DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.811#0578
ITS POSITION IN INMOST PORTICO 525
Classical times is quite possible. I have myself seen in a Macedonian
church an early medieval image of the Virgin and Child that had escaped
the fury of the iconoclast Emperors.
A female image of this size can hardly be other than the Minoan A cult
Goddess herself. As illustrating the religious side of this great Hall the Minoan
discovery, near the deposit containing the bronze locks, of remains of Sacral Goddess.
Horns,1 of exceptionally large dimensions, Fig. 367, is also of special interest,
whether or not they were actually placed before the giant ' Xoanon ' of the
divinity. In any case we may conclude that, even to a larger extent than
the ' Hall of Double Axes' or the ' Queen's Megaron' below—where the cult
element was certainly present—the great ' East Hall' combined something
of the character of a Temple. The exceptional dimensions of the Sacral
Horns found by it might, indeed, prepare us for this conclusion.
As to the position that the image occupied in the Hall some possible Large
indication may be supplied by the place where the bronze locks were found horns
just outside the Northern limit of the area. That it was placed within the near-
posterior covered section may be fairly assumed; on the other hand the position6
central column of the peristyle would have impeded a free view of it from ln Pos"
tenor
the other end of the Hall, if it had been placed in the middle space. That section
it stood nearer the North wall facing South along the length of this inner ° a '
part of the Hall accords best with the locality in which the bronze tresses
and adhering charcoal deposit lay. Assuming that a window opening existed
about the door opposite, the image would have been illumined with a good
Southern light.
In the mind's eye, at least, we may revive the impression of this giant
statue of the Minoan Goddess, towering above her worshippers in the body
of the portico, and standing out against the half gloom beyond with its varied
inlays, including, we may believe, cryscal eyeballs with the pupils darkly
limned below, its bright polychrome hues and the wealth of golden tresses
falling about its brows,—a radiant vision of divinity, as if descended from on
high.
1 These are of stucco faced with a light as restored, in the Candia Museum. The
ochre with a clay core, and have been set up, breadth is 1-30 metres, and the height 0-74.
Classical times is quite possible. I have myself seen in a Macedonian
church an early medieval image of the Virgin and Child that had escaped
the fury of the iconoclast Emperors.
A female image of this size can hardly be other than the Minoan A cult
Goddess herself. As illustrating the religious side of this great Hall the Minoan
discovery, near the deposit containing the bronze locks, of remains of Sacral Goddess.
Horns,1 of exceptionally large dimensions, Fig. 367, is also of special interest,
whether or not they were actually placed before the giant ' Xoanon ' of the
divinity. In any case we may conclude that, even to a larger extent than
the ' Hall of Double Axes' or the ' Queen's Megaron' below—where the cult
element was certainly present—the great ' East Hall' combined something
of the character of a Temple. The exceptional dimensions of the Sacral
Horns found by it might, indeed, prepare us for this conclusion.
As to the position that the image occupied in the Hall some possible Large
indication may be supplied by the place where the bronze locks were found horns
just outside the Northern limit of the area. That it was placed within the near-
posterior covered section may be fairly assumed; on the other hand the position6
central column of the peristyle would have impeded a free view of it from ln Pos"
tenor
the other end of the Hall, if it had been placed in the middle space. That section
it stood nearer the North wall facing South along the length of this inner ° a '
part of the Hall accords best with the locality in which the bronze tresses
and adhering charcoal deposit lay. Assuming that a window opening existed
about the door opposite, the image would have been illumined with a good
Southern light.
In the mind's eye, at least, we may revive the impression of this giant
statue of the Minoan Goddess, towering above her worshippers in the body
of the portico, and standing out against the half gloom beyond with its varied
inlays, including, we may believe, cryscal eyeballs with the pupils darkly
limned below, its bright polychrome hues and the wealth of golden tresses
falling about its brows,—a radiant vision of divinity, as if descended from on
high.
1 These are of stucco faced with a light as restored, in the Candia Museum. The
ochre with a clay core, and have been set up, breadth is 1-30 metres, and the height 0-74.