File:Ægean archæeology; an introduction to the archæeology of prehistoric Greece (1915) (14596803727).jpg

Identifier: cu31924028272379 (find matches)
Title: Ægean archæeology; an introduction to the archæeology of prehistoric Greece
Year: 1915 (1910s)
Authors: Hall, H. R. (Harry Reginald), 1873-1930
Subjects:
Publisher: London, P.L. Warner
Contributing Library: Cornell University Library
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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a dish of fruit andan ewer of liquid on an altar behind which are a pillarwith axe and bird, and a higher altar on which are three horns of consecration with an olive-tree beyond.Behind her are two calves and an ox bound for sacrifice,laid on a table, over which a man, in voluminous robesand with his hair hanging down his back, is playingvigorously on a double flute. Behind him are threewomen the upper part of whose bodies are lost. Thisscene is quite Minoan, though the bound ox looks veryEgyptian. The adaptation of the second part of theother scene from the Egyptian prototype is quite clear,and is a most interfesting example of the eclecticism ofthe Minoan artist. We cannot imagine an Egyptianartist adapting a Minoan picture for any purpose, leastof all for the mysterious ceremonies of the tomb. Otherwise the sarcophagus is decorated with spiralsand rosettes in the usual manner. Its colour, in whichblue, yellow, red,white, and black are used, is brilliantly» See p. 233. ILATE XXVUl
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Orn/ni Mli^^ CRKTKTnK llAciA Tkiaiia Sari- iiAcrs : SHIES TEMPLES AND TOMBS 175 preserved. It is the most important document we pos-sess on the subject of Minoan funerary rites. The partwhich the double axe and the horns of consecra-tion play in it are very significant of their religious im-portance. The bird is a new addition to our repertoryof Minoan religious emblems if it is a magpie. Dovesappear, associated with a nude goddess, on goldenplaques from the Mycenaean shaft-graves, but otherbirds are unknown. One may wonder whether thisapparent magpie is not really intended for an eagle, thesacred bird of Zeus, the god of the double axe. Acurious parallel to this eagle on a crocketed pillar issupplied by a common Egyptian representation of thisvery period (XlXth Dynasty), in which we see a hawkstanding on the Tet, the Egyptian emblem of stability,which is also a crocketed pillar in appearance, though itprobably represented the backbone of the god Osirisoriginally. This pillar with the

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