DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1118#0173
MINOAN TYPE OF LION LEAPING ON QUARRY 527
Lions leaping on their Prey: Minoan Versions.
The coursing lion of Fig. i.7'2 may itself be regarded as the forerunner Lion on
of the scene on the inlaid dagger of Queen Aah-hotep (c. 1550 B.C.) the g,'.'*~
Minoan workmanship of which is undoubted.1 On this the lion pursues a {,j'=,ser'
]m\]—also at full gallop—a movement as distinctively Minoan as are the
rocks jutting" down from the upper border. It is but a step from this scene
of pursuit to that so finely conceived in the somewhat later inlaid design
on the dagger from the Mycenae Shaft-grave,2 where the lion, his feet still
on the ground, springs on a dappled deer whose hind legs are also extended
in the characteristic galop -volant of Minoan Art. This motive is, indeed,
usual with such subjects, as already shown3 from a fine L. M. I a design on
a seal impression from Hagia Triada where one wild-goat pursues another
over rocky ground.
From the mature L. M. I epoch onwards the fully developed scheme of Fully
the lion leaping on his quarry and gripping his dorsal or cervical vertebrae scheme of
as he bears him to the ground is of frequent occurrence on Minoan seal- Hon leap-
types, the victim is by turns a bull, a stag, or a large Horned sheep, quarry.
The field is alternately rectangular, oval, or round. The lion's hind-legs
grip the victim's hind-quarters, or at times one of them rests momentarily
on one of the hind-legs of his quarry. But in this case, too, neither leg-
touches the ground and the whole weight of the great beast is thrown on
his prey.
On the great gold signet-ring from Thisbe,4 on the other hand, the Thisbe
lion has already made his pounce, and, though one hind-leg is loose, the ri° "
claws of the other are firmly embedded in the victim's flank. This is
the complete adaptation to the case of the lion of the purely Cretan scheme
of the dog springing on the back of ag'riml or stag.
Typical groups of this class must be regarded as the climax of this
artistic composition, worked out step by step on Cretan soil.
1 See P. of M., i, p. 715, Fig. 537. of the 'flat cylinder' type (//'., p. 9, Fig. 8),
" Reproduced in P. of M., iii, p. 123, the lion who grips the bull's cervical vertebrae
F'g- "2. has his hind feet still on the ground. The same
;: //'., i, p. 716, Fig. 539, d. feature is repeated on the line onyx lentoid
A. E., P.ingo/'JVestor,6>'c.,'p. 9, Fig. 9, and from the Vapheio Tomb (,'£</>. 'Ap,\'-i 1SS9,
cf. p. 540, Fig. 491 below. On a gold bead-seal PI. X, 19).
Lions leaping on their Prey: Minoan Versions.
The coursing lion of Fig. i.7'2 may itself be regarded as the forerunner Lion on
of the scene on the inlaid dagger of Queen Aah-hotep (c. 1550 B.C.) the g,'.'*~
Minoan workmanship of which is undoubted.1 On this the lion pursues a {,j'=,ser'
]m\]—also at full gallop—a movement as distinctively Minoan as are the
rocks jutting" down from the upper border. It is but a step from this scene
of pursuit to that so finely conceived in the somewhat later inlaid design
on the dagger from the Mycenae Shaft-grave,2 where the lion, his feet still
on the ground, springs on a dappled deer whose hind legs are also extended
in the characteristic galop -volant of Minoan Art. This motive is, indeed,
usual with such subjects, as already shown3 from a fine L. M. I a design on
a seal impression from Hagia Triada where one wild-goat pursues another
over rocky ground.
From the mature L. M. I epoch onwards the fully developed scheme of Fully
the lion leaping on his quarry and gripping his dorsal or cervical vertebrae scheme of
as he bears him to the ground is of frequent occurrence on Minoan seal- Hon leap-
types, the victim is by turns a bull, a stag, or a large Horned sheep, quarry.
The field is alternately rectangular, oval, or round. The lion's hind-legs
grip the victim's hind-quarters, or at times one of them rests momentarily
on one of the hind-legs of his quarry. But in this case, too, neither leg-
touches the ground and the whole weight of the great beast is thrown on
his prey.
On the great gold signet-ring from Thisbe,4 on the other hand, the Thisbe
lion has already made his pounce, and, though one hind-leg is loose, the ri° "
claws of the other are firmly embedded in the victim's flank. This is
the complete adaptation to the case of the lion of the purely Cretan scheme
of the dog springing on the back of ag'riml or stag.
Typical groups of this class must be regarded as the climax of this
artistic composition, worked out step by step on Cretan soil.
1 See P. of M., i, p. 715, Fig. 537. of the 'flat cylinder' type (//'., p. 9, Fig. 8),
" Reproduced in P. of M., iii, p. 123, the lion who grips the bull's cervical vertebrae
F'g- "2. has his hind feet still on the ground. The same
;: //'., i, p. 716, Fig. 539, d. feature is repeated on the line onyx lentoid
A. E., P.ingo/'JVestor,6>'c.,'p. 9, Fig. 9, and from the Vapheio Tomb (,'£</>. 'Ap,\'-i 1SS9,
cf. p. 540, Fig. 491 below. On a gold bead-seal PI. X, 19).