274

THE PALACE OF MINOS, ETC.

Con-
voluted
Bead-
Seals.

' Signets.'

' Signet'
Types.

pression of a more oval form of slightly bossed gem, showing a clog seizing
a hind, executed in a naturalistic style, with a tree behind.

There seems also to have coexisted with the pure lentoid type another
form, presenting, as in the former cases, two circular faces slightly bossed,
but with flat edges, cut square (Fig. 204, a)—a type which survives into
the succeeding Period.1 The rock-crystal
specimen {a-c),- shows on one side a wild boar
(6), on the other (c) a hound seizing a wild goat ;
a banded agate of the same type, d, presents
a group of three palms rising from rocks, also
known, as we have seen, on the Palace jars here.

The presence of hieroglyphs of the ad-
vanced class (B) on many of the seal-stones
themselves also enables us to assign certain types
to this Period. Among those so authenticated is
a graceful form of bead-seal with convoluted back
(Fig. 204, e).z A seal of this form presented the
remarkable decorative design shown in/, which
may even have served as a portable pattern for
a painted stucco ceiling, closely parallel with
an Egyptian class.4 In a somewhat allied
variety of seal-stone the back is formed by two
foreparts of lions in reversed positions.5

The ' signet ' class of seal in a highly
developed form is much in evidence, the stems of these being often elegantly
cut and presenting decorative mouldings (Fig. 204, h-vi). On L-m appear two
wild goats, browsing on a rocky knoll {m) resembling that surmounted by
palm-trees on d. A rudely executed, imp-like figure on a small ' signet' from
Mochlos (; recalls the winged ' goblins ' on contemporary Melian vases and a
demonic type of the Zakro sealings. A geometrical winged figure, evolved
from a variant of the Egyptian was symbol,7 appears on the prism-seal,
Fig. 207, c. The prism-seals n8 and q, the 'flattened cylinder' s, and g
supply characteristic examples of animal and bird types.

1 Often in connexion with designs repre- 5 Scripta Minoa, i, p. 139, Fig. 81. For a
senting the fronts of buildings. better example see E. Babelon, Collection

2 From Siteia. Pauvertdela CJiapelle, No. 71 (PI. Viand p. 28).

3 Scripta Minoa, p. 140, Fig. 82, a. 6 See below, p. 703, Fig. 520 (Seager,

4 See my Cretan PictograpJis, &c., p. 5oseqq. Mochlos, p. 58, x. b).

{J.H. S., xiv, p. 319 seqq.), and ib. Plate XII, 7 See below, p. 706, and Fig. 530.

where a ceiling pattern is restored with the aid 8 Green jasper, East Central Crete. Faces 2

of the gem. and 3, hieroglyphic groups. 4, Four feline heads.

Fig. 203. Clay Sealing,
from Hieroglyphic Deposit,
Knossos (f-).