DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.807#0187
M. M. I: PEAK SANCTUARY: 'THE TOMB OF ZEUS' 161
A later age seems to have regarded these baetylic pillars as actual
tombs of divinities. Thus the sanctuary of Paphos was said to have con-
tained the ' Grave' of Aphrodite and of her young male favourite, Kinyras.
So, too, in the holy grove of Amathus was pointed out the tomb of Apollo,
as, at Amyklae, that of his beloved Hyakinthos. In this connexion we have
constantly to bear in mind the essential fact that the primitive Cretan
religion must itself be regarded as an offshoot of that of a wide Anatolian
region. The steatopygous images that occur already in the Cretan Neolithic
strata1 fit on to an Oriental series, and in their later developments are to be
clearly identified with a Mother Goddess 2 whose cult, under many names and
adopted by many peoples, extends far beyond the Euphrates. But, side by
side with the Great Mother, there also recurs throuehout all this vast area
Baetylic
Pillar
regarded
as Tomb
of
Divinity.
Wide
range of
cult of
Mother
Goddess
and
Youthful
Satellite.
Fig. 116. Mourning Scene for Divine Youthful Hero
on Gold Signet Ring (Late Minoan, Mycenae) (f).
a youthful satellite, variously regarded as the consort, son, or paramour ot
the Goddess, mortal though ever resurgent, and there is every probability
the Cretan Zeus, the Child of Rhea, who represents this element in the later
tradition in the island, may be traced back to its earliest religious stratum.
One of the functions of the Great Mother, the Maler dolorosa of antiquity, The
is to mourn her ever young but ever mortal consort, and it requires no
great stretch of imagination to recognize such a scene of lamentation on
another gold signet (Fig. 116).3 Here we see a figure of the Goddess or
her attendant, bowed down, in a mourning attitude, over a kind of miniature
temenos, within which stands a small baetylic pillar with a diminutive
Minoan shield, seen in profile, hanging beside it.4 To the right of this
a similar figure, perhaps the Goddess repeated, is about to receive refection
1 See above, p. 46, Fig. 12. 3 Myc. Tree and Pillar-Cult, pp. 79, 80.
2 See above, p. 51. 4 For the festoon between the pillars see below, p. 494.
I M
Cretan
Mater
dolorosa
on Signet.
A later age seems to have regarded these baetylic pillars as actual
tombs of divinities. Thus the sanctuary of Paphos was said to have con-
tained the ' Grave' of Aphrodite and of her young male favourite, Kinyras.
So, too, in the holy grove of Amathus was pointed out the tomb of Apollo,
as, at Amyklae, that of his beloved Hyakinthos. In this connexion we have
constantly to bear in mind the essential fact that the primitive Cretan
religion must itself be regarded as an offshoot of that of a wide Anatolian
region. The steatopygous images that occur already in the Cretan Neolithic
strata1 fit on to an Oriental series, and in their later developments are to be
clearly identified with a Mother Goddess 2 whose cult, under many names and
adopted by many peoples, extends far beyond the Euphrates. But, side by
side with the Great Mother, there also recurs throuehout all this vast area
Baetylic
Pillar
regarded
as Tomb
of
Divinity.
Wide
range of
cult of
Mother
Goddess
and
Youthful
Satellite.
Fig. 116. Mourning Scene for Divine Youthful Hero
on Gold Signet Ring (Late Minoan, Mycenae) (f).
a youthful satellite, variously regarded as the consort, son, or paramour ot
the Goddess, mortal though ever resurgent, and there is every probability
the Cretan Zeus, the Child of Rhea, who represents this element in the later
tradition in the island, may be traced back to its earliest religious stratum.
One of the functions of the Great Mother, the Maler dolorosa of antiquity, The
is to mourn her ever young but ever mortal consort, and it requires no
great stretch of imagination to recognize such a scene of lamentation on
another gold signet (Fig. 116).3 Here we see a figure of the Goddess or
her attendant, bowed down, in a mourning attitude, over a kind of miniature
temenos, within which stands a small baetylic pillar with a diminutive
Minoan shield, seen in profile, hanging beside it.4 To the right of this
a similar figure, perhaps the Goddess repeated, is about to receive refection
1 See above, p. 46, Fig. 12. 3 Myc. Tree and Pillar-Cult, pp. 79, 80.
2 See above, p. 51. 4 For the festoon between the pillars see below, p. 494.
I M
Cretan
Mater
dolorosa
on Signet.