432

THE PALACE OF MINOS, ETC.

The religious significance of this knot in connexion with Minoan cult is
further brought out by the signet type shown in Fig. 310, c. The central
theme of this design is a scene of divine communion, where a female figure
probably a votary, partakes of the fruit of a sacred tree, which inspires
her with ecstatic frenzy. To the right is a Minoan shield—itself, like

b

Fig. 310. Minoan Signet Rings showing Pairs of 'Sacral Knots', (f). a. Smyrna
(probably from Crete), b, c. Mycenae, d. Palaikastro. e. Gournia (PI. IX. 12).

the Ancilta, a medium of religious ' possession '—with an object attached
to it in which we must certainly recognize a version of the sacral knot.
The loop is clearly seen above, and a part of the fringe of the second end
of the ' scarf is traceable in front of the lower part of the shield.1

1 In my Mycenean Tree and Pillar Cult fied as 'an insect' (Tsuntas, 'Ec/>. 'Ap^., 1890,

(p. 78seqq.) I had at first taken the object for p. 170) and as 'a helmet with a high crest'

a rudely executed design of a small female (Max Meyer, Jahrbuch d. Arch. Inst., 1892,

figure. Otherwise the object had been identi- p. 189).