DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1118#0156
50S ILLUSTRATION OF FABLE : THE GOAT AND THE DOG
performers were more in vogue at Egyptian dances. These are depicted'
naked except for the loin cloth, and with long falling hair, an essential
feature for the expression of movement and acrobatic pose (Fig. 452, a b A
which recalls the similar expedient of Minoan artists in repfesentino- cow^
boy feats and the downward course of divinities. They not only attended
social gatherings and banquets, but joined ceremonially in religious pro-
cessions, and formed part of the trained staff of the temple, performing in
every ' proper burial'.1 Figures of such women tumblers appear on the
walls of tombs and in the courts and colonnades of temples.2
Ma'e, That the male tumblers recorded in the Iliad stood in direct succession
tumblers >-ooiuii
of Iliad, to those of the Minoan world is the more probable when we remember the
traditional dance of the Knossian followers of the Delphinian Apollo,3 fresh
landed at the 'holy haven' of Delphi, on his way to his new sanctuary of
Later the 'Mantic chasm'. The acrobatic female performers, indeed, who attended
sensa- the Greek banquets of later times, seem to have been taken from Egyptian
el™' models, and were attired in the same scant fashion. But they had now
lost all traces of their religious connexion, and had become a mere accessory
of luxurious junketings, sensational touches being added, such as a stage
set with the blades of swords.1
There is a wide difference between such a setting and the flower-topped
shoots of Cretan meadows, amongst which the tumbling" youths are seen
performing on the gem from Knossos.
Flat Cylinder illustrating Fable of ' The Goat and the Dog'.
Goat and An intaglio (Fig. 453 and Suppl. PI. LIV,,»-) on a seal-stone of the same
flat cylin- fiat cylinder class—a very beautiful bluish-white translucent agate, from the
der-- important Minoan site of Arkhanes, inland of Knossos5—may be taken
to complete the illustration of this group. Its free and picturesque sty e
—though the execution is somewhat hasty in places—clearly marks 1
belonging to the great Transitional Age. It is best assigned to M. M. •
This gem belongs to an otherwise unexampled class, for it s
1 SeeDavies,.ff«fi*», c», Feb., 1928, p. 68. entry—fku/ia-rou/ryoi ywautre, «s i<4"l "'"'
- As at Luxor and Deir el Bahri. o-at.) ^er
s Compare my observations in P. of M., ii, B It was acquired by me at Atne ^
l't. II, p. S41. with a small series of bead'seiUs^cMing
' See Athenaeus' account (Lib. iv. c. 3) of them clearly Cretan in character an sea|s_-
the wedding banquet of the Macedonian specimens of early ' prisms' and sig khanes
Karanos, where women acrobats make their collected on the spot by a native
Illustra-
tion of
Fable.
performers were more in vogue at Egyptian dances. These are depicted'
naked except for the loin cloth, and with long falling hair, an essential
feature for the expression of movement and acrobatic pose (Fig. 452, a b A
which recalls the similar expedient of Minoan artists in repfesentino- cow^
boy feats and the downward course of divinities. They not only attended
social gatherings and banquets, but joined ceremonially in religious pro-
cessions, and formed part of the trained staff of the temple, performing in
every ' proper burial'.1 Figures of such women tumblers appear on the
walls of tombs and in the courts and colonnades of temples.2
Ma'e, That the male tumblers recorded in the Iliad stood in direct succession
tumblers >-ooiuii
of Iliad, to those of the Minoan world is the more probable when we remember the
traditional dance of the Knossian followers of the Delphinian Apollo,3 fresh
landed at the 'holy haven' of Delphi, on his way to his new sanctuary of
Later the 'Mantic chasm'. The acrobatic female performers, indeed, who attended
sensa- the Greek banquets of later times, seem to have been taken from Egyptian
el™' models, and were attired in the same scant fashion. But they had now
lost all traces of their religious connexion, and had become a mere accessory
of luxurious junketings, sensational touches being added, such as a stage
set with the blades of swords.1
There is a wide difference between such a setting and the flower-topped
shoots of Cretan meadows, amongst which the tumbling" youths are seen
performing on the gem from Knossos.
Flat Cylinder illustrating Fable of ' The Goat and the Dog'.
Goat and An intaglio (Fig. 453 and Suppl. PI. LIV,,»-) on a seal-stone of the same
flat cylin- fiat cylinder class—a very beautiful bluish-white translucent agate, from the
der-- important Minoan site of Arkhanes, inland of Knossos5—may be taken
to complete the illustration of this group. Its free and picturesque sty e
—though the execution is somewhat hasty in places—clearly marks 1
belonging to the great Transitional Age. It is best assigned to M. M. •
This gem belongs to an otherwise unexampled class, for it s
1 SeeDavies,.ff«fi*», c», Feb., 1928, p. 68. entry—fku/ia-rou/ryoi ywautre, «s i<4"l "'"'
- As at Luxor and Deir el Bahri. o-at.) ^er
s Compare my observations in P. of M., ii, B It was acquired by me at Atne ^
l't. II, p. S41. with a small series of bead'seiUs^cMing
' See Athenaeus' account (Lib. iv. c. 3) of them clearly Cretan in character an sea|s_-
the wedding banquet of the Macedonian specimens of early ' prisms' and sig khanes
Karanos, where women acrobats make their collected on the spot by a native
Illustra-
tion of
Fable.