.
The figure is that of a young man in the full vigour of his years and Attitude
strength, and with muscles and sinews well developed by athletic exercise, tion.
At the same time his ribs are prominently shown. The upper part of the
body is°thrown back in the characteristic manner, and the upraised left arm
rests against the forehead in the attitude of adoration common in figures of this
votive kind. Adorant bronzes, sometimes female, of this class are frequent
(see Suppl. PI. XXXIX). Several were found in the Cave Sanctuary of
Psychro—one of them remarkable for the long drapery in front,2 a feature
which recurs in the case of another example in the British Museum.3 This
figurine shares with the well-known 'fat man' from Tylissos4 the peculiarity
of wearing a belt of commodious proportions—which shows, as already noted,
that elderly men allowed themselves this latitude. Sometimes, as in a figure
from Gournia,5 the right arm is only raised to the level of the breast. In
the case of a bronze statuette found near Phaestos and now in the Leiden
Museum6 of a youth wearing a flat brimmed hat, both the forearms are Youth in
raised with strong muscular action, so that the hands, which are broken off, haL
would have been in front of the face (Fig. 322).
- One and all, these bronze figures may be reasonably regarded as intended
to be representations of their individual owners in the act of adoration, and as
fashioned with the special object of placing themselves under the guardianship
of the divinity to whom they were offered.7 The inscribed clay figure from
1 In some bronze votive figurines appar- Arch. Inst., vol. xxx (1915), p. 65 seqq.). The
ently of a slightly earlier class the drapery 'apron' here is double. The subject of the
is long in front. See P. of M., i, p. 681. Minoan loin-clothing is there carefully treated
1 See Suppl. PI. XXXIX. by Dr. Van Hoorn. The figure is much
3 Cf. F. N. Pryce,/". H. S., xli (1921), p. 86 oxidized. In its present state, without the
seqq., and PI. I. See Suppl. PI. XXXIX. lower part of the legs, it is 14 cm. high.
4 Hatzidakis, Ti)A«r<ros Mivmiicj. See above, ' The leaden statuette found by Tsountas
p. 449, Fig. 313. in a tholos tomb at Kampos is rather that of a
5 Hawes, Gournia, PI. XI, B. 21. pugilist. He wears some kind of quilted
6 Published by Dr. G. Van Hoorn, Eine headpiece but no weapon, and the atti-
minoische Bronze in Leiden {Jahrb. d. k. tude of the arms is very characteristic of a
As is frequently the case with bronze figurines of this class, the hair,
which presented exceptional difficulties in the casting, is somewhat summarily
rendered by means of two curling locks in front, one of which falls down to
the left shoulder, and two behind knotted together above. Otherwise the
head has a bald appearance. The loin-clothing with a flap, of the medium
size, covering the buttocks, and with no drapery in front,1 is of a kind
usual in the transitional M. M, III-L. M. I epoch. The belt shows the end
of a strap hanging down over the right thigh.
The figure is that of a young man in the full vigour of his years and Attitude
strength, and with muscles and sinews well developed by athletic exercise, tion.
At the same time his ribs are prominently shown. The upper part of the
body is°thrown back in the characteristic manner, and the upraised left arm
rests against the forehead in the attitude of adoration common in figures of this
votive kind. Adorant bronzes, sometimes female, of this class are frequent
(see Suppl. PI. XXXIX). Several were found in the Cave Sanctuary of
Psychro—one of them remarkable for the long drapery in front,2 a feature
which recurs in the case of another example in the British Museum.3 This
figurine shares with the well-known 'fat man' from Tylissos4 the peculiarity
of wearing a belt of commodious proportions—which shows, as already noted,
that elderly men allowed themselves this latitude. Sometimes, as in a figure
from Gournia,5 the right arm is only raised to the level of the breast. In
the case of a bronze statuette found near Phaestos and now in the Leiden
Museum6 of a youth wearing a flat brimmed hat, both the forearms are Youth in
raised with strong muscular action, so that the hands, which are broken off, haL
would have been in front of the face (Fig. 322).
- One and all, these bronze figures may be reasonably regarded as intended
to be representations of their individual owners in the act of adoration, and as
fashioned with the special object of placing themselves under the guardianship
of the divinity to whom they were offered.7 The inscribed clay figure from
1 In some bronze votive figurines appar- Arch. Inst., vol. xxx (1915), p. 65 seqq.). The
ently of a slightly earlier class the drapery 'apron' here is double. The subject of the
is long in front. See P. of M., i, p. 681. Minoan loin-clothing is there carefully treated
1 See Suppl. PI. XXXIX. by Dr. Van Hoorn. The figure is much
3 Cf. F. N. Pryce,/". H. S., xli (1921), p. 86 oxidized. In its present state, without the
seqq., and PI. I. See Suppl. PI. XXXIX. lower part of the legs, it is 14 cm. high.
4 Hatzidakis, Ti)A«r<ros Mivmiicj. See above, ' The leaden statuette found by Tsountas
p. 449, Fig. 313. in a tholos tomb at Kampos is rather that of a
5 Hawes, Gournia, PI. XI, B. 21. pugilist. He wears some kind of quilted
6 Published by Dr. G. Van Hoorn, Eine headpiece but no weapon, and the atti-
minoische Bronze in Leiden {Jahrb. d. k. tude of the arms is very characteristic of a