DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.807#0475
M. M. Ill: WEST PALACE REGION ; DOUBLE AXE CULT 435
' Sacral Knot', possibly the skirt of some ceremonial robe.1 That it was
intimately connected with the worship of the Double Axe may be inferred
from all these representations.
Of the dedication of articles of apparel we have direct evidence in the Suspen-
votive robes for suspension found among the faience relics of the Temple votive
Repositories of Knossos.2 To attach a part of the dress round the baetylic <^a1'-
• • men t s •
object or actually to tie it round it is a regular part of the rite of ' sleeping in ',
or ' incubation ', in sanctuaries. I have had a personal experience of this
practice in a primitive pillar shrine,3 such as are to this day connected
with ' Saints' Graves ' throughout the Islamic World.
It will be seen that the remains of the South-East House supplement
a (f) b (f) c (f)
Fig. 312. a, Steatite Lentoid, Knossos (M. M. Ill) : b, Clay Sealing, Zakro ;
c, Onyx Lentoid, Argos.
in more than one respect our knowledge of the Central Palace cult as it
existed in the closing Middle Minoan phase. The tradition of its specially
religious character seems to have clung to it indeed in later days. When,
towards the close of the Minoan Age, a part of the house, like some of the
adjoining Palace region, was re-occupied by poorer denizens, the inner room,
L. 1, on the Plan, Fig. 306, was converted into a shrine, where, at a some-
what higher level, 1 horns of Consecration ' were found resting on a pebble
flooring. To the original importance of the building from the religious point
of view the artistic skill lavished on the decoration and the presence of such
a magnificent accessory of cult as the sculptured lamp bear sufficient witness.
It seems probable that it was occupied by some priestly functionary.
1 An analogy is "suggested by the 'cuirass', 2 See below, p. 506, Fig. 364.
with its reticulated body and pleated flounce, 3 My'cenaeanTree andPillar Cult,^>. 102seqq.
worn by the rustic leader of the harvesters on At Tekekioi in North Macedonia. It was neces-
the H. Triada rhyton (Savignoni, Mon. Ant., sary to tie an under-garment round the holypillar
xiii, PL III, and cf. sealing, p. 42, Fig. 9). and to lie down for the night within sight of it.
f f 2
S.E.
House in
relation
to Cen-
tral
Palace
Cult.
' Sacral Knot', possibly the skirt of some ceremonial robe.1 That it was
intimately connected with the worship of the Double Axe may be inferred
from all these representations.
Of the dedication of articles of apparel we have direct evidence in the Suspen-
votive robes for suspension found among the faience relics of the Temple votive
Repositories of Knossos.2 To attach a part of the dress round the baetylic <^a1'-
• • men t s •
object or actually to tie it round it is a regular part of the rite of ' sleeping in ',
or ' incubation ', in sanctuaries. I have had a personal experience of this
practice in a primitive pillar shrine,3 such as are to this day connected
with ' Saints' Graves ' throughout the Islamic World.
It will be seen that the remains of the South-East House supplement
a (f) b (f) c (f)
Fig. 312. a, Steatite Lentoid, Knossos (M. M. Ill) : b, Clay Sealing, Zakro ;
c, Onyx Lentoid, Argos.
in more than one respect our knowledge of the Central Palace cult as it
existed in the closing Middle Minoan phase. The tradition of its specially
religious character seems to have clung to it indeed in later days. When,
towards the close of the Minoan Age, a part of the house, like some of the
adjoining Palace region, was re-occupied by poorer denizens, the inner room,
L. 1, on the Plan, Fig. 306, was converted into a shrine, where, at a some-
what higher level, 1 horns of Consecration ' were found resting on a pebble
flooring. To the original importance of the building from the religious point
of view the artistic skill lavished on the decoration and the presence of such
a magnificent accessory of cult as the sculptured lamp bear sufficient witness.
It seems probable that it was occupied by some priestly functionary.
1 An analogy is "suggested by the 'cuirass', 2 See below, p. 506, Fig. 364.
with its reticulated body and pleated flounce, 3 My'cenaeanTree andPillar Cult,^>. 102seqq.
worn by the rustic leader of the harvesters on At Tekekioi in North Macedonia. It was neces-
the H. Triada rhyton (Savignoni, Mon. Ant., sary to tie an under-garment round the holypillar
xiii, PL III, and cf. sealing, p. 42, Fig. 9). and to lie down for the night within sight of it.
f f 2
S.E.
House in
relation
to Cen-
tral
Palace
Cult.