DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1118#0053
SYRO-HITTITE CYLINDER FOUND NEAR ATHENS
409
This composition, moreover, shows a definite parallelism with that from
a cylinder bought at Aleppo l (see below, Fig. 34S d, p. 42 1), and presumably
belonging to a main- -
land Syro - Hittite
group. On this a
princely votary wear-
ing a characteristic
H ittite fringed mantle
stands before a table
of offerings upon
which a dove settles.
Before the dove is a
star, and behind it is
the seated Goddess.
What we have
at this time to deal
with is the actual re-
action of this Syro-
Anatolian cult on the
Minoan World.
An interesting variation of a similar scene appears on a pale blue lapis
lazuli cylinder found at Vari, South of Athens, and here reproduced in Fig.
339.2 It is evidently of the same Syro-Hittite fabric. On it we see the en-
throned Goddess with the dove—its fan-tail well displayed—perched on her
outstretched hand. In front a small votary holds a kid and a looped object.
Behind is a flounced male figure, and another, perhaps representing a Hittite
prince, receives a similar offering- of a young animal from a long-robed per-
sonage, standing- on a crouched beast. The spiral border—so characteristic
of this Syro-Hittite class of seals—appears here, above and below the
seated Goddess. The cylinder itself was found with Mycenaean objects
including blue paste plaques impressed with rosettes of a kind that synchro-
nizes with L. M. Ill a. Its finding on Greek soil is itself an interesting-
illustration of the reaction at that epoch of elements derived from the East
Mediterranean region with which its style is connected.
1 At the end of the Section: cf. Hogarth, Vlasto, thanks to whose courtesy I am able
Hittite Seals, PI. VI, 175 and p. 65. to reproduce it here. The drawing is by
- From the Collection of Monsieur M. P. Monsieur E. Gillieron, Ms.
Fig. 339. Syro-Hittite Cylinder or Lapis lazuli
found at Vari, South of Athens, showing seated
Goddess holding Dove. (§.)
409
This composition, moreover, shows a definite parallelism with that from
a cylinder bought at Aleppo l (see below, Fig. 34S d, p. 42 1), and presumably
belonging to a main- -
land Syro - Hittite
group. On this a
princely votary wear-
ing a characteristic
H ittite fringed mantle
stands before a table
of offerings upon
which a dove settles.
Before the dove is a
star, and behind it is
the seated Goddess.
What we have
at this time to deal
with is the actual re-
action of this Syro-
Anatolian cult on the
Minoan World.
An interesting variation of a similar scene appears on a pale blue lapis
lazuli cylinder found at Vari, South of Athens, and here reproduced in Fig.
339.2 It is evidently of the same Syro-Hittite fabric. On it we see the en-
throned Goddess with the dove—its fan-tail well displayed—perched on her
outstretched hand. In front a small votary holds a kid and a looped object.
Behind is a flounced male figure, and another, perhaps representing a Hittite
prince, receives a similar offering- of a young animal from a long-robed per-
sonage, standing- on a crouched beast. The spiral border—so characteristic
of this Syro-Hittite class of seals—appears here, above and below the
seated Goddess. The cylinder itself was found with Mycenaean objects
including blue paste plaques impressed with rosettes of a kind that synchro-
nizes with L. M. Ill a. Its finding on Greek soil is itself an interesting-
illustration of the reaction at that epoch of elements derived from the East
Mediterranean region with which its style is connected.
1 At the end of the Section: cf. Hogarth, Vlasto, thanks to whose courtesy I am able
Hittite Seals, PI. VI, 175 and p. 65. to reproduce it here. The drawing is by
- From the Collection of Monsieur M. P. Monsieur E. Gillieron, Ms.
Fig. 339. Syro-Hittite Cylinder or Lapis lazuli
found at Vari, South of Athens, showing seated
Goddess holding Dove. (§.)