DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16205#0064
RELIGION OF
snake or dove or without attributes, the goddess had her shrines on the above-mentioned sites, and also
at many places [in Central and Eastern Crete in regard to which no definite facts can be obtained.30
Many representations of her occur on the mainland at Mycenae, Tiryns, the Argive Heraeum, and in
graves in Argolis. Further, if tradition may ever be followed, is there not justification for believing
that this same Earth Goddess may be identified with the Ge who held Delphi before Apollo took the
shrine,31 and that she was the oldest divinity at Dodona before Zeus came and allied himself with her?32
But the goddess of fertility had another and fiercer aspect as goddess of the hunt and of wild things.
In this character, as norvea dr^Cov (cf. Fig. 28, 7), she was guarded by lions, and was worshipped as a
Mountain Goddess—a role well illustrated on a remarkable seal-impression from Knossos.33 A gem from
Mycenae shows her between a lion and a lioness,34 and a ring of probable Cretan origin represents her
seated between two lions, while on the great signet from Mycenae six lion heads form a decorative border.
It was under her milder character as Mother of the living and the dead that the Earth Goddess was
venerated in small domestic shrines among the habitations of men where doves and snakes accompany
her, and the maternal side of her nature will account for the numerous images of her found in graves,
signifying that her divine protection still encompassed the dead. It may also be assumed that the
caves which abound in mountainous parts of Crete served as sanctuaries of the goddess from an early
time. In the Middle Minoan Period the Dictaean Cave was already used as a shrine, in which votive
offerings of bulls, rams, and other objects were made to a divinity who may, with good reason, be iden-
tified with the Earth Goddess.55
The bull presents us with one of the most interesting and difficult problems of Minoan archaeology.
This animal was evidently held in high esteem, and is depicted on gems in every attitude of action and
repose. Like the elephant of Siam he was the royal and sacred beast, the most
THE BULL useful of animals and chief object of the hunt. He became, therefore, the prime
sacrifice, as is seen on the Aghia Triadha sarcophagus, and as may be inferred from
the innumerable votive offerings of bulls in the shrines and caves of the goddess J16 It followed that the
bull's horns were set up on an altar as a trophy of the hunt or sacrifice; and then came the next step of
making copies of the horns,for permanent adornment of shrines—illustrated on frescoes and gems—while
the same decoration of horns was applied to palaces (supra, p. 25), and even to private houses, as is
shown by evidence from Gournia and Palaikastro.37 It seems probable that in time the horns themselves
came to represent a shrine. One may easily imagine that for reasons of economy, if for no others,
men finally deemed it sufficient to offer only choice parts of the bull to the divinity, and to pour a liba-
tion of the blood in vessels made especially for this purpose; just as, in the early Chinese ritual,
the blood was offered in a bronze vessel made in the shape of the animal that was sacrificed.38 It seems
reasonable to suppose that the blood of the bull was offered not only on the libation table from the
Middle Minoan shrine at Phaestos, the border of which is decorated with scrolls and miniature bulls,3"
but also in rhytons in the shape of bulls' heads from Gournia (Pis. I 1, XI 20, Fig. 36) and elsewhere.40
One of these rhytons has already been discussed (supra, PI. XI, p. 48), but we have yet to consider
some truly regal examples. The famous silver bull's head from Mycenae has long been familiar, al-
though its use has been the subject of much discussion. But Gournia has furnished as fine a specimen
(PI. I 1, p. 60), though of baser material, the use of which as a rhyton is unquestioned, and there-
fore it is reasonable to infer that the Mycenae head was also a rhyton, but made of silver to accord
with the wealth of the lord of Mycenae. The Gournia head yields to the Mycenae head only in quality
of material, for it equals and perhaps surpasses it in point of modelling and, when covered, as it originally
was, with a shining white slip, it must have successfully simulated the appearance of silver. By an
interesting piece of good fortune, Egypt has preserved the pictures of similar rhytons on the walls of
the tombs of Senmut and Rekhmara of the XVIIIth Dynasty (supra, p. 6, note 66.) Here, among
metal and clay vessels of well-known Minoan shapes, appear animals' heads, painted yellow and white,
30 Mariani (Mon. Ant., VI, 1895, pp. 175 ff) describes and illustrates female statuettes from various places in Central
and Eastern Crete.
31 Farnell, Culls of the Greek States, vol. Ill, pp. 9 and 10. 32 Ibid. vol. Ill, p. 8.
33 Evans, B. S. A., VII, 1900-01, p. 29, fig. 9. 34 Evans, Myc. Tree and Pillar Cult, p. 66, fig. 44.
35 Hogarth (The DictaeanCave, B. S. A., VI, 1899-1900, pp. 94 and 116), and Evans (Myc. Tree and Pillar Cult, p. 13)
maintain that the double-axes found in the Dictaean Cave indicate Zeus of the Labrys as the deity of the cave. Rouse's
contention (The Double Axe and the Labyrinth, J. H. S., XXI, 1902, pp. 268-274) that "there is no recorded instance of
the dedication of a divine attribute to a deity because it was his attribute" seems well founded. After being used for centuries
the Dictaean cave seems to have been abandoned in L. M. times, and then arose the fame of the Idaean cave, which continued
to be used as a shrine until Roman times (supra, p. 1, note 3). Thus while the same traditions concerning the birth of Zeus
attached themselves to both caves it is probable that the actual worship of the Hellenic Zeus was confined to the Idaean
cave, and that the use of the Dictaean belonged only to the goddess. The double-axe has not, to the writer's knowledge,
been found in the Idaean cave. Another Cretan cave known to Homer (Odyssey, XIX, 188, 189), that of Eileithyia, near
Knossos, may have belonged originally to the Cretan goddess.
38 Perhaps the bull was sacrificed to the iro^vta (bjpwv in the same way as the bear in Sakhalin is sacrificed to " Pal ni
vookh, the lord of the forest and all therein." (See C. H. Hawes, In the Uttermost East, p. 180.) But the Gilyaks sac-
rifice the bear to him with apologies, as it were, since they are killing something belonging to Pal ni vookh. "Probably
the fact of the bear being the most difficult and dangerous animal to capture adds to the value of the offering," p. 201.
3' Bosanquet, B. S. A., IX, 1902-03, p. 280. 38 Palfologue, L'Art Chinois, p. 28.
»• Pernier, Mon. Ant., XIV, 1904, p. 405 and PI. XXXVI.
40 See Pottier (B. C. H., XXXI, 1907, p. 117 and PI. XXIII, No. 1) for a bull's head rhyton from Ligortyno, and for
an interesting discussion of the diffusion in the Eastern Mediterranean countries of the figure of the bull as a "religious
emblem." Also, J. de Mot, Vases Egeens en forme d'animaux. Rev. Arch., 1904, II, p. 201, for list of rhytons in shape of
animals, belonging to the Minoan Period.
41 The writer cannot accept Dr. Evans's theory that the ox-heads represent a fixed amount of gold (Minoan Weights
and Currency in Corolla Numismatica). This theory is based upon: (1) The use in Egypt of weights in the shape of
ox-heads (Lepsius Denkmaler, III, 39a); (2) A very small bronze ox-head weight from The Dictaean Cave (Minoan Weights
and Currency, fig. 9, p. 353); (3) The appearance in the frescoes of the tomb of Rekhmara of the Keftiu tribute "side by
E MINOANS
one of which resembles so closely the Gournia rhyton as to leave no doubt that the painter intended to
represent a gold rhyton in the from of a bull's head. The other heads, therefore, are also rhytons,41 and
appear among other tribute of the Minoans as a testimony to their skill in modelling. The Gournia
head has a flat back so that the rhyton can be placed with the face looking up, which, we know from
Egyptian paintings, was the way of carrying it, instead of hanging it against a wall, as was at first sug-
gested.42
That the bull was ever worshipped in Crete there is no actual proof at present, and there seems no
justification for assuming, as does M. Dussaud,43 that it was the animal attribute of a god. The rep-
resentations of bull-headed and other beast-headed 'daemons' on gems, sealings, and frescoes, have
lent force to the theory that animal worship existed in the Minoan Age. But when these 'daemons' ap-
pear in any actual scene, either they are in the act of carrying something, of watering a sacred tree,
of offering a libation, or they are merely attendants. The most natural interpretation of them is as
votaries dressed in animals' skins,44 and performing some rite connected with the cult of the goddess;
while in similar figures on a Mycenae fresco45 and a conch-shell plaque from Phaestos,46 we may discern
records of beast dances in honor of the zozvca The monsters on the Zakro sealings, however,
seem to have lost their original significance and to have degenerated into meaningless conventions.48
The persistence of the Minotaur type and of the myth connected with it are easily explained by the im-
portant position of the bull as king of beasts, which led to the adoption in heraldry of this type of mon-
ster by kings of men. But the representations of bulls and bull-fights on the palaces at Knossos and
Tiryns, on the Vaphio cups and the steatite rhyton of Aghia Triadha, belong to a period when there
was developing a different attitude towards the bull, emphasized perhaps by the arrival of a Minyan
strain, which brought with it the -aujioxaHd^ta of the Thessalian plain.49 Thus a new interest in bull
hunts and bull-fights seems to have been introduced, comparable to the interest of a modern visitor to
Siam, who cares more for hunts of the wild elephant than for any religious or royal aspect of the beast.
Representations of an Earth Goddess having been found, all preconceived notions lead to the
expectation of finding anthropomorphic representations of a god as consort; yet such are conspicu-
ously lacking, not only in Crete but throughout the Aegean area, in the Early
THE GOD and Middle Minoan Periods. Bronze statuettes10 of Late Minoan date represent-
ing a male figure striding and raising his right arm, which Dr. Evans considers
to be a Minoan god,51 are interpreted by H. R. Hall as "ultimately" of Egyptian origin, and images of
Anher.52 Other male figures, such as the bronze statuettes from Gournia (PI. XI 21), Phylakopi,"
and other parts of Crete,54 judged by their attitude, are unmistakably votaries. A gem from Aghia
Triadha shows a male figure accompanied by a lion.55 From Kydonia, Crete, comes a lentoid gem on
which is engraved a male figure between two lions.50 On a signet from Mycenae a male figure carrying
a spear stands before a seated goddess,57 and a similar scene occurs on a sealing from Aghia Triadha.58
Mention has already been made of the figures with eight-shaped shields from Mycenae (vide supra,
p. 48); a similar figure is found on a clay larnax from Milato, Crete.5" In all these cases, since other
evidence is lacking, the figure may be interpreted as a votary, or an attendant, or possibly, when
accompanied by lions, a minor divinity. Only one instance is known to the writer of an apparent
scene of worship of a male divinity, that on a ring from Knossos on which a female figure stands in an
attitude of adoration before a small, nude, male figure in the upper field.00 Yet even here the small
size of the male figure raises the question whether he may not be a departed hero or ancestor, rather
than a god.01 At best, however, the position of this male deity is a distinctly inferior one, and he is
of such rare occurrence that he seems not to have belonged to the earlier religion, and consequently
there appears no justification for associating him with the goddess as consort. His advent is late, and
he, accordingly, may indicate that already the northern influence of the Achaeans was causing their god
to be accepted by the Minoans, though always as subordinate to the indigenous goddess.
side with bronze ingots"; (4) An inscribed clay tablet from Knossos (ibid. fig. 8, p. 353) bearing an inventory of Minoan
treasure; i. e., bulls' heads and a cup of the Vaphio type are delineated. The bronze head from the Dictaean Cave is
small enough (3 cm. high) to be a weight, and does not belong with the class of ox-heads carried by the Keftiu. These
appear on a line below the bronze ingots, and in company with vases. As for the Knossos tablet with three lines of
written characters—the enumeration of cups of the Vaphio type appears on the lowest line, and the natural inference
is that the bulls' heads on the two upper lines refer to other vases, or rhytons of that shape which are known to exist,
while the supposition that the bulls' heads represented a fixed amount of gold is based only upon theory.
42 Boyd, Trans. Univ. Penna., 1, p. 43. 43 Questions Myceniennes, p. 4.
44 See A. B. Cook, Animal Worship in the Mycenaean Age, J. H. S., XIV, 1894, pp. 81 ff.
45 'Ecp. 'Apx. 1887, PI. XII, and Perrot and Chipiez, VI, fig. 438. 40 Pernier, Mon. Ant., XII, Tav. VIII, fig. I.
47 Cf. J. C. Lawson, on Beast Dances in Scyros, B. S. A., VI, 1899-1900, p. 125.
48 Vide supra, p. 1, note 18, for Mr. Hogarth's original opinion concerning the Zakro monsters. Since that time,
discoveries have convinced Mr. Hogarth that "these monstrous types are characteristic of Hittite art. Perhaps Crete
was in touch with Asia Minor; perhaps there were a few settlers from Asia Minor at Zakro—which to-day is the last port
of call for boats from Asia Minor, bound for sponges off Cyrenaica."
40 Farnell Cults of the Greek States, IV, p. 25.
60 Figured in Perrot and Chipiez, VI, figs. 353, 354; Evans, Myc. Tree and Pillar Cult, figs. 15, 16.
51 Ibid., pp. 25-28. 62 Oldest Civilisation of Greece, App. Ill, p. 307.
53 Excavations in Phylakopi, PI. XXXVII, pp. 186-189. 54 Jahrbuch, Arch. Anz., 1892, VII, p. 88, figs. 62, 63.
55 Halbherr, Mon. Ant., XIII, 1903, p. 44, fig. 40. 50 FIvans, Myc. Tree and Pillar Cult, p. 65, fig. 43.
57 Tsountas and Manatt, The Mycenaean Age, p. 172; also in Furtwangler, Antike Gemmen, III, p. 36, fig. 14.
58 Paribeni, Mon. Ant., XIV, 1904, p. 740, fig. 38. 50 Evans, Myc. Tree and Pillar Cult, p. 76, fig. 50.
011 No data for the provenance of this ring are forthcoming, other than "from the site of Knossos," Myc. Tree and Pillar
Cult, p. 72. Dr. Evans here considers the figure which appears beside a pillar, that "represents the male form of the ani-
conic image," to be "a rayed sun god," an interpretation that he extends to the figure on the larnax from Milato. Later
(Prehistoric Tombs of Knossos, pp. 93 ff) Dr. Evans thinks that the rays may be only locks of hair caused by rapid motion.
01 There is always a possibility that what to our eyes seems an upper field in a picture, may, according to primitive
treatment of perspective, be only a background.
snake or dove or without attributes, the goddess had her shrines on the above-mentioned sites, and also
at many places [in Central and Eastern Crete in regard to which no definite facts can be obtained.30
Many representations of her occur on the mainland at Mycenae, Tiryns, the Argive Heraeum, and in
graves in Argolis. Further, if tradition may ever be followed, is there not justification for believing
that this same Earth Goddess may be identified with the Ge who held Delphi before Apollo took the
shrine,31 and that she was the oldest divinity at Dodona before Zeus came and allied himself with her?32
But the goddess of fertility had another and fiercer aspect as goddess of the hunt and of wild things.
In this character, as norvea dr^Cov (cf. Fig. 28, 7), she was guarded by lions, and was worshipped as a
Mountain Goddess—a role well illustrated on a remarkable seal-impression from Knossos.33 A gem from
Mycenae shows her between a lion and a lioness,34 and a ring of probable Cretan origin represents her
seated between two lions, while on the great signet from Mycenae six lion heads form a decorative border.
It was under her milder character as Mother of the living and the dead that the Earth Goddess was
venerated in small domestic shrines among the habitations of men where doves and snakes accompany
her, and the maternal side of her nature will account for the numerous images of her found in graves,
signifying that her divine protection still encompassed the dead. It may also be assumed that the
caves which abound in mountainous parts of Crete served as sanctuaries of the goddess from an early
time. In the Middle Minoan Period the Dictaean Cave was already used as a shrine, in which votive
offerings of bulls, rams, and other objects were made to a divinity who may, with good reason, be iden-
tified with the Earth Goddess.55
The bull presents us with one of the most interesting and difficult problems of Minoan archaeology.
This animal was evidently held in high esteem, and is depicted on gems in every attitude of action and
repose. Like the elephant of Siam he was the royal and sacred beast, the most
THE BULL useful of animals and chief object of the hunt. He became, therefore, the prime
sacrifice, as is seen on the Aghia Triadha sarcophagus, and as may be inferred from
the innumerable votive offerings of bulls in the shrines and caves of the goddess J16 It followed that the
bull's horns were set up on an altar as a trophy of the hunt or sacrifice; and then came the next step of
making copies of the horns,for permanent adornment of shrines—illustrated on frescoes and gems—while
the same decoration of horns was applied to palaces (supra, p. 25), and even to private houses, as is
shown by evidence from Gournia and Palaikastro.37 It seems probable that in time the horns themselves
came to represent a shrine. One may easily imagine that for reasons of economy, if for no others,
men finally deemed it sufficient to offer only choice parts of the bull to the divinity, and to pour a liba-
tion of the blood in vessels made especially for this purpose; just as, in the early Chinese ritual,
the blood was offered in a bronze vessel made in the shape of the animal that was sacrificed.38 It seems
reasonable to suppose that the blood of the bull was offered not only on the libation table from the
Middle Minoan shrine at Phaestos, the border of which is decorated with scrolls and miniature bulls,3"
but also in rhytons in the shape of bulls' heads from Gournia (Pis. I 1, XI 20, Fig. 36) and elsewhere.40
One of these rhytons has already been discussed (supra, PI. XI, p. 48), but we have yet to consider
some truly regal examples. The famous silver bull's head from Mycenae has long been familiar, al-
though its use has been the subject of much discussion. But Gournia has furnished as fine a specimen
(PI. I 1, p. 60), though of baser material, the use of which as a rhyton is unquestioned, and there-
fore it is reasonable to infer that the Mycenae head was also a rhyton, but made of silver to accord
with the wealth of the lord of Mycenae. The Gournia head yields to the Mycenae head only in quality
of material, for it equals and perhaps surpasses it in point of modelling and, when covered, as it originally
was, with a shining white slip, it must have successfully simulated the appearance of silver. By an
interesting piece of good fortune, Egypt has preserved the pictures of similar rhytons on the walls of
the tombs of Senmut and Rekhmara of the XVIIIth Dynasty (supra, p. 6, note 66.) Here, among
metal and clay vessels of well-known Minoan shapes, appear animals' heads, painted yellow and white,
30 Mariani (Mon. Ant., VI, 1895, pp. 175 ff) describes and illustrates female statuettes from various places in Central
and Eastern Crete.
31 Farnell, Culls of the Greek States, vol. Ill, pp. 9 and 10. 32 Ibid. vol. Ill, p. 8.
33 Evans, B. S. A., VII, 1900-01, p. 29, fig. 9. 34 Evans, Myc. Tree and Pillar Cult, p. 66, fig. 44.
35 Hogarth (The DictaeanCave, B. S. A., VI, 1899-1900, pp. 94 and 116), and Evans (Myc. Tree and Pillar Cult, p. 13)
maintain that the double-axes found in the Dictaean Cave indicate Zeus of the Labrys as the deity of the cave. Rouse's
contention (The Double Axe and the Labyrinth, J. H. S., XXI, 1902, pp. 268-274) that "there is no recorded instance of
the dedication of a divine attribute to a deity because it was his attribute" seems well founded. After being used for centuries
the Dictaean cave seems to have been abandoned in L. M. times, and then arose the fame of the Idaean cave, which continued
to be used as a shrine until Roman times (supra, p. 1, note 3). Thus while the same traditions concerning the birth of Zeus
attached themselves to both caves it is probable that the actual worship of the Hellenic Zeus was confined to the Idaean
cave, and that the use of the Dictaean belonged only to the goddess. The double-axe has not, to the writer's knowledge,
been found in the Idaean cave. Another Cretan cave known to Homer (Odyssey, XIX, 188, 189), that of Eileithyia, near
Knossos, may have belonged originally to the Cretan goddess.
38 Perhaps the bull was sacrificed to the iro^vta (bjpwv in the same way as the bear in Sakhalin is sacrificed to " Pal ni
vookh, the lord of the forest and all therein." (See C. H. Hawes, In the Uttermost East, p. 180.) But the Gilyaks sac-
rifice the bear to him with apologies, as it were, since they are killing something belonging to Pal ni vookh. "Probably
the fact of the bear being the most difficult and dangerous animal to capture adds to the value of the offering," p. 201.
3' Bosanquet, B. S. A., IX, 1902-03, p. 280. 38 Palfologue, L'Art Chinois, p. 28.
»• Pernier, Mon. Ant., XIV, 1904, p. 405 and PI. XXXVI.
40 See Pottier (B. C. H., XXXI, 1907, p. 117 and PI. XXIII, No. 1) for a bull's head rhyton from Ligortyno, and for
an interesting discussion of the diffusion in the Eastern Mediterranean countries of the figure of the bull as a "religious
emblem." Also, J. de Mot, Vases Egeens en forme d'animaux. Rev. Arch., 1904, II, p. 201, for list of rhytons in shape of
animals, belonging to the Minoan Period.
41 The writer cannot accept Dr. Evans's theory that the ox-heads represent a fixed amount of gold (Minoan Weights
and Currency in Corolla Numismatica). This theory is based upon: (1) The use in Egypt of weights in the shape of
ox-heads (Lepsius Denkmaler, III, 39a); (2) A very small bronze ox-head weight from The Dictaean Cave (Minoan Weights
and Currency, fig. 9, p. 353); (3) The appearance in the frescoes of the tomb of Rekhmara of the Keftiu tribute "side by
E MINOANS
one of which resembles so closely the Gournia rhyton as to leave no doubt that the painter intended to
represent a gold rhyton in the from of a bull's head. The other heads, therefore, are also rhytons,41 and
appear among other tribute of the Minoans as a testimony to their skill in modelling. The Gournia
head has a flat back so that the rhyton can be placed with the face looking up, which, we know from
Egyptian paintings, was the way of carrying it, instead of hanging it against a wall, as was at first sug-
gested.42
That the bull was ever worshipped in Crete there is no actual proof at present, and there seems no
justification for assuming, as does M. Dussaud,43 that it was the animal attribute of a god. The rep-
resentations of bull-headed and other beast-headed 'daemons' on gems, sealings, and frescoes, have
lent force to the theory that animal worship existed in the Minoan Age. But when these 'daemons' ap-
pear in any actual scene, either they are in the act of carrying something, of watering a sacred tree,
of offering a libation, or they are merely attendants. The most natural interpretation of them is as
votaries dressed in animals' skins,44 and performing some rite connected with the cult of the goddess;
while in similar figures on a Mycenae fresco45 and a conch-shell plaque from Phaestos,46 we may discern
records of beast dances in honor of the zozvca The monsters on the Zakro sealings, however,
seem to have lost their original significance and to have degenerated into meaningless conventions.48
The persistence of the Minotaur type and of the myth connected with it are easily explained by the im-
portant position of the bull as king of beasts, which led to the adoption in heraldry of this type of mon-
ster by kings of men. But the representations of bulls and bull-fights on the palaces at Knossos and
Tiryns, on the Vaphio cups and the steatite rhyton of Aghia Triadha, belong to a period when there
was developing a different attitude towards the bull, emphasized perhaps by the arrival of a Minyan
strain, which brought with it the -aujioxaHd^ta of the Thessalian plain.49 Thus a new interest in bull
hunts and bull-fights seems to have been introduced, comparable to the interest of a modern visitor to
Siam, who cares more for hunts of the wild elephant than for any religious or royal aspect of the beast.
Representations of an Earth Goddess having been found, all preconceived notions lead to the
expectation of finding anthropomorphic representations of a god as consort; yet such are conspicu-
ously lacking, not only in Crete but throughout the Aegean area, in the Early
THE GOD and Middle Minoan Periods. Bronze statuettes10 of Late Minoan date represent-
ing a male figure striding and raising his right arm, which Dr. Evans considers
to be a Minoan god,51 are interpreted by H. R. Hall as "ultimately" of Egyptian origin, and images of
Anher.52 Other male figures, such as the bronze statuettes from Gournia (PI. XI 21), Phylakopi,"
and other parts of Crete,54 judged by their attitude, are unmistakably votaries. A gem from Aghia
Triadha shows a male figure accompanied by a lion.55 From Kydonia, Crete, comes a lentoid gem on
which is engraved a male figure between two lions.50 On a signet from Mycenae a male figure carrying
a spear stands before a seated goddess,57 and a similar scene occurs on a sealing from Aghia Triadha.58
Mention has already been made of the figures with eight-shaped shields from Mycenae (vide supra,
p. 48); a similar figure is found on a clay larnax from Milato, Crete.5" In all these cases, since other
evidence is lacking, the figure may be interpreted as a votary, or an attendant, or possibly, when
accompanied by lions, a minor divinity. Only one instance is known to the writer of an apparent
scene of worship of a male divinity, that on a ring from Knossos on which a female figure stands in an
attitude of adoration before a small, nude, male figure in the upper field.00 Yet even here the small
size of the male figure raises the question whether he may not be a departed hero or ancestor, rather
than a god.01 At best, however, the position of this male deity is a distinctly inferior one, and he is
of such rare occurrence that he seems not to have belonged to the earlier religion, and consequently
there appears no justification for associating him with the goddess as consort. His advent is late, and
he, accordingly, may indicate that already the northern influence of the Achaeans was causing their god
to be accepted by the Minoans, though always as subordinate to the indigenous goddess.
side with bronze ingots"; (4) An inscribed clay tablet from Knossos (ibid. fig. 8, p. 353) bearing an inventory of Minoan
treasure; i. e., bulls' heads and a cup of the Vaphio type are delineated. The bronze head from the Dictaean Cave is
small enough (3 cm. high) to be a weight, and does not belong with the class of ox-heads carried by the Keftiu. These
appear on a line below the bronze ingots, and in company with vases. As for the Knossos tablet with three lines of
written characters—the enumeration of cups of the Vaphio type appears on the lowest line, and the natural inference
is that the bulls' heads on the two upper lines refer to other vases, or rhytons of that shape which are known to exist,
while the supposition that the bulls' heads represented a fixed amount of gold is based only upon theory.
42 Boyd, Trans. Univ. Penna., 1, p. 43. 43 Questions Myceniennes, p. 4.
44 See A. B. Cook, Animal Worship in the Mycenaean Age, J. H. S., XIV, 1894, pp. 81 ff.
45 'Ecp. 'Apx. 1887, PI. XII, and Perrot and Chipiez, VI, fig. 438. 40 Pernier, Mon. Ant., XII, Tav. VIII, fig. I.
47 Cf. J. C. Lawson, on Beast Dances in Scyros, B. S. A., VI, 1899-1900, p. 125.
48 Vide supra, p. 1, note 18, for Mr. Hogarth's original opinion concerning the Zakro monsters. Since that time,
discoveries have convinced Mr. Hogarth that "these monstrous types are characteristic of Hittite art. Perhaps Crete
was in touch with Asia Minor; perhaps there were a few settlers from Asia Minor at Zakro—which to-day is the last port
of call for boats from Asia Minor, bound for sponges off Cyrenaica."
40 Farnell Cults of the Greek States, IV, p. 25.
60 Figured in Perrot and Chipiez, VI, figs. 353, 354; Evans, Myc. Tree and Pillar Cult, figs. 15, 16.
51 Ibid., pp. 25-28. 62 Oldest Civilisation of Greece, App. Ill, p. 307.
53 Excavations in Phylakopi, PI. XXXVII, pp. 186-189. 54 Jahrbuch, Arch. Anz., 1892, VII, p. 88, figs. 62, 63.
55 Halbherr, Mon. Ant., XIII, 1903, p. 44, fig. 40. 50 FIvans, Myc. Tree and Pillar Cult, p. 65, fig. 43.
57 Tsountas and Manatt, The Mycenaean Age, p. 172; also in Furtwangler, Antike Gemmen, III, p. 36, fig. 14.
58 Paribeni, Mon. Ant., XIV, 1904, p. 740, fig. 38. 50 Evans, Myc. Tree and Pillar Cult, p. 76, fig. 50.
011 No data for the provenance of this ring are forthcoming, other than "from the site of Knossos," Myc. Tree and Pillar
Cult, p. 72. Dr. Evans here considers the figure which appears beside a pillar, that "represents the male form of the ani-
conic image," to be "a rayed sun god," an interpretation that he extends to the figure on the larnax from Milato. Later
(Prehistoric Tombs of Knossos, pp. 93 ff) Dr. Evans thinks that the rays may be only locks of hair caused by rapid motion.
01 There is always a possibility that what to our eyes seems an upper field in a picture, may, according to primitive
treatment of perspective, be only a background.