DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1117#0302
256 KNOSSIAN SLAB WITH SPIRALIFORM RELIEFS
however, to pick out examples of the Mycenae group, such as that supplip 1
by the stela shown in Fig. 190, and connect them with some mysterious wav
of ' Northern ' influence. The principle already invoked, ' noscitur a sociis'
must again be applied in this case. . Every single pattern with which these
spirals, alike on the gold plates and Grave slelae, are associated is in
fact, of traditional Minoan derivation.
Discovery of Sculptured Slabs at Knossos with Similar Reliefs of
Interlocked Rows of Spirals.
At Knossos connected rows of interlocked spirals are already a charac-
teristic feature in M. M. Ill fresco decorations.1 On painted vases ao-ain
this type of ornament is frequent in the transitional M. M. Ill and L. M. I «
ceramic phase.2 A remarkable discovery made near the South-Western
angle of the Palace site has now supplied the evidence of a sculptured slab
with reliefs presenting the nearest existing parallel to the spiraliform panel
of the stela from Mycenae illustrated in Fig. 190.
The find, consisting of two fragments of a limestone slab, was made in
the unstratified filling of a well about 21 metres West of the North-West
corner of the 'Theatral Area',andthe slope above this makes it probable that,
like the small altar found some 12 metres from this in a Southerly direction,
the slab itself had been connected with some structure of the neighbouring-
Palace angle.
One of these fragments is shown in Fig. 191 a. Its extreme width is
27-4 centimetres and the height 30 centimetres ; its mean thickness being"
about 9 cm. Here we see a sunken horizontal band with a double row of
interlocked spirals in relief 10-5 centimetres broad. Above this, within
a corner of an upper compartment (as here arranged), is a rosette originally
eight centimetres in diameter with eight petals. There is further a trace 01
the continuation upwards of the double spiral band, enclosing thus the
panel containing the rosettes.
Stefof The other fragment (Fig. 191, 6) shows parts of what is evidently a spiral
rounded band similar to that of Fig. 191 a. As, moreover, it was found in the same
slab: deposit, we may infer that it originally formed part of the same slab as tne
wiZared other> though it is not easy to define the relation of the two fragments.
baetylic The section preserved is about 30 centimetres wide, as shown, and 1s
example * . e
in ; Tomb 1 E. g, the painted stucco band found in a * For a good L. M. I a example see
aS?M" M- M- m" stratum above the 'Loom- painted jar from the North-East House,
weight Basement', P. of M., i, p. 371, Fig. p. of M., ii, Pt. II, p. 423, F'S- 245'
269.
however, to pick out examples of the Mycenae group, such as that supplip 1
by the stela shown in Fig. 190, and connect them with some mysterious wav
of ' Northern ' influence. The principle already invoked, ' noscitur a sociis'
must again be applied in this case. . Every single pattern with which these
spirals, alike on the gold plates and Grave slelae, are associated is in
fact, of traditional Minoan derivation.
Discovery of Sculptured Slabs at Knossos with Similar Reliefs of
Interlocked Rows of Spirals.
At Knossos connected rows of interlocked spirals are already a charac-
teristic feature in M. M. Ill fresco decorations.1 On painted vases ao-ain
this type of ornament is frequent in the transitional M. M. Ill and L. M. I «
ceramic phase.2 A remarkable discovery made near the South-Western
angle of the Palace site has now supplied the evidence of a sculptured slab
with reliefs presenting the nearest existing parallel to the spiraliform panel
of the stela from Mycenae illustrated in Fig. 190.
The find, consisting of two fragments of a limestone slab, was made in
the unstratified filling of a well about 21 metres West of the North-West
corner of the 'Theatral Area',andthe slope above this makes it probable that,
like the small altar found some 12 metres from this in a Southerly direction,
the slab itself had been connected with some structure of the neighbouring-
Palace angle.
One of these fragments is shown in Fig. 191 a. Its extreme width is
27-4 centimetres and the height 30 centimetres ; its mean thickness being"
about 9 cm. Here we see a sunken horizontal band with a double row of
interlocked spirals in relief 10-5 centimetres broad. Above this, within
a corner of an upper compartment (as here arranged), is a rosette originally
eight centimetres in diameter with eight petals. There is further a trace 01
the continuation upwards of the double spiral band, enclosing thus the
panel containing the rosettes.
Stefof The other fragment (Fig. 191, 6) shows parts of what is evidently a spiral
rounded band similar to that of Fig. 191 a. As, moreover, it was found in the same
slab: deposit, we may infer that it originally formed part of the same slab as tne
wiZared other> though it is not easy to define the relation of the two fragments.
baetylic The section preserved is about 30 centimetres wide, as shown, and 1s
example * . e
in ; Tomb 1 E. g, the painted stucco band found in a * For a good L. M. I a example see
aS?M" M- M- m" stratum above the 'Loom- painted jar from the North-East House,
weight Basement', P. of M., i, p. 371, Fig. p. of M., ii, Pt. II, p. 423, F'S- 245'
269.