DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1117#0059
tive fres-
coes,
20 MINOAN GODDESS AND CIRCUS SPORTS
place in some arena or 'ring' constructed for the purpose. Unfortunately
none of the remains of this class occurred under conditions that might enable
them to be even partially replaced—as in the case of the bull-reliefs of the
IUustra- Northern Entrance—on the actual walls to which they belonged. A portion
of the hind-quarters of a galloping bull, found still attached to the left
wall of the West Porch, was too incomplete to admit of any restoration.1
In the case, again, of the fragments, on a smaller scale, of the ' Taureador
Frescoes', found above the floor-level by the 'Court of the Stone Spout',
the upper story walls that they had once decorated were no longer in
existence. The same difficulty occurred with regard to the ' Miniature
Frescoes', belonging to what seems to have been a small corner shrine
situated at the angle of the Northern Entrance Passage on its West side
and of the Central Court, one of which, the ' Temple Fresco', has such
an intimate connexion with these circus sports. 1 he room above the
Throne has now been turned into a Museum-for these derelict wall-paintings.
Pillar Shrine of Goddess overlooking Bull-ring.
Pillar In view of a remarkable find to be described below, the Temple Fresco
Goddess itself acquires a new significance. The pillar shrine of the Goddess, as there
overlook- seen s ;s set in the middle of Grand Stands crowded with spectators of both
ing bull- ' _ r
ring. sexes, much as if it were the Royal Box of a Court Theatre. As to the charac-
ter of the show itself, moreover, we are sufficiently enlightened from two
sources. The ' Miniature' fragments from the ' Ramp House ' at Mycenae,
which exhibit groups of Minoan ladies seated in boxes, also include part of
a scene from the bull-ring. On the other hand, a small but valuable piece
of painted plaster in the best ' Miniature' style from the Ivory Deposit at
Knossos once more brings these circus performances into the most direct
connexion with the supreme Minoan divinity. Part of the neck and back of
a coursing bull is there seen in front of a columnar building, the entablature
of which presents alternative versions of the Sacred Double Axe symbol.3
It is also to be observed that the peculiar type of superposed pillar
that marks the grand stands flanking the Central Shrine of the ' Temple
Fresco' are used in the reliefs of Minoan ' rhytons '—like the Doric or Ionic
columns that represent temples in Greek vase paintings—as indications of
the religious sanction under which the sports were held. A bone capital of
one of these ' was found with the bull's head and leaping youths of the ' Ivor}7
1 The fragments showed several painted 3 P. of y]/., iii, p. 207, Fig. 141.
stucco surfaces superimposed. ' Ibid. p. 435 and cf. p. 64, n. 1.
2 Vol. iii, Coloured Plate XVI, opp. p. 47.
coes,
20 MINOAN GODDESS AND CIRCUS SPORTS
place in some arena or 'ring' constructed for the purpose. Unfortunately
none of the remains of this class occurred under conditions that might enable
them to be even partially replaced—as in the case of the bull-reliefs of the
IUustra- Northern Entrance—on the actual walls to which they belonged. A portion
of the hind-quarters of a galloping bull, found still attached to the left
wall of the West Porch, was too incomplete to admit of any restoration.1
In the case, again, of the fragments, on a smaller scale, of the ' Taureador
Frescoes', found above the floor-level by the 'Court of the Stone Spout',
the upper story walls that they had once decorated were no longer in
existence. The same difficulty occurred with regard to the ' Miniature
Frescoes', belonging to what seems to have been a small corner shrine
situated at the angle of the Northern Entrance Passage on its West side
and of the Central Court, one of which, the ' Temple Fresco', has such
an intimate connexion with these circus sports. 1 he room above the
Throne has now been turned into a Museum-for these derelict wall-paintings.
Pillar Shrine of Goddess overlooking Bull-ring.
Pillar In view of a remarkable find to be described below, the Temple Fresco
Goddess itself acquires a new significance. The pillar shrine of the Goddess, as there
overlook- seen s ;s set in the middle of Grand Stands crowded with spectators of both
ing bull- ' _ r
ring. sexes, much as if it were the Royal Box of a Court Theatre. As to the charac-
ter of the show itself, moreover, we are sufficiently enlightened from two
sources. The ' Miniature' fragments from the ' Ramp House ' at Mycenae,
which exhibit groups of Minoan ladies seated in boxes, also include part of
a scene from the bull-ring. On the other hand, a small but valuable piece
of painted plaster in the best ' Miniature' style from the Ivory Deposit at
Knossos once more brings these circus performances into the most direct
connexion with the supreme Minoan divinity. Part of the neck and back of
a coursing bull is there seen in front of a columnar building, the entablature
of which presents alternative versions of the Sacred Double Axe symbol.3
It is also to be observed that the peculiar type of superposed pillar
that marks the grand stands flanking the Central Shrine of the ' Temple
Fresco' are used in the reliefs of Minoan ' rhytons '—like the Doric or Ionic
columns that represent temples in Greek vase paintings—as indications of
the religious sanction under which the sports were held. A bone capital of
one of these ' was found with the bull's head and leaping youths of the ' Ivor}7
1 The fragments showed several painted 3 P. of y]/., iii, p. 207, Fig. 141.
stucco surfaces superimposed. ' Ibid. p. 435 and cf. p. 64, n. 1.
2 Vol. iii, Coloured Plate XVI, opp. p. 47.