DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.7519#0250
THE LATE MINOAN PERIOD
215
persist in the East have the same characteristic. A consider-
able number of vases of varying shapes was found in a house
at Palaikastro with pottery of a date contemporary with
Knossian L.M.n.1 This hoard provides an excellent example
of the dangers of dating by stone vases, for many of them are
obviously family heirlooms or chance finds from older graves
in the fields. Among the types, however, which are almost
certainly of L.M.i date, are bowls with a beaded edge and two
tilted horizontal handles also beaded, and the pear-shaped
rhyton, a magnificent example of which in breccia was found
at Pseira.2
The latest vases of all are from Knossos. A large alabaster
amphora decorated with running spirals on the rim and coils
in relief on the shoulder was lying unfinished where the sculptor
had left it when he fled from the final catastrophe.3 Squat
alabastra were actually in use in the Throne Room at that
moment.4 The lids, carved with a rosette and a figure-of-
eight shield for a central handle, are obviously contemporary
with the alabaster vase and lid from the last interment in the
Temple Tomb.6
Lamps are found with and without pedestals. A favourite
decoration for the rim is the drop pendant so common on
pottery. Pedestals are found either plain with a moulding
half-way up or with four stems opening out into a formal
flower.6 At Pseira a particularly beautiful example resembles
a blossom bowl opened out almost flat 7 (PI. XXXVIII, 2 and 3).
Faience is, of course, a very perishable material, but it is l.m.i and u
surprising how little has been found belonging to L.M.i and II. Fmence
There are a few inlays from the Throne Room at Knossos and
from Phaistos which are interesting in that they are inscribed
with signs on the back.8 The Knossian examples are purple
roundels with a central cross in pale green, those from Phaistos
fit together into a scale pattern and are blue with a light green
border. But apart from the mouth of a collared rhyton the
only vessel of faience is a spouted teapot with three handles and
a pedestal in bluish green picked out with lilac.9
The great age of Minoan sculpture was undoubtedly the l.m.i and a
transitional M.M.llii-L.M.ia Period. To this period may be Fieuri"cs
put with all probability the masterpieces of Knossos, Tylissos,
1 B.S.A., Sup., 133 ff. 2 Pseira, 37. 3 P. of M., IV, 896.
4 Ibid., 938. 6 Ibid., 1006. 6 Ibid., II, 404, 523. 7 Pseira, 38.
8 P. of M., IV, 941. Mon. Ant., XII, 92. A similar practice is
common at Tell el-Amarna, 9 P. of M., II, 824.
215
persist in the East have the same characteristic. A consider-
able number of vases of varying shapes was found in a house
at Palaikastro with pottery of a date contemporary with
Knossian L.M.n.1 This hoard provides an excellent example
of the dangers of dating by stone vases, for many of them are
obviously family heirlooms or chance finds from older graves
in the fields. Among the types, however, which are almost
certainly of L.M.i date, are bowls with a beaded edge and two
tilted horizontal handles also beaded, and the pear-shaped
rhyton, a magnificent example of which in breccia was found
at Pseira.2
The latest vases of all are from Knossos. A large alabaster
amphora decorated with running spirals on the rim and coils
in relief on the shoulder was lying unfinished where the sculptor
had left it when he fled from the final catastrophe.3 Squat
alabastra were actually in use in the Throne Room at that
moment.4 The lids, carved with a rosette and a figure-of-
eight shield for a central handle, are obviously contemporary
with the alabaster vase and lid from the last interment in the
Temple Tomb.6
Lamps are found with and without pedestals. A favourite
decoration for the rim is the drop pendant so common on
pottery. Pedestals are found either plain with a moulding
half-way up or with four stems opening out into a formal
flower.6 At Pseira a particularly beautiful example resembles
a blossom bowl opened out almost flat 7 (PI. XXXVIII, 2 and 3).
Faience is, of course, a very perishable material, but it is l.m.i and u
surprising how little has been found belonging to L.M.i and II. Fmence
There are a few inlays from the Throne Room at Knossos and
from Phaistos which are interesting in that they are inscribed
with signs on the back.8 The Knossian examples are purple
roundels with a central cross in pale green, those from Phaistos
fit together into a scale pattern and are blue with a light green
border. But apart from the mouth of a collared rhyton the
only vessel of faience is a spouted teapot with three handles and
a pedestal in bluish green picked out with lilac.9
The great age of Minoan sculpture was undoubtedly the l.m.i and a
transitional M.M.llii-L.M.ia Period. To this period may be Fieuri"cs
put with all probability the masterpieces of Knossos, Tylissos,
1 B.S.A., Sup., 133 ff. 2 Pseira, 37. 3 P. of M., IV, 896.
4 Ibid., 938. 6 Ibid., 1006. 6 Ibid., II, 404, 523. 7 Pseira, 38.
8 P. of M., IV, 941. Mon. Ant., XII, 92. A similar practice is
common at Tell el-Amarna, 9 P. of M., II, 824.