CHRYSALIS OF RESURGENCE ON VAPHEIO RING 141

composi-
tion of

one case, as on the painted tablet and larnax, and on the great signet from
Mycenae, an armed, descending divinity is covered by an 8-shaped body-
shield. On this Vapheio ring the divine hero of the scene himself is
wanting, but his great body-shield is depicted against the light border of the
field on which is visible a small female figure1 prostrate as if in an entranced
attitude.2 To leave no doubt as to the character of the cult, a small
symbol appearing in the field above, must in the light of present knowledge
clearly be recognized as a Minoan combination, of which we have other
examples, of the Double Axe with the Sacral Knot.3

It seems possible that the subject really divides itself, as in the case of Dual
the other Minoan designs, into two successive phases of the same scene.
This, as already pointed out with reference to the inlaid designs in the des'gn'
dagger-blades, and more fully below in connexion with the composition on
the Vapheio Cups, is itself due to the dependence of these smaller works on
painted stucco originals, which were divided into compartments owing to the
necessities of the fresco technique.

In that case the central figure on the Vapheio signet, in whom we may
with some probability recognize the Goddess who seems to be
whirling round, with flying locks of hair, in an orgiastic dance,
may be one and the same with the female personage shown on
a smaller scale, ex hypothesi belonging to another scene of this
religious act, and who there lies prone on the great body-shield.
Above the dancing figure appears a spray and an object to
which a high interest attaches. This object, of which an
enlargement to about ten diameters is given in Fig. 92, suggests
the wingless body of an insect with two prominent eyes, and
its resemblance to a chrysalis, such as the gold specimen
from a Mycenae grave illustrated below,4 is unmistakable.
Appearing as it does in the field above the head of the Goddess, it
supplies a remarkable parallel to the chrysalises—there associated with

Fig. 92. Chrysa-
lis Emblem of
VaphioRing(-«).

1 Tsountas in his original account described
the prostrate figure and shield together as ' an
object resembling an insect of dispropor-
tionate size' ('E</>. 'Apx., 1890, p. 180).
Mayer (Jahrb. of Arch. Inst., 1892, p. 189)
recognized the shield but took the figure for a
crested helmet, and Furtwangler accepted this
view. In my Myc. Tree and Pillar Cult,
p. 81 [J.H.S., 1901, p. 179) what I believe
to be the true explanation was supplied.

2 On the shield as a medium of possession.
See below, p. 314 seqq.

3 See P. of M., i, p. 431 seqq., and Fig.
310. In Myc. Tree atid Pillar Cult, pp. 80,
81 [178, 179], being still unaware of the part
played by the ' Sacral Knot' in Minoan
symbolism, I had compared the arms and
legs seen on Egyptian and Hittite versions of
the ' Ankh ' (see op. cit, Fig. 54).

4 See below, p. 151, Fig. 102.